After a group of merry volunteers carried the last bucket of weeds off her lawn, Connie Holden walked around the backyard of her Coeur d'Alene home and admired their work.

"It made my day, my month, my life," she said Tuesday. "They were working like little beavers back here. They were quite the little crew."

The team adjusted Holden's flower pots and planters, moved dirt piles, pulled weeds, untangled the strings in her raspberry bushes and more as part of CareNet's Rake and Run, an annual event that brings senior-service-providers and other professionals together to conduct much-needed yard work for local seniors.

"It’s great as far as I’m concerned," said Holden, 80. "It’s fantastic. I’m probably the happiest person alive right now."

Shane Woods, North Idaho director for Homewatch CareGivers and first-time Rake and Run volunteer, said he was happy to do some heavy lifting for Holden.

"It’s very rewarding. I don’t even get down on my hands and knees and pull weeds at my own house,” he said with a laugh. "I pay someone to do it."

He said volunteering to do the yard work is therapeutic and so is the feeling of knowing he and his team made someone's house nice for them.

"There’s nothing like helping someone," he said.

Nearly 150 volunteers from about 40 different organizations, companies and families formed 11 teams to work on 34 different homes and yards. The Rake and Run has happened every May for about nine years, and this year was the biggest yet.

"We have just exponentially grown," said Tiffinay Walker, Rake and Run co-chair and marketing outreach director for Omnia Health Services.

CareNet is an association of professionals and volunteers who are committed to serving seniors. Entities involved in the Rake and Run included River City Hospice, Guardian Angel Homes, Life Care Center of Coeur d'Alene, the Garden at Orchard Ridge and Auburn Crest Hospice.

Walker said even though many of the businesses are competitors, Rake and Run gives them an opportunity to work together for the benefit of homebound or disabled seniors who aren't able to take care of their yards themselves.

"We’re business competitors, but we just all get together for the day and we don’t care that it’s raining," she said.

Scott Hansen, CEO and administrator for Renewed Horizons Personalized Developmental Therapy, volunteered at Holden's house with one of his clients, who had on her rain jacket and was ready to work.

"We always look for opportunities to help out," Hansen said. "We have a group that goes and cleans a church every week. It's all about inclusivity and the community for these guys, so we look for ways they can give back."

Becky Georgius, a family advisor for North Star Retirement Community, said she really enjoyed the interactions with the people whose homes received the work. She showed off a photo she took of an elderly veteran talking to some of the younger volunteers.

"He’s telling all the kids that were involved in this group about his wartime stories," she said. "They’re just all engrossed in this story."

It was Georgius' third time participating in a Rake and Run. She said what keeps her coming back is "the difference we can make for somebody in just one day."

"This community works so tightly together to find whatever the need is," she said. "The focus is on what the seniors need and we keep that as first priority."