By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
LANDIS — In the world of real estate, one of the most often-repeated phrases is curb appeal. Landis Elementary School’s curb appeal just got spruced up as part of real estate firm Keller Williams’ nationwide volunteer campaign.
About 15 local agents closed up shop Thursday to provide some landscaping at the school for the company’s Red Day (Renew, Energize, Donate).
Each year, on the second Thursday in May, thousands of Keller Williams associates from across the United States and Canada volunteer for a range of projects in the neighborhoods they serve.
The agents who volunteered Thursday, clad in red shirts, were from the Keller Williams office in Concord. They live in Rowan, Stanly, Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties.
“We ask 80,000 agents not to work that day,” said broker Judy Simmons, a team leader in the Concord office.
Simmons said agents get out of the office and work to “try to improve the community.”
At Landis Elementary, volunteers spread mulch on the front lawn, pulled weeds and pruned trees. The town of Landis donated the mulch.
Kay Dover, a Realtor with Keller Williams, said she contacted Rowan-Salisbury School System spokeswoman Rita Foil and asked her if there were schools that needed some work.
Dover and volunteers Danny Pike and David Littrell met with Landis Principal Beverly Roberts about the project.
Dover said the volunteers’ goal was to begin on the front lawn and work their way toward the back of the school.
Roberts said she appreciated the volunteers, but she was afraid the work they’d committed to do was too much.
“This is a big undertaking,” Roberts said.
Dover said that wasn’t a concern.
“If we don’t finish, we will come back,” she said.
Realtor Leaurel Lube’s son, Jasen, owns A Top Notch Tree and Lawn Service in Concord and also volunteered to prune hedges and do other work.
“I enjoy volunteering and helping the community,” said Jasen, who received a degree in horticulture from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
“Make a place look pretty — that’s what I do for a living,” he said with a laugh.
Landis Mayor James Furr said projects like the one on Thursday prove volunteerism isn’t dead, and projects like this are a positive change.
Last year, agents pressure washed and painted a halfway house.
For more information visit www.kw.com/kw/redday
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.