On Thursday, June 17, the big lot just east of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Spokane was brown and vacant, with the only vegetation being a few straggling weeds.

By the end of Friday, June 18, the same lot was a lush lawn lined with trees, shrubs and small boulders, with a nice, paver-brick patio.

The difference? Dozens and dozens of Windermere Real Estate agents and employees who devoted the day to beautifying the lot, located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Monroe Street on Spokane’s lower South Hill.

“In these tough economic times, everybody is struggling, but everybody is pitching in to do this for the Ronald McDonald House because of what it does for our community,” said Rick Rieger, a broker at the Windermere Real Estate Valley office in Liberty Lake who was supervising the project.

With the professional guidance of Spokane landscape architecture firm Land Expressions and $100,000 in trees, plants, sod, rocks and other supplies, Windermere agents and employees started work on the project at 6 a.m., worked hard and stayed ahead of schedule to ensure that the project was completed in one day, in an “Extreme Makeover”-like effort.

The lot, measuring about 60 feet wide by 120 feet deep, had been home to an old apartment house for years, but the structure was leveled a few years ago. Kathy Swehla, of Land Expressions, said one of the challenges of the project was dealing with the demolition debris that had been buried on the site.

The project was part of Windermere Community Service Day, which the Seattle-based real estate brokerage established in 1984. One day a year, Windermere offices throughout the West close so that agents and staff can pitch in on a big project like this. There are more than 300 Windermere offices with about 8,000 agents throughout the West.

Past Windermere Community Service Day projects in Spokane have involved light remodeling, painting and landscaping at senior citizen centers, schools, low-income housing complexes and emergency shelters, among others.

Located near Shriners Hospital For Children and Deaconess Medical Center, the Ronald McDonald House provides temporary housing and other support services to the families of children who are seeking medical treatment. The Spokane facility is one of 220 Ronald McDonald houses throughout the U.S. and has 21 private family bedrooms. The organization also has two family bedrooms at the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital, as well.