ARLINGTON — It’s a temporary fix, but it was as much as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County could do to get the soccer field neighboring their Arlington club ready for afternoon players Oct. 20.
Before their meeting at the Arlington Boys & Girls Club, the athletic directors and other volunteers from several Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the county took to the Arlington soccer field to re-lay the grass and sod that had been ripped up when one or more joyriders broke into a van at the Arlington club and tore the neighboring athletic fields apart with their tires.
“I was shocked that they used the van to do it,” said Kyle Engel of the Mukilteo club, after he’d tamped down clods of soil where they’d previously laid.
“All that stuff like this does is cheat the kids,” said Dave Winters of the Everett club, who helped Everett Boys & Girls Club Athletic Director Jeremy Oshie heft lengthy strips of grass and sod that had been carved out of the ground and flung several feet by the van’s tires.
Snohomish Boys & Girls Club Athletic Director Jim Garcia and Don Hatch III of the Tulalip club echoed the view that the county’s Boys & Girls Clubs benefit from strong bonds between them, especially when one of them is going through a rough patch.
“It’s a shame this had to happen, because it’s the kids who have to deal with the fallout,” Hatch said. “Our clubs are like a family, and it says a lot that everyone was willing to come out here and help, even though what we could actually do right now was minimal.”
“The Boys & Girls Clubs are a great resource, even to each other,” Garcia said. “During times of emergency, we can team up and get things done. It’s what makes our clubs what they are.”
Arlington Boys & Girls Club Director Bill Kinney anticipated that it will require at least a truckload of topsoil and grass seed to fully restore the soccer field. In the meantime, he noted that the Everett club has offered the weekend use of their football field, so a few games might be changing locations.
Click here to read The Arlington Times story on the field vandalism.
