More than 200 Marlins staff members whipped out their paintbrushes and gardening tools to give Miami Edison Middle School a total makeover during ‘Marlins Day of Service and Philanthropic’ on Thursday morning.

Marlins president David Samson said the ‘Marlins Ayudan [help]’ program is their way of giving back to the community.

Marlins Ayudan is the organizations front-office volunteer program that breaks up their staff into different teams to participate in community service events throughout the year.

Thursday was the first of two yearly ‘total team’ events where the company shuts down all their offices for a day of service.

“This year, they are paying special attention to the school systems and stressing the importance of education,” said Samson, who announced the Marlins charity partnership with Miami-Dade County Public School System.

“Our hope is that the kids realize the importance of education and learning lessons.”

Volunteers spent six hours at Edison — one of their eight school partnerships — painting murals, planting gardens and building a new classroom.

This year, the Marlins have donated more than $1.2 million in philanthropy and more than 5,000 community service hours.

On Thursday, the Marlins donated $80,000 divided among their charity partners — including City Year, Teach for America, Miami Dade Public Schools, Ten Thousand Role Models and Breakthrough Miami.

The courtyard packed with students erupted in cheers as the Marlins presented an additional surprise $10,000 check to the school toward their ‘Red Raiders Room’.

The room is filled with games, movies and computers for students who have accumulated enough positive behavior points to enjoy during lunch and before or after school.

Among those partnered in Thursday’s event was Sharon Robison, daughter of the late Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League Baseball.

Robinson spent time speaking to students about the nine characteristics she highlighted in the book she wrote about her father entitled “Jackie’s 9.”

Elsewhere

•  Tennis: Three University of Miami men’s players participated in the second round of the singles qualifying draw Thursday at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships in Tallahassee. Miami’s Jack Murphy was defeated by Andrew Dromsky of Georgia Southern 6-1, 6-0. UM’s Henrique Tsukamoto lost 7-6 (6-2), 6-1 to Sofiane Chevallier of Georgia State. And the Canes’ Mark Schanerman took his match into three sets before falling 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 to FAU’s Chris Janssen.

•  Volleyball: FIU will embark on its final Sun Belt Conference road trip this weekend as the Panthers inch closer to the end of regular-season play. On Friday FIU will take on host North Texas in Denton at 7:30 p.m., before traveling to Monroe, La., for a matchup with ULM on Sunday at 2 p.m.

•  Basketball: The Nova Southeastern men’s team was picked to finish fifth in the Sunshine State Conference preseason poll Wednesday. Topping the poll is Saint Leo, which is ranked 23rd in the nation according to the Division II Bulletin Preseason Top 25. … The Sunshine State Conference released its women’s poll, which has Nova the second-place ranking. Rollins tops the preseason poll, coming off the first NCAA Division-II semifinal appearance by a Sunshine State Conference women’s basketball team.