Nathaniel Otjen

On Saturday, October 22^nd, the national Make A Difference Day kicked off! For this national volunteer day, BRIGHTEN helped to lead two different sites in Cedar Rapids.

Make A Difference Day is, “Held annually on the fourth Saturday of October, millions of Americans are rallied into a single day of action to help change the world,” according to USA Weekend.

BRIGHTEN worked at one site with the Oakhill Jackson Neighborhood Association’s President, Lynette Richards, and at the other site with Jerry McGrane, the head of the Neighborhood Revitalization Service (NRS). Continue reading »

On Saturday, September 8^th, BRIGHTEN worked with the Junior League of Cedar Rapids to complete painting about 75% of a client’s one story home.

According to the Junior League website, “[The] Junior League of Cedar Rapids is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.”

The day started at 8 a.m. with two BRIGHTEN members setting up the supplies and getting everything ready for the full morning of work. There were 13 members of the Junior League at the site and two members of the community who participated!

After being briefed on what BRIGHTEN wanted to accomplish and about the mission of BRIGHTEN, the Junior League volunteers set to work helping the BRIGHTEN members paint and transform the home.

The Junior League volunteers were able to stay for half of a day, but they put in enough work to really make a huge difference! The day concluded at noon, with a total of 41 hours being contributed by all of the volunteers.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped!

On Saturday September 10^th, six AmeriCorps NCCC members joined six BRIGHTEN members to work on completing the trim work on a client’s home.

This was the first BRIGHTEN day of the month and everything went smoothly and according to plan. All of the materials were set up early in the morning and everyone arrived at the site around 8:30 a.m. ready to work.

In no time, the majority of the trim work was completed and the client’s house was nearing completion. Everyone took a quick break for lunch and ate hot dogs and hamburgers. The hamburgers were provided from Fareway with a discount in price. BRIGHTEN would like to thank Fareway for this generous contribution.

A BRIGHTEN member said, “All-in-all the day went smoothly without any huge problems. We [the members of the BRIGHTEN Program] are thankful for the generous support given to us by the NCCC members!”

Saturday, September 3^rd, was a new and exciting day for BRIGHTEN. For the first time ever, BRIGHTEN set up a stand at the farmers market in downtown Cedar Rapids.

The morning started off early with three BRIGHTEN members arriving to set up the booth around seven o’clock. Rain clouds threatened in the distance and everyone hoped the inclement-looking weather wouldn’t have an effect upon the day’s activities.

The stand featured a table display of a tri-fold poster board covered with pictures of the BRIGHTEN workdays, some free items, cookies and rice-crispy squares for sale, water, and several other items to catch the passerby’s attention. The BRIGHTEN team also was selling a dog house, which was built with the doors of flooded homes from the flood of 2008.

The morning started off quite well, but within an hour, the clouds overhead were thundering and soon enough it was pouring outside. The BRIGHTEN group waited for an hour and a half and then decided to pack up when the rain stopped.

BRIGHTEN will set up the same stand one more time this year on Saturday, September 17^th, and hopefully the weather will not become an issue!

Also, this Saturday the 10^th, BRIGHTEN will be having another BRIGHTEN Day. They are looking for volunteers to come out and help the neighborhood! If you are interested, or know of anyone who might be interested in helping, please feel free to contact BRIGHTEN at 319-366-1673 or email them at crbrighten@gmail.com.

The exciting and informative August edition of the BRIGHTEN newsletter, created by Nathaniel Otjen and BRIGHTEN staff, is now available on the BRIGHTEN page.