Brush Up Needs You!
"The number of volunteers we have ultimately decides how many houses we can paint," said Tony Astran, one of the organizers of Brush Up Buffalo, "and we want more."
"We make it look easy, but it's a lot of hard work and a lot of fun," Astran said. With two and a half weeks to go, Brush up is looking for more teams and more singletons to spruce up the Lovejoy neighborhood around the Discovery School, much like they did on this section of the West Side last year.
"Professional painters will be on every house to help volunteers along. You don't need to bring anything, though we've had people bring entire toolboxes, radios and sunscreen. If volunteers have a brush and scraper, fine, otherwise we'll provide them, Astran said. "And any sort of vehicle that can transport ladders is a huge help."
Keeping in mind that this is a morning endeavor that ends with a Chiavetta's Barbeque lunch complete with a DJ, Astran said that the dramatic difference Brush Up can make in a few hours is priceless.
"This year, we happen to be in a quiet, older, historic neighborhood, and most of the homeowners are elderly and/or disabled, making it even more of a question of need," according to Astran. Imagine the impact of being included, weighed against that of being one of the homes that is skipped due to lack of volunteers. Astran said that one group of 30 people can easily get the job done before noon, and not everyone has to paint; some do gardening and general clean-up.
"This is a great opportunity to see what team building is all about," Astran said. "Those who come alone will be distributed to different teams, and can even show up at The Central Terminal at 8:15 instead of 7:15AM. They'll get breakfast, T-shirts, passes for lunch and then we'll take a 2 mile ride to the site."
June 14 Central Terminal @ 7:15AM
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allfit
Here is a great organization doing all that they can to improve a declining neighborhood and they can't get enough volunteers. So much for the City of Good Neighbors. Let's not complain when these homeowners move away and the houses sit vacant for years.
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Tony31280
Luckily, we already saw a spike of about 40 more sign-ups yesterday. But we still need more help. One clarification on the (great) article above: It's not so much that we need vehicles to transport ladders... rather, it's the ladders that we need. Obviously, the taller the better, to help reach the high parts of the house. Most of the homes, fortunately, are smaller this year. Last year was a "different" kind of year for us with painting taller homes. Fortunately, they were so clustered together that the bucket trucks helped.
Hope to see more of you on June 14. It's a busy day for events in Buffalo, but this lasts just the morning. Did I mention this is our 12th year? Please help us keep the great tradition alive and well. Thank you!
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Metropolis
Great organization! I always volunteer and am getting a large group of people to paint this year.
Come one come all!
What a difference some paint makes.
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