Grabbing shovels, wheelbarrows, and rakes is part of our daily routine of creating and maintaining the best landscapes on Earth. 

But on Earth Day, it’s even more special for our teams as we extend a hand – or in our case, shovel – to communities where we work, live, and play in an effort to keep our Earth healthy and green.

This past Earth Day, BrightView team members across the country volunteered their time and participated in enhancement projects and local events to make a positive impact in their communities. They accomplished everything from rejuvenating community centers’ gardens and flower beds to planting trees and distributing educational materials and flower seeds at client locations.

Click here to view a slideshow of BrightView’s work in the community on Earth Day.

These efforts are in addition to our commitment to ecosystem preservation, which saw us partner with the Arbor Day Foundation in 2022 to plant 300,000 trees. These plantings help revitalize the ecosystem, while cleaning the air, filtering water, and sequestering carbon. 

Learn more about BrightView’s Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) goals and strategy in its 2023 ESG Report. 

Simon Youth Foundation (SYF), an Indianapolis-based nonprofit dedicated to improving the national academic dropout rate and increasing college accessibility by partnering with established public school systems, is the latest recipient of a grant from the BrightView Fund for Social Justice.

The mission of SYF is to foster and improve educational opportunities, career development, and life skills that transform the lives of at-risk youth through focused programs and initiatives with our public school and post-secondary education partners.

The $2,500 donation was presented to Andrea Neely, President and CEO of SYF. Bill Schell, BrightView’s Fishers, Ind., Branch Manager, was joined by several team members, including Account Manager Zach Binder, who nominated SYF for the grant.

“Thank you for supporting the SYF mission! We appreciate BrightView’s commitment to helping students have a brighter future,” said Neely.

“Simon Youth Foundation is doing great work for the youth of Indiana and all over the country,” said Schell. “It’s reassuring to know our support will benefit the SYF’s programming and have a positive impact on these students.”

BrightView actively engages the field in social giving and established the BrightView Fund for Social Justice to support organizations and initiatives that promote equality and inclusion in our local communities.

A Pacific Northwest community garden seeking to provide food sustainability for residents experiencing financial hardship is the newest recipient of a grant from the BrightView Fund for Social Justice.

Seattle Beacon Hill Garden Club, an affiliated program of Beacon Arts, runs a series of programs designed to cultivate friendship and community through gardening. The Garden Club’s signature Seed Library and Garden Share projects were both started in 2020 during the pandemic as ways to assist local families in need.

Betty Jean Williamson, Beacon Arts Board President & Beacon Hill Garden Club Member accepted the donation on behalf of the Garden Club.

“Thank you to BrightView for the generous support of our work,” said Williamson. “We are a neighborhood of 40,600 BIPOC – Black, Indigenous, and People of Color – residents, with 40 percent immigrants and refugees. This new source of support will allow Beacon Hill Garden Club to purchase more seeds and supplies for our neighbors and will help us in expanding the selection to serve our extremely diverse community.”

Presenting the donation for BrightView were Renton (Wa.) Branch Manager Charley Rash, Account Managers Christine Wetmore and Wayne Bernritter, and Project Manager Uriel Calderon. Wetmore is an active member of the Garden Club.

“I am honored to be a part of the BrightView Fund for Social Justice donating to this organization that promotes locally grown and sustainably sourced food that is donated to our local community. It’s also thrilling that Christine has championed this contribution,” said Rash.

BrightView actively engages the field in social giving and established the BrightView Fund for Social Justice to support organizations and initiatives that promote equality and inclusion in our local communities.

Recently, our BrightView team spent a day at the historic location of Ellis Island in New York Harbor, reclaiming the landscaping surrounding Ellis Island Hospital. Team members donated their time and services to the nonprofit Save Ellis Island, Inc., to help clean up the grounds, clear out overgrowth, and mow the overgrown lawns on the site’s less visited south side.

Called Ellis Island’s forgotten hospital, the 22-building complex was one of the largest public health undertakings in the country and is where immigrants were treated if they were sick or needed to be quarantined upon arriving to the U.S.

“We were honored to lend our expertise to help revitalize Ellis Island’s south side,” said James Horne, BrightView’s Hillside (N.J.) Branch Manager. “BrightView has a long history of working to beautify and preserve iconic landmarks and historical sites, so naturally, we were eager to provide our landscaping maintenance assistance when approached by Save Ellis Island. Ellis Island is a national treasure, and we look forward to continuing to support Save Ellis Island’s mission.”

Save Ellis Island, Inc., is the National Park Service private sector nonprofit that has a mission of raising funds to restore 29 of the abandoned buildings on the island, including the hospital complex.

Read more about BrightView’s volunteer day here.

A Military Wall of Honor was recently rededicated in Riverside, Calif., in time for Memorial Day following a monthslong makeover. BrightView was commissioned to refurbish the landscaping in front of the monument.

The wall, which featured the 750 names of Riverside residents who lost their lives while on active duty between 1914 and 1997, was originally unveiled 25 years ago, but as the landscape around it has progressed with modern times, the wall has not. Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson and the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce raised funds to give this solemn landmark the upgrade it deserved.

“We’ve been servicing this property for more than 10 years and when the opportunity was presented by the Chambers of Commerce, we were highly recommended to take the project on board,” said Santiago Torres, BrightView Account Manager. “We were responsible for supplying the materials for the pavers and also planted more than 600 different plants.”

All of the design elements for the refurbishment had a special meaning behind it, including the roses installed by BrightView. The red ones represent the blood shed by the local heroes in defense of freedom and the white ones represent the memory of those who were lost.

The $200,000 renovation, which also included roughly three dozen new names from service members lost in action since 1997, was unveiled and rededicated on May 24, in time for the annual Memorial Day Remembrance.

“It was such a great feeling to be a part of this incredible project,” Torres said. “I’ve lived in Riverside my whole life and I have family members who have served as well. This project had special meaning to our crews as well. We could all feel what this monument means to the city and to all those who have served or lost loved ones.”

Set against the beautiful backdrop of Cowles Mountain is the San Carlos Community Garden. It has become a space for residents of San Carlos, in the eastern suburbs of San Diego, and surrounding areas to come and grow their own organic, healthy foods and flowers.

The garden was established in 2012 from a grant funded by the San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, and now with its 10th anniversary in 2022, the garden is undergoing a little makeover.

As part of its anniversary project, BrightView has donated landscaping and irrigation for the garden.

BrightView became involved when Kelly Wood, co-founder and Vice-Chair of the garden, reached out to BrightView’s senior human resources business partner Darlene McConville. Kelly and Darlene were working together through an education partnership BrightView has with University of Arizona Global Campus.

“Kelly reached out regarding the Garden’s 10-year anniversary and a potential partnership with BrightView,” McConville said. “It was an opportunity we felt would be great for us to be a part of.”

The beautification project took three weeks of design, planning, and installation and was revealed on March 26 during the Garden’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, an event which attracted hundreds of community members and was honored by the County of San Diego’s Supervisor Joel Anderson and City of San Diego Councilmember Raul Campillo, commemorating the day as San Carlos Community Garden Day. BrightView donated plant material, boulders, irrigation installation, and plant installation.

Eitan Altman, a nearby resident and active member of the California Native Plant Society, the San Diego Audubon, and the Garden recently shared his sentiments about BrightView’s impact.

“The Garden is an important resource for our community in creating awareness about sustainable and environmentally-friendly landscaping practices,” he said. “The installation of the San Carlos Community Garden sign and professional landscaping by BrightView has given the Garden a sense of permanence and inclusion, creating an atmosphere which invites people into the Garden who may not have even been aware of its existence previously. I, myself, am a perfect example.”

The garden offers 63 raised plots for the community, 12 raised beds for Sierra School of San Diego students, a 30-fruit-tree orchard, an herb garden, and a 160-foot dry creek bed that is planted with California native species. There is also a labyrinth, an outdoor classroom amphitheater, and the site is designated a Monarch Way Station and a Food2Soil composting site.

Also hosting workshops, classes, and events, the gardens can truly be considered a place for the community to gather and get their hands dirty digging in the soil. BrightView is proud to be able to contribute to this project and give back to the communities its team members live in.

“To be able to help a community that is focused on improving the environment and creating a space for them to gather is remarkable,” said David Howell, BrightView Vice President & General Manager. “This not only supports the community, but also the local school where kids learn to grow vegetables and fruit. It is really a great feeling to see the passion behind the project and to be a part of it.”

BrightView’s company vision is simple: our team members create and maintain the best landscapes on Earth.

That vision was on full display recently as team members in California worked with Homes For Our Troops – a nonprofit organization which builds and donates specially-adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 veterans. BrightView donated much of our labor and materials to complete a home for Marine Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Field to make his world a little brighter.

After serving with the Marines for 22 years, including tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Field retired in 2013. Two years later, he started experiencing mobility issues before being diagnosed with ALS in 2017.

BrightView Design Group was engaged early in the project to provide the landscape and irrigation design on the 2-acre property, with the county’s oversight. With the approved design, the local team in Sacramento provided all rough grade, drainage, irrigation, planting, and sod for almost 18,000 square feet of landscaping. The landscape was designed and installed in accordance with the Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance in California and will also require little maintenance for Field, given the materials selected. 

"It was awesome to be a part of this project," said Tom Donnelly, President of BrightView Landscape Development. "It is BrightView's complete honor and pleasure to serve heroes like David who served our country so selflessly."

The team worked every Saturday for a month to complete the project and was aided by community support that included volunteer hours and generous donations from our local vendors.

“It was great working with the BrightView team on David’s home, from design to completion,” said Chris Mitchell, Director of Development for Homes For Our Troops.

BrightView’s commitment to veterans can also be seen through our employee resource group called BrightView Recognizing and Acknowledging Veteran Opportunities, or BRAVO. This idea was proposed by a group of veteran BrightView leaders and celebrates military service and the recruitment of veterans for every BrightView line of business, as well as helping establish BrightView as a veteran-friendly organization both within the company and in the community.

Click here to learn more about BRAVO.

The story of how BrightView crews descended upon the campus of California non-profit Casa Pacifica to restore the landscape began not with a phone call; but rather, an observation made from the window of a classic 1970 Chevy C20.

BrightView Business Developer Ryan Smith was participating in a drive-through car show to benefit the crisis-care and residential treatment facility, which serves foster and at-risk children in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The car show took participants on a loop through Casa Pacifica’s Camarillo campus, the charity’s headquarters. Ryan was struck by what he saw.

“Driving through the parade I could see landscape areas in poor condition that needed attention, including water running down the parking lots which indicated potential irrigation leaks. I had an overwhelming feeling of wanting to help so I took mental notes of where BrightView could make the most impact,” Ryan said. He took the idea to Vice President and General Manager Scott Godfrey and it quickly took off.

“It only seemed logical to work with our teams and clients to help create a safe environment for the staff, children and young adults that Casa Pacifica serves,” Scott said.

And with that, they got to work, creating a coalition to make their vision a reality. BrightView’s Ventura and Conejo branches reached out to some of their clients to ask if they’d be willing to donate a day of service to enable crews to redirect to Casa Pacifica to tackle an overgrown area between the campus’s main driveway and housing for transitional-aged youth, also known as the TYS program. The scope would require several crews-- including maintenance, enhancement and tree crews-- for 2 full days of work. JLL of Thousand Oaks, City of Westlake Community Park, La Ventana HOA in Ventura, and Westlake Park Place were among the generous clients who agreed to donate a day.

“BrightView showed up with a team of six managers asking, ‘How can we help support you? We love what you do,’” Casa Pacifica Facility Manager Robert Van Gundy said. “We started our TYS dream in 2011 with some abandoned houses. To say they were in dire need would be an understatement. Ten years later and well over 100 youth served in just these houses and we still have the same issues with overgrowth… until now.”

When the crews arrived on a Thursday, they went to work targeting the area that posed the highest safety risk. They cleared dead debris and plants from the front entrance and tackled overgrown and dead brush, which represented a tremendous fire hazard. By the time the weekend arrived, the teams had filled two 40-yard dumpsters and two large tree trucks. Two Casa Pacifica employees remarked it was their first time seeing that part of the campus free of the overgrowth and were amazed at the result. Casa Pacifica’s resident therapy dog, a Newfoundland named Pearl, also approved and rewarded crewmembers with snuggles. 

“We can’t thank BrightView enough for believing in and supporting Casa Pacifica,” Robert said. 

Yet it’s BrightView that can’t thank Casa Pacific enough for the vital work it does. 

“Living in the area, I have passed by the Camarillo headquarters many times and often wondered how we could help,” Scott said. In their “donate a day” campaign, Ryan, Scott and their teams found a way. By restoring the landscape, Casa Pacifica’s team can continue to restore hope for so many children and families across California’s Central Coast.

As part of its commitment to give back to the communities in which it operates, employees at BrightView Landscapes have launched an ambitious multi-state charity event to support organizations that provide services for those affected by the widespread public health and economic impacts of the COVID pandemic.  BrightView (NYSE: BV), the nation’s leading landscaping services company, is mobilizing teams across the Southwestern United States as part of its Environmental Stewardship, Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance program, also known as ESG.  

Spanning California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, the ongoing effort benefits six charities that fight homelessness, abuse, poverty, hunger and unemployment. The grassroots effort is spearheaded by members of the southwest chapter of BrightView’s landmark employee resource group, GROW (Growth in Relationships + Opportunities for Women), with beneficiaries of the volunteer drive hand-selected by the group’s members.

“Our branches are deeply connected to their communities, so when a need surfaces, we feel it keenly and are drawn to action,” said BrightView Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Amanda Orders. “I’m incredibly proud of our GROW members and all our employees who took initiative and continue to serve their communities with tremendous empathy. At BrightView, we take pride in taking care of others and this is truly a great example.”  Orders cofounded GROW with several other female BrightView executives in 2017.

BrightView GROW Southwest recently conducted its first three events, with more planned for February and March. To date, their impact includes:

• Arizona: Hope Women’s Center
  Hope Women’s Center’s six locations provide a safe haven for at-risk women and girls to get back on their feet. Twenty-two volunteers, including BrightView CEO Andrew Masterman, sorted and packed food boxes for distribution, built diaper packages and welcome kits, assembled information packets and intake forms, hand wrote thank you notes, tagged stuffed animals for children, and conducted exterior landscape cleanup.
   

• 

  Nevada: Project Marilyn
  According to Project Marilyn, personal hygiene products are among the least donated supplies. As a result, women and teens without access to feminine products during their period must result to dangerous substitutes that pose a serious threat to their health. Eleven BrightView employees in Las Vegas prepared 500 Project Marilyn bags and restocked supplies. Each bag contains enough maxi pads and wipes to carry a homeless, home insecure, or person living in a shelter through their period.
   
• California: Father Joe’s Villages
  Father Joe’s Villages serves San Diegans experiencing homelessness and poverty, housing over 2,500 people every night, providing therapeutic childcare & family services, health care, and employment & education services.  Nine members of our BrightView San Diego team supported Father Joe’s Villages’ food distribution, warehouse assistance, and super food pantry operations by building to-go food packages and manning a drive-through distribution. 

Upcoming events include:

• New Mexico: Dress for Success
  Dress for Success seeks to help women break the cycle of poverty, furnishing clients with professional attire to secure employment and confidence to achieve their dreams. BrightView GROW Southwest is organizing a boutique sorting event, and provides ongoing philanthropic consulting services, including mentorship curriculum and career coaching.
   
• Texas: Star of Hope Women & Family Development Center
  Star of Hope provides crisis services and intensive programs that offer women and families stability, personal development and hope. Each day, the center houses up to 150 families and 180 single women. BrightView GROW Southwest is organizing a day of service to support the center’s meal services operations. A Resume & Interview Skills Workshop is also planned to support workforce development and education, helping residents achieve their employment goals and independent living.
   
• California: Bracken’s Kitchen
  In Garden Grove, Bracken’s Kitchen feeds those in need and restores their lives through food rescue that reduces food waste and culinary training that empowers. BrightView GROW Southwest is organizing an event to prep and package produce boxes, daily meals, and other tasks as needed by the organization.

Members of the media who are interested in attending or community members who would like to join these efforts are encouraged to contact BrightView’s Communications Department at [email protected] to receive updated event information. 

BrightView GROW was conceived and founded to attract, promote, and retain women within BrightView. Led by a group of women committed to the mission-- and who volunteer their time to ensure its success-- GROW offers networking, professional development and leadership opportunities for the women of BrightView. 

Chances are you’ve seen our ubiquitous trucks around town; but it’s not every day you see them packed to the gills with donated food. Yet that curious sight is precisely what happened thanks to BrightView Landscape Services Phoenix "Stuff the Truck" Food Drive, resulting in an 1,810-pound haul of non-perishable food donations for Saint Mary’s Food Bank. The donations yielded more than 1,500 meals for Arizona residents in need and required 4 vehicles from the BrightView fleet for transport.

The large-scale effort included five BrightView branches in the greater Phoenix area—Phoenix West, Scottsdale, Phoenix East, Gilbert, and Mesa—working in partnership with 16 property management offices:

• Trestle Management Group (West Office)
• FirstService Residential
• AAM - Chandler
• AAM - Peoria
• Oasis Community Management
• Brown Community Management, Inc.
• Tri-City Property Management Services, Inc.
• Sentry Management, Inc.
• Golden Valley Property Management, LLC
• Colby Management Group, LLC
• Total Property Management, Inc.
• Ryan Companies US, Inc.
• De Rito Partners
• 360 Community Management Ltd.
• Plaza Companies (Peoria Office)
• Real Property Management East Valley

“BrightView is proud to join forces with our management company partners to benefit those in our community who may be struggling right now. We are so thankful to those who donated and the St. Mary’s food bank, who like BrightView, are committed to making lives better,” said Jon Hasbrouck, BrightView Landscape Services Vice President & General Manager, Arizona.

The drive was organized by BrightView Business Developer Anna DeToro. Donations were collected from November 1, 2021 to December 22, 2021 and provided to the food bank in time for the holidays.

Each year two million Arizonans are faced with food insecurity, including one in four children. In some areas of the state, more than 30% of the population is affected. Though located in Phoenix, St. Mary’s Food Bank distributes food throughout most of Arizona. Founded in 1967, it is one the largest food banks in the country. If you’d like to lend your support, visit www.firstfoodbank.org to learn more.