A project that has taken months of planning and preparation by BrightView Landscapes was completed with the help of more than 200 volunteers from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) Orange County’s Helping Hands Committee. The group partnered with Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and had committed to enhancing facilities in Mission Viejo, Calif.

Oso Lake in Mission Viejo has a campground that is used for various activities by more than 40,000 children each year, including the BSA and other organizations. The committee had a vision of turning an open space into an outdoor classroom and native garden where children could earn sustainability badges. With the help of BrightView’s Design, Development, Tree Care, and Maintenance teams, the garden became a reality.

BrightView designed a 22,000-square-foot garden with trails that includes several different ecosystems blending together as they would naturally in California. The garden features plant communities, including Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, Riparian, Oak Woodland, and a Meadow area.

“People often have a misconception that California native plants are all succulents and dry landscapes, but there is so much more,” said Humberto Delgadillo, Designer at BrightView responsible for designing the garden. “This garden will introduce visitors to California’s native plant communities and motivate them to get involved in conservation and environmental stewardship.”

In addition to the design, BrightView teams provided grading, equipment, and labor while sourcing the donation and installation of a fully solar-powered irrigation system. Lines were set up to bring a water source to the new garden. BrightView’s Tree Care, Design Group, and Development teams donated $4,000 to purchase all plant materials needed for the project at a discount.

On Oct. 7, BrightView team members led a group of 200 volunteers from IREM to install the garden.

The Boy Scouts plan to use the space as a tool to teach members about careers in landscaping and horticulture and to educate them on various native ecosystems. BrightView plans to regularly send team members from various areas of the industry to speak to groups at the garden about their profession.

“We were beyond excited to partner with IREM Helping Hands and the Boy Scouts of America on their Oso Lake project,” said Autumn Rau, Vice President and General Manager at BrightView. “This garden was designed and installed with the intent to have a hugely positive impact on many children for years to come.”

The Boy Scouts of America have decided to name the garden after BrightView because of the effort put forth BrightView teams to make it happen.

This garden will introduce visitors to California’s native plant communities and motivate them to get involved in conservation and environmental stewardship.
- Humberto Delgadillo, Designer at BrightView

BrightView creates interactive learning garden for Boy Scouts of America, Total Landscape Care

BrightView is committed to the safety of its team members, and with thousands of them coming to work each day across the United States daily, the company has defined and developed a “Daily Safety Game Plan.”

The plan begins the moment team members arrive in the morning and lasts until everyone steps foot into their homes at night.

To ensure safety, the “Daily Safety Game Plan” focuses on preparation for work, safe driving, individual work at each job site, and post-production.

“Our commitment to safety is reinforced through daily morning huddles and weekly tailgate meetings, new-hire orientations, and a buddy system for new team members,” said Jeff Herold, BrightView President, Landscape Maintenance.

To read the full article, visit Landscape Management.

More than 22,000 men and women work at BrightView, and the daily goal of the company is to make sure “No one gets hurt.”

There can be no compromise on safety and it’s a passion and a big part of the company. It has led BrightView to launch OpX, an initiative and a center of operational excellence. The goal of OpX is to develop and implement BrightView standards across its landscape maintenance division.

“Our intent was to establish a field-focused work group that allowed the maintenance organization to develop national standards and share best practices, tools, and training to accelerate our performance in the same way we have driven our safety program,” said Jeff Herold, BrightView President, Landscape Maintenance. “OpX begins and ends with safety. We will never stop striving for a zero-injury workplace.”

To read the full article, visit Landscape Management.

Over a span of three days, more than 25 BrightView volunteers worked to design and install a sensory and healing garden for the Denver Children’s Home (DCH), an organization that restores hope and health to traumatized children and families through a comprehensive array of therapeutic, educational, and community-based services.

The garden was previously an empty piece of land across the street from a school, but now features outdoor seating, touch-friendly plants, and designated spaces for artwork that children and staff can enjoy. DCH was looking to transform a vacant space into a relaxing and interactive environment next to an outdoor classroom. The rest, including the design and direction, was completely up to BrightView’s team.

“I have always had an interest in sensory gardens, so being able to design one and now see the resulting impact it has on these children is very rewarding,” said Leigh DuFresne, Landscape Designer at BrightView. 

DuFresne focused on including different textures and colors in the design to bring the area to life and create a unique, touchable garden.

BrightView teams from across Denver worked together to get all materials donated and split the project into three phases with each branch responsible for different steps in the process. BrightView's Denver South team did the demolition and installed boulders, Denver West installed flagstone and pathways, Denver East installed the plants and mulch, and Denver North helped with all three phases.

In total, the teams installed 10 tons of Crusher Fines Breeze, flagstone, mulch, 230 perennials, 10 trees, and 13 shrubs. The Denver East team also has added the garden to its weekly maintenance schedule.

BrightView and DCH took part in a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 12 and will work together to make sure the new garden continues to thrive and help DCH better serve children in need of assistance programs. 

“Everybody involved has been very excited to lend our expertise and to make an impact for these kids and families,” DuFresne said.

BrightView creates healing, sensory garden for Denver Children's Home, Total Landscape Care

With floodwaters rising throughout Houston from Hurricane Harvey, BrightView’s John Shollar and Juan Garcia took it upon themselves to help their community anyway they could.

Donning their BrightView safety vests, the two – joined by a few friends – went out into the flooded streets with a large, inflatable raft to help any person they came across who was trapped by the water.

“My family brought me up to help everyone,” Shollar said. “Juan is one of my crew leads and he told me he wanted to go out and volunteer the next day, so I told him I would go with him.”

Where Shollar lives had only a couple of inches of rain on the ground, so he and Garcia met at a location closer to the BrightView Katy branch, where the two work.

As the small group ventured through the neighborhoods, the water continued to rise on them. At one point, it had reached a depth to where Garcia, who nearly six feet tall, could no longer walk.

Once that happened, they two decided it was time to head back to higher ground.

It felt good to go out there. People needed help – they lost their homes, their clothes. I wasn’t affected by it like that. Every little bit helps for those in need.
- John Shollar, BrightView Production Manager

“While we were out there, we did worry about getting a cut while wading through the water because there was sewage flowing in it,” Shollar said. “When we finished, we all washed off extremely well and made sure we didn’t have any scrapes.”

All-in-all, the Shollar and Garcia rescued a family of four, a couple, and a woman with her two cats and brought them safely to dry land.

“It felt good to go out there,” Shollar said. “People needed help – they lost their homes, their clothes. I wasn’t affected by it like that. Every little bit helps for those in need.”

 BrightView team members set out with an inflatable raft to join rescue efforts and help their community anyway they could. They rescued a family of four, a couple, and a woman with her two cats.

(For the full transcript, see below.)

More than 25 volunteers from BrightView, the nation’s leading landscape services company, donated time and resources to renovate a playground for military famliies stationed at Fort Carson, a United States Army installation in El Paso County, Colo.

BrightView’s team was joined by volunteers from Balfour Beatty, service members, and their families on a Saturday morning to install 2,250 square feet of sod, 100 shrubs and perennials, and trees.

“The park was in need of significant repairs and did not provide any shade for visitors,” said Dean Laird, BrightView Account Manager for Fort Carson. “We wanted to make the park more inviting for the families to enjoy.”

The BrightView team coordinated with some of their local vendors to donate supplies needed for the project.

“It was very satisfying to see what started as an idea turn into a vision and come together with generous contributions and help from so many people working together to give back to our military community,” Laird said.

The group of volunteers and community members also applied a bed of mulch to the playground area and painted a new awning.

“We have worked here at Fort Carson for six years and I’ve never seen families use this park,” Laird said. “Our first day out after completing the project, I saw about 15 kids enjoying the playground with a few families having a barbecue under the pavillion. It’s rewarding to see the community members already enjoying their new park.”

It was very satisfying to see what started as an idea turn into a vision and come together with generous contributions and help from so many people working together to give back to our military community.
- Dean Laird, BrightView Account Manager

BrightView’s Chicago team helped to create a new place to call home for U.S. Army veteran Anthony Chobanov as part of “A Soldier’s Journey Home” (ASJH).

Spc. Chobanov volunteered to deploy in 2006 in Operation Enduring Freedom VII and was a Forward Observer while in Afghanistan. His duties consisted of bringing to arms all indirect fire assets – such as naval gunfire, mortars, and artillery – and communicating battlefield intelligence. Chobanov was also deployed from December 2007 to March 2008 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Now at home, Chobanov suffers from Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, causing him to struggle to maintain a job outside of his home, which is when ASJH stepped in to provide the Chobanov family with a house.

Mike Morey, Account Manager at the Chicago Northwest branch, first heard of the project from a friend, a high school teacher a school partnering with ASJH for this project. As someone familiar with our company, he asked Morey if BrightView would be interested in getting involved.

“I had conversations with my boss and our team and they were all in,” Morey said.

ASJH’s mission is to find a worthy recipient who made the choice to serve their country and paid a huge price for their service. Their goal is to pull the community together to build a home for the service member and their family to flourish in.

Chobanov was chosen as the third veteran ASJH built a home for.

“We held conference calls over the winter to discuss what Tony was looking for and learned very quickly that he didn’t want a lot of tall shrubs and evergreens because, with the PTSD, he didn’t want to be scanning for threats when he comes home,” Morey said.

“It was honor to work on the home. What stuck out to me was how hard it is for veterans to acclimate back into a society they fought so hard to protect. They gave their lives, even if they didn’t die, and anything we can do to help stateside to make their lives easier is an honor.
- Mike Morey, Account Manager

Those parameters, Morey knew, would be no problem for the BrightView Design Group. The design was presented to the Chobanov family, who heartily approved, and then Morey reached out to the local nurseries and landscape suppliers to get all the needed material donated.

“Along every step of the way between last fall and now, BrightView has been supportive of taking care of Tony’s new home,” Morey said. “Over two days in May, Account Managers and Production Managers from Branch 322 finally got to execute part of the install prior to the key ceremony at the end of the month.”

BrightView’s enhancement crew wrapped up the project in early June and a service partner with BrightView provided hydro-seeding shortly after.

When things started to become challenging or expensive, Morey heard nothing but positive comments from his BrightView team members, including “It doesn’t matter because we’ll make it happen and we’ll figure it out” and “This is the right thing to do.”

The big thing Morey took away from his fellow team members was the feeling that they all needed to do something like this again with BrightView. Rumor has it that ASJH’s next project will take place in San Antonio.

“It was honor to work on the home,” Morey said. “I was really struck with how, during the entire process, people from different organizations came in from all over the country to take part in this. What stuck out to me was how hard it is for veterans to acclimate back into a society they fought so hard to protect. They gave their lives, even if they didn’t die, and anything we can do to help stateside to make their lives easier is an honor. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Earth Day is significant in the landscape industry because it celebrates the beautiful and sustainable environments that our teams work to create every day. This year many of our teams found creative ways to engage with community partners and clients to celebrate and give back.

BrightView teams in Columbus, Ohio, partnered with Columbus State Community College (CSCC) and its Green Infrastructure Program to renovate Sharon Meadows Park. The park sits just north of CSCC’s campus and once was home to the Sharon School building that closed a decade ago. The building compacted the soil and restricted rainwater drainage, leaving behind an ugly wet area that attracted mosquitos.

After receiving complaints from the community, the parks department contacted CSCC, which immediately reached out to BrightView as a partner in the Green Infrastructure Program. The program received grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Ohio EPA to fund the project.

“We wanted to make certain areas of the park drier and therefore functional while turning other areas into small ponds,” said Eric Klopfer, Branch Manager at BrightView’s Columbus East branch.

BrightView first drained the area, then installed walkways, and added limestone and sitting areas.

“The students at CSCC and members of the community were very excited to transform the park so our job was to create the plan, supply the materials, and then coach the volunteers,” Klopfer said.

On Earth Day, the team joined 25 students and more than 30 community members to install 20,000 plants and turn what was once standing water into a constructed wetland and sedge meadow.

The college will be using the new space to educate students on green infrastructure and stormwater control and the Columbus public school system will use the park to educate students about plants.

Other great examples of how our teams celebrate Earth Day by sharing our knowledge and investing in our relationships with our clients and communities:

• Our team in Doral, Fla., donated more than 1,300 potted plants and herbs to The Offices at Downtown Doral for their tenants to take home on Earth Day. The herbs included cilantro, parsley, oregano, dill, thyme, mint, lemon balm, colias, pentas, and more. The Doral team also teamed up with Intercontinental at Doral Miami to plant a two-section, 20-foot-by-4-foot garden to grown herbs and vegetables from Peru, Mexico, and other countries for the chefs at Blue Matisse and NAU Lounge.
• Team members in Orange County, Calif., donated 521 plants and joined volunteers from Kiwanis Club of Lake Forest, the Lake Forest Garden Club, and the community to enhance Lake Forest Serrano Creek Park.
• BrightView in Chicago strengthened their partnership with Chicago Gateway Green and planted 70 rose bushes donated by the Chicago Flower and Garden show at the DePorter Gateway.
• In Southern California, our team stopped by Harrah’s SoCal Resort to hand out succulents to the resort’s employees and provided suggestions on how to be more sustainable at home.

At BrightView, Taking Care of our communities is a core component of our brand and something we proudly do every day. This is just a few examples of how we are applying our skills, equipment, resources, and job opportunities toward addressing economic, social, and environmental issues in our communities across the country.

(For the full transcript, see below.)