Project Porchlight Blog

Saturday morning dawned cold and windy, but that didn’t deter the volunteers who gathered at Lincoln Elementary School for Project Porchlight’s Englewood Blitz on December 13. Many of the 30 volunteers were high school students from Academies @ Englewood, who had been encouraged by their history teacher to take part. Steve Berrio, a 16-year-old from Hackensack, was one of them. “A lot of young people want to help, but they don’t know where to go,” he said. “This is a start.” At 11 a.m., the temperature hovered around 29 degrees, and the winds were gusting. Berrio and his classmate, Irene Young, knew that they would be cold as they made their way through Englewood, but they didn’t mind. “It’s a sacrifice we’ve got to make,” said Berrio. “And we’ve got to—it’s for our future,” added Young. The volunteers were joined by Co-Chair of the Englewood Environmental Commission Crystal Brown, who helped distribute CFL bulbs door to door. Commissioner Aleta Frezzell greeted the volunteers while signing them in, and Councilman Scott Reddin was also on hand. The blitz was a success: A total of 873 CFL bulbs were distributed, and fortunately, most of the volunteers had dressed for the weather. “I got long underwear on. I got gloves,” said Berrio, wriggling his fingers. Volunteers wore Project Porchlight’s signature hats, but Berrio had brought his own: A red Santa hat. “Santa goes green,” he said with a laugh.