The Parish of the Resurrection [1] is comprised of several sister churches in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey. Resurrection Parish’s annual two-day Festival of Saint John the Baptist is its biggest fundraising event of the year. This year’s event, held on June 26 & 27, featured plenty of food, drinks and music, along with everything from a Michael Jackson impersonator to a health station where people could check their blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol.

Project Porchlight was also on hand to educate festivalgoers about the energy savings offered by compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs as well as the energy efficiency programs that are available through New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program (NJCEP) [2].

A total of 900 CFL bulbs were distributed at the event, part of Project Porchlight New Jersey’s campaign to distribute energy-efficient light bulbs to residents across the state. Project Porchlight is an initiative of One Change [3], and the campaign is made possible thanks to funding by the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) [4] and NJCEP [5].

“We were very happy and excited to have Project Porchlight there,” says parishioner Evelyn Reyes. “We really are a multicultural community. We have Philippinos, Latinos, Anglo-Saxons, African-Americans, and a Vietnamese community as well. These communities don’t always get the education on environmental awareness that they need, so having Project Porchlight at the festival was a way to reach our entire community and bring them an awareness of how important it is for us to save energy in New Jersey.”

By connecting with state residents one at a time, Project Porchlight empowers people to make smart choices that protect the environment. “Project Porchlight showed people that the simplest thing—just changing a light bulb—can save money and energy and have a real impact on saving our environment,” says Evelyn.

When it comes to protecting our environment, simple actions matter. Even something as simple as changing a light bulb can really make a difference. “The earth was created by our Lord, and He mandated that we would take care of the earth,” says Evelyn. “It’s important for us to protect our environment for the future of our country, for the future of our children and our community.”