HAVERHILL — In his recent state of the city speech, Mayor James Fiorentini called on young and old to join a volunteer corps to clean neighborhoods, plant flowers and "make our city shine."
He reiterated his call for volunteerism at last week's City Council meeting as Haverhill's tight finances were discussed, prompting Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien to call Fiorentini to task for letting go of Brightside, the city's premier civic improvement organization.
"At the time, I think he thought he was probably saving something else," Daly O'Brien told The Eagle-Tribune. "He may have thought he made a really good decision then. But if he thinks he's going to establish a volunteer group again, he may not attract the same people. I have a feeling that no one will step forward."
The mayor said Trinity Ambulance has offered to donate $100 a week for a year to pay someone to coordinate the volunteer corps he wants to launch.
"Trinity people have always been so supportive of our community," Daly O'Brien said. "They really are a corporate friend, and they've done so much for Haverhill."
Local businesswoman Elaine Barker founded Brightside in 1994. It started with just volunteers, but when it grew too large the city hired longtime resident Denise Johnson in 1995 to direct the program. Led by Johnson, Brightside volunteers both young and old regularly cleaned city parks the program had adopted, planted tulips around signs honoring veterans and planted trees along roads. But when the city was forced to lay off 60 workers in 2002 to deal with a $5 million budget gap, Johnson's position was one of those cut. For the next several years her $25,000 annual salary was paid through grants and donations. Johnson left Brightside for other work in 2006. By that time Brightside's volunteers numbered in the hundreds.
"What really wasn't publicized a lot was that a lot of people called Brightside because they needed to do volunteer hours for things like their karate class, school honor society or for other reasons," Johnson said.
Now a constituent services representative for Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, Johnson said she is still passionate about Brightside. She said she recently told the mayor that she would gladly meet with him to talk about his idea for a volunteer corps.
"I'd be happy to give him some pointers. I think it would be a good program for the city to have," Johnson said. " Brightside is still incorporated as a nonprofit, and although it is not active, it is still a viable program and it needs some leadership."
Johnson said civic improvement programs such as Brightside offer a lot of return for a small investment and that a tremendous amount of work can get done at minimal cost to the city.
"A program like this can translate into money and savings," she said.
If the mayor does form his volunteer corps, he can count on Girls Inc. in Haverhill as well as the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Haverhill to help fill the volunteer ranks.
Girls Inc. Director Nancy Adams said her members worked with Johnson when she was Brightside's director, and that Johnson taught the girls about horticulture.
"We actually partnered with Brightside to clean a lot and create a community garden at the corner of Charles and Harrison streets," Adams said. "This generation seems to be very interested in environmental issues, and I think our girls would be very interested in a project like that. Girls love to get their hands into the dirt and understand where flowers and vegetables come from, particularly inner-city girls."
Boys and Girls Club Director Brian Theirrien said he would make sure his club played a role in beautifying the city and that he would like club members of all ages to get involved.
"Our goal would be to impress upon our members as to how important it is to help beautify our city," Theirrien said.
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