Brightening Lives Activities

Welcome to the Brightening Lives Activity Resource Page!

Brightening Lives Activities are simple ways for groups of people to come together and participate in a hands-on volunteer project. These activities are easy, convenient, fun and are intended to connect volunteers to the needs of their community and local charity and agency partners.

This site is designed to provide you with the information you need to plan, organise, and host your Brightening Lives Activity. Thank you for creating a special event for children and families in your community and supporting the work of the Foundation.

Enjoy your Brightening Lives Activity, and if you have questions, please contact
twilkes-green@brighthorizons.com.

Planning

How to Organise Brightening Lives Activities

Click here to download and print this introduction: Brightening Lives Activities – How to Organise

Identify your agency partner. This should be your local Bright Space or a local community organisation you support. If you are not connected to a specific Bright Space, contact the Foundation for help at twilkes-green@brighthorizons.com
Discuss the selected partner’s needs with them, as it is important that you spend time gathering or creating something the partner needs or wants.
Identify a team of people to help you host the Brightening Lives Activity.
Decide date and time and send out evites or adapt and use the sample invitation and poster from our website.
Market the event to your target audience.
Gather donations or activity items, or purchase them with donated funds.
Create an agenda for the activity, including a welcome, description of the partner, introduction to the project, food and drink, and thank you.
Host the event.
Take the items to the agency.
Send a thank you to all the participants and give them a certificate of appreciation.
After the event, share your story and photos with stories@brighthorizons.com who will get local PR for you (please ensure that photos do not identify sensitive locations or individuals, and that those pictured give their permission for their image to used)

Have fun, and thank you for your support!

Activity Ideas

After speaking with your agency partner to determine their needs, select one of these ideas to download a guide to these suggested Brightening Lives Activities. You are also encouraged to come up with your own idea! We hope to expand this list based on your feedback.

Marketing

Here are some resources to help you market your activity including a template poster and invitation letter.

Download to Edit: Invitation Template

Download to Edit: Poster

Remember to send photos and stories of your event to stories@brighthorizons.com

Please check that you have the permission of people in your images for them to be used on social media. Please also be sure not to take photos which would identify sensitive locations.

After your activity

Send a thank you note to volunteers within 10 days of the event. Along with it, you might want to include a Certificate of Appreciation. Doing all of this in a timely manner is really appreciated and keeps people engaged.

Download to Edit and distribute to your participants: Certificate of Appreciation

Thank you for taking the time and energy to host a Brightening Lives Activity. Your support of the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children is appreciated, and will help to brighten the life of a child.

Bright Spaces

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a Bright Space Connector, creating a new Bright Space, or adopting an existing Bright Space, please email our Bright Space Programme Manager, Tracy Wilkes-Green at twilkes-green@brighthorizons.com