Maggie

My earliest memoryof Brighotn Center is going through the annual kids’ holiday toy sale when I was 4 or 5 years old.  One dollar could buy so many toys that it would take us 3 or 4 trips to get all of our toys home. 

  The annual kids’ holiday used toy sale was something our whole neighborhood looked forward to every year, even the parents. That is my earliest memory but one of the most meaningful memories is when a friend of mine referred me to the holiday drive sign-ups after my first child was born and that is when my real journey with Brighton Center began! With the help and guidance of Brighton Center I took the necessary steps and tests to be accepted to NKU where I earned my bachelor’s degree in psychology. While attending NKU, I applied for and accepted a summer job coaching position at the Center which led to permanent part-time employment and, eventually, to my full-time career in the social service field allowing me to continue to work with the Center through community partnerships.

I am just proud to be a part of an agency that makes such a HUGE difference in not only the lives of individuals and families but in building communities, and supporting school systems. They have their pulse on the real needs of the community and respond with creative solutions, programs and partnerships that affect real change on a micro and macro level.  I love it when people ask me about Brighton Center, it brings a smile to my face and heart.   Brighton Center will always be a part of who I am and I am proud of that. 

Brighton Center has impacted my life personally and professionally. Personally they provided a pathway to higher education.  They not only helped me realize it was possible but they also serviced as a support system during my academic career and beyond.  Academic advising, parenting skills, budgeting, community-building, work ethic, leadership opportunities, and good decision making abilities  are just some of the ways Brighton Center has enriched my life and helped me accomplish all that I have. Professionally they also took a chance with me.  I did not have any experience in social services when they offered me a summer job coaching position.  That position solidified my future career goal to work in the social service field. Brighton Center gave me the opportunity to serve my community and instilled in me a core set of professional and leadership skills that to this day, I utilize on a daily basis. As a customer I was given opportunities to learn how to be the leader of my future and how to stand up for what I believed in.   I was also given the opportunity to provide input on the program’s future activities.   Brighton Center makes professional development a priority with their staff and I took advantage of every single opportunity. I was given the opportunity to represent Brighton Center on the Fourth Street School Family Resource Center’s Advisory Board and that is when I realized I had a passion for working with the public schools to ensure all children get the best education possible.  This led to me completing the Prichard’s Committee’s Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership which showed me how to really understand school data and reports and how to be a parent leader at Newport Independent Schools, my alma mater.  I served as vice president and president of the Parent Teacher Student Organization and I was a member of the Sitebased Decision Making Committee at the high school for several years.

 If you could send one message of appreciation to volunteers and donors of Brighton Center, I would let them know that they are the bones of Brighton Center, that without them, Brighton Center would not be able to do all that they do. I would tell them that I am living proof of the good that comes from the work that Brighton Center does every day.