Happy Birthday to Spread Your Sunshine

By Adam Chalifoux

Five years ago, when Addie Loerzel and her mother, Marisa Bengtson started Spread Your Sunshine, they had no idea that it would evolve into a nonprofit organization. Addie’s goal was much simpler. She recognized a need for inclusivity, and she wanted to bring that and joy to her community.

“We went up to Churches United; we were thinking of just doing a one-time event; and they were like, ‘We would like it if you would come every month,’ and we were like, ‘Okay!’” Addie said with a wide, contagious smile. “So, we did the first event, and we were like, ‘We have to! We have to come every month! We have to!’ And that is kind of how we started.”

During their first visit, Addie and Marisa learned the residents were hopeful for services like theirs.

“A lot of the volunteerism in the community focused on Micah’s Mission, but they had a location called Bright Sky Apartments and those kids needed things too,” they said. "We do activities that people are missing out on.”

And so, what started as a one-time event at Micah’s Mission, turned into monthly events at Bright Sky Apartments.  Birthday parties, visits from Santa Clause, or the Easter Bunny, and a mission to break down various barriers so that everyone had a chance to enjoy the sunshine and be included.

“It was very quickly evident after the first event that we did, that that’s where we needed to be, and that the kids and families there really were craving some social, fun activities to look forward to,” said Marisa. “So, we have been doing monthly event since, every single month, sometimes twice a month.”

At first, Addie and Marisa’s mission was self-funded.

“But after a couple years we were like, ‘You know what? We have shown there’s a need; we’re filling that need.’ Now it’s time to get the community behind us and turn this into a nonprofit and be able to write grants and ask for donations and then expand and help more families.”

A couple years in, the sunshine had spread enough to foster more support, enthusiasm, volunteerism, and joy for all involved.

“We’re 100 percent volunteer run,” Marisa said. “Nobody is getting paid to do anything within Spread Your Sunshine, but everybody is doing it because of the happiness and the joy it brings us, and I say it all the time! ‘There is nowhere else I would rather be on a Friday night than Bright Sky Apartments with those families and kids. We love it.’”

Addie was born with Spinal Bifida and understands and empathizes with those who have felt left out, especially children.

“I’ve had my disability my whole life,” said Addie. “So basically, I have felt left out like those kids before … those kids that we help out. And I feel like that fuels me to do what we do and these kids they don’t deserve to go through what I’ve been through.”

Therefore, Spread Your Sunshine is built on the foundation of compassion, empathy, and the removal of barriers whatever they may manifest as.

“At Bright Sky, like Addie said, we’re really trying to focus on what are those families missing in the community that we can bring to them because we know that many of them have transportation barriers, that all of them have financial barriers,” said Marisa. “So, we try to think what’s going on in the community that we can shed into Bright Sky Apartments?”

The residents’ gratitude is real. This year, Addie and Marisa made a visit with the Easter Bunny the day before Easter.

“We got to set up this really cool background and take really nice family pictures with the Easter Bunny and one of the mom’s pulled us aside and was like, ‘It would have taken me two hours on the bus to get to the mall for my kids to meet the Easter Bunny,’” said Marisa. “And she’s like, ‘I didn’t have money to buy the pictures or even do it.’ She’s like, 'this is amazing…’”

Summer is always a special season for Spread Your Sunshine. Each summer ends with a special final celebration for the kids at Bright Sky Apartments.

“We end summer with a back-to-school carnival, which is so fun!” said Addie, through her winning smile. “We have carnival food, carnival games, and really fun stuff just to have these kids say, ‘Oh, the day before school started, I was at this really fun event, and I got to do all this fun stuff.”

“We want the kiddoes we work with to go back to school with a happy memory,” added Marisa.

This summer is extra special because this week Spread Your Sunshine gets to celebrate its own birthday and an early milestone for a nonprofit that continues to shine its light upon the local community. Spread Your Sunshine’s fifth birthday party is June 4th at Bright Sky Apartments.

“This is going to be a really fun event,” said Addie. “It’s going to be at Bright Sky where we were born, and we will have a bubble guy there that shoots bubbles and foamy stuff at the kids. There is gonna’ be pizza and other games; it’s going to be tons of fun.”

The celebration brings yet another opportunity for joy and inclusion.

“Joy should not be extra for people,” said Marisa. “Joy is essential and it shouldn’t matter if you are living in a shelter or a low-income housing. You still deserve joy and moments of happiness, and that joy equates to good mental health, it just carries over to other areas of life.”

“It’s more than a party,” added Addie.