For the 22nd consecutive year, students will have an opportunity to earn money this summer while providing an array of community services to improve the quality of life for area residents through Operation Brightside.
Each summer, the “Green Team” takes on a six-week project conducted by the Jacksonville Urban League with support from the Anheuser-Busch Jacksonville brewery. The project provides jobs for youths from low- to moderate-level income families.
By joining the Anheuser-Busch Operation Brightside team, they are improving the quality of life for area residents, advancing their education and earning money while they’re doing it. One of the core priorities of the Green Team program is to teach job skills to the participants.
“Operation Brightside gives these students a sense of volunteerism and humanitarianism that will be instilled in them for a lifetime. It shows the participants and others around them that there is joy in helping others,” said Syl Robinson, plant manager for the Jacksonville brewery. “Equally if not more important, however, are the job skills the participants learn. On the Green Team, they are taught the importance of getting along with co-workers, being punctual and seeing a job through to completion.”
To be selected for the Green Team, each student must complete a written application and interview, submit a copy of their transcript or report card, write a 250-word essay and must have personal recommendations from their school or respected members of their communities.
Team members must be at least 16 year of age. They will be paid $6.15 per hour and work six hours a day Monday through Friday for six weeks, beginning June 26, 2006. The Green Team activity ends Aug. 4, 2006, with a commemorative luncheon and a career day that helps team members learn how to prepare a resume and search for a job.
This year, Anheuser-Busch will contribute almost $500,000 to sponsor Green Team programs in the cities in which it operates breweries. The company also has sponsored Green Teams at summer and winter Olympic competitions, entertainment events and major sports events, including the 2006 NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis.