ROCHELLE – Habitat for Humanity of Ogle County has started work on its next Brush with Kindness project for the City of Rochelle.
Past projects have included minor landscaping and exterior work and building a new handicap entrance ramp to homes to help individuals and families in Ogle County. The newest project is something that would benefit the entire community.
“We reached out to the City of Rochelle and when talking with Michelle Pease, she indicated that the community gazebo could use a little bit of sprucing up,” explained Vanessa L. White-Broome, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Ogle County. “So, we started the other day with pressure washing it, we are going to put a coat of stain on it and the city is purchasing some lights that we will be putting up as well.”
The funding for the project was provided by multiple sources, including grants received last year from the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois and the Rochelle Area Community Foundation.

Along with the funding, the Rochelle Fire Department provided ladders to use, Tyson Foods employees volunteered labor and local attorney Dave Tess loaned his pressure washer.
Habitat for Humanity officials believe this project is a perfect representation of what the Brush with Kindness program aims to accomplish, and White-Broome said the organization understands how important the gazebo is to the downtown area and was very pleased to be able to help out the community as a whole.
“These Brush with Kindness projects are to repair things as needed and beautify different areas and that, so this really kind of falls under both, where the gazebo needed to be re-stained and it needed to be pressure washed. The structure is good it just needed some maintenance and that is one of the things we can do with the Brush with Kindness,” said White-Broome.