The Cazzeek Brothers: Making Community Service Popular
The Cazzeek Brothers have been transforming the Asbury Park community since 1982. Since early 2023, they have been working with the Launch Center to maximize their work in the Asbury Park and Neptune communities. In 1982, 12 young men from Asbury Park joined together to give back to the community and connect with their peers. 42 years later, the group is thriving with more community outreach than ever and is now a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Ron Lyons, Cazzeek Brothers Event Coordinator, chuckled saying, “we like to say we made community service popular.” Ron grew up in Neptune and after attending college, he returned to his home community. He is a full-time truck driver and has been a Cazzeek Brothers member for over 10 years. In his role, Ron helps organize, schedule, and facilitate events with youth groups in the community.
The organization, which Ron described as similar to a fraternity, has a goal of being positive role models and transitioning community youth into helpful contributors to the local community. Cazzeek Brothers primarily operates youth programming for ages 6 to 13 years, including sports programs and mentoring.
The Cazzeek Brothers began working with the Launch Center in 2023 on capacity building. Ron explained the Launch Center has helped with strategic planning, organizing operations, hosting events, and miscellaneous resources such as printing and making copies.
“I have never been this organized! The Launch Center has been a blessing in assisting us in really thinking ahead with our events and planning everything intentionally,” Ron explained. The Launch Center has helped Cazzeek Brothers organize and restructure their organization to run things more effectively, allowing them to expand their programming to include cheer leading for young girls.
The Cazzeek Brothers plan to continue to grow their programming in the future, hoping to facilitate mentoring all year, host more field trips with youth groups, and start career building with kids earlier in their lives to give them a head start. Ron expressed a desire to start working with high schoolers in the future and thinks the Launch Center staff will be an amazing resource to help them accomplish their further expansion goals.
“The Launch Center is an integral part of the Asbury Park and Neptune communities. It has become a safe place to go for essential information and resources for individuals in need, and a hub for community groups,” Ron described when asked about the Center’s importance. IFN’s Launch Center will continue its multifaceted approach to assisting those in the community, including growing their capacity building network.
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