TOOELE COUNTY, Utah — A 21-year-old from Tooele County is getting creative to pay for college, armed simply with a can of spray paint and a stencil.
BYU student Brayden Allen has spent his summer painting house numbers on curbs. It’s all part of his plan to raise $6,000 — enough to cover a full year of tuition.
“I was thinking about ways to earn money,” Allen said. “I was looking around and noticed some of the house numbers on people’s curbs were faded.”
That simple observation sparked an idea when Allen was just 16. He has painted curbs off and on over the years, and has done more than 100 curbs this summer alone. He charges $25 per curb, which includes house numbers and a custom symbol like an American flag, sports team logo, or college emblem.
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“Doing the curbs is awesome because it helps all of the delivery drivers and all of the emergency drivers, especially,” Allen explained. “A lot of these streets, when they’re dark, it’s almost impossible to see the house numbers.”
Allen’s work has taken him all over Utah — from Tooele to Farmington to Kaysville and beyond.
Aaron Shupe, a captain with the Kaysville Fire Department, says painted curb numbers are more important than people may realize.
“It’s really helpful,” Shupe shared. “There’s a possibility that maybe the house numbers in Kaysville were never put on or have degraded, especially in older areas or at night, they can be really hard to find.”
And while the painting job will help Allen pay for college, it’s about more than just the money for the Stansbury Park resident.
“Just getting out there and getting to know all these different types of people and their different circumstances and backgrounds gives me an appreciation for how kind and amazing people are,” he said.
With about 50 more curbs to go before reaching his goal, Brayden says he’s not stopping anytime soon.
“I’m grateful for this job that’s taught me that I can do hard things and that you can achieve your goals when you work hard,” he said. “You can’t put a price on that, you know?”
Anyone looking to get Brayden to add some curb appeal to their home can reach him at braydenallencurbpainting@gmail.com.
