Volunteers begin beautification process in Montecito

By: Alys Martinez
Posted: May 12, 2018 04:15 PM PDT
Updated: May 14, 2018 10:40 AM PDT

MONTECITO, Calif. – The Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade and Habitat for Humanity joined forces on Saturday to remove debris from Montecito.

Organizers dubbed the event, “Super ‘Cito Saturday”.

Part of the focus of recovery efforts has shifted, from removing mud from homes to beginning the beautification process in highly traveled areas.

Elizabeth Beebe, Disaster Relief Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity, said this volunteer day was about clearing away as much debris as possible.

“We really want to make a visible impact in the amount of trash, debris, metal, and anything that can be recycled into a bunch of clean mud that can be hauled away,” she said.

Habitat for Humanity and Bucket Brigade volunteers, along with other groups descended on the Olive Mill and Hot Springs corridor.

“These are areas that we pass through every day and it would be nice to see that we are making some progress, mud piles are disappearing and we don’t have this constant reminder every day,” said Bucket Brigade Co-Founder Linda Cole.

With some manpower and heavy machinery, volunteers collected and sorted debris. Then, put it into containers for removal.

Cadets with the Alan Hancock Fire Academy came all the way from Lompoc to be a part of the community clean-up.

“Originally, you can’t even fathom how it’s going to happen and then like that, this morning, in a couple hours, we went from big piles of debris to graded soil. We’ll be able to rebuild or whatever these people are going to do with their properties,” said cadet Grant Frempter.

Organizers said it’s important to note that this phase is a big part of the healing process.

“People are ready to move on and show everyone that Montecito is ready for business, and that we have this amazing community,” Cole said.

This story was originally published at: http://www.keyt.com/news/santa-barbara-s-county/volunteers-begin-beautification-process-in-montecito/741206267.