Bucket Brigade’s New Phase

Nearly three months after launching the grassroots effort of organizing volunteers to clear mud from residents’ homes following January’s mudslides, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is launching a new pilot program to further help mudslide victims. 

Bucket Brigade founder Abe Powell and co-founder Josiah Hamilton explained to the Montecito Association board last week and at the Community Meeting at MUS on Wednesday, that their focus has now shifted to homeowners who are uninsured or underinsured and still have tons of mud on their properties, months after the January 9 debris flow. “We can’t heal this community if we have to continue to stare at piles and piles of mud in our neighborhoods,” says Hamilton, who met with us earlier this week in the hard-hit neighborhood of Montecito Oaks. He explained that many of the residences damaged and destroyed by the mud flow belong to property owners who have little to no insurance, and removing mud from their properties is proving to be a major financial burden. One example: one homeowner in Montecito Oaks was granted $20,000 from his insurance company to remove debris and mud from his damaged property; a bid from a local contractor to remove the mud came in at $140,000. “This is a financial hardship for people, and we need to help,” he said. “No one else is taking care of these people.” 

The Bucket Brigade is partnering with local grading contractor Mac Brown Excavating, paying the contractor fees out of the hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations the non-profit organization has received. Mac Brown Excavating owner Mike Isaac is offering the Bucket Brigade a volume discount on the excavation services, and will start the program by clearing out two properties on Santa Clara Way. The mud will be sifted to remove small debris, and then it will be available to be used as topsoil for those who want it. Santa Clara Way, which backs up to Jameson, is peppered with damaged properties in all phases of rebuilding: from homes with 70 truckloads of mud still in the backyard, to homes that have been completely cleaned up, to homes that have been demolished, and everything in between. “It just shows us how varied the financial situations are of these residents,” said Hamilton, who used to live on the street and has sold several of the homes there. More than 70 percent of the homes in Montecito Oaks were affected by mud and debris flow, and at least five homes in the Oaks and along the Olive Mill corridor have been completely demolished in the last month, as residents navigate the rebuilding process. 

The Bucket Brigade, which originated after the Tea Fire in 2008 to help fire victims sift through the ash on their properties, has ballooned since re-launching in late January, with large-scale weekend digging events that have brought out more than 2,600 volunteers. Last weekend, Montecito resident Oprah Winfrey came out to support the Brigade, hearing stories from mudslide survivors and applauding the Brigade’s efforts. Winfrey also spoke at a special first responders pop-up dinner Saturday night at the currently closed San Ysidro Ranch, at which the Bucket Brigade founders were in attendance. “Meeting her and hearing her gratitude for the work we are doing was life-changing,” Hamilton said. The Brigade has been the recipient of fundraising efforts large and small: from donations from Ellen DeGeneres, to funds raised by local lemonade stands; a shopping event on Coast Village Road on Saturday, April 28, will also benefit the Bucket Brigade. 

“The cruel thing is that this dirt is from other properties in Montecito, and this happens to be where it landed,” Hamilton explained, pointing to piles and piles of mud covered by tarps in the front yard of a Santa Clara Way home. “This isn’t just this homeowner’s problem, it’s our problem as a community.” 

“You can’t drive by here and not remember the trauma we’ve been through. It’s hurting the homeowners, the real estate industry, and the tourism industry,” he said. “We have to get rid of this mud.”

For more information about the Bucket Brigade, and to donate, visit www.santabarbarabucketbrigage.org.