Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade enters new phase of cleanup and beautification in Montecito

The Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is entering a new phase of its recovery project in Montecito.

The focus is currently shifting to helping underinsured and non-insured homeowners and re-beautifying some of the hardest hit areas in the community.

One of the residents benefiting from the all volunteer non-profit’s help is Linda MacNeil whose home on Santa Clara Way was inundated with mud during the January mudslide.

“It’s just dirt, but it’s a lot of dirt. It’s a mountain of dirt and at the age of 77, you and your sand pail are not going to be able to get rid of that dirt by yourself,” McNeil said. “You need help from your community and magically, magically, they come.”

MacNeil lives on a fixed income relying on Social Security checks each month.

She could not afford the bids for hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the mud and dirt off of her property.

MacNeil’s sister, Melaine Timko, was ready to mortgage her own home to get the money to help MacNeil.

But, Timko saw a NewsChannel 3 report about the Bucket Brigade and called for help.

“Lo and behold that Saturday, they sent 42 people to help us dig out,” Timko said.

Bucket Brigade volunteers cleared a path to MacNeil’s home, cleaned out her garage and removed truckloads of dirt from her property for free, all within about 6 days.

Co-founder Josiah Hamilton said the Bucket Brigade has also found a way to keep the dirt out of the landfill and the ocean.

“We’ve found places to drop 3,000 truckloads at no dumping fee and where people can actually use this product. It’s super clean dirt,” Hamilton said.

Green waste is also being recycled.

MacNeil’s property and another on Santa Clara Way are part of a new Bucket Brigade pilot project with the goal of helping as many residents as possible who are underinsured or have no insurance at all.

“This pilot program has proven to us that we were able to do it at breakneck speed and at a fraction of the cost,” Hamilton said.

The next phase also includes a beautification project focusing on the Jameson, Olive Mill and Hot Springs corridor.

The Bucket Brigade wants to get the area cleaned up, rebuild fences, power wash homes and put in some native plants to take the area back to the “old normal with some improvements,” said Hamilton.

“We want it to be not only presentable for people coming into our community but presentable for us,” Hamilton said. “Our kids and families are going down these streets every day. That’s all they remember and it’s tough.”

Habitat for Humanity, Wells Fargo, The Church of Latter Day Saints, Mac Brown Excavating and Help California are also credited with helping MacNeil.

All of the funds are coming from donations.

If you would like to donate to the Bucket Brigade, click here.