Tag archives: Bucket Brigade
Three years after Montecito’s devastating debris flows, some memories just won’t fade away Although the mud is gone, and most of the rocks have been either carted away or stacked in piles nearby, the intersection of Hot Springs Road and Olive Mill Road still bears witness to the work that remains to be done before […]
As our community approaches the third anniversary of the 1/9 Thomas Fire Debris Flow, we find ourselves in the third consecutive disaster we’ve faced as a community, and this time it’s a global pandemic. This Saturday, we’d love to gather everyone, come together as a community, and remember those we lost in the early morning […]
If you’ve ever trekked up the walking path on the west side of San Ysidro Road between the 101 Freeway and East Valley Road, or along the north side of North Jameson Lane between San Ysidro and Olive Mill Road, then you are already familiar with Montecito’s recently established community trail network. While sidewalks were […]
Fresh on the heels of donating and distributing 33,000 cloth masks sewed by 300 volunteers, the Bucket Brigade (as well as 16 other organizations including the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network and the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County) is taking its crowd-sourcing expertise in a new direction: launching a major campaign of community and […]
This week, both sides of State Street would typically be lined with crowds watching men and women wearing traditional Mexican costumes parading on horseback or dancing in formation from one end of town to the other. But thanks to COVID-19, the annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta has been called off for the first time since […]
When you’ve been quarantined for weeks and a tree falls on your house, at least you’ve got your friends, and your dog Ferocious winds tore through Montecito that night, leaving a wake of damage and power outages. Forecasters blamed a strengthening ridge of high pressure and weak offshore gradients for producing the scary and destructive […]
As I write the introduction for today’s letter, I’m doing something I usually don’t do while I write and edit: listen to music. I’m listening to a funky, young album called The Deep End produced by a composing duo who recorded the whole thing in only two weeks. Today we’re hearing from rising artist, Clay […]
One of them is sits in front of the Montecito Public Library. Another can be found on the grounds of the Knowlwood Tennis Club. Two are located next to the Boy Scout building in Upper Manning Park. Several are scattered along different trails in Montecito’s Ennisbrook and Casa Dorinda open spaces, and all of them […]
On Tuesday, June 2, fourth graders at Laguna Blanca Lower School held their Citizenship Event via Zoom. Usually held as a special breakfast on campus, the event is a culmination of curriculum taught in the fourth grade, focusing on good citizenship and leadership. Each year, students choose members of the community who exhibit the Six […]
Since 1979, Montecito’s non-profit Friendship Center has provided group therapy for senior citizens from Monday through Friday at its rustic headquarters on Eucalyptus Lane. Normally by mid-morning on a weekday, the center would be a buzz of activity, with caregivers dropping off members to enjoy a day full of live music, therapy dog yoga, talks […]
When I committed to write a regular column for the Montecito Journal about our local community and the people who care for it, I could never have imagined COVID-19 and how it has overtaken our collective world. But here we are in this moment of fear and “social distancing” and the crushing of livelihoods, and […]
Not even an epic coronavirus pandemic can slow down Abe Powell. The founder of the Bucket Brigade who became a local hero in Montecito after the 1/9 debris flow, when he led local residents in an impromptu effort to dig out their neighbors’ homes, is now taking a front-line role in educating the public about […]
Josiah Hamilton, 45, great-great nephew of the late civic leader Pearl Chase and a co-founder of the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade, just opened the Berkshire Hathaway National Sales Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, with more than 6,500 agents in attendance. Josiah, who grew up dividing his time between Montecito and London, has been working as an […]
The Montecito Community Foundation board of trustees met earlier this month to wrap up another successful year of donating funds to beautification projects throughout Montecito. The Foundation, which was formed in 1966, continues to be run by local citizens who oversee the granting of funds for projects that preserve and improve Montecito. In 2019 MCF […]
On Monday, December 9, at Montecito Hall, Bucket Brigade co-founder Abe Powell hosted a Resiliency Workshop in order to roll out the organization’s newest mission: to help neighborhoods build hyper local resiliency in Montecito and beyond. “We are in a time where there is a huge opportunity for neighborhoods to build resilience, in what we […]
This past Saturday, November 16, more than 50 volunteers with the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade planted, mulched, and watered 150 native plants and trees in the Casa Dorinda public open space, a portion of which was heavily affected by the 1/9 debris flow. The 22-acre site has been under restoration since last year, when a […]
It was another successful Beautification Day on the books, as over 150 volunteers turned out last Saturday, November 2 to help beautify Montecito and gather for lunch in the upper village. The 34th annual Montecito Association Beautification Day was organized by co-chairs Mindy Denson, Houghton Hyatt, Kathi King, and Trish Davis, along with Montecito Association […]
In an update to a story we brought you last week (MJ # 25/37), over 200 members of the Westmont student body participated in a Safe Routes to School Project for Cold Spring School, with support from the Bucket Brigade, Cold Spring Landscape, Cold Spring School parents and staff, Montecito Trails Foundation, and material donations […]
This Sunday, September 22, more than 200 Westmont student athletes will be volunteering with a partnership of community groups to restore and beautify three important pedestrian paths surrounding Cold Spring Elementary School. The volunteer workday emerged from a traffic-safety assessment orchestrated by the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation (COAST) in longtime coordination with Cold Spring School […]
Last Friday, May 10, the Bucket Brigade, as well as reps from Montecito Community Foundation, Montecito Trails Foundation, Montecito Association, and First District Supervisor Das Williams, marked the groundbreaking on a new walking path on North Jameson Lane between Olive Mill Road and San Ysidro Road, with plans to add a longer path along the […]
