• National Day of Cleanup 2023

On Saturday, September 16th, Wildomar saw 120 volunteers gather at the Elks Lodge to participate in this year's National Clean Up Day.

Some of the happy faces.

Then after some delicious Montague Brothers coffee, and Pam's Donuts, they went into the heart of City Council District 1, Represented by Carlos Marquez, and proceeded to pull out 110 bags of trash and debris, which filled up two donated roll-offs by CR&R, which weighed in at over 3.5 tons over about three hours time.

This group of eight volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really put in a lot of work, for many hours. 

Impressive before and after shots. This is the north side of Sedco Blvd.

Before and after of the median on Sedco Blvd.

I'd like to take a moment to give credit where credit is due. Wildomar's longest-standing champion, Bridgette Moore. The average resident doesn't know why our city has less trash in it, including graffiti and illegal signs, and though it's a team effort to be sure, without a bonafide leader none of this could be possible.

Bridgette Moore as she's addressing the volunteers. 

She has such amazing grit and determination about her, she is the very definition of what an old-school Wildomarian (Wildomartini in my dictionary) is all about. Only when she decides to hang up her spurs will some in the community recognize the unfillable shoes she leaves for a rookie to try and fill.

This was about two hours into the clean-up event. She wasn't at the Elks Lodge looking over paperwork, she was out working, and it's never easy work. Whether it be litter pick up, or tackling tumbleweeds.

Ok, enough gilding the lily, but seriously, Wildomar is such a different place than it would have been had she not seen a need and tackled it head-on more than twenty years ago. Thank you for all you've done, and all you continue to do!

Here are a few more photos to round out this blog.

Gotta love the new paint for this trailer.

This trailer can carry anything.

The volunteers pulled a lot of large items off the streets.

• Earth Day 2023 Wildomar Style

Saturday, April 22, 2023 saw one of the largest gatherings of volunteers since The Great Day of Service ten years ago in 2013.

Some of the volunteers that assembled at Wildomar Elementary School.

The volunteer count topped 80 individuals, 84 to be more precise, and they stuffed over 60 bags of litter, weeds, and debris. Also, a CR&R roll-off bin that held half the debris from the cleanup on Arnold St. (It's going to take another bin to get the rest of the dead trees out of the public right of way).

Volunteers removing the suckers from the bases of the olive trees on Grand Ave.

Big thanks to the Bread of Life Church, Elsinore High Earth Club, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Leave No Women Behind, US Bank, and Wildomar Beautification Volunteers. 

Thank you to Diamond W Excavating's Wally and Paula Willette for all the work on Arnold St.

The areas cleaned included Wildomar Trail from Cervera to Grand, Palomar from Gruwell to Arnold, Arnold St, and Grand from Wildomar Trail to Sheila. 

Various sponsors that made the cleanup possible include CR&R, Pam's Donuts, Paula & Wally Willette of Diamond W Excavating, and Matthew Russell of Bemus Landscape. 

Matthew Russel of Bemus Landscape donated his time and expertise to cut down the dead trees that were in the public right of way on Arnold St. 

Individuals that donated include Daphne Meza, Debi Sutherland, Jasmine Bearden, and Bridgette Moore. 

Many Wildomar residents are familiar with the work put in by the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers and how much litter, debris, illegal signs, and graffiti they've abated since they came upon the scene. 

When you see WBV around town or at a park event, please come up and say hello... you won't be obligated to pick up any litter. 😊  Photo by Keith Jared

Here's a rundown of the 2023 WBV stats year-to-date through 4-22

130 Volunteers

979 Volunteer Hours

733 Bags

39 Trash Cans Full

27 Illegal Dumps Cleaned Up

5 Trailers full of branches and weeds

24 tires

79 Graffiti Removals

6 Shopping Carts 

...and more.

Nate from US Bank mows down some substantial weeds in the public right of way on Arnold Street. 

Wildomar Rap opinion time

In our world where it's common to hear concerns about how fragmented our society is becoming, volunteering for a common cause is a great way to tear down the silos we often find ourselves in.

Wildomar is our shared community. Community is more than just the roads we all drive on, it's partial ownership by all. Expecting others to do the work has become normal, but it doesn't get things done.

If we all do a little, then our neighborhoods, our community, our town, our city looks all the better and something that we all can be proud of.

If you have been on the sidelines, I encourage you to volunteer for the betterment of the whole community. It's a truly honorable thing to do, sets a good example for others, plus it gives a great feeling of accomplishment too. 😊

Working for the betterment of the Wildomar community.

If you would like more information about Wildomar Beautification Volunteers, please check out their Facebook page at this link. 

• Illegal Dumping On Camera

What started out as a depository of bags from Wildomar Beautification Volunteers turned into an illegal dump that included 29 big rig tires and part of a cement mixer. In the early evening hours of September 17th, a black pick-up truck was seen backing into the area and dumping off tires.

My guess is that this person lives within half a mile of the illegal dumpsite. They saw an opportunity and came on Saturday evening as the sun was going down, and a lot of the community was at Mariachi Night at Marna O'Brien Park. 

If your neighbor's yard had nearly 30 large tires that are suddenly gone, you know it's he that just cost the Wildomar taxpayers money. 

Each of those tires costs about $30 to recycle, and that's not counting the labor.

Though I don't expect our police to put much time into this, this was reported and now the black truck is on their radar. Remember the FLOCK cameras in town... yeah I bet this guy might like a Mulligan right about now. 

Do you know this truck or driver? Looks like he's got a nice pair of black sweatpants with a wide white stripe down the sides. Pretty distinctive looking.

Thank you, neighbor, anything else you want us to pay for?
To be clear, the tree branches were from the Saturday clean-up.

I asked Wildomar Beautification Volunteers co-founder Councilwoman Bridgette Moore for her take.

The Wildomar Beautification Volunteers are out every day in Wildomar picking up litter, including 4 miles on the freeway, and we leave the filled orange bags for pickup on the next business day. Please do not drop off any items, trash or tires near the orange bags. 

The city provides two free dump days and residents can also call their waste haulers for special pickups. The next cleanup day is 11/5/22 please watch for notices from your local waste hauler.

The actual "Montague Brothers" hard at work to keep their community looking good.

Wildomar's future leaders chipping in making Wildomar a nicer place to live.

It may seem like a small problem, illegal dumping, but there are two options when one is found. 

Clean it up, or leave it there. 

I haven't met too many people that are good with couches, tires, old sinks from a remodel, yard waste, empty liquor bottles, and a myriad of other castoffs that regularly are dumped off by someone that couldn't-care-less-about-their-effects-on-the-other-99%-of-us storing garbage willy-nilly wherever they want. 

Call me Karen if you want to, I'm not phased if you're in the 1% that thinks this is no big deal. 

If this is you, or you know someone that uses this method to lighten their loads, please STOP IT! Seriously, shake yourself and show some civic pride or move out of town. 

There are many reputable junk haulers that service Wildomar, that don't dump their loads on the side of the road. I can think of four or more off the top of my head, so there's no excuse for dumping in the public right of way or on someone else's private property. I don't want to name them here, because I don't want to leave any out, but they regularly advertise in local Facebook groups on Mondays. Seek and ye shall find. 

Left to Right: Joseph Morabito, Public Works man Brad, Dan Gonse, Public Works man Steven and code name Johnny Grove... errr, Jerry Orchard. 😁

A big thank you to Montague Brothers Coffee for bringing over beverages and to Johnny of Pam's Donuts for showing up with a box of donuts. You just gotta love our town. ❤

• Group Effort Puts a Dent In It

Thirty-eight volunteers getting psyched up to do ten years of yard work in two hours. 😁

Donuts (donated by the VFW) and a pep talk before beginning.

Not the best "before" picture as a lot of work had already been done... but still a long way from the final look.

It started when Code Enforcement was called out to check on a property that was in need of some TLC (to put it mildly).

There were volunteers of all ages. 

Code Enforcement approached us (Dan Gonse and Joseph Morabito) after a Coffee with the Mayor event wondering if the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers might be able to lend a hand in a distressed situation.

A bird's eye view from the top of the roll-off dumpster.

From there Councilwoman Bridgette Moore jumped in and got the groundwork laid that saw 30 volunteers meet bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:30am to tackle this daunting task.

It took a few moments to get into the groove, but soon enough the volunteers were working in unison like a determined colony of ants with the same objective: let's get this done before the Sun really heats up. 😁

Mayor Ben Benoit atop the dumpster. Not the easiest job to volunteer for, but there he is... while I'm on this side of the camera and keyboard. 😅

Among the thirty volunteers were four members of the Wildomar city council, and three members of Wildomar's Code Enforcement Team.

I asked Bridgette for a recap of the morning: "Today we have over 30 volunteers helping an elderly veteran in the city of Wildomar. We have our mayor, Ben Benoit here, mayor pro-tem Joseph Morabito and council members Ashlee DePhillippo and Bridgette Moore." 

Look at the difference on that fence line.

"We also have our code enforcement team here. We have Prestige Nutrition. We want to thank our sponsor CR&R for donating the bin. And also Agustin Montesinos for trimming the palm tree."

Imagine all the palm fronds that had to be cut off of that tree.

It was said to be an $1800 job that they donated.

Michelle, of *Prestige Nutrition, and her daughter Ava, along with the other members of her family, were out in force.

*Prestige Nutrition is a new business in town. It's near Go-Nutz Donuts and Altura Credit union. It's veteran owned and they're already looking to be active members of the Wildomar community. 

I'm guessing that people who regularly use that road will be doing double-takes for the next week or two as they pass by it. Out of privacy concerns for the resident, I'm not going to post the address here. 

A candid picture of Bridgette Moore in action. In addition to organizing this, she worked it too. If you look close enough, you'll see a special shoe on her left foot. She had hurt it just a little over a week ago, but didn't let that slow her down where it would have easily sidelined me. 

After tons of debris surrounding this piece of equipment had been removed, it was evident that it wasn't going anywhere. I made a note to myself after seeing this. Clean out the garage and side yard while it can be accommodated with regular trash cans.

In the end, there was still a lot more work to do, but talk about having one heckuva head start. 

Wildomar is taking a more serious approach to code enforcement these days and though you may have been neglecting things for years (or decades) that's not going to be a valid excuse if you get that knock on your door.