Another abandoned homeless camp got cleaned out – a big one at Haskell's Beach near the Bacara Resort. This time the operation involved an unusual combination of talent: Bacara Resort official Mitch Vargas and Santa Barbara County Sheriff Ben Sandu, who is also the Community Resource Deputy for the City of Goleta, who contacted Heal the Ocean, who contacted Brian Borgatello of MarBorg Industries – and finally the most unusual participant of all in this project is a former resident of the camp who is now living with a roof over his head, and who now cleans up every piece of junk he can get his hands on.

This is Andrew Velikanje (pronounced “Vela-can-JEE”), who, in the end of the Haskell's project, got tired of waiting for everyone to get it together, and on a recent day, went out to the camp and bagged it up himself for easy pickup by MarBorg today, Tuesday, July 13, 2021.

Andrew cleaning up Haskell's site. Self photo by Andrew.

Andrew came to the project through Hands Across Montecito, the group operating on the “Functional Zero” tactic of getting to know each homeless individual as a person with a story, rather than a thing to shuffle somewhere else. The group, led by Sharon Byrne (who is also Montecito Association Executive Director), has had considerable success housing formerly houseless people living about in the shrubbery of the Montecito community.

Andrew is a Hands Across Montecito protégé, and he now spends his days cleaning up shorelines, roadsides, beaches, the Bird Refuge – and even Highway 154. He has cleaned up the shoreline of Lake Cachuma so many times the powers that be at Lake Cachuma are considering giving him a permanent pass to be there as much as he wants. He has formed a new business, Earthcomb, with videos he posts on YouTube. (This live link shows him cleaning up Highway 154 before hitting the Haskell's camp (at film marker 1:26). Andrew hauls hundreds of pounds of trash per day from everywhere and anywhere.

For Andrew, to beautify the former spot where he used to camp outdoors with others is truly the definition of Coming Full Circle.

Thank you, Andrew…And also, thank you Sheriff Ben Sandu, and Brian Borgatello!

L to R: Sheriff Ben Sandu, Andrew, & Brian Borgatello. Photo by Hillary Hauser.