Our 11th Annual Clean-Dezert Cleanup this year was scheduled for Nov. 2nd, 2024. As some may know, we start scheduling these events 4-5 months in advance. This year was going to pose some new obstacles as Corey, our long-time friend, was scheduled to have his second baby the week before the event. This meant we were a man down, but we were so excited for the addition to his family that we didn't give him too hard of a time (we did… lol). Steve, who you all probably know, also was in a small accident and hurt his finger a couple of months prior, so he wouldn't be much help. In reality, he actually messed up his shoulder pretty badly after getting hit on his motorcycle by a car. The guys still put in a ton of help where they could, and none of this would be possible without their support, as well as the rest of the team.
For this year, we also added a new area to the event, as our long-time sponsor Audiotistics has been seeing a big problem down by Apple Valley, so this introduced some new logistics for us. We also decided to add a trunk-or-treat to the event since it was just a few days after Halloween. Now, as the date approached, we settled in for the typical event butterflies.
Friday Morning: Friday morning was as calm as could be. Typically, we see the dumpsters dropped off around 5 a.m., but this time, there was silence in the dark early morning. By 7 a.m., we stepped out of the trailers and realized we still didn’t have our dumpsters. Odd, but a quick call to our contact should clear it up. This is when panic might usually set in, but I knew that wouldn’t help. My contact explained that the office manager had been fired, and the paperwork for our 10 trash dumpsters had gone missing.
WHAATTTTTTT?!?! Our contact loves to mess with me every year and say he forgot, but this time he seemed pretty genuine, and he said he would call me back.
An hour later, the first dumpster finally arrived, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Catastrophe averted! We had noticed that the area we use for the dumpsters was a bit softer and more torn up this year, and just after the sixth dumpster was dropped off, we had another issue. One of the semis hauling the dumpsters got stuck and couldn’t get out of the sand. Thankfully, my team was prepared, and we got to pull him out, which was quite the experience. The rest of the day went smoothly with a steady line of people pulling in and setting up camp. This is how we know it will be a great weekend.
Saturday: The Big Day Saturday was our main event day, and we had everything set for our team to be up at 6 a.m. doing some final setup. At 3 a.m., I woke up to the shade canopy on my trailer flapping wildly in the wind, so I quickly got up to secure it. With my mind racing, I checked the forecast, and my heart sank: 15 mph winds until 10 a.m., then increasing to 25-30 mph. With this weighing on my mind, sleep was going to be difficult. This wasn’t ideal and had us preparing for a bit of a challenge. By 6 a.m., our team was up, readying everything for the 8 a.m. sign-ups.
The good news was that we were well-prepared. Vendors set up, sign-ups began, and the crowd enjoyed event shirts courtesy of Pacific Office Automation and breakfast burritos from Del Taco. It’s amazing how fast 300 burritos and 400 shirts can disappear!
With approximately 450 volunteers signed up, we turned our attention to the weather, which was quickly worsening. We made the decision to help vendors take down their EZ-Ups, and we pulled down our own canopies after the merch and sign-up tables flipped over a few times. Panic started to set in—how would we handle lunch and the raffle in these conditions? We decided to move all of the raffle prizes, tables, and food to the backside of the trailers to use them as a wind block. This wasn’t ideal as now we had to manage a new setup, less space, and things were a bit disorganized, but this was what we were dealt with, and it had to work. The next question was, how many people would stick it out in this weather?
Lunch and Raffle Success By noon, it was time for lunch, and the Badlinesgoodtimes team came through once again. Elliot led his family and friends in cooking for our volunteers, which is a huge undertaking. Caleb (from UC Davis and our main meat man
provided some of the best sausages our volunteers have ever had. We’re so grateful for their efforts, which took the pressure off our team and allowed us to focus on the cleanup.
At 1 p.m., the raffle went off without a hitch. We had an incredible array of products to offer our volunteers. We started with a kids' raffle, where every child who attended left with a toy, making it a highlight of the day. Then, we moved on to the adult raffle. Although the change in space and layout was a bit of a challenge, our team handled it well, and we moved through the raffle efficiently. It’s such a great feeling to see people win parts they’ve been eyeing and needed for their toys. With the hard work the volunteers put in picking up trash, we get to give back by providing them with amazing parts.
Trash Collection Recap Originally, the Clean-Dezert crew planned to have about 10-15 people go to Apple Valley for that cleanup to avoid overwhelming our sponsors overseeing the area. This was a new approach for us, and we weren’t sure how it would work out. During the two weeks leading up to the event, Tim from Audiotistics promoted the cleanup with local residents. He secured two dumpsters, a dump truck, and two bobcats from local companies who were also tired of seeing trash in the area. Instead of 10-15 people, closer to 30-40 turned out and made a big impact. They hauled out two abandoned cars with the Point Magu Offroad Club and filled the dumpsters quickly. While they made substantial progress, it looks like we’ll need an even bigger cleanup there next year, as the area is heavily impacted.
Our main Barstow team filled 11 dumpsters this year, consistent with past years. Including the Apple Valley team, we removed a total of 14 dumpsters’ worth of trash from the desert. This is both amazing and unfortunate, as it shows the scale of the problem. We’re still awaiting official weight measurements, but we estimate around 40-50 tons of trash collected.
Closing the Day We ended the day with a small trunk-or-treat for the kids who stayed and a huge bonfire—the perfect way to decompress. It was heartwarming to watch the kids be kids and the adults join in on the fun, too.
A huge thank you to everyone involved—this event feels like one big family. None of this would be possible without the support of my family, close friends who help every year, sponsors who believe in the cause, and the volunteers who aren’t afraid of a little hard work.
We’ll see you at the next one.
Adam Filbin
Clean-Dezert
Still working on the pictures. but thought you guys might enjoy reading about the event from my perspective
drive.google.com
