When you've lost everything, if you can find anything, that's a game changer

Abe, a life-long resident and a director of the local fire protection district, was at home and nearby but a safe distance from the Montecito mudslide and debris flow that followed California's "Thomas" fire. Many people he knew were not so lucky. He and his wife sat around their kitchen table wondering what they could do to support others. What began as a favor to help a friend dig out from many feet of mud, turned out to be the beginning of the Bucket Brigade, a non-profit organization of several hundred volunteers that dug out and removed mud from homes inundated during the Montecito debris flow.