Camarillo Explorers TJ Eskridge and John Parrott, both 16, pull weeds in the backyard of a homeowner at the Lamplighter Mobile Home Park in Camarillo on April 10.
Tall grass and weeds reached nearly to the windows of the small mobile home in Camarillo.
It needed a paint job, and trash had gathered beneath and along the sides of the house.
The 68-year-old woman who lives in the home in the Lamp- lighter Mobile Home Park needed help cleaning up her place, but she didn’t know where to turn, said Senior Dep. Mario Molina of the Camarillo Police Department.
“She got a letter from the property owner saying they’ll evict her unless she cleans the place up,” he said. “She called Independent Living (Resource Center), but they couldn’t do anything for her, so she called our office.” t took him about a week, but Molina, with help from a couple of other deputies at the Camarillo station, organized a project to help the woman.
He recruited a volunteer crew of cadets from the department’s Explorer program for high school students interested in law enforcement.
He also convinced a local paint store to donate the needed paint and supplies.
Explorer Angel Soriano, 17, paints the home.
On Monday morning, the deputies and several Explorer cadets came to the rescue. Molina’s sons, 11 and 14 years old, also pitched in.
They spent a good four hours pulling weeds, picking up trash and painting the home’s exterior, said the senior deputy, who also runs the department’s homeless services outreach program and an annual Christmas shopping spree for low-income children.
“We’re just trying to get it so that she can stay here. We don’t want to see her evicted,” Molina said.
“ She has enough money through SSI (Social Security Insurance) to actually live here and pay the mortgage and rental fees, but she doesn’t have the money to get landscaping out here—and she’s disabled.”
A person who answered the phone at Irvine-based Investment Property Group, which owns the 227-unit mobile home park, referred a reporter to an email address for company spokesperson Amber Monte. Monte did not return an email seeking comment.
The mobile home’s owner declined to be interviewed.
“She’s a very private person. She normally stays inside her home,” Senior Dep. Virginia Tinoco said. “She really doesn’t like a lot of people around on her property. We kind of had to reassure her about having us come over this morning.”
Like the other cadets who helped out, Angel Soriano, 17, was on spring break from Adolfo Camarillo High School this week. When Molina called, the teen said, he jumped at the chance to pitch in.
“I love helping out in the community,” Angel said. “It’s what the Explorers are all about.”