Don’t Dump In Our Desert named Hometown Hero in Volunteer category
Submitted photo
Don’t Dump In Our Desert has been named the 2024 Hometown Hero in the Volunteer category.
Posted
More information
Don’t Dump In Our Desert can be found on Facebook. To learn more about Dustin Holm’s business, visit www.northvalleyjunkremoval.com.
How to Nominate
Know somebody in Peoria who should be recognized as a Hometown Hero? Here is how to do it.
Email: Send your nomination to aznews@iniusa.org, or fill out this nomination form yourvalley.net/hh-nomination/index.html.
After that: the nomination will be reviewed, and monthly winners will be selected based on their community contributions. Nominations should include name, email address and phone number along with the category of nomination, some details about the person being nominated and what accomplishments they have done.
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Earlier this year, Arizona State Trust land near Carefree Highway was experiencing illegal camping and homelessness, as well as illegal dumping and littering.
Dustin Holm, who is very familiar with such things, said the area has long had an issue with blight, but over the last year it has become more overrun. So much so that Peoria and Phoenix Police departments as well as two Peoria city council members joined together to help remove the junk near State Route 74 and New River Road in June.
Instrumental in that removal was volunteer group Don’t Dump in Our Desert. Holm, who formed and leads the group, said 23 volunteers cleaned nearly 6,000 pounds of debris.
He and his family own a junk removal business called North Valley Junk Removal that has operated since late 2016.
His travels throughout the Northwest Valley led him to found and sponsor Don’t Dump In Our Desert in 2020, with the mission to make his home desert cleaner.
“As a business owner I drive around 8-10 hours a day and see litter everywhere. We would pick up a mattresses here and there on the roadside, but when exploring the open desert, I had noticed that contractors, homeowners, other junk removal businesses and homeless were littering everywhere and on a large scale, and it was way more than our small business of three to four employees could handle,” he said. “But I wanted to do more, so I took to Facebook groups asking if anyone was interested in volunteering.”
More than 20 volunteers answered the call and Don’t Dump In Our Desert was born.
Since then, the group has had 26 volunteer events and hosted as many as 60 volunteers at one time, as well as picked up more than 150,000 pounds of layered debris and 1,000 tires, most in the vicinity of Lake Pleasant and the neighboring areas. The group also cleans public lands such as State Trust land and Bureau of Land Management land.
Holm hopes some day to make an impact on forest service land.
“People create the environment they live in. The more people that won’t tolerate the abuse of our open land, the better,” Holm said. “We live in a beautiful area, let’s keep it that way.”
For their service to the community, Don’t Dump In Our Desert has been named a Peoria Independent Hometown Hero in the Volunteer category.
The Hometown Heroes Awards are a celebration of individuals who live or teach in the city, and Peoria businesses for their achievements and distinguished contributions to the community and beyond.
Don’t Dump In Our Desert will be honored at an awards luncheon next year. The fourth annual Hometown Heroes luncheon will honor those nominated in 2024.
Holm said one of this future goals is to see Don’t Dump In Our Desert have an impact statewide. But in the meantime he will continue offering residents an opportunity to serve the community.
“We get residents, local businesses, boy scouts, kids from school earning community service hours, you name it,” he said. “Everyone seems to have a great time, and the end result is very rewarding.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
