If you were like most children, I am sure there was once a “thing” you had your eye on, something you hoped and wished for more than anything. This week’s neighbor grew up with such a “thing” too and never let go of his dream. Meet Steve Masoner, Old Town “Neighbor to Know.”
Steve was born into an Air Force family in Florida, the middle child of three. Upon leaving the Air Force they moved to Peculiar, MO. when he was very young, where they were surrounded by family. They farmed, raised prize cattle and lived a normal mid-western farm life. He is forever thankful for this upbringing and attributes everything he has become and done to the values he learned at this time in his life. But Steve had the “thing.” It was a poster of a house on a beautiful beach, and it became a dream far beyond the reach of a Missouri farm boy that he would not let go of.
He ran cross country in high school, and describes himself as having been very introverted and shy. His graduating class had only 60, the smallness of his town driving him to leave immediately following graduation to start summer school in college. His college days began at the School of the Ozarks, but during his first semester his track scholarship came to a sudden end when he was permanently injured. It was at that time his first guiding opportunity came when we started to work for Frito-Lay.
The company moved him to Springfield, MO. where they helped underwrite his education. His mentor at Frito-Lay helped him to find his niche in labor relations. In addition to working for Frito-Lay and going to school, he also owned and ran three flower shops, learning along the way about people, management and initiative. He worked for Frito-Lay almost 13 years gaining increasing responsibility, and ultimately managing over 120 regional staff. He also went on to complete a MBA, attending classes at night.
In 1989, not knowing a soul, he took a chance to move to California to work for the new Eagle Snacks division of Anheuser-Busch. He still had his poster with him and knew he was getting one step closer to his dream. Six months after his arrival here he went with friends to Las Vegas. He is not a gambler, and sat only one time at a table and has never done it again. But that once was enough because while there he met Kim. Kim lived in Seal Beach and was his introduction to the city. Steve describes the epiphany he felt the first time he saw Seal Beach. It was his poster, his ideal and he knew he had found the place he had been seeking. Six months later on the Fourth of July, Steve and Kim were married and two years later on their anniversary, they moved to an apartment on Ocean Avenue where they would live for 22 years.
He went to work for a company that managed recycled paper products. It was during this job, learning about ecology and reusable products that gave him a solid foundation when he and Kim began Save Our Beach. He left the job in 1999 and began his new career with Edward Jones, working first from an office on Main Street and learning the business. He has gone on to establish his own office, where he resides today above Cold Stone on Main Street.
It was then when he had time to truly absorb and enjoy the town that he and Kim laid the foundation for Save Our Beach. He tells me, “we would take long walks on the beach every day picking up trash along the way. We were asked many times if we had any extra bags by people offering to help, so we started carrying extra trash bags on our walks. Then we started carrying a box of trash bags with us and setting it on the sand and people would pick up a trash bag and help out. By that time we decided if there is that much interest by people to help, we’ll just make it easier for them by conducting a beach cleanup on a monthly basis.” And then Kim, ever the more outgoing and outspoken of the two, publicly committed them to a monthly clean-up, every third Saturday of the month.
In the early days of the cleans-ups they would average 25-30 people at the monthly events. They paid for all the bags, gloves and supplies themselves. Today, their monthly clean-ups average over 500 people, and major cleanup events such as Coastal Cleanup Day in October, sometimes closer to 1,000. Save Our Beach became a non-profit in 2003 and has continued to grow their influence since then.
Save Our Beach is actively involved in educating communities up the river trail that impact us daily. There are 37 major cities in the San Gabriel River watershed, 19 of which are actually situated on the river that all drains past our city on its way to the ocean They have done outreach, education seminars, and work to recruit them as volunteers on clean-up day. As Steve puts it, “Our message has got to start with the kids. They are our future and the hope that we can change the behaviors that cause our river, beach and ocean to become polluted. If we can show them the value of what simply picking up one piece of trash each day can make, it is worth it.”
Styrofoam remains the number one item they collect each year, although cigarette butts continue to plaque the beach and waters. Their statistics are staggering. Since 1999:
• Volunteers have collected over 371 TONS of trash or the equivalent of 67 elephants or 185 cars
• More than 100,000 people have contributed over 300,000 volunteer hours. This equals 12,500 Days or 34.25 years.
• If you put a price on that work, it represents over $3,000,000 of in-kind labor.
This does not include the thousands of hours of love and devotion Steve puts in each year to continue to keep this dream moving forward. Sadly, Steve and our community suddenly lost Kim in 2014. He has continued to shepherd Save Our Beach through the transition and found tremendous solace in the outreach of the community and volunteers.
And the dream? Well, recently Steve fulfilled the “it.”
He completed work on a stunning renovated home on Ocean Avenue, which as he tells me, is highly reminiscent of the one in his long ago poster. Our beach and community can never repay the debt we owe him for his time and perseverance. He hopes to continue to encourage everyone to make the environment a part of their everyday lives. Fittingly, Steve’s response when I asked how he would like people to know most: “Follow your dreams.” He has shown me that they do come true. If you would like to know more about Save Our Beach, go to www. SaveOurBeach.org.
