I landed into the Reno Airport in August of 1999. This 22-year-old kid from Georgia flew in to see Grandpa after a family tragedy. My grandmother was hit and killed after stepping onto Bath St. in Carson City, when the driver was temporarily blinded by the morning sun.

Grandpa and I hadn’t seen much of each other since I was in elementary school. Staying a couple days with him, I quickly realized he wasn’t equipped to fly solo, so I made a decision to not fly back home.

Having a little bit of newspaper experience, I landed a job with the Nevada Appeal. From there, I would go on to work nearly 8 years, hook up with the cute freckled lady in the pressroom, married her, then made a bunch of babies.

After my newspaper career, I slid into the realm of handheld electronics [construction calculators] where I worked another 8 years. I would eventually get bored of that and run away to work for the world’s most famous legal pimp where I would then church, get my boss into office, start a statewide hero movement, and get a kidney hacked out in San Fransisco.

As mentioned above, I’ve had a somewhat interesting career. I’ve never been wealthy doing it, but I most enjoy graphic design. I’ve done it for newspapers, product development, packaging, marketing, community health, and more.

In 2019, I read a neighbor’s pleading with anyone in a local Facebook group to save his life. Having been on dialysis for five years, he as at the end of his rope and needed a kidney donation.

I watched David’s posts over the next few weeks, and noticed how awkwardly silent the responses were, other than superficial thoughts and prayers. I was watching a man die. I felt I had to do something because nobody else would.

In June of 2018, I gathered a small group of friends and one of my kids to yank a dumped sofa out of a sandy wash near my house. Other residents kept complaining about all the illegal dumps, so I made a video to show them all how easy it would be to stop whining about it and take care of it with some gloves and a trailer.

That’ll learn me! The video was a hit, and it encouraged more people to want to join for the next cleanup. I scheduled that, then MORE people wanted to pitch in! With the volunteer and monetary support flowing in, it quickly became necessary to form a 501c3.

Desert Pigs have been going out nearly every weekend since, battling illegal dumping all over northern Nevada. We also joined forces with Clean Up Pahrump to help them tackle dumps down south.

Check out the Desert Pigs website for more information.