By: Jim Rothgeb, 951-676-4315, ext. 2621
North County Times
MURRIETA, Calif. -- From her vantage point just inside the front doors of the Murrieta Senior Center, Betty Campos couldn't contain her appreciation.
"I don't ride the bus very much, but I think it's pretty neat what those kids did," Campos said Wednesday. "This is something very positive."
Those kids are the Murrieta Mustang 4-H Club. In the last 10 months, the 40 youths, ages 5 through 18, raised $5,500 to have a covered bus stop built on Juniper Street, about a half-block from the senior center. Where there was once nothing but a pole with a schedule posted for Riverside Transit Agency's Route 23, there is now a metal bench underneath a metal shelter the blocks the sun's rays.
It may not sound like much, but to transit agency officials that bus stop, between Jefferson and Adams avenues, is a pretty big deal. That's why many of them gathered there Wednesday to honor the 4-H club and officially dedicate the new shelter.
"This may not be the biggest project we've ever done, but it is certainly the most noteworthy," said Larry Rubio, chief executive officer for Riverside Transit Agency. It's the system's first bus shelter ever built through fundraising efforts of a local youth group. And it's one of only a handful of covered stops along RTA routes in Murrieta.
Sheyanne Stewart, a 4-H alumna and current adviser, suggested the idea that club members approved last September. The money came from bake sales, snack bar sales, three anonymous donors and two other sources that Stewart singled out.
One was a grant for $3,000 from the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, named after longtime supporters of 4-H whose estate honors worthy club projects throughout California. They also received $1,500 from Kohl's of Murrieta, who worked with the Mustangs on a recent creek cleanup in Murrieta's Los Alamos Hi
lls Sports Park.
Eleven-year-old Carleigh Campbell estimates she either baked or sold 45 cupcakes in her effort to help raise money, and Wednesday she made it sound as though every one of them was well worth it.
"I've always wanted to do a big community project like this," she said. "And I feel good about it."
A small plaque will hang in a corner of the bus stop, honoring the Murrieta Mustangs for their contribution.
In the words of Murrieta Councilman Doug McAllister, who currently sits on the Riverside Transit board of directors, the club members "found a need, moved forward to meet it, and became part of the solution."
And using the Mustangs as an example, Rubio added that the challenge has been made.
"We'd love to see other groups step forward and also be part of that solution," he said.