December 2 Memorial Gets Fresh Look

SAN BERNARDINO>> The Dec. 2 attack on San Bernardino left residents in shock at the horrific act that took place that day. A memorial site was created on the coroner of Orange Show Road and South Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino. It is decorated with photographs of the victims, cards, a banner and flowers in memory of those that were affected by the terrorist attack. It has been a little over a year since the attack occurred and members of the San Bernardino Community noticed the memorial was no longer holding up to the standard it originally held. “I kept driving by it every day and it looked downgraded; that isn't how we should honor our fellow brothers and sisters who were affected by the attack,” said Keith Wisneski, a resident of San Bernardino. Wisneski said he saw the memorial was falling apart and beginning to be overgrown with weeds. He described it as almost looking like “another dirty street corner.” He decided to take action. On Wednesday, Feb. 15 he posted a message on the Facebook page “I love San Bernardino” and declared his plans to go down to the memorial site and clean it up. He asked if anyone else would like to volunteer and help out with the cleanup process. The next day, on Thursday, Feb. 16, Wisneski arrived at the Dec. 2 memorial with two volunteers to begin the work of cleaning up the area. They straightened up flower arraignments and other gifts that had fallen over in recent days. They also pulled weeds that were growing around the site and tidied it up so it look as clean as possible. “The City of San Bernardino is busy, especially dealing with all the potholes, so we took it upon ourselves for all the victims who were affected by this attack,” said Cindy Mondary, a volunteer. Wisneski declared that he plans on continuing the effort by cleaning up the memorial area twice a month and hopes to have more volunteers in the future. He also plans to create a GoFund me page in order to get a plaque for the memorial site and keep the area stocked with fresh flowers. “If more people come together to help out then we can make a difference,” said Christine Carter, a volunteer.