Toddler Receives Special Birthday Visit on Trash Day Friday
Maddux Reed loves to watch the garbage man and his big truck visit his house each Friday. Maddux takes the family trash to the curb and makes sure the neighbors have their trash out as well. He watches the garbage truck and his buddy Bob drive by each Friday. Maddux celebrated his third birthday today (February 18) with a trash bash theme party. Solid waste drivers stopped by, honking their horns and singing him happy birthday.
TODDLER RECEIVES SPECIAL BIRTHDAY VISIT ON TRASH DAY FRIDAY
**City trash operators recognize
Maddux Reed on his third birthday
RAPID CITY, SD---For three-year old Maddux Reed, Fridays are a day filled with excitement and anticipation.
Friday morning is trash day in Maddux’s neighborhood on the south side of Rapid City. By 9 a.m. each Friday, it’s a pretty good bet Maddux has already pulled his family’s trash container to the curb and taken a look up and down the street to make sure his neighbors have done the same.
Friday is always a special day for Maddux because he gets to see his buddy, Bob the City garbage man, at work operating Sir Dumps A Lot, one of the City’s 12 collection trucks!
As the rumble of the City garbage truck enters his neighborhood, Maddux can be found perched at his family’s front window. Filled with excitement and joy, Maddux keeps a close eye on the garbage truck as his hero pulls within view, gazing with amazement as the automatic arm of the garbage truck grabs the trash containers, lifts and tilts them, pouring the contents into the bed of the truck. Maddux and Bob exchange waves as the truck pulls away – the child overjoyed he has helped his trash-collecting friend with his job.
“Oh yeah, I know exactly who he is,” says Bob Koerlin, the garbage collector who services the neighborhood where Maddux lives. “He is in that big front window every morning, just smiling and giving me the biggest wave!’
Maddux has been fascinated by Bob and the big garbage truck for some time.
“We are not certain where the fascination with garbage trucks came from or why, but we do know that Maddux became fascinated at a very young age,” said Laura Reed, Maddux’s mother. “Before he was verbal, he would hear the trucks driving about in the neighborhood and you could always find him waiting for them to drive by in front of the window.”
Laura says as his vocabulary improved, Maddux would show concern for houses in the neighborhood that would not have their trash container out to the curbside ready for pickup.
“Now he makes sure that he is the one to haul the can to the curb and bring it back to the house once it is emptied,” said Laura. “As we opened the door to leave a few weeks back and he saw all the garbage cans out, he said, ‘It’s garbage day. Hooray!’ When we asked him why he liked the garbage trucks, he simply said ‘It’s my favorite’.”
Maddux turned three years old today and the theme for his birthday party is – what else – a ‘Trash Bash’. It’s also garbage day and Maddux again took to his weekly chores of getting his family’s trash to the curb and checking to make sure the neighbors have done the same.
This Friday, however, took on extra special meaning as the City had a surprise in store for one of their youngest customers.
“We want to make sure Maddux has a very special day on his birthday,” City Solid Waste Outreach Coordinator Ria Harper said earlier this week. “He’s going to get an extra special surprise when the truck comes towards his house this week.”
This morning, family, friends and neighbors gathered outside Maddux’s house about 9 a.m. Around 9:30, a half dozen of the City’s solid waste operators drove their trucks to Maddux’s house in parade fashion, honking their horns. The first truck in the caravan was Maddux’s buddy Bob. The drivers stopped and exited to greet Maddux. Bob presented Maddux with toy garbage truck, a photo of Bob with the ‘Sir Dumps A Lot’ truck and a certificate designating Maddux as a ‘Little Can Man In Training’.
Maddux gave gift bags to the drivers and the highlight came when the drivers sang happy birthday to their young fan.
For Laura Reed, the weekly visits by the City garbage man and his truck hold special meaning for Maddux.
“I think being a toddler, during these COVID times, he has found a joy in seeing the outside world move from the window of his house and every Friday morning these trucks do just that for him,” said Laura. “Fridays are truly a highlight of his week.”
Harper says making Maddux’s birthday extra special was a big highlight for Bob and the workers of the City’s Solid Waste Division, who have been planning their visit for a couple weeks.