[Music]
there are superheroes everyday heroes
and unsung heroes the unsung are silent
heroes you know maybe they wear a
uniform perhaps a nametag instead of a
mask or a cape the unsung hero walks
among us performing their job daily
without accolades awards or thanks the
morning show and especially Richard got
a chance to pay it forward and say thank
you to the men and women the unsung
heroes of the Public Works Department in
the solid waste division at the City of
Jacksonville we met Courtney brown at
5:30 so we could get a jump on the route
by 6 a.m. due to my normal schedule 5:30
was like sleeping in for Courtney it's
the start of his second shift yeah his
second shift of the day the 32 year old
has been working two shifts per day six
days a week for two years his day starts
as early as mine driving a big truck is
not new to Courtney just the route
before I came to the city I was driving
over the road wheels are rolling and
we're on our way to the route from the
cab of the truck to the back of the
truck
it's go time with Courtney behind the
wheel Ellis division chief wil Williams
and I we literally do the heavy lifting
seven minutes after 6:00 a.m. it's
already nasty the first stop not the
second or the third the very first can I
open I was greeted by hundreds of the
larvae of the common housefly
yeah maggots and to make matters worse
they took up residence in an outdated
garbage can which means I have to pick
it up to empty it is I evict a creepy
crawly residence it gets worse as the
bottom of the can is filled with some
sort of gelatinous semi-liquid substance
that comes splashing out which I'm now
wearing remember that was the first
garbage can gonna be good six-thirty
mattresses box springs along with carpet
and padding I pick up the empty trash
cans around looking past the bedroom
furniture my coach trainer for the day
Ella says nope that's got to go to 7:00
a.m. the Sun is rising temperatures are
climbing and my GPS says I've already
run 2 miles
maggots by the thousand rotten fence
panels and furniture for two bedrooms
and two living rooms are in the back of
the truck 8 a.m. the Sun is up and what
started as a cool morning with
temperatures in the 60s is now steadily
warming through the 70s you know what
happens to odor when you apply heat to
it
yeah pretty gross
8:45 a.m. a quick bottle of water to
hydrate as the wheels keep turning we're
on to the next Street
the average garbage collector writing on
the back of the truck lifts and loads
about 13,000 pounds of trash in a shift
13,000 pounds of trash in tens of
thousands of maggots if you've watched
the morning show for any time you know
I'm hyper clean and a bit of a
germaphobe so how and why did I end up
picking up waste and writing on the back
of a garbage truck
Jennifer wah I can't hold a grudge
though because that sweet smile she used
to sell me on this germ-ridden
maggot-infested journey is the same
smile she shared with courtney as we
paid it forward wait how did she pay it
for it if I did all the heavy lifting
we've got a little Publix gift card for
you just the way of saying thanks and
that's not all we hear your crews
hard-working so Jen what else do we want
to do we want to take you to well it's
it's early so we want to take you to
lunch or breakfast whatever you'd like
and thank you so much for everything
that you do final thoughts the men and
women of Jacksonville's solid waste
division are the unsung heroes of
keeping Jacksonville clean on behalf of
the solid waste workers please do not
overfill your trash can in please cinch
and seal your trash bags or food spills
out and then it sits in that trash in
our Florida summer heat and it turns
into live rice millions in millions of
crawling creepy live squirmy maggots
it's your fault
you're the reason he spent the day with
all those maggots now let me tell you he
didn't have to spend the entire day so
imagine my shock when I met them when I
found out where they were gonna be Bruce
and I at for lunch when Richard was
still with him I'm like wait a minute
herself working he was there for several
hours he said well I wanted to finish
the shift pretty sure that broke his
germophobia I don't know I don't know
you should have seen him at the school
well we went to the school with the kids
all right we would also like to thank
McDonald's as well so when they heard
that we were treating everyone to
breakfast this lovely manager came up to
me and said wait a minute I just called
corporate
just got off the phone with them and we
don't want you to buy these hard-working
workers breakfast we are going to give
it to them for free well that is why we
are doing this pay it forward series
kind acts random acts of kindness for
people in our community such a simple
thing to do it doesn't have to cost you
a whole lot of money look at Richard I
mean he's an example of paying it
forward in this story that's Mike
Williams who's the chief just thanks to
those guys I don't think we give a whole
lot of thought to what happens when we
put our garbage out those guys work so
so hard Ellis and and Cortney and and
Mike and we really appreciate everything
they do
we hope you'll pay it forward also by
listening to the advice that Richard
gave and you know just think about the
Sanitation les cinch those bags up for
them when you take it out this morning