Monday, November 19, 2018

Can a trash man be a hero? Sure!

Margaret Newsum, 93, of Paradise, California, personally witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor. Later, she worked as a back-up singer for Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack. In her 70s, she tried hang gliding, but this month she was eating breakfast in her Paradise, California, home, when she turned on the morning news and heard about a fire. She's recovering from a broken back, and her care-giver had already left town. With no family to help her, she stepped out on her front porch hoping someone might see her. That's when Dane Ray Cumings pulled up in his "big green monster" trash truck.

                                                                         Kendra Kostelecky/Waste Management
Cummings had been told by his boss to stop working and get out of town, but he'd driven the same route for eight years and knew where all the seniors lived. He decided to be sure they were safe, and Newsum was his last stop. Neighbors helped boost the fragile senior into the truck and she rode five hours with Cummings -- to safety. After hearing her life story, he said he wished he knew her when she was younger, because "I'd have married her." Giving a non-employee a ride in his truck broke company protocol, but it led to a fierce new friendship and turned a trash man into a hero.


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