Every garbage collection day Kieran runs to catch a glimpse of the truck, and he was lucky enough to sit within and honk the horn yesterday.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Angie Mathew
November 13, 2019 - 6:30 PM
A Kamloops kid had his dreams fulfilled this week when his local garbage man stopped to say hello.
Angie Mathew says her son Kieran runs to look out the door whenever he hears the garbage truck approaching in their Westsyde neighbourhood in Kamloops.
“He hears the truck before anyone else in the house, and he darts to the door… he’s just in awe the whole time,” Mathew says. “He always waves to Kieran, and Kieran sometimes waves back (but) sometimes doesn’t because he’s just way too in awe of what’s going on.”
Yesterday, Mathew and her son went outside to enjoy the first snow. She says this was the first memorable snow experience for Kieran, who is almost two.
“We were playing in the front yard in the snow and the truck came he (gasped) and got all excited, he came over and grabbed me and pointed at the truck,” Mathew says.
She says he was completely silent as he watched the truck work its way down the street. The worker noticed the young boy’s fixed gaze and put on a little show for him.
“He picked up our garbage can… he was moving it up and down and in and out,” Mathew says. “He ended up stopping the truck and he walked over to say hello, so we said hi and he asked if Kieran wanted to sit in the truck… he got to honk the horn and bounced on the seat because it has big springs. It was really cool.”
Kieran Mathew got to get a first-hand experience in his beloved garbage truck.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Angie Mathew
The worker gave Kieran a colouring book made by the City of Kamloops to teach children about environmental practices. Mathew says it was hard for her to convince her son to come back inside afterwards, but once inside she called the city to mention the kindness of the driver.
“We’ve only lived in Kamloops for five years and it felt really nice to have someone go above and beyond, especially the first day of snow because he may have been a little bit behind schedule I would guess, and he still took the time out of his day.”
Mathew was told that the city would file a good work report and send it to the sanitation supervisor in the area. After hearing that, she took to a local Facebook page to share the highlights of their morning. The post received 275 likes, with commenters noting his history of friendly behaviour. They helped identify the sanitation worker as a man named Jeff Lapointe.
Mathew says her son is still ecstatic about meeting his hero.
“He’s not even two years old, and his life was made.”
Mathew says her son's life "was made" by the encounter.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Angie Mathew
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