Navy veteran cleans up his local park by picking up trash nearly every day
ARLINGTON, Va. (WUSA) – If you have ever spent time in a park, chances are that you probably saw some trash on the ground. But one Virginia man is trying to change that. He is spending his time cleaning up an Arlington park, one piece of trash at a time.
On any given day among the people jogging and biking in Glencarylyn Park, you might bump into Alan Wile. He’s become quite the fixture along the pathways, known for his dog treats, but more so for cleaning up the park.
One piece of trash at a time
“Well, I began because I enjoyed coming to the park. I thought it was attractive and it was a good exercise and so forth,” Wile said. “And then when I started doing it, I realized there was trash all over the place and that kind of spoiled the beauty.”
That’s when he got to work.
“So I went to Amazon, got me, my grabber and my bags and my gloves and I set off almost every morning,” Wile said.
At 87 and a Navy veteran with 32 years of service, he’s still busy picking up sometimes two to three bags of trash.
From plastic utensils to cans and yellow peppers, some of it just inches away from a trash can.
He’s picked up a lot over the last four years, even stuff that doesn’t smell so great.
“Some of those soaked diapers are really heavy and they’re kind of nasty,” Wile said.
But on occasion, he gets lucky.
“I’ve found money more than once. I probably had close to $400, but I’d be happy if I find a penny or two as well,” Wile said. “And, and that’s the thing with the people that throw stuff around, the least they could do is leave me a little money.”
He’s joking, of course. Wile has actually refused to take money from those who offer it.
But the community rallied around him in a different way.
Someone even anonymously sent a note and a box full of trash bags and gloves.
“Thank you for your efforts to clean up Arlington,” the note said.
Others just say two important words: thank you.
“It’s the best reward right there,” Wile said.
And Wile has a message to people visiting the park.
“Are you aware that there are trash bins? There are not a lot of them, but they are around in the park and that’s where the trash belongs,” he said. “Didn’t your mama ever teach you? You know, mamas always taught that they didn’t want trash around the house.”
