There are many inspiring stories of staff and citizens in their everyday work. What’s amazing is that we don’t hear these stories, or at least we don’t hear these stories from our staff. But once in a while a citizen comes forward and relates an event involving one of our own.
This is a story as told by Nancy Doherty. Citizen Extraordinaire. Nancy is so impressed by the level-headedness of one of our employees she just had to share this story. I was so impressed with the story, I just had to nominate him for recognition.
Last winter during one of our icy days, and while Nancy’s husband was not well, Nancy announced to her husband she would brave the icy weather conditions and set their garbage out for pickup. She managed to get the garbage out just in time, but returning to her home, she slipped and fell, sliding underneath the sanitation truck.
Our sanitation truck driver, Tim Smock, knew he had seen Nancy walk towards the truck, but did not see her go beyond. So he got out of the truck, left the warmth of the cab, braved the icy roads himself and when he didn’t see Nancy, called her name. When she answered, he asked where she was and she told him she was underneath the truck.
Nancy said that Tim then reached under the truck, pulled Nancy out from underneath the truck and then going the second mile, walked her up the incline of her home to see she was safely inside.
Nancy said she is so grateful for Tim’s awareness of her while on his busy route; a route that was sure to take longer than normal due to road conditions. Nancy believes that if Tim had moved the truck, she was sure she would have been crushed.
Tim, Nancy thanks you with all of her heart and told me, “He’s a true hero!”
It seems we only hear the bad news, or the negative spin. Thank you Tim for this inspiring experience.
