A Lacombe resident likes things clean whether it’s his house or his city streets.
That’s why 76-year-old Don Fifield combs Lacombe streets every morning and afternoon in his wheelchair looking for garbage.
For his efforts, Fifield is gaining popularity on social media and in his city.
He was recently featured on the HuLa – Humans of Lacombe Facebook group. His story has gained hundreds of likes and shares.
Picking up garbage gives him something to do since he retired, said Fifield, who lost one of his legs in a logging accident at work in 1989.
“I have worked all my life, and I don’t know how to quit I guess,” he said Wednesday.
Fifield goes around businesses downtown and in the north end of the city and picks up trash, including cigarette butts.
“People didn’t notice it before but they are starting to more and more,” said Fifield.
Residents who take notice often give him a free cup of coffee, a pastry or a free meal.
Carina Moran, Sweet Capone’s Italian Bakery and Cannoli shop owner, said she used to see him everyday until one day she realized what exactly he was doing.
“He is like this unrecognized hero,” she said. “An unsung hero.”
One day she went up and spoke to him. She said Fifield told her, he doesn’t like seeing litter in his city.
Fifield has been married to his wife Carol for almost 55 years. Carol, who is also in a wheelchair, joins him in his daily adventure on warmer days, but he goes out no matter what the weather, she said.
Before the couple moved to Lacombe, about three years ago, they lived in Tees.