CLINTON, Miss. – A little boy in Mississippi has formed a strong bond with the men who pick up the garbage on his street.
Kyler is 3 years old and Tuesdays are a big deal for him. It’s when his friends show up to take the garbage.
"It started one day. We were coming down through here and his grandmama had on an Alabama sweat shirt and I just told her 'Roll Tide,'" Clarence Weathersby, a waste management worker, said.
The Alabama greeting sparked something between the family.
It’s a bond that Kyler warmed to and looked forward to each week.
"He started waving at the guys and they started waving back, and then around Halloween and Christmas we made treats for them. We took them out to them and they just loved them and then they started picking Kyler up and he started learning how to operate the garbage truck,” Kathleen Reynolds, Kyler's grandmother, said.
Not only does Kyler help bring out the trash on Tuesday mornings, he also waits with snacks for garbage pick-up friends. He lends them a hand later with the trash by getting it into the truck.
At Kyler’s recent birthday, Weathersby, who Kyler calls “Bug-Bug,” had a sweet surprise for his best helper – a stuffed animal.
"Bug-Bug just treats him super special,” Reynolds said. “He picks him up like it's a little brother thing so it's great, it's great to see the interaction between them.”