- Local business owner Ruben Rosales has volunteered to pick up trash at Hart Park for more than a decade.
- He leads a crew of men who empty his trash cans following a holiday or busy weekend, and every two weeks on average.
- Rosales has 39 green cans along the Kern River in Hart Park
- The park covers 370 acres and is maintained by contracted vendors and a small army of volunteers
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It takes a small army to clean up Hart Park, and many people who join in the effort are not getting paid to do it.
Ruben Rosales started picking up trash more than 10 years ago, with a couple of cans and a desire to give families a place to create memories.
Maybe it's his pleasant disposition and a little determination when it comes to cleaning up this historic gathering spot in northeast Bakersfield.
"People sometimes complain about Bakersfield and Kern County," said Rosales, "but we've got a lot of good people here."
And when he started his mission it didn't take long for others to join him.
"My wife would walk in the area, and saw Ruben picking up trash, and she put me to work with him," said Albert Avalos, who's been helping out for more than four years.
You might recognize Ruben. He and his wife Frances own 'Happy Jack's in downtown Bakersfield, where you can find him working the grill. On this day, he was on cleanup duty at the park. He recruited more than a dozen people to help him in the early days.
Ranny Yarger is still with him after 10 years.
"I go to Happy Jacks and he invited me over, and I've been here ever since," said Yarger, "see what a free slice of pie will do!"
In the beginning, Ruben brought out a couple of rubber cans, but quickly had to look for something else.
"I bought 35-gallon cans and they threw them in the river," said Rosales with a laugh. "I then brought out 8 to 10 metal cans and people would use them, or put a pile right next to them."
Now, he has more than three dozen cans, all painted green with his Happy Jacks logo on the side.
His crew is down to a handful of dedicated friends, including Ranny, Albert Avalos, and Danny Monsibias.
"He's a true community hero," said Jeff Flores, District 3 Supervisor whose area includes Hart Park. "It's rare to see these days, and with Ruben, we have someone who stepped up." Flores honored Rosales with a proclamation recently for his years of service.
Now someone else will need to step up to keep it going.
Ruben said he would finish out the year. The guys empty the cans every two weeks on average but have to add a few extra days following a summer weekend or holiday.
He also turns 80 in January, and the perfect gift would be people throwing away their trash every time they leave the park.
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