ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A collections driver for the city of Albuquerque works his normal shift collecting trash and recycling before heading over to Atrisco Elementary . At the school, he spends the rest of his time and energy helping kids.
“We service anywhere from about 1,500 to 2,000 homes a day,” said Brian Brito. Brito starts his day at 6 a.m. collecting trash and recycling.
“We hit our route and that usually takes until about 2 o’clock,” said Brito. His day doesn’t end there, “This is where I spend my evenings after hours; the school is only open ’til about 9 o’clock when the janitors leave.”
After serving the community for work, he visits Atrisco Elementary to help give back to kids in his community as the PTA president, despite not having any kids currently in school.
“There’s events for the kids that we do; we’re constantly working on something, constantly,” said Brito.
This time of year, he focuses on keeping the kids and their families fed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
This year, they are packing 50 meals, up from 40 last year. All of the food comes from donations.
“The whole Thanksgiving meal basically. It’s going to have the vegetables in there; it’s going to have the bread. It’s going to have the stuffing, the gravy. It’s even going to have the turkey,” said Brito.
“From the community church that sits over here to the east of us, and we had some people donate to us this year,” said Brito. The PTA itself also collects and donates food to make sure every family gets the same amount of goodies.
It can be a tough job, but for Brian, it’s a meaningful one.
“I try to make these kids feel like even if they don’t see me or the things that we do, even if they don’t see me, that they are important too,” said Brito.
This is the sixth year they’ve done it. Next year they hope to add more bags of food to the pile.
