nmental service, a local resident, Ron Rouisse, has taken it upon himself to literally clean up his community, one piece of trash at a time. Armed with a pair of gloves, a trash picker and a bucket, Rouisse, 76, who’s lived in Plant City for three years, has made a commitment to making his city cleaner and more beautiful.
He can often be seen in the early morning hours walking the streets of Plant City, picking up discarded water bottles, wrappers and other debris. His dedication to this task has not gone unnoticed by those who live in the area, many of whom have offered words of praise and thanks. A city employee gave him a safety vest. A couple citizens gave him a hat to wear to protect his head from the sun.
His service also caught the attention of local leaders. “I am so impressed with his personal commitment to our community and his obvious determination to make a meaningful contribution to our quality of life,” said Commissioner Mike Sparkman. “I applaud his efforts to make a positive difference.”
Rouisse admits his commitment is motivated as much from a sense of duty as it is to relieve boredom. “To be honest it’s a matter of not wanting to sit in my apartment, it drives me crazy because it’s such a long day,” said Rouisse, who lives at Plant City Towers. “Finally I decided I can do something out in the community and I like being outside, getting exercise and meeting new people.”
One of Rouisse’s routes takes him from his apartment, east on Baker Street to Felton’s, where he turns around and heads back via Reynolds Street. Along the way, he empties his bucket, which he fills quickly with litter, at nearby dumpsters. He’s become adept at using the grabber to pick up items as small as cigarette buts and flossers and as large as old clothes and dirty diapers, which he said is one of his least favorite items to pick up. He also is on the lookout for nails on the roadway that can attach to a vehicle’s tires.
Picking up litter isn’t the safest community service. He was once hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk hard enough to knock him down. Rouisse, while shaken up a bit, was undeterred. “The next day I was back out picking up trash, it wasn’t enough to stop me,” he said.
Throughout his life, Rouisse, a licensed practical nurse who shunned the idea of putting down roots, has meandered from state to state, helping people wherever he could. Born in Massachusetts, he’s lived in Connecticut, Maine, South Dakota (working on a Sioux Indian reservation) and Washington. Always more prone to giving than receiving, he spent time volunteering in orphanages and medical clinics in faraway countries such as Mongolia, Haiti, Swaziland, China, Ghana and the Philippines.
For now, Rouisse is content to do what he can to better the city where he currently lives. Even though he knows he won’t be able to continue picking up trash forever, he finds the work satisfying. “You can’t always do work that lets you see what you’ve done,” he said. “I can look back at what I’ve done and see that it looks better.”