Members of a community near Appleton, Wisconsin, had spent several days trying to solve the mystery of their miraculously teleporting garbage cans. Every week, after dragging the bins out to the street the night before trash day, the empty cans would mysteriously reappear the next morning right outside their garages. Melody Luttenegger, a curious neighbor, was determined to learn more about the mystery garbage man in her new neighborhood, where she and her family had only lived for a few months. Her curiosity was finally rewarded after a little bit of dedicated investigative work.
“It was so strange because all of a sudden our garbage cans were just showing up,” Luttenegger said. “We have such a long driveway and I thought maybe the garbage company is bringing our garbage. I asked my husband, and he’s like, ‘No, I’m not bringing the garbage cans up.’”
So she dressed herself and her 9-month-old son, Mason, for a walk in the cold and decided to see who was performing this random act of kindness for herself. “I got a little gift for (them). Me and Mason came out and stood there, waiting and waiting,” she said because it was a day before Christmas Eve.
At 8:21 a.m., an elderly gentleman walked up their long, icy driveway, trailed by their garbage bins. The mysterious garbage man turned out to be a friendly neighbor from a few streets away. Dick Pontzloff, 75, had decided to start bringing in his neighbors’ garbage cans as a way to stay active since his retirement.
“When I retired, I got sick of doing nothing,” Pontzloff explains, “so I started going around and picking up garbage cans. Not just certain ones, everyone’s.” Every week, the retiree rides his bike from house to house, even when the subzero temperatures would make anyone want to stay in their warm bed.
Pontzloff wasn’t performing his random act of kindness for recognition, as evidenced by the length of time it took his neighbors to notice him. In fact, the quiet old man used his brief moment in the spotlight to deliver an encouraging message. “Just be nice to everyone,” he advises. “It’s just something you have to do. Just think if you were at home and you needed someone for help.”
But either way, his generosity certainly hasn’t gone unappreciated. “For someone random to just do that, it doesn’t go unnoticed,” Luttenegger says. “You know, the kindness that strangers give is an unexplainable feeling.” Though bringing in garbage cans may appear to be a thankless task, Pontzloff’s simple gesture has meant the world to Luttenegger and her family.
You don’t always have to be recognized for the good that you do for others. Jesus even teaches us that we should not aim to be recognized by men because if we go unrecognized, our Father in Heaven will reward us Himself. That is a far greater honor indeed.
Matthew 6:2-4
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”