Transfer of Good Things and Kindness - Article by Peggy Brown Published in Local Yarmouth Magazine: The Notes
Gray's Peggy Brown has recently had an article published in Local Yarmouth Magazine: The Notes. Her delightful article highlights the Gray Transfer Station.
Transfer of Good Things and Kindness:
Sometimes it takes the act of reflecting on your day to realize the little things that matter and to find the positives in each day, even about doing chores.
Here in Gray, we don't have trash curbside pickup as m other towns. For someone just moving to town, that may sound like a negative. However, we only have to pay a tiny $5.00 fee annually for a windshield sticker in order to dispose of our regular house- hold trash and recyclables at the Transfer station, also known as the Recycling station, or "the dump". Other towns make their townsfolk buy bright orange, blue or green trash bags. As a cashier in Gray, I am grateful to live here when my customers spend lots of money on those pretty, out-of-town bags.
While it might be easier to just leave your bags at the curb, it is an interesting adventure to visit our Transfer station. You see dozens of locals and everyone provides a polite wave or smile as we rush around each other doing our chores. It is one of the largest meeting spots in town. I'm actually glad I have to take my recyclables and sort them into the different bins. This reinforces that I'm doing my small part to help the environment.
The employees are cheerful, even in heavy rain and snow, which is appreciated. Many of the staff members including Aaron, Joe, and Pete· have been familiar faces for years and Perley just celebrated his 35th year. Andy is trying to catch up with him. Randy, their Director, is always working hard right alongside them.
"I found it at the dump," is something you often hear in Gray. No one gets squeamish by this comment; it is a common occurrence. I have collected a nice bookcase and other things over the years; the quote "one man's trash is another {wo)man's treasure" is true here. Believe it or not, this is also a place where chivalry still exists as you may hear the polite offer from a gentleman asking to help lift heavy trash bags out of the trunk.
One Sunday, I was looking for pieces of wood for a craft project. The discarded wood pile, which is often enormous, is something I've proudly bragged about to out-of-towners who don't have the joy of this treasure. I met Alan Lindberg that day. As he noticed me scouring the pile, he cheerfully commented, "The thing I like about country people vs. city people is that city people bring stuff to the dump to leave it and country people go to see what they left and take it home."
By taking our own things to our Transfer station we see lots of people in town and have happy, yet ' brief greetings. (I made the mistake once of chatting past closing time - don't do that.) We might not have the ritz & glitz of some towns with big trucks scooping up colorful bags, but that's ok. Sometimes a little effort goes a long way in building a community.
