A 71-year-old Dallas man is not giving up his fight to clean up Southeast Dallas, in particular his Pleasant Grove neighborhood.
For eight years Kenneth Winn has spent countless hours taking down illegal signs on street corners and light posts and picking up trash, including bulky items like tires and car bumpers.
"I'm trying to make a difference in the community," Winn said. "It has got a bad image, so we're trying to clean it up. It's not as bad as everybody thinks it is."
A retired electrician living on a fixed income, Winn has used his own money to buy supplies and spent thousands to trick-out his truck, turning it into the ultimate trash collection machine.
Outfitted with a high-tech camera system and signs warning, "Warning litter bugs, smile you're on camera, up to $2,000 fine."
"I get a lot of thanks and praises now," Winn said. "A long time ago people would tell me I'm crazy. Even now a few people tell me I'm crazy, that I never would make a change here, but I can prove them wrong. Anybody can tell you I've made a heck of difference here."
Winn has picked up countless bags of trash in his time volunteering.
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"I know I've bagged up over 3,000 bags of trash and litter in the last 12 months. That's quite a bit for an individual to do," Winn said.
The city has started helping provide him with trash bags, and some have donated money to his new project to put trash cans in areas where they are needed, according to Winn.
"It gives me satisfaction knowing I've done something good for the neighborhood," Winn said.
Not only that, Winn is also a Dallas Police Department Volunteer in Patrol, he is involved in his neighborhood crime watch and delivers between 40 and 80 meals a week for the VNA Meals on Wheels program.
"I'm not slowing down, not as long as I can move," Winn said.
Winn estimates he volunteers about 250 hours of his time each month to his community.
He has been recognized by the city of Dallas, Chamber of Commerce, Daughters of the American Revolution and others.
