7-year-old Manteno boy can't hide his civic pride

MANTENO, Ill. (AP) - Every morning after he gets dressed, Cole Pilbeam runs outside to check the storm drain in front his family's house.

If the drain is covered with leaves or garbage, the 7-year-old runs back inside, puts on a green reflective shirt and grabs his red wagon of tools from the garage.

He then marks the storm drain with three construction cones before putting on a hardhat and a pair of gloves. After that, he pulls out his plastic snow shovel and clears the drain, depositing the debris into a paper lawn bag and the garbage into a plastic bag.

That has been his daily routine ever since Manteno Elementary School's first-grade classes went on a field trip to a local quarry in May. After getting home from the field trip, he created an imaginary quarry in his front yard. His mother, Megan Pilbeam, then encouraged him to clear the storm drain out front.

"I was pretending on the driveway in front of the basketball hoop, and my mom was like, 'Do you want to clean the drains?' And I was like, 'Yeah,' and then I just started to like doing it."

Cole's commitment to keeping his street and storm drains clean grew from the field trip's lesson on why it is important to protect the environment.

"(I like) picking up the garbage because it can kill the sea animals and the animals," he said.

Quickly, his hobby expanded from taking care of his street to other parts of the village.

"As soon as he is ready for school, he is out there checking the drains to see if there was any rain last night and if they are going to have to be cleaned as soon as he gets home," Megan said.

"If he notices they need to be cleaned, that's the first thing he does once he gets home from school. If there is nowhere to go in the evening, he wants to go on long, long walks over to the other drains and the other parks."

The village of Manteno found out about Cole's contribution to the community through a Facebook post Megan made. They rewarded Cole with a tour of the Public Works Department and Mayor Tim Nugent's office. They also gave him a certificate this month during a village board meeting.

"Half the time, our guys are going around, picking up water bottles and everything else," public works director Jim Hanley said. "You see a kid here, picking up leaves and other debris. He is setting a good example."

Cole especially enjoyed touring the Public Works Department. He has a picture of him and Hanley displayed in his bedroom on the projector he got for Christmas. During the tour, he sat in some of the department's vehicles and pressed a few buttons on the village's newest truck.

"I got to go in the new one... And honk the horn," he said with a smile.

Manteno took the accolades a step further, too. This fall, the village is going to give Cole a chance to walk across its biggest stage.

"When I went to the mayor's office, he said I could be in the Oktoberfest parade," Cole said with a smile.

All the recognition has inspired Cole to keep cleaning the storm drains. Megan said she could see him one day becoming a public works employee. She has been lining up play dates for Cole and his friends to clean the village's streets throughout summer break.

"I believe it's our community that set him up to be the way he is," Megan said. "He makes my husband (Mike) and I proud, but he has some great role models in this community.

"This has given him a wonderful self-esteem. He loves this town. He has always said, 'I live in the best town,' and I think that sticks out even more to him. It really frustrates him when people don't take care of the town. I think the acknowledgment of what this town means to other people is pretty cool."

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Source: The (Kankakee) Daily Journal, https://bit.ly/2Y9LZCP

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Information from: The Daily Journal, http://www.daily-journal.com