Neighborhood Trash Collector Makes Little Girl's Birthday

He ""makes our day every Thursday," the little girl's mom said.

ByABC News
April 21, 2016, 3:50 PM
Unlikely BFFs: A little girl and the neighborhood's trash collector went from a wave to BFFs.
Unlikely BFFs: A little girl and the neighborhood's trash collector went from a wave to BFFs.
Courtesy Traci Andracke

— -- Sometimes it takes a child to remind adults of the way seemingly ordinary people make our lives better each day.

Brooklyn Andracke, a 3-year-old from Bloomington, Indiana, had the best birthday because of a man she's been admiring from afar for the past year -- the town's trash collector.

In a now-viral post to the City of Bloomington's City Hall Facebook page, Brooklyn's mom, Traci Andracke, recounts the moment her daughter got to meet the man who "makes our day every Thursday."

As it turns out, Delvar Dopson also enjoys the "hello" waves he's been getting from Brooklyn. He told Andracke that he tries to leave his regular Thursday morning meeting quickly so he can see them too.

For her birthday, Brooklyn presented Dopson with a cupcake.

"Smiling and waving is part of a regular 3-year-old's day and then to get it back from a guy that she thinks is pretty cool, it sends her over the moon," Traci Andracke told ABC News.

Andracke and Dopson have since become friends. Dopson even brought Brooklyn a gift the next Thursday.

PHOTO: Unlikely BFFs: A little girl and the neighborhood's trash collector went from a wave to BFFs.
Unlikely BFFs: A little girl and the neighborhood's trash collector went from a wave to BFFs.

"We are both a little taken back and excited that everyone has enjoyed the story," said Andracke. "If it inspires one person to smile or wave or show some kind of act of kindness, then that makes us happy."