Barbara Nimmons may be a 68-year-old great-grandmother, but she won’t let anything keep her from doing what she can to help her community — and that includes COVID-19.
Since the virus first made itself known in South Carolina, rural communities have been especially vulnerable. Green Pond is no exception.
Although the pandemic has forced people everywhere to change their ways of living, life still continues… and so does the accumulation of trash. But Green Pond has had help from Barbara Nimmons.
Nimmons has been a staple of the community at the local waste management site for decades. She performs the job at hand with the tenacity of someone a quarter of her age. When other employees were concerned about contracting the virus and left the site, Nimmons refused to quit, knowing that her community needed someone to be in charge of waste management. So she continued with her responsibilities, alone.
Whether she is needed to physically empty the trash, help someone who is disabled or give direction to keep the community waste site organized, she takes her job very seriously. She greets residents with a smile to make each person feel special even while emptying trash. She inquires about family members and their health, remembering them all.
“During this time in history when we are fighting COVID-19, this great-grandmother is running this site alone. She comes every single day, opens and closes the site so we, the people of Green Pond, can experience some sort of normalcy in our daily lives,” said resident Louise Davidson. “She never complains and wants no glory. It’s remarkable that you can feel like you are going to your grandmother’s house when you are actually just going to empty trash. But that’s how special she makes us all feel,” said Davidson.
Nimmons doesn’t feel that she is all that unique or special.
“This is just what I feel I should do,” said Nimmons.
When told that she was appreciated and loved by the grateful community for her service to them, Nimmons tearfully smiled.
“That is so nice. I love this community, and I am just here to help.”
