Video: FL Bus Driver Goes Extra Mile To Help Passenger In Need

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Her job title may be bus operator but, for 16 years, Barbara Irizarry has made it her mission to be a welcoming face for all the people who ride her Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus route.

"I always pay attention and greet everybody," she said. "I like people, so it makes it easy."

A few weeks ago, she noticed that one of her regular passengers on Route 11, Herb Hayden, 84, was having a harder time than usual carrying his groceries onto the bus.

"I noticed he was a little frail ... and I saw he was having trouble with his bags," she said. "I had found this shopping cart and I said to Herb, 'What's your address? I'll bring you a cart.'"

When she arrived at his home and knocked on his sliding-glass door, Irizarry said Hayden could barely shuffle over to let her in due to all garbage piled on the floor.

"It must have been 2 feet deep," she said. "He looked so — I guess the word I'm looking for is forlorn — dragged-down, beat-up. So I looked at Herb and said, 'Herb, do you want help?'"

Irizarry said some people aren't comfortable accepting help. But Hayden, who never married and had no family living nearby, perked up and said he would love help.

Knowing it was too big a job for her alone, Irizarry recruited fellow bus drivers Judy Martin and Hopeton Johnson. The three arrived at Hayden's home the following Saturday with cleaning supplies and garbage bags.

Johnson said he was a bit taken aback when he saw the amount of trash that had accumulated in the home.

"I took a deep breath and went, 'Oh, my God,'" he said. "I've never seen this before, and I promised myself that I didn't want this man to live like this."

"We just got our gloves on and just started picking up, picking up, picking up," Martin said. "Before you know it, we could see there is a floor down there."

"It was God's blessing for them to help me out the way they did," Hayden said. "It was pretty bad. I had a lot of trash and just didn't know how to get rid of it."

The three bus drivers now visit Hayden on a regular basis and stay on top of his cleaning needs.

"I know Herb appreciates it," Johnson said.

Irizarry said she was a bit surprised when she, Johnson and Martin were recognized by the PSTA board at its most recent meeting. She said she wasn't expecting to be singled out for doing something that came to her naturally.

"If you can help, then do it, help. Simple things," Irizarry said. "And if you see someone without a smile, give him yours. You might just change a life."