Raised in East Moine, Illinois — with the Mississippi River practically in his backyard, Chad Pregracke has made it his life’s work to clean up that and many other great American waterways. As a teenager, Chad worked as a commercial diver, and as he did so, he began to notice the heaps of debris in and along the banks of his fabled Mississippi — a river that supplies drinking water to 18 million people in more than 50 U.S. cities.

With persistence, sincerity and a lot of moxie, Pregracke got a small grant in 1997 and spent that summer cleaning a 35-mile stretch of the river by himself. He would transport the trash he collected by boat and then sort it on his parents’ lawn to thereafter be recycled. By year’s end, he had single-handedly pulled around 45,000 pounds of trash out of the river. It was a dirty job, but Pregracke took it on because he realized that no one else was doing it. “The garbage got into the water one piece at a time,” he said. “And that’s the only way it was going to come out.”

These days removing debris from riverways has become Chad’s life mission. Given the moniker “The Rivers’ Garbageman,” he lives on a barge about nine months out of the year with members of his 12-person crew. Together, they organize community volunteer cleanups along rivers throughout the United States.

What began as a solo effort 16 years ago has now grown, and over the years it has been Chad’s energy, enthusiasm and dedication that have helped it to do so. To date, about 70,000 volunteers have joined his crusade, helping him collect more than 7 million pounds of garbage from 23 different rivers, including his beloved Mississippi.

“We are creating a chance for people to go out there and do something positive. Talking is great, but it doesn’t do much … Action is what I’m all about.” ~ Chad Pregracke

 

Filed under: In LOVE with Humanity by Scaughdt