Town Raises $30K for 80-Year-Old's 20-Year Clean-Up Mission

For 20 years, Michael Filby has driven his 1975 Lada Niva along a 200-kilometer stretch of South Coast Highway in Western Australia, picking up trash that others left behind. The 80-year-old retired police officer has circled the globe four times worth of kilometers in his beat-up truck, all to keep his community beautiful.

He's done it almost entirely alone, spending over $100,000 of his own pension money on fuel, maintenance, and repairs. Aside from a small $2,000 annual payment from the local council, he receives no government support despite saving taxpayers millions in cleanup costs.

When his truck needed $4,000 in repairs just before Christmas, something shifted. Local hairdresser Jo Lane heard about his broken brakes, flat tires, and busted jack, and decided enough was enough.

"I think it's our turn to give a little bit to him," Lane said. She launched a fundraiser to raise $30,000 to cover his operating costs for the next three years and potentially train someone to take over when he retires.

The response was immediate. Chemist Emma McKinlay became the first donor after hearing about Filby's troubles. "You're just a pensioner and having to fund all of this," she said, moved by his quiet dedication.

Sunny's Take

What makes this story shine is how Filby never asked for recognition. He's what neighbors call a "silent achiever," someone who does important work without fanfare or expectation of reward. For two decades, he showed up because he believed his community deserved clean roads, even when nobody was watching.

Now his neighbors are showing him what happens when kindness comes full circle. Jennifer Wilcox, a local councillor who co-founded Walpole Tidy Town with Filby, has tried everything to get him official funding, even traveling to Canberra. When those doors closed, the community opened their wallets instead.

Filby says he wants to keep going as long as he's physically able, but admits he's "running out of money." This fundraiser represents what he calls his "last throw of the dice" to continue the work he loves.

The goal isn't just to support Filby's final years of service but to protect what he's built by training someone new to take the wheel.