LA HABRA : Giving Teens a Lesson in Citizenship

For the past 13 years, Ann and Gregory Noonan have done something unusual--they pick up trash at La Habra High School every school day.

The 74-year-old woman and 80-year-old man volunteer to clean the campus because it makes them feel good.

The Noonans arrive at 10 a.m. with trash bags in hand to begin their self-imposed maintenance duty.

Sometimes the campus is so dirty they come back in the afternoon to finish.

“After the kids’ breakfast break and lunch hour, this campus is a mess,” Ann Noonan said. “It isn’t much, but after all, I’m 74 and my husband is 80. How much can we do? Cleaning makes us feel like we’re doing something for somebody and we love it.”

Students and faculty say they appreciate the cleaning couple’s hard work.

“We adore them,” said Teresa Gaona, a school secretary. “They’re a positive influence on the kids and we have a very clean campus because of Ann and Greg. When the kids see them pick up debris, they follow suit.”

On a recent day, the couple used plastic trash pickers to collect crumpled paper, soda cans and food wrappers. They separated the recyclables.

Each week, they make about $14 by taking the aluminum cans to a recycling station in Whittier and donate the money to the school’s sports programs.

“This is the best thing that happens to me,” Gregory Noonan said. “Coming over here makes me feel like a teen-ager again.”

He said he loves to help but sometimes has trouble keeping up with his wife. “She’s so fast,” he said.

When Ann Noonan looks for trash, everyone gets out of her way. She weaves around students, between trees and classrooms quickly, rarely looking up until her task is done.

“I feel so good doing this,” she said, stuffing a paper cup in her trash bag.

“It’s interesting to watch Greg and Ann,” Assistant Principal Howard Neill said. “They reflect a work ethic that probably is lost in this (student) generation and to have them model a positive behavior on the campus is really excellent for the students.”

The Noonans, 21-year La Habra residents, said they consider the students and faculty at La Habra High an extension of their family.

“They’re like our adopted family,” Ann Noonan said. “We never had any kids of our own, and these kids here make us feel wanted and special.”

Students feel special too.

The school and Fullerton Joint Union High School district officials have awarded the Noonans trophies for their work and a card so they can attend school athletic games free.

They said they mostly use the card to watch volleyball matches.

“I think they’re really sweet people,” said Nicole Almanza, who plays on one of the school’s volleyball teams.

“We’re putting the money they give us toward a mural we want to put up on the gym wall. They really make us feel good, like somebody really cares about us.”