Finding positive news is proving to be more challenging than I thought, but — Guess what? — FOUND ONE! After video-taping several employees of the Lincoln Rhode Island Sanitation Department doing their best to keep the city clean in a fun and engaging way, Jamal Burley uploaded his video to social media. The result: a FROZEN sensation to celebrate an early snowfall the day before Halloween. According to 10 WJAR, Mitchell Shallcross, Colby Laferriere, and Angel Vargas decided to switch things up this year by dressing up as characters from Frozen, sparking smiles and laughs as far as the virtual eye could see. "It was one day before Halloween, and we knew there were a lot of kids on our Friday route, and we wanted to do something fun and kind of festive," said Laferriere. "About a month before Halloween, we had the idea to do frozen characters, and it just so happened it was snowing that day it worked out great." And so, Laferriere told reporters that the pumped-up crew dolled themselves up in Frozen attire and ran their usual route, admitting that coworkers were taken aback at first when they came in to work that day dressed in costume. "Everyone loves Frozen, and we knew it would make kids smile," he said, adding that their coworkers thought their intentions were fun and cool. "The kids, it was good to do something for them," said Shallcross. "When we drove past the bus stops, a lot of kids they thought it was funny, they were laughing, they were clapping a lot of thumbs up." Burley, a professional wedding photographer and father of two, said he grabbed his cell phone and began recording when he heard his wife laughing while staring out of the window. "I hear my wife laughing in the window, and then I'm like, 'What's going on?' She's like, 'Anna is outside.' I'm like, 'What?' She's like, 'Yeah, Anna from Frozen is outside.' I'm like, 'What do you mean?' She says, 'The trash men are dressed up in costumes.'" The video shows Anna and Elsa (a/k/a Laferriere and Shallcross) holding onto the garbage truck while riding alongside it in their costumes. When the truck stops and they step outside, Olaf and Vargas come around the corner to join in the fun. (Side note: turn up your volume because Burley's laugh is the best part of this whole thing.) "I'm just recording them, and then all the sudden Olaf pops out, and I lost it," said Burley, who later uploaded the video and posted it on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. "If you're in Rhode Island & wondering why it's snowing in OCTOBER, you can blame it on these guys right here," he joked online, telling 10 WJAR that he thought it was hilarious. "Anything I find funny I post on social media, and I think it's cool they have a job where they can do something like that and have a little fun," he said. "I feel like this is a good laugh, everyone needs everyone needs to laugh, life is too serious at times to not find humor in things." Since then, Burley's frosty clip has been viewed more than two-hundred thousand times with over 10,000 shares. As for the garbage men, who draped themselves in princess gowns, wigs, and happiness to put smiles on the faces of children stuck at home in Rhode Island, the appreciation for their efforts has stretched much further than they could ever have imagined. "It's great. I'm glad someone was able to capture it other than the people that just saw us," said Laferriere. "It just made it that much better knowing they were watching," added Shallcross. "As long as we made one person's day, that's all that mattered by doing the whole thing." Cheers to Burley and the hard-working crew in Lincoln Rhode Island who took time out of their busy day to spread some joy. You are an inspiration to us all; this is exactly the sort of thing the world needs to see. Got a funny story you'd like to share anonymously? Submit to THE VAULT. Comments are closed.
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