LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Lexington woman, who affectionately calls herself the "Retired Trash Lady," has made it her mission to clean up the Cardinal Valley neighborhood and surrounding areas.
LEX 18 first introduced you to Teresa Rakes in September of 2023. Rakes says since that story, she's gotten more responses from local businesses, which means more community involvement, more clean up, and more people inspired by her story.
"Every once in a while somebody will say I want to walk with you and see what you do and help you out, which is nice, I'll take any volunteers I can get," said Rakes.
Rakes lives in Oxford Circle and she's been working for two years to clean it up.
"One of the places that used to be the worst is now one of the cleanest," said Rakes. "The buildings don't look as abandoned as they did and trash is a totally new ballgame."
She said her newest venture is recycling. From money raised through her GoFundMe page, she purchased two receptacles to put at Ford's Fitness Center.
"It helps our planet and it helps our waterways," said Rakes. "That's part of our problem in Lexington, our waterways are real contaminated, and if we keep it from going into the creek in the first place, it'll be better for everybody."
To make her goal possible, she needs a new truck. Her odometer reads 209,000 miles, but she said it stopped keeping track years ago. There are many electrical and mechanical issues, so she only drives it locally.
"I'm really hoping for a new one," Rakes said. "I could do so much more."
Teresa said that she hopes what she's doing will inspire others.
"I want people to take pride in where we live, I don't want people when they come to visit people up here to drive through a whole bunch of trash and say this is where she lives?" said Rakes. "Now they're saying 'this is that place where that lady cleans up.'"
If you want to help Rakes accomplish her mission, the link to her GoFundMe can be found here.
