Cathy Gallagher, a 60-year resident of Glenside, has made a small name for herself via daily tours of local streets, parking lots, and fields in search of litter.
Now 73, Gallagher said her routine got started as a means to keep off “Covid weight.”
“One day during the pandemic, I got to a section of Weldon and wanted to scream. There was trash everywhere. I picked it up, and I haven’t stopped since. If I see something, I’ll walk clear across streets and fields to get it. I need a purpose when I walk, and now I never feel bored.
“We’re pretty clean, and I didn’t want it to turn into a version of Filthy-delphia. I just follow the trash,” she said.
Gallagher has been walking her routes every single day since 2021, minus five days due to contracting Covid, the occasional vacation, and the occasional snow day. Her after-church Sunday route includes a stretch along N. Easton Road.
“I do 10,000 steps in the morning. I have a Fitbit, and I can’t tell you how many flights of stairs I’ve done. One day it told me I had walked the entire length of Italy,” she said.
Over the past three years, she’s accumulated multiple friends and plenty of stories.
“I was over at Renninger Park one day, and a gentleman was driving a pickup truck. He asked me what I was doing, and when I answered, he told me that I solved his mystery. He was the head of Parks & Rec at Cheltenham and couldn’t figure out why Renninger didn’t have any trash. I thought that was great. That really made me smile that day.
“Another day, a group was landscaping beneath the train tracks in Glenside. A woman asked me why there wasn’t any trash there amongst the weeds. I told her I do one side on my way up, and the other side on my way back.
Gallagher in Keswick Village
“The maintenance employees over at Abington all know me. They honk and wave as they do go by. The store ladies know me. I have 17 grandkids and they all think I’m crazy. But they love it,” she said.
Well before she began her newest hobby, Gallagher raised five graduates of Bishop McDevitt High School and one graduate of Abington Senior High School. Her son, Frank Gallagher, is a detective with the Upper Moreland Township Police Department, a former football coach at McDevitt, and a former volunteer firefighter for Weldon Fire Company.
“The minute he was 18 he went to volunteer,” she said. “I’ve lived here so long, and I know plenty of people. I’ve met new ones just passing by. I’ve met homeless people, and they seem to know each other. It’s amazing who you get to meet when you’re on foot.”
Part of her walking routine includes prayer.
“One day this fellow was there, and as I was finishing up my prayers, he was pacing back and forth. I was by myself, so it was a little disconcerting,” she said. “He asked to speak to me and told me he doesn’t know why he came there other than the Lord told him to tell me something. We got to talking, and he happens to be a minister, and the nicest guy. I was invited to his wedding ceremony and I see him all the time on the benches at Weldon. It makes me feel very good.”
In early July, Gallagher inadvertently found a hand grenade.
“It was heavy, metal, and round. So, I called Abington police, and they said they’d be coming with the bomb squad. They closed off Keswick Avenue and discerned that it wasn’t a live grenade,” she said. “At the same time, someone said that there’s a guy on Horace Avenue with police presence. The person said they had a hand grenade, so the bomb squad was called in. They got my story and that story convoluted.”
“I called my detective son one day to ask him about these 30 stainless steel canisters for whipped cream. I guess they call them ‘whippets’,” she said. “One of my best finds came on a freezing cold day by a bank. I saw a pizza box, picked it up, and underneath was a $100 bill. That was fun. I didn’t call the police about that one. I really don’t find much money.”
“It gives me something to do and it looks darn good when it’s done. People thank me all the time. I recently met another lady who’s started to do the same thing,” she said.
“When we go on vacation to North Carolina, she still walks and picks up trash,” Gina Knorr, her daughter and co-founder of the Glenside Networking Group, said.
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Photos: Gina Knorr