Three times a week, Wade Tombs starts the routine all over.

He rises at 7, climbs into his SUV and goes about his rounds.

He'll stop at Super 1 Foods and Pilgrim's Market, where he collects food nearing the expiration date.

He hits local hotels for extra shampoo and soap, any torn or dirty linens that he can fix up. Dental offices are on the list, too, for toothpaste, tooth brushes, floss. Occasionally, someone he knows from church will have an old appliance or wheelchair that he can pick up to refurbish.

"I take just about anything still usable," he said.

Then he turns right around and gives it all away.

Often he steers his loaded SUV to Fresh Start, where homeless folks stand waiting for his sandwiches and salads. Then it's on to food pantries at local churches, always in need of fresh supplies for hungry families. He visits St. Vincent de Paul, where any materials will help the homeless, and sometimes goes to Children's Village, where at-risk children need the basics while their futures are in limbo.

"Anybody who has something and I can get it, I'll find somebody to give it to," Tombs said.

It has been the retired businessman's schedule for over 10 years.

He enjoys it, greeting the donors who meet him every morning, and he takes quiet pride in navigating essentials away from the landfill and toward folks in great need.

"I'm a true believer that if you slack off, you're going to get sicker than you ever would have if you had kept busy," the 76-year-old explained with a chuckle.

And on Wednesday, Tombs made sure to collect extra bread from Pilgrim's Market and Great Harvest to donate to community Thanksgiving meals at the Lake City Center and St. Pius X Catholic Church.

"It feels good to help each and every person I've ever been able to help," he said. "But when you got to help a large amount, that's good, too."

Recently a runner-up for Gov. Butch Otter's annual Brightest Star volunteer award, Tombs boasts local renown as the unpaid middleman between businesses and charities.

"I think it's very good for the community, because what he picks up was going to waste, and he's recycling it in a very positive way," said Margaret Ogram, Tombs' friend who nominated him for the award. "It's very good he got recognition, even at the state level."

It all started with just picking up snacks from Rosauers for senior card games, Tombs said.

When he was asked if he could do a little more, he started picking up items from Super 1.

Then he began networking with other businesses, slowly but surely branching out, developing a system.

It just escalated, he said.

Now, his pick ups and deliveries are basically a job, and a labor-intensive one at that, though he insists it isn't too hard on him.

"I retired so I could go to work," he said.

Besides his connections with businesses, Tombs also pores over classifieds to find old wheelchairs and walkers to fix up and loan out to seniors.

Last year, he held a garage sale, asking all his networks to donate, and raised a few thousand dollars for the Lake City Center.

"What keeps me motivated is people who can donate something that someone else can use, without throwing it away," he said.

Tombs is on call with his various connections, he added, if there's a sudden availability of an item.

Like once when a store freezer broke down, and he was invited to take the melting ice cream.

"Imagine trying to get a tremendous amount of ice cream out before it all melts," he said. "It can be tricky."

Lillian McSwain, outreach minister at St. Pius, said the church depends on Tombs backing his SUV up to the church to unload bread and perishables.

"It means a lot to us, otherwise we would not have fresh bakery goods or fresh milks, we would just have non-perishable staples," McSwain said. "Especially in these hard times, it's really a blessing having him do all this."

Children's Village has Tombs to thank for donations of milk, yogurt, hamburger buns and much more, said Sandra Whitbeck, administrative assistant for the Children's Village Foundation and also Tombs' neighbor.

"He really does a lot of good in the community," Whitbeck said. "He's networked with all the stores."

Robin Travis at Pilgrim's Market is used to seeing Tombs' smiling face in the mornings, when he picks up perishables from the store and bread from a company renting one of the kitchens.

"He's just such a cheerful guy every morning, he's just really into it," Travis said. "Even if you can tell he's not feeling good, he's still there, collecting stuff for others."

Tombs acknowledges he has slowed down. He used to do this six days a week and is now down to three, with a friend filling in on the other days.

"My kids would like me to retire," Tombs said of his three grown children, and added that his wife, Mary, steadily supports all he does.

Hopefully, Tombs said, he still has many loads of bread, yogurt and wheelchairs to go.

So long, he added, as folks keep the donations coming.

"It's the people who donate. They're the ones who deserve the credit," he said. "I just take what they give me, and try to find someone who can use it."

To donate items

To contact Wade Tombs about donating items, call 667-8083