ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – For thousands of children across New Mexico, the school day starts and ends with a school bus. Just like a classroom, it can feel like another home away from home.

“My kids, they’re not supposed to be eating or drinking on the bus. Most of us let it go as long as they’re not making a disaster,” said Debora Wroten, a Pay It 4ward nominator. 

Wroten has been driving schools buses in Los Lunas for five years and will tell you those disasters do happen a lot.

“They still throw their trash on the floor, they still spilled their waters or their juices, they stuffed their stuff in the seats. I picked up orange peels and Kleenex this afternoon from middle schoolers who think they would know put in a trash can, but they don’t,” Wroten said. 

She says bus drivers will spend up to half an hour cleaning their buses every day. Sometimes life gets in the way, and that’s where Maria Chavez steps in.

“We had some people that were out for medical reasons, so she was helping get their buses clean. We have some gentlemen that are older and have some medical issues and can drive, but can’t do a lot of cleaning. So she gets in there and does the extra cleaning that needs to be done that they can’t do,” said Wroten.  

That’s all on top of cleaning the bus she already works on. 

Chavez says she’s been pitching in since she started four years ago, but Wroten didn’t fully notice until last year when Chavez got to work on her bus.

“One day, after I had come back? I was complaining my shoulder was hurting, and she’d gone out there and cleaned it. And I came in, I said ‘Where’s Maria?’ ‘She’s out cleaning your bus.’ It’s like, OK, we need to do something for Maria. One of the girls that was there helped me do this said, ‘Why not Pay It 4ward?’” said Wroten. 

So, it was time to Pay It 4ward with $400.

Watch the video above for more.