David Kochenower walks almost everywhere he goes in Kingfisher, even to the grocery store.

He owns a vehicle, two actually, but usually prefers to walk.

You’ve probably seen him treading the sidewalks around town with plastic grocery bags in hand, a backpack on his shoulders and often a bandana covering his head.

“Often when people see me walking around town they think I’m down on my luck and want to give me a ride, food, or a helping hand,” Kochenower said.

He walks for exercise, but mainly he’s collecting aluminum cans for charity.

“Walking also gives me a chance to see what God has created, often reciting scripture in my mind,” he said.

Kochenower grew up in Kingfisher and graduated from KHS in 1967.

His parents, Bill and LaDonna Kochenower, owned and operated the last full-service gas station in Kingfisher, Bill’s Sinclair, formerly Bill’s DX, for almost 30 years. Kochenower worked at the station on the corner of Main Street and Broadway Avenue as a teenager, pumping gas and cleaning glass.

Kochenower was drafted during the height of the Vietnam War in 1969 and was stationed, with his wife, Rita, at Ft. Hood, Texas. Although he was never deployed to the combat zone, he was trained in P.O.W. interrogation techniques during his military service.

The couple returned to Kingfisher after two years of military service, where he worked in construction for Bollenbach-Gilmour Inc. and Rita was employed with Kingfisher Public Schools.

The Kochenowers raised two sons, Chris and Scott, and moved to the Dallas, Texas, area in 1987, where the couple both worked for the Dallas Independent School District for 20 years.

The couple was married for over 43 years when Rita died in 2012. Shortly after her death, Kochenower reurned to Kingfisher to help are for his mother.

Kochenower said he bean walking for exercise after he lost his wife and that’s lso when his can collecting hobby” took hold.

He donates the alumium tabs from the cans o the Ronald McDonald ouse associated with Texs Children’s Hospital of ouston and St. Jude Chilren’s Research Hospital in emphis, Tenn.

The tabs are recycled nd the profits are used to benefit the organizations’ ission to provide “a home way from home” for chilren who are battling severe iseases to keep families ogether near the care they eed, free of charge.

In eight years he has donated approximately 47 gallons of aluminum tabs, which is about 200,000 tabs, Kochenower said.

He also takes the cans to a recycling facility and uses the proceeds to contribute to other charities.

“In 2018, I collected a little over 2,000 pounds of cans for recycling,” Kochenower said.

That’s a ton…..literally.

The 2019 accumulation is still in the process of being crushed, bagged and loaded for transportation to the recycling facility.

Kochenower said he usually collects an average of 40 pounds of cans a week, but sometimes he hits the jackpot after a golf tournament or an event at the Kingfisher County Fairgrounds.

He also said friends save heir cans to add to his upply.

Incidentally, in 2016, Kohenower found out that his -year-old granddaughter, laire, had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Claire underwent radiaion treatments at MD An erson and surgery and cheotherapy at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. he is 9 years old now and has been “cancer free” for wo years.

Claire and her parents live in Houston and her other, Judie, expressed on he Texas Children’s Hospial blog their gratefulness to be close to the facilities performing Claire’s treatment.

“Through everything, we’re so grateful to be here in Houston with access to the best medical care. People from all over the world come here to be treated at Texas hildren’s, and all we have o do is brave the bad traffic,” Judie wrote.

“We get to sleep in our wn beds, we didn’t have to eparate our family, we’re so grateful for this.”

Kochenower said the last ime he visited Claire, she had collected hundreds of dollars worth of toys and games to donate to the children’s hospital.

Her artwork was also selected to represent the Periwinkle Foundation’s Making a Mark Program on one of Nice Winery’s Periwinkle Charity Wine bottle labels.

The winery donates 30 percent of the proceeds from the charity wine to benefit the Periwinkle Foundation’s Camps, Arts and Survivor Programs for children, teens and young adults who are challenged by cancer and other life-threatening illnesses nd are cared for at Texas hildren’s Hospital.

“Claire has such a giving heart,” Kochenower said.

As for his own giving, ochenower doesn’t want he credit.

“I am very blessed and eel like you could write his story about anyone. here are good people everywhere,” he said.

“There are a lot of giving people in this small town. don’t feel any different; hat’s what we are supposed to do.”