One of the requirements of living in some affordable, on-base military housing is residents must upkeep their lawns. After all, an important aspect of being in the U.S. military is learning to keep your space neat and orderly. But for some military families, this can be easier said than done. One-parent households, residents with disabilities or people with severe allergies or illnesses aren’t always capable of keeping up with the base’s lawn care standards, often times resulting in government-issued citations of about $40 or more. Residents also have the option of hiring someone to mow their lawn, but some are unable to afford it.
Joy Westenberg, manager of GreenCare for Troops, a Project EverGreen initiative designed to provide non-profit lawn and landscape maintenance help for military families whose major breadwinner is serving overseas, learned of a similar hardship when she received a phone call from a nanny of an 18-month-old baby whose mother and father are both deployed. Unable to properly care for the lawn, the young woman received two citations before calling GreenCare for Troops. Westenberg then contacted Scott Vanfleet, owner of TruGreen Land Care in Killeen, Tex. “He just thought this was not right and wondered how many more people were receiving citations for situations beyond their control,” Westenberg says.
Total, Vanfleet and his crews agreed to maintain the lawns of 37 military families free of charge. The service will continue throughout the time of the major breadwinner’s deployment, which ranges from three months to one year or more. Vanfleet is a rare asset to GreenCare for Troops - his contracts with other properties within the base means he is able to more easily overcome the security measures other GreenCare for Troops volunteers would face. “Scott is a great guy and he’s so willing to support GreenCare for Troops and assist those families in need,” Westenberg says.
Some military bases are able to provide lawn care services to their military families. Westenberg says this is not only a valued benefit to the families, but also makes things easier for base personnel. “Providing lawn care services avoids the costs and agony associated with tracking citations, issuing paper work, etc.,” she says. “Why not just find the money and help keep those lawns mowed?”
For more information about volunteering for GreenCare for Troops, visit the Project EverGreen Web site www.projectevergreen.com and fill out the online volunteer form.