Florida Landscape Company Supports GreenCare for Troops

Jose Sanchez owns a lawn maintenance company called Lawn Pride, Pinellas Park, Fla. On this day, he finishes his work day mowing and edging Vanessa Munoz's home. But this customer isn't like most. "It makes you feel great to contribute," says Sanchez.

Munoz is a military wife and a mother with two grown daughters and a 7-year-old son. Vanessa's husband Vince is at Camp Victory in Baghdad until next September.

It's Vince's first deployment. He was supposed to retire in February.

"Basically what it did, it took away my best friend," says Vanessa.

Vince's wife and son are left caring for themselves and some days she says it's a struggle, "You only have so much strength to hold your family up and to hold everything together, because part of you is over there with your husband."

Daily chores and hobbies like yard work and gardening often take a backseat for family. "People don't understand what this does to a family," says Vanessa. "My son has only one parent. If I'm out, there there's nobody spending any time with him and you don't feel good about trying to get that done."

In steps GreenCare for Troops, a non-profit national program that matches lawn companies with a military family whose spouse is on active duty. The GreenCare for Troops program started two years ago in Ohio by Project Evergreen. So far, 7,000 military families have signed up and nearly 2,000 lawn and landscape contractors and volunteers are helping out nationwide.

Sanchez and his crew finish in 30 minutes what would take Vanessa hours to do. The Gulf War Vet says it's the least he can do for a fellow soldier.

"When I heard about it, I thought about when I was in the military hoping someone would have helped out back then. When I got a chance, I got on the website decided to help out and give a hand," explains Sanchez. He has this reassuring message for Vanessa's husband, "Keep on doing a good job and we'll take care of you back home here."

After mowing and edging, Truly Nolan pest control sprays around the house. Mark Sparks with Truly Nolan says more companies should get involved with the program, "These are people who have allowed husbands, wives, children to go over to do so much for us we need to do something for them."

The program also pairs Vanessa up with a citizen volunteer that will help her get back to gardening a hobby she and her husband enjoyed doing together. "I'm a gardener, that's my hobby and giving it up was very hard," says Vanessa.

The volunteers will help maintain Vanessa's yard on a regular basis until her husband returns home. "For them to volunteer means more to a military family than people really know. You don't know unless you're living it."

As the crews prepare to leave, Vanessa tells the men how grateful she is to have the community's support. Jose Sanchez responds, "Glad to do it."

To learn more about the program or sign up a military family click here.