Burger Bytes: GreenCare For Troops

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Don Mattox, a disabled military retiree, is giving back to his country one lawn at a time.

“GreenCare For Troops is really the simplest concept you can think about,” Mattox said. “It’s cutting grass for soldiers families that are deployed.”

GreenCare For Troops is a national outreach program, run by Project Evergreen, that provides free lawn service.

Mattox, along with his John Deere, helps five families, including his neighbor Tara Buller, whose husband is in Afghanistan.

“With two kids, school and work, it’s just one less role that I have to take on,” Buller said. “It’s nice to come home and see the yard mowed, I think, I don’t have to do that today.”

But Mattox says there is a problem. With so many families signing up for the program, the need is outweighing the support.

“In Alabama we have 27 volunteers,” Mattox said. “That is the entire state of Alabama, from Mobile to Huntsville. Currently, just in Alabama alone, there are over a thousand troops, National Guard, reservists, that are deployed. These families need care.”

Paul Bonner has been volunteering for two weeks and sees the benefits.

“I can typically put in about four hours a week. I’m going to try and do that every week,” Bonner said. “But with my job, there will be times that I can’t. But I will be thinking about it, I can tell you that.”

The rural areas of north Alabama need some support.

“We have families in, not only this county, but Colbert County, Franklin County and Lauderdale County that will also need some volunteers,” Maj. Barry Clayton added.

GreenCare for Troops Featured in Community Paper

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Military family writes a thank you to Crosspoint Community Church in Oconomowoc

Dear GreenCare for Troops –

What a surprise I woke up to on Saturday Morning! Actually this holiday has been full of surprises. My husband surprised us last Sunday by flying in unexpected for his 2 week block leave vacation. Then after being gone for the holidays visiting family I woke up to a brigade of wonderful people in my yard. Â I cannot tell you how amazing your team made me feel. They brought tears to my eyes so many times with their kindness. They kept saying that it was nothing to do all of that work, but to me that work has felt like a jail for the last 6 months and this is the first time in 6 months that I do not feel that way. Thank you so much for your kindness. It was such a blessing to meet your wonderful, group of helpers. I consider them to be angels in my eyes. What they accomplished in 2 hours of work it would have taken me a week to do.

My husband is home from now until December 7th before he has to fly back to Iraq, and it is so nice that he gets to actually enjoy the house instead of doing yard work. What a huge help! Thank you so much!

GreenCare Volunteer Receives Award

Brad Borders writes: Joe Keller, Keller’­s Lawn Service, is holding the highest Award ever given to a lawn care business for services rendered to an Army Chaplain and his family–he took care of my yard while I was in Iraq–what a blessing!

Letter From the Military

GreenCare for Troops Volunteer Joe Keller Featured in Total Landscape Care Magazine

Joe Keller, Owner of Keller’s Lawn Care in Statesville, NC and dedicated GreenCare for Troops volunteer, was recently featured in Total Landscape Care Magazine.

Read the Full Article Here…

Letter From a Military Wife

Letter From a Military Wife

Dear GreenCare for Troops –

I was able to benefit from Project Greencare’s lawn/garden services through Mike Dombroski with A Personalized Landscape. I very much appreciated this as my husband always did the yard. I could have very much used this snow removal service this past winter! My husband left right before the blizzards and it was a rude awakening as a single parent! Thank God I expect him back before January, so I hope to not use your services, but I will be registering as my husband might be away due to medical issues. Thanks for your services.

Letter From a Military Wife

Doug,

I wanted to let you know my husband will be returning next week from deployment. So, I think we can make this Thursday, August 5th, the crew’s last day to service our backyard.

I cannot thank you and your team enough for the complete transformation of the yard. In January it was a dead, patchy, gopher infested mess. Now it is lush, green, pest free and a place we can really enjoy. Your hard work has been such a blessing to me over the past six months. I am so excited for my husband to return and see the transformation! This is one less thing for him to have to undertake when he returns.

Thank you!!

Letter From a Military Wife

Joy, Tom, Geoff –

Wanted to send a very sincere thank you for the GreenCare for Troops program and the services provided by Sweeney’s Custom Landscaping, Inc and Davey Tree Expert, Co. I would especially like to thank Geoff Cowan for going above and beyond. When I first called to request service, the office closest to my home was sent to do the work but apparently there was some confusion as to what work needed to be done. (We had some storm damage at the time and it was posing a safety hazard.) When I called Geoff to let him know that not all the work was done, he took it upon himself to send his own team to get the work done correctly. This meant sending a team from a far south suburb to do the work in a far north suburb of Chicago. Not only did Geoff’s team do a great job, but they were kind enough to leave an invoice for $0 with a hand-written note that said “Thank you for your family’s service to our country”.

I can’t even begin to tell you what a relief it has been to have this service while my husband was deployed. It was one less thing that my deployed soldier and I had to worry about this past year. I’m happy to report that my soldier has recently returned safe and sound so services are no longer needed. Again, can’t thank all of you enough.