Helping Veterans 1 Yard at a Time

​MADISON, Ala.—Rodney Smith Jr. hopped out of his 2000 Ford truck and unloaded his three-wheel lawnmower.

He fiddled with the mower, which, like his pickup truck, has seen better days. The mower has been missing a wheel for a while, but it works well enough, Smith, 36, told The Epoch Times.

He said repairing it would take time away from his work mowing lawns—free of charge—for veterans, the elderly, people with disabilities, and single parents in Huntsville, Alabama, and beyond.

He knocked on the door of 90-year-old Air Force veteran James Smith, who worked as an electrician on B-52 bombers while on active duty with the Air Force decades ago.

Later, the veteran stepped onto the porch of his 1960s brick home, carrying Doritos and a Coke for the younger Smith, as the mower rumbled in the cool October air.

“I can’t get out there and cut the grass,” the veteran said while leaning on a cane. He shared stories about his years in the Air Force, including his work on Hurricane Hunter aircraft with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in Bermuda.

Due to this experience, the elder Smith made an instant connection with Rodney Smith, a Bermuda native, when he contacted him for lawn care help after finding him online. Their shared history lent a personal touch to routine yard work.

Rodney Smith founded the nonprofit Raising Men Lawn Care Inc. in 2015 and Raising Men and Women Lawn Care Service in 2018.

Both organizations aim to serve communities by encouraging children to mow 50 yards for free for veterans, the elderly, people with disabilities, and single parents in need.

With Veterans Day approaching, James Smith said he believes that veterans are honored just as much today as in the past, noting that there are large crowds at annual parades.

But he does not believe that the United States is as patriotic as it once was.

“I think it’s dwindled down,” he said.

He said young people do not seem to recognize the sacrifices made by those who served their country before them.

The Alabama veteran is just one of thousands of people helped by Rodney Smith. This fall, he announced that he had completed his challenge to mow lawns in all 50 states.

“God is always there,” he said. “I’m doing what I love.”

He took it a step further by offering in a social media post to mow the White House lawn or the nation’s military cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. His Oct. 8 X post went viral with 1.3 million views.

“If ever given the chance to mow at Arlington National Cemetery or even at The White House with my USA mower, I would drop everything and head there in a heartbeat,” he wrote.

“It would be one of the greatest honors of my life. Thank you for your consideration.”

That caught the White House’s attention. Rodney Smith said a presidential aide got back to him, saying that it might be possible in the future.

He said he hopes that President Donald Trump will sign his mower so he can auction it off to benefit veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

After finishing mowing, Rodney Smith snapped a few photos with James Smith to post on social media, then packed up to visit the next home on his route. His day was filled with similar acts of kindness as he traveled from one household to another, sharing moments and stories along the way.

‘Like One of Our Kids’

​Rodney Smith has been mowing the lawn for Tom Weigand, 83, another veteran airman, for the past eight years.

Tom Weigand and his wife, Marguerite Weigand, 79, have lived in the area since the 1990s.

Tom Weigand told The Epoch Times that people always thank him for his service, which makes him feel proud to have served his country.

After he suffered a stroke in 2017 and needed help mowing the yard, his wife contacted Rodney Smith, whom she followed on Facebook.​

Before mowing, Rodney Smith joined the Weigands in their living room for a chat.

Marguerite Weigand, a UK native, retold the story of how she met a handsome U.S. airman with a “gorgeous head of hair” while he was stationed in the UK.

She and her teenage friends figured out how to call the nearby U.S. base from a red phone booth like the one made famous in the TV series “Doctor Who.”

She recalled an airman answering the phone and handing it to another guy nearby—Tom Weigand—who spoke to her.​

“Can we meet?” he asked her. They married in the early 1960s and have been together ever since.

Mowing the Weigands’ grass is a labor of love for Rodney Smith. He has mowed their lawn for years and even brought them groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was so kind of him,” Marguerite Weigand said. “We really appreciate it. It’s like he’s one of our kids.”

After trimming the grass and clearing leaves, they discussed their favorite UK candy at the door before Rodney Smith departed for the next yard.

He pulled up to the home of Frances Helton, 73, who lives with her dog and uses a walker, as part of her leg has been amputated. Rodney Smith took care of her yard the entire time she was in the hospital without her needing to ask.

“He’s an angel,” Helton told The Epoch Times. “I think of him as a friend. He’s someone I can count on.”

With tears in her eyes, she hugged Rodney Smith and thanked him, noting that she does not get many visitors and always looks forward to seeing him.

“I love you,” she told him. “People just don’t care anymore; they’re too involved in their own lives.”

He said, “Yes ma’am,” and returned the hug. Helton said some things are worth more than money. Rodney Smith gives up his time to make her home and life a little brighter, she said.

Lawnmower Man

Rodney Smith helps in his hometown and elsewhere, mowing seven to 10 yards daily in the growing season and about four per day in fall.

In winter, he removes snow or travels to deliver lawnmowers to kids who finish his nonprofit’s 50 Yard Challenge.

Rodney Smith came to the United States from Bermuda at age 16 to attend a school in New York state for students with learning disabilities.

After high school, he struggled to adjust at a technical college in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He missed his family.

“I asked God to use me as a vessel,” he said. “He didn’t give me an answer that day, not a month later, not even a year later.”

Several years later, while studying computer science at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, he found his answer.

One day while driving, he noticed an elderly man struggling to mow his grass. He stopped to help him. Something clicked, and he realized that serving others was his calling.

“I found my true purpose in life, which is helping people,” he said.

So he began mowing lawns for free for those in need as he finished his computer science degree.

The requests for help grew on social media after he announced what he was doing. Needing his own mower, Rodney Smith found a $100 secondhand model on Craigslist.

Money was tight, so Rodney Smith planned to use funds his mom sent for school to buy the mower. Touched by his reason for wanting the mower, the Craigslist seller gave it to him for free.

It was a kindness that has repeated itself over the years as he has expanded his efforts to get children involved in giving back.

The nonprofits he formed encourage youths aged 7 to 17 to accept the 50 Yard Challenge, which involves mowing 50 yards for free to support those in need, including veterans, the elderly, the disabled, and single parents, in their own communities across the country.

To sign up, the children send him photos with signs acknowledging that they accept the challenge, which he often posts on Facebook.

“Once they mow 50, I drive to wherever they are in the country and give them a brand-new mower,” he said. “That’s the bread and butter of the organization.”

They also receive a free weed eater and leaf blower.

The challenge gets children outside and interacting with people instead of playing video games. Some even start their own mowing businesses with the equipment they earn.

Rodney Smith said he does not make a habit of asking for money. But when the need is there, the Lord always provides.

Once, when he was struggling to deliver mowers in an SUV to children completing the challenge, a supporter from Nebraska gave him a van.

“If you do good, the good will come back,” he said. “You know, just people watching that you don’t even know watching on social media.”

​Rodney Smith said he went on to earn a master’s degree in social work. He continues to help others. Since those humble beginnings, Rodney Smith reckons that he has mowed more than 6,000 yards.

Today, he has some 287,000 Facebook followers and another 173,000 followers on X. He currently holds an O-1A visa for individuals with extraordinary ability in their field and hopes to become a U.S. citizen one day.

He started a petition on Change.org in 2020, after his initial green card application was denied.