One Man On A Mission To Help US Veterans

Tom Williamson, a Vietnam Veteran with five Purple Hearts, was surprised when a young man showed up at his Connecticut home this week, offering to mow his lawn for free. In fact, he told local media he thought it was “a gag.” But the good deed was for real. Rodney Smith Jr., a high school student, is currently traveling cross-country, mowing veterans’ lawns.

“Smith said his mission started in 2015, when he stopped to help an elderly man mow his lawn,” Williamson’s hometown newspaper, The Day of New London, Connecticut, reports. “He set the goal of mowing 40 lawns, then bumped it up to 100. He started Raising Men Lawn Care Service, with a mission of encouraging youth to volunteer to mow lawns and shovel snow for veterans, the elderly, the disabled and single moms. Smith said in 2017 he decided to travel to all 50 states to mow the lawns of such people for free, and encourage kids to take part in his 50 Yard Challenge. He traversed the country three more times in 2018 and is now on his fifth tour.”

(Photo Credit: 50 States 50 Lawns)

Smith will be mowing lawns all over New England this week before moving on to other parts of the country.

“According to his Facebook page, which has more than 115,000 followers, Smith started his day Friday mowing the lawn of a Navy veteran in Gary, Maine,” The Day of New London reports. “He then mowed the lawn of a Korean War Marine Corp veteran in Maynard, Mass., and the lawn of a Vietnam War Navy veteran in Ashaway, R.I., before ending up in New London.”