Earlier this year, It Takes Village Lawn Care, a free lawn mower service by three kids in in Louisville, Kentucky, went viral because of their good deed.
The team is compromised of four friends: Travis Durham, Thomas Kaufman, Demontae Marshall and Alan Stafford. However, it started with just one of them — Travis. His mother, Barbara Wilson gave him chores as a way for him to earn things at home. Soon after, it grew on Travis. Now the whole team has garnered so much support that they’ve surpassed over 1360 percent of their goal on GoFundMe.
Blavity talked with them to learn about how these four kids continue to bring positivity to their community through free service.
Mrs. Wilson said that the initiative came about when Travis claimed to have finished chores and needed something to do. “At work, Travis called me. ‘Momma, the dishes are washed, floor swept and mopped, bathroom cleaned, living room and dining room vacuumed and the front and back yard have been cut. Now, can I have it?’ Me being me, I felt like he was being a smarty pants, so I told him, ‘Then take your little smart ass outside and cut the neighbor’s yard!’ And I hung up. When I got home, he wasn’t there. A couple hours later, he came home and told me about all the 8 yards he had cut, for free. I had to see for myself. So, no need to explain but, I had to give him whatever he had asked for.
When we asked about the importance of giving back to the community, Wilson said it was about spreading love and helping the kids, correcting them when needed. “This world is full of so much hate and negativity, maybe we can at least change our community. Hopefully, it gets contagious. This should be a natural act. We live here. Why would we not want to take care of where we spend most of our time. A person’s home should bring peace. It’s not where you live, it’s how you live,” she said.
Video of the boys mowing a lawn in West Louisville, Kentucky.
The logistics of the operation revolve around Wilson and her husband’s work schedule. In the morning, they drop them off at the requested home, and will walk around the neighborhood and find other yards to cut until they are picked up. Since news has spread of the service now, they’ve had to revamp their process. “Since we are receiving more requests, we take addresses from clients and try to hit all in that area, that day. They would stay in that community until I get off, or my husband is able to get them. Depending on the weather, our schedule and their equipment, the most they have completed in a day is 16. This type of production happens on the days we are able to stay with them all day.”
Wilson says the success of the GoFundMe is overwhelming and at times a little frightening, as she only requested enough money for them to have a good time at Disney to start with, and some to maintain their mowers and weed eater. “With all the donated equipment and supporters offering awesome lodging and tickets at Disney, we don’t need to touch those funds until these kids are ready for college or start their own business. [We] never would have thought giving free lawn care could pay for their education! But overall, I am blessed!” she said.
The reactions to their service caught them off guard. “After the first few yards, they were all joking around, singing and the response from the people they helped motivated them to want to do more. So, I told them I would help find them some more yards. It was originally supposed to just be our neighborhood because of our work schedule but we got more response from people in other communities. How could we say no?! The boys felt like they were needed and they hated to disappoint anyone. We knew we had to and God would take care of the rest. Look at what he has done!” she exclaimed.
Mrs. Wilson says that Travis and Thomas plan on continuing throughout the year, but it will be determined based on their academic results after their first semester of high school. They hope to expand their services to leaf removal, snow removal, vandalism removal and more. Demontae and Alan are involved in sports, but they plan to assist when possible.
She hopes that this service will continue, and overall the boys will continue to help others. “Lord’s will, I see this as their future. They have a passion for giving, not for the attention but, it’s what they all were raised to do. They don’t truly understand the impact they are making, they just wanna cut grass.”
