Local Boy Helps Community with Yardwork to Complete 50-Yard Challenge

A young boy in our community is proving that age is no barrier to making a difference. Robbie Howard, 9, is spending his free time serving his community — one lawn at a time. He has chosen to participate in the 50 Yard Challenge through the national nonprofit Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service, and donates his time and energy to help veterans, seniors, single parents and individuals with disabilities, brightening their days with his contagious smile while transforming their yards.

“I just want to help out the community and help the elderly and disabled, and give back to the veterans who sacrifice so much,” Robbie said. “Veterans keep us safe.”

Both of Robbie’s great-grandfathers were United States Veterans, U.S. Navy Veteran Bobby Field, of Owensboro, and U.S. Army Veteran Herman Veach, of Hawesville.

“He’s always looked up to them, and is very proud of them for their service,” his mom, Rebecca Veach-Howard, said.

“I love them for that,” Robbie said.

Helping veterans and others in his community makes him feel really good, he said. He likes helping people, and when they tell him thank you for the work he does, he said it really makes him feel helpful, and that it is very rewarding.

“I’m grateful that I can do this for them,” he said.

When he arrives to lend a hand with yard work, his mom says it is more than just helping out in their yards. Robbie genuinely lifts the spirits of the individuals he serves, and lights up their day.

“We actually live on the Ohio, Daviess, Hancock County line. He’s done yards in Daviess County, and can help in yards in Ohio, Daviess or Hancock counties,” Rebecca said. “I found the organization on Facebook. It was just one of those random things that show up on your page. Robbie loves to mow, so I looked into it and did my research. He said he’d love to do it. They sent an email saying the registration was open, and I signed him up.”

The organization sent him a pair of earplugs, safety glasses and a T-shirt emblazoned with the message: Raising Men Lawn Care Service — Giving Back to the Community. As part of the safety requirements, he must wear closed-toed shoes along with the provided safety gear while volunteering his time. Participants are responsible for using their own lawn equipment, and he said he is especially grateful to his grandparents, Marty & Amy Veach, of Hancock County, for gifting him a push mower to help him begin his honorable mission.

“He received his equipment a week or so after I signed him up. It did not take very long to get here at all. He started last week (the week of July 14). He’s gotten 3 yards in so far. He has helped one elderly individual and two that are disabled. He has several veterans that he’s going to help soon as well, and a single mother. In the next week, he’ll have at least 4 more yards completed,” Rebecca said.

It’s very admirable for Robbie to be choosing to spend some of his free time during his summer break to help others. Not many children would want to take their time from summer activities to go and work in people’s yards, especially in the heat. It’s tremendously appreciated by the people that he’s helping, and he is also setting a great example for his younger siblings and his peers by doing this.

“I am so proud of him. His father and I are both proud of him,” Rebecca emphasized. “He has asthma, so it’s really difficult for him to be out in the heat. We either have to do yards very early in the morning, or later on in the afternoon. It’s kind of challenging to get yards in right now, until it cools off a little bit.”

The 50-Yard Challenge is set up so that the work can be completed on your own, individual timeframe. So, there’s no deadline set for Robbie to achieve the goal. That is wonderful because it gives children participating an opportunity to help, without the pressure and stress of a time constraint.

Either Rebecca or Robbie’s father, Lawson, are with him the entire time while he’s completing the yard work.

“I do help him, especially with the weed eating,” she said, “just because it’s so much bigger than him. It’s a little bit of a challenge for him to be able to hold up for very long, so I do help with that. Everything else he does on his own.”

They make sure there are always shady areas for him to get cooled off when he needs to. They bring along snacks and, of course, he always has water handy to stay hydrated while he works.

“I make sure he takes frequent breaks in the shade,” Rebecca said. “We’re the only ones doing this that I know of around here. He can do these jobs year-round. It isn’t just mowing yards; he can also rake leaves or shovel snow. The elderly woman that we helped on Tuesday, she just needed leaves that had built up around her garage cleared out, and tree limbs taken out of her yard from one of the recent storms. It can be anything outside they need help with.”

Robbie is blessed with two younger siblings, a younger brother who is five, and a little sister who is one. He’s a great mentor for them, and as they get older, they will likely be following his lead and will be wanting to help out their community as well, in whatever way they choose to do that, whether it be through the 50-Yard-Challenge or something else. Robbie said he is aware of the positive impact he’s making, and is happy to know that he’s not only helping people in his community, but also doing his part to encourage his younger siblings to help others.

Raising Men & Women Lawn Care has a location in Owensboro, but Rebecca had reached out through the ad on Facebook, and so she connected with the organization through the founder, in Georgia.

“He has a page on Facebook and videos on how you can sign up. He is actually an author too, and he’s written several books on how children can help out the community by doing this,” she said. “The Facebook page is: Raising Men & Women Lawncare Service. He’s based out of Atlanta, Georgia. His name is Rodney Smith Jr., and his website is: weareraisingmen.com.”

If you’d like to get involved, and need to ask some questions about how to sign up, or if you are someone who is in need of a little help in your yard, you can reach out to Rebecca on Facebook Messenger. Her Facebook page is: Rebecca Veach-Howard.

Robbie and his family live in Whitesville, where his father grew up. Rebecca is originally from Hancock County, and is a 2007 graduate of Hancock County High School. Robbie will be in the fourth-grade this year at Whitesville Elementary School.

Rebecca said that she is also planning on making flyers, and will be posting them at the Hancock County Senior Services Center. This will provide another way for people to reach out if they need some help with yard work.

“I’m hoping this gets out there, and that he can help as many as we can get to,” Rebecca said.