As more military members are deployed both at home and overseas, the need for volunteers for Project EverGreen’s GreenCare for Troops program has never been greater.
For the past 20 years, GreenCare for Troops has been connecting families of deployed military personnel with professional lawn and landscape companies who volunteer their services while their loved ones serve. This 501c3 non-profit currently has around 5,000 active volunteers across the nation.
“I think there’s just always things where the military is going to be relied upon,” says Ki Matsko, program director of GreenCare/SnowCare for Troops. “I think we really need to build this program so that we show them that there are people supporting them but also give those families that gift of green space where the soldiers can come home and relax and unwind.”
Matsko says some of the areas most in need of volunteers are near military bases, including Jacksonville, Florida, Virginia Beach, Virginia and the Chesapeake/Norfolk area. States such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio also have military families on waiting to be paired with a volunteer company.
“We try to emphasize with the program that it is needs based,” Matsko says. “Maybe suddenly the spouse could handle it before, but now she’s pregnant, and they don’t have the money. Those are the families that are applying for the services. They’re doing a good deed for somebody who wouldn’t normally be able to come out and hire them.”
The Benefits of Volunteering
Providing a well-maintained yard may not sound like a lot but it’s one less thing that a service member’s spouse needs to worry about and it creates a serene space to relax in.
Matsko notes that for many military families when a spouse is deployed, they don’t have a network of friends and nearby family to help with their various burdens.
“That people, strangers, even actually care about them enough to come out say, ‘Well, I’ve got your back. I’ll help you out. I’ll take this burden off your shoulders, so you can focus on your kids and making sure there’s normalcy for them and that life could go on and you can get them to your activities,’ I think that says a lot,” Matsko says.
Cindy Code, executive director of Project EverGreen, adds that caring for a military family’s yard also provides them with environmental benefits, like keeping the house cool in the summer.
Not only does volunteering for GreenCare for Troops allow your company to give back, but it also can be a source of pride and camaraderie for your employees. Project EverGreen also provides a marketing toolkit that volunteers can use to get the word out about their work in the community.
“A lot of people, even if they don’t qualify for the program, they like to support companies that are giving back to the community, or people who are looking for jobs, they want to work for companies that get back to the community,” Code says.
Additionally, as the organization is a nonprofit organization, serving through GreenCare for Troops is considered a charitable donation. The program’s platinum partner SiteOne Landscape Supply offers a $250 store credit to every new volunteer when they register and agree to help at least one family. Silver partner Ecologel/Arborjet offers free products to volunteers when they become matched with a military family.
How It Works
Those interested in volunteering can visit GreenCare for Troop’s website to register. The program is structured so you can volunteer as much or as little as is conducive to your business.
Volunteers can select the services they’re willing to provide, the distance they’re able to travel and how many military families they can take on.
“We’re giving them members in their community that are possibly already on their service routes,” Matskao says. “We don’t expect a crew to go in a direction they don’t normally go. By setting those parameters, they can make it super easy. We want the volunteer process to be a feel good situation, and if it becomes stressful and difficult and hard to manage, then it doesn’t feel good and nobody wants to do it.”
The services that companies can offer for free include mowing, trimming shrubs and hedges, aeration, fertilizing/weed control, perimeter pest control, mosquito control, fire ant control, seasonal irrigation, irrigation maintenance, spring clean-ups and fall clean-ups.
“If contractor feels like he can’t take care of a family for nine months or 12 months for the full length of deployment, a spring and fall cleanup is a perfect way to help that family out,” Code says.
Matsko says mowing is the most critical service they provide as it helps families avoid getting fines for the grass being too tall and creating a habitat for bugs and ticks.
For those who assume that they have to pick out and coordinate with the military family, Matsko says this all handled on the backend by Project EverGreen.
“We’re going to vet the military families,” Matsko says. “We’re going to make sure that they’re definitely on deployment, when they go, when they come back, and we handle all of that for the volunteer. We will send them emails that they’ve been matched with the family, and then we send them three emails when the deployment is about to end. We make it super easy for them.”
Matsko says GreenCare for Troops can also scale with larger organizations and works with companies spread across multiple states.
“We’re really hands on here,” Matsko says. “If a company wants to sign up, I can help make that happen. They can say go on my website and get all the addresses of our locations and sign us up and set us for this many families. I’m happy to do all the registrations.”
Once a company is matched with a military family, Project EverGreen communicates this information to both parties and the family is integrated into a company’s normal route.
If for whatever reason a volunteer is unable to continue providing service to a military family during the deployment, they can notify Project EverGreen to convey this information with the family and reassign them. Volunteers can put their account on hold for a season if they are having staffing struggles or other issues that would prevent them from being able to serve the military family.
Matsko says even if a company isn’t immediately matched with a family in need, it’s incredibly beneficial to already be in the system as it allows later families to register and get matched with a volunteer immediately rather being placed on a waitlist.
Additionally, Project EverGreen expanded the program in February 2026 to include disabled veterans in select states with strong volunteer capacity. These states include Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.
“If every company across the nation just took one family, it would be amazing, and they don’t have to overextend themselves,” Matsko says. “If they took one family for mowing within a five mile radius, and made it easy on themselves, that would do so much good.”
