As the winter counterpart to Project EverGreen’s GreenCare for Troops, SnowCare for Troops ensures that the families of deployed military personnel don’t have to stress when the snow starts falling. This program connects snow removal volunteers with military families to provide complimentary snow and ice removal services.
SnowCare for Troops was started in 2010 when volunteers in snow states didn’t want to leave their military families in a bind over the winter. This service is a lifeline for military families in need of maintaining their independence and continuing with their daily routines.
Like GreenCare for Troops, volunteers can select the services they can provide as well as their radius and the number of families they can take on at one time. Project EverGreen will notify volunteers when they have been matched with a family.
David Holt, owner of Turning Leaves Landscaping, based in Freemont Center, New York, has been volunteering for over 10 years and first heard about the program through an email after purchasing Boss Snowplow products.
He says volunteering with the program is important to him as his wife’s stepbrother was killed in Iraq in 2007 and it made him want to do something to show support for the military families that give so much. While he doesn’t currently have a military family he’s serving as he is located in a fairly rural area, Holt says they are always ready to take on a new family.
Another volunteer, David Keller, owner of DK Plantscapes, Inc., based in Baiting Hollow, New York, has been helping with both SnowCare and GreenCare for Troops for about seven years. He heard about the programs through a Landscape Management ad and currently assists one military family.
“As a veteran myself, it is my pleasure to assist active-duty families with small issues that can make deployments easier,” Keller says.
He says he’s heard from service members what a relief it is for them not to worry about their families at home while they are deployed.
“It’s just a small thing we do that really helps servicemen not worry about things at home while they are deployed,” Keller says.
Project EverGreen hopes to add 20 new volunteers to the SnowCare for Troops program by the end of the year.
“Please consider volunteering,” Holt says. “If it is one small weight you can take off the families while they are without loved ones and possibly struggling to keep it together.”
For more information or to register to be a SnowCare for Troops volunteer, visit the volunteer page.
