Wayne man expands no-cost lawn service overseas. Here's how charity reached Asia

WAYNE — Brian Schwartz is the overlord of a grass-cutting empire that cannot be contained.

His domain extends to the coast of the Pacific Ocean, and across thousands of nautical miles to a military base in South Korea, where one man, a retired Marine, has proudly taken up the cause to help widows of fallen soldiers.

It also reaches north to Canada, where six recruits are fulfilling free lawn care chores for the elderly in greater Toronto.

Schwartz is like a modern-day Charlemagne, only his conquests are centered around charity and goodwill.

“I have nothing left to prove,” said Schwartz, 42, a township resident and the founder of I Want to Mow Your Lawn Inc. “I’m challenging myself to see how far we can go.”

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The name of his nonprofit is now a registered trademark.

The Record and NorthJersey.com has followed Schwartz since the first wave of the pandemic, shortly after he lost his job as a marketing professional. At the time, he was getting his project off the ground and it was not yet a full-fledged nonprofit. It started with just him and a Craftsman lawnmower that he hauled from yard to yard in the trunk of an SUV.

After three years, the organization has grown to 475 volunteers who have logged more than 2,000 lawn visits in 46 states plus the two other countries.

In a parallel universe where the pandemic did not happen, Schwartz said, this outreach may not have caught on.

“I wasn’t doing anything groundbreaking,” Schwartz said. “It was a dark period in our lives, and we were all doing something to keep ourselves busy. It was the perfect storm of events.”

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People can request no-cost lawn service in a number of ways.

One option is by filling out a registration form on the nonprofit’s website. Potential clients are asked for household income, job status and photos of their properties.

That information is used to prioritize requests that pour in through various platforms at a rate of up to 20 per day, Schwartz said.

Meeting that demand is a challenge, Schwartz said, but donations of equipment and sponsorships from Milwaukee Tool, Ryobi Tools, Stihl and other large companies have made the effort sustainable.

James Parker Jr., 48, the retired Marine living at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, said in a phone call that he discovered the nonprofit after he saw an announcement that Schwartz posted to LinkedIn in the fall.

Parker said he was so impressed with the organization that he decided to contact Schwartz and to offer his service as a volunteer.

“What a unique animal,” he said of the nonprofit.

Camp Humphreys is the largest overseas military base operated by the U.S., and according to Parker, many survivors of fallen soldiers reside in the villages that surround the garrison.

Through his work with a Veterans of Foreign Wars detachment, Parker said he assists those widows and their families with household tasks. To be able to marry that duty with the nonprofit’s mission is a blessing, he said.

“We always ask what it means to be an American,” said Parker, a native of Alma, Georgia. “That’s what it really is. It’s what’s in your heart — to have that in you.”

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Such an awakening rushed over Schwartz on a recent afternoon.

He said he was on the way to cut the grass for a local man named Sean O’Connor, who was temporarily unable to do so for himself.

O’Connor, 69, a retired contractor, suffered a heart attack in June. He had mowed the lawn the same day, and he said doctors advised him to take it easy for a while.

As Schwartz drove the short distance to O’Connor’s home on Mountain Road, he said he could not help but to get teary-eyed.

“I thought to myself this is someone’s dad — this is someone’s friend who I’m helping,” Schwartz said. “And it reminded me of why I got started in the first place.”

Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: devencentis@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wayne free lawn service expands overseas