It Happens Here: Burlington Lawn Mowers Dream Team stepping up for neighbors in need
BURLINGTON – Jay Barnes is not your average lawn care specialist.
"In 2021, I was walking and I noticed a lot of high grass and I'm saying, 'I have a lawn mower. Are these people in need?'" Barnes said.
He is the founder of the Burlington Lawn Mowers Dream Team. If your lawn needs grooming and you meet the criteria, they'll handle it for free.
"I put something on Facebook saying that I'm interested in mowing lawns for free, if you're elderly or a veteran. Single parent, financially distressed or injured, is there a need and people are like 'Yeah!'" Barnes said.
WBZ caught up with Barnes while he was mowing Katie Astone's lawn. She met him a couple of years ago.
"It was during the pandemic and my business was closed and I was struggling, so I messaged him. And he decided to take a look and he came out and said I qualified," Astone said.
She's been a client ever since.
"He's the best. Sometimes he'll do it when I'm not even home and I come home and I'm surprised that I have a beautiful lawn cut, you know," Astone said.
At the time of the interview, Barnes and his dream team of mowers had done 185 lawns for free this year. They don't care about the lawn size.
And as you would expect, the more volunteers that show up the better
"With volunteers, we can do like 2-4 a day. Once we had six volunteers and we did six lawns before noon," Barnes said, wearing a shirt that says "I'm sexy and I mow it."
So armed with his Toro and some bug spray, Barnes Jay pushes on and makes people happy one lawn at a time.
"We don't accept money, we don't accept tips. But we do accept snacks like water and Gatorades, sure," Barnes said.