WILTON, Iowa — A Muscatine County boy is mowing with a mission this year. 10-year-old Henry Bender is taking part in the 50 Yard Challenge to give back to his community.
The 50 Yard Challenge is part of a national nonprofit, Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service. The goal is to cut 50 lawns for free for the elderly, disabled, single parents, veterans and anyone else in need of help who can't do it themselves. Henry can also do other yard work for free, such as raking leaves and shoveling snow.
"My dad just saw it, and he's like, bud, you want to sign up for this?" Henry said. "I was like, what do you have to do? Because 50 yards? I'm into football, so I didn't know if he meant run 50 yards every day. I didn't know what he meant. He said lawn mowing. I was like ohhhh, yeah, yeah, definitely."
Henry has since completed 30 yards.
"We don't have a swimming pool here in Wilton anymore. He used to spend all his time there in the summer," his grandma Mary Bender said. "(His dad) thought initially he needs something to do in the summer. And we thought, oh, it's work. But he stepped right up."
It takes Henry about 30 minutes to mow each lawn. Sometimes people will give him lemonade or cookies as a thank you, but the most important thing is he does it for free.
"He just does not hesitate," Mary said. "One gal said, 'This is so nice because I can't afford it.' He says, 'Well, I'll just do it all the time."
"I like to think that I'm helping out the community because it's making it look a lot cleaner and nicer," Henry said. "I love to do it. It's been an honor for me to do it."
Once he completes all 50 yards, Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service will visit him to give him a new lawn mower, weed eater and blower. Henry hopes to continue helping his community even after he completes the challenge.