SAN ANTONIO — Two San Antonio brothers are now business partners after being inspired to mow 50 free lawns in their community.
Adrian Estrella and Nathan Andrade have already transformed six lawns in the area. After each fresh mow, their parents document the work and send it to Rodney Smith Jr., founder of Raising Men and Women Lawn Care Services.
Adrian and Nathan's pursuit to mow all these lawns for free comes from the "50 Yard Challenge," a challenge Smith is offering through his nonprofit.
The payoff? Any kids willing to mow 50 lawns for free will be awarded lawn equipment when they're done.
When the boys' mom heard about the 50 Yard Challenge almost a year ago on the radio, she knew it would be perfect for them.
"I always wanted to help people, but I never knew how I could do it at such a young age," Adrian said. "So being able to mow lawns for people who can’t do it is pretty cool."
The challenge means more to the 14-year-old than just earning new lawn equipment. His mom was once a single mother and his stepfather is a veteran.
These are two of the demographics Smith's nonprofit works to help. Raising Men and Women Lawn Care Services pushes kids to help the elderly, the disabled, single parents and veterans.
Smith got the idea to start his nonprofit in 2015 when he stopped to help an elderly man with his yard. After that, he took to Facebook.
"It just started growing," Smith said.
One by one, he challenged children to mow 50 lawns for free. Since then, he says around 5,000 kids have participated.
Providing kids new lawn equipment and the structure they need to lead a life of entrepreneurship is another goal of Smith's.
"Now some of those kids own their own landscaping businesses," said Smith.
Adrian and Nathan will work together on the next 44 houses they plan to fix up. After that, Estrella, who is in ROTC right now, said one day he would like to have a lawn care business.