Citywide program helps Pittsburgh residents

Not long after the start of the Great Recession, one district in Pittsburgh started a program to offer free lawn mowing services to help elderly, disabled and low-income residents. It started with one small neighborhood, and then spread to the entire District 2 area of Pittsburgh.

“The neighborhood had a tremendous amount of need,” says Theresa Kail Smith, Pittsburgh City Council member for District 2. “They had tons of abandoned properties.”

Kail Smith initially launched the grass-cutting program in her district after Shawn Maust, owner of Maust Landscaping, pitched the idea to her. She says he had been mowing lawns for the small neighborhood at discounted prices for a while and thought the service could benefit more people.

Although the city would pay Maust Landscaping to do these jobs, Maust says he bid the jobs for very discounted prices at about $15 to $20 per lawn. “It’s such a small task from my standpoint to do something to make people happy,” he says. “For the 15 minutes it takes me with the amount of equipment I have, it’s nothing.”

However, Maust’s contribution to this program wasn’t “nothing.” Kail Smith says Maust was able to save one resident’s life when he came to mow his lawn.

Read more in our August issue here.