Ohio Lawn Care Association gives back

DAYTON and RITTMAN, Ohio – Nearly 100 lawn care operators stopped competing for one day in November as they came together for a Veterans Day event.

Grateful Embrace, organized by the Ohio Lawn Care Association for the past 12 years, brings together LCOs from across the state to the Dayton National Cemetery and the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman. At the two locations, the contractors spread 10 tons of fertilizer to help winterize 155 acres of turf. 

Doug Hague, business development rep for TruGreen’s Lima, Ohio, office, helped start the event in 1994 when he was president of OLCA.

“It’s always a very humbling experience to see this many individuals come together in one place from different backgrounds, from different companies. We spend the entire year competing with each other for business … and on this one day in November, we all come together for a common cause,” Hague said. “It’s very heartwarming to see that, to see this many people working together.”

Nine students from Tolles Career Center in Plain City, Ohio, also joined the LCOs this year, spreading 500 bags of mulch in planting beds and around trees at the two locations.

 

Lawn care companies that volunteered at both locations were:

• Advanced Turf Solutions, Brecksville
• Buckeye EcoCare, Dayton
• Davey Tree
• Grass Master, Canal Fulton
• Leisure Lawn, West Carrollton
• Lucky Lawn, Norton
• Oasis Lawncare, Alliance
• Oasis Turf & Tree, Loveland
• Royse Lawn Care, Cincinnati
• TruGreen
• Turf Pride, Painesville
• Ultralawn, Euclid
• Ziehler Lawn Tree Care, Centerville

 

All the fertilizer and mulch were donated. Supporting companies included: The Andersons, Morral Companies, Residex, Sunrise Cooperative, Scotts Miracle-Gro and Dominion Resources. 

“There’s a bigger purpose for a Grateful Embrace. It certainly has very little to do with putting on a dog and pony show to see the lawn care industry in Ohio,” Hague said. “It’s more about giving back and recognizing those values and commitments of our veterans and thanking them, and taking a moment out of each and every day to recognize that sacrifice. That’s the main thing. I think we should all be called to a greater purpose.”