Winners: Mountaineer Lawn Care Inc.
1 Feb, 2008 By: Ken Krizner Landscape ManagementFor Dan Cheslock, participating in the annual Renewal & Remembrance project at Arlington National and Historic Congressional cemeteries is a way to give something back to the country.
 A good deed indeed. Several members of the team donated their time and energy to PLANET's Renewal & Remembrance at Arlington. |
"I grew up during the Vietnam years, but I had a college deferment," says Cheslock, owner of Mountaineer Lawn Care Inc. in Morgantown, WV. "I feel that this is important. It's a way to give thanks."
Mountaineer Lawn Care is a 29-year-old company that covers north central West Virginia. The company's expertise is fertilization and weed control, and this year it will begin doing maintenance.
Since 1996, Cheslock has taken a crew to join in Renewal & Remembrance, the annual community service project sponsored by the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET). It takes place the day before PLANET's annual Legislative Day on the Hill in Washington, D.C.
Cheslock's company began volunteering through its involvement with the Professional Lawn Care Association of America.
"It was really something that appealed to us," he says.
Mountaineer Lawn Care employees spend half a day laying new sod at Arlington.
"We help keep the grounds looking good for the future," Cheslock says. "We're building a better-looking cemetery."
Cheslock and his crew will go Washington the weekend before Renewal & Remembrance to take in the monuments and other sights in and around the nation's capital.
"We use it as a company retreat," he says. "It is a way to get to know each other away from work."
There is another reason why Cheslock likes to take his crew to Arlington.
"While you're out there, you get a chance to see who is the hardest working member of the staff," he says. "We grow as a team and enjoy each other's company. It's a team-building experience."
Renewal & Remembrance is a true win-win situation for everybody involved, Cheslock says.
The size of Arlington National and Historic Congressional Cemeteries, coupled with their national significance, demands a high level of maintenance and care. There is an abundance of donated landscape work during Renewal & Remembrance that might not otherwise be done.
Employees are humbled by the emotion that embraces this country's most cherished resting place, Cheslock says.
After all, Arlington National Cemetery is called "America's Most Hallowed Ground" and with good reason. More than 300,000 people are buried there, including veterans from all of the nation's wars, from the American Revolution through Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a distinct and personal way, volunteers, are showing their gratitude to the veterans and their families who have sacrificed for their country, Cheslock says.
The Mountaineer crew, he continues, is privileged to participate in Renewal & Remembrance because it was a day of hard work and reflection.
"What we get out of it is much more than what we put in," Cheslock says. "We feel privileged to go in and do the work we do."
— The author is a freelance writer based in Cleveland. Contact him at
info@questex.com.
Employees: 12 ft, 15 pt Location: Morgantown, WV Principal: Dan Cheslock Founded: 1977
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