Plowing Away Worries for Military Families is a Labor of Love for Dan Kindergan
“When I look at how much these programs really help a family, it excites me and makes me want to be even more involved.” – Dan Kindergan
“I feel fortunate to be in a position where we can offer these military families our services at no charge – the truth is, I really love doing it, and more companies like us should be doing it.”
Dan Kindergan, Kindergan Landscaping
Dan Kindergan started his work in the landscape business as a teen in the mid -1980s like so many do, cutting lawns in his neighborhood around Bergenfield, New Jersey.
Today, his company, Kindergan Landscaping, keeps its more than 40 employees busy year-round through its three divisions that provide full-service landscape design-build and maintenance for commercial and residential clients, as well as paving and hardscape work, and construction.
Dan Kindergan of Kindergan Landscaping knows how much being a SnowCare and GreenCare for Troops volunteer means to military families.
“We’re building a Starbucks now in south Jersey as we speak!” he quips. Diversity has proven quite beneficial.
Rising through the hard knocks of sole proprietorship in the green industry has given Kindergan a deep appreciation for the value of service. Over the busy Christmas holiday, he was stressing out over a missing gift of money he left for his garbage collectors.
“Those guys would take away anything for us, they work so hard,” he said in exasperation, figuring that someone had ultimately pilfered the gift.
It dampens his spirit only briefly, as the subject quickly changes to the service he provides for military families as a GreenCare-SnowCare for Troops professional volunteer. Military service runs in the family – several relatives have served the country, including his father John, in the National Guard.
Kindergan recalls interacting with GreenCare-SnowCare for Troops people at the GIE + EXPO, and while it took some time to settle in with a group of regular service families, he has several families of deployed military personnel that receive snow removal services and/or landscape care maintenance.
The company’s most recent addition to its military family service program was signed up for snow removal right before winter began. They were placed in the regular routing plan with the company’s paid maintenance customers and will enjoy a clean driveway and sidewalks for as long as the deployment lasts.
“I feel fortunate to be in a position where we can offer these military families our services at no charge – the truth is, I really love doing it, and more companies like us should be doing it,” says Kindergan. “When I look at the root of this, at how much it must really help a family, it excites me and makes me want to be even more involved.”
The SnowCare for Troops program, which is supported by BOSS Snowplow, is more than clearing driveways and sidewalks of snow and ice. It’s a means to help military families maintain their independence and go about their daily routines taking care of family, work, school and more.
January 19-25, 2020 is National SnowCare for Troops Awareness Week and as the program celebrates its 10th year, Project EverGreen will shine a spotlight on the program’s dedicated volunteers, the families they bring relief to and the need for more volunteers to join the cause.
Are you ready to step up and become a volunteer for a military family? Register today at https://projectevergreen.org/about-the-program-volunteers/
The Title Sponsor of the GreenCare for Troops program is Nufarm. Platinum Partners include Toro and SiteOne Landscape Supply. The Gold Partner is Arborjet/Ecologel and the Silver Partner is the Propane Education and Research Council
