Spring-Green Lawn Care Salutes Veterans on Memorial Day

Plainfield, Ill. – Memorial Day is a special occasion for Spring-Green Lawn Care, as the company’s military roots run deep. Veterans who hold corporate leadership positions and those who own franchises have made a significant contribution to the lawn care company’s success. In fact, Spring-Green’s chairman Tom Hofer is a Navy veteran himself.

Hofer is proud of his military background, and strives to help his fellow veterans however he can. Hofer was one of the main reasons why Spring-Green got involved with VetFran, a subsidy program offered through the International Franchise Association that provides support to veterans looking to buy a franchise. Spring-Green applies up to $5,000 of the initial franchise fee towards start-up expenses designated or approved by the company, as well as reinvesting another $10,000 back into the new owner’s second year local marketing efforts.

A significant number of our franchisees are military veterans. We owe so much of our success to their hard work, talents and business savvy. Memorial Day is definitely a special day to honor veterans, but we make every effort to celebrate them year round,” said Spring-Green Lawn Care president James Young.

Fourteen of Spring-Green’s franchise owners are military veterans: Tom Hofer, Pat Mahoney, Bruce Mohns, Jeff Anderson, Jim Hoelsworth, Kevin Holker, Lenny Geibel, Bob Summers, Matt Denney, Mike Bell, Amy Shelton, Ric Chapman, Tim Silberer and Roger Grose. Business consultant Aaron Gieser, who works at the corporate support center, is an Army veteran.

It is no accident that weeks before Memorial Day, Spring-Green was named one of Victory Media’s 2013 Military Friendly Franchises. The list recognizes franchises that lead the pack in recruiting and training veterans as businesses owners, making it a priority to recruit owner-operators with a military background.

As part of its commitment to military veterans, Spring-Green is raising funds and awareness for the Fisher House Foundation – an organization that provides a place for military families to stay while service members and veterans receive medical care at military or VA medical centers. The Fisher House Foundation has 60 houses up and running, four construction projects in the works for 2013, and Spring-Green’s contributions will add to their efforts. In fact, Fisher House will receive all of the proceeds from the silent auction held during Spring-Green’s National Training Conference, August 5 – 8 in Chicago. Brian Gawne, vice president of operations for Fisher House, will speak at the conference.

Recently, Spring-Green entered into an agreement with RecruitMilitary that allows their franchisees to use RecruitMilitary’s database to hire employees on a local level. More than 400,000 veteran and military spouses are currently registered with the veteran owned firm, and its exclusive database offers more than 300,000 job openings.

Spring-Green also participates in GreenCare for Troops, a nationwide outreach program coordinated by New Prague, Minn.-based Project EverGreen. GreenCare connects local lawn and landscape firms with men and women serving our country in the armed forces away from home. More than a dozen franchisees have participated in the program over the years, and currently five franchisees are providing complimentary lawn care services to military families. Since its conception, GreenCare has helped more than 1,900 volunteers provide free lawn and landscape services for over 7,000 military families nationwide.