The Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service challenge empowers and inspires youth to serve their community
by Janie L. Ferguson, pictured is AJ his last lawn #50 on September 26, 2026 in Fremont, NY.
I want to share an inspiring story of a local Canisteo boy who took up a challenge to help others in his community, along with the help of his mother, and Papa, too. Talana Ingalls, the mother of Angelo, (“AJ” he prefers to be called) has helped her son all along the way in his 50 Yard Challenge through Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service(RM&WLCS). She had seen their challenge online, and had talked to AJ about it, and he said he’d like to accept that challenge, too.
“I am one proud mama,” she says.
Left: AJ wearing his red “Raising Men Lawn Care Service ~ Giving Back to the Community” shirt, (the red one is what he got after mowing his 40th lawn) and his safety glasses, and earbuds that he received from RMLCS after accepting the 50 Yard Challenge. For every ten yards he mowed he received a different colored shirt. Congratulations AJ, for completing the challenge!
On their website Weareraisingmen.com it says, “Our goal is to unite communities across the country by empowering youth to serve in meaningful and impactful ways. We provide an inspiring, hands-on program that channels young people’s energy into positive action while supporting those who need help the most. Many youth want to give back, and many neighbors are in need—but knowing who needs help and how to connect can be challenging. We bridge that gap by organizing and guiding acts of service nationwide, allowing youths ages seven to seventeen to make a real difference while helping families, veterans, and seniors care for and maintain their lawns.”
Rodney Smith Jr., from Huntsville, Alabama is their founder. He started his company back in 2015. He encourages young people through the 50 Yard Challenge nationwide and worldwide to mow lawns free for the elderly, disabled, single parents, and veterans. When they accept the challenge and first begin, they receive a package with a white shirt that says, “Raising Men or Women Lawn Care Service ~ Giving Back to the Community.” Also, protective eyeglasses and ear buds, too. For every ten lawns they mow, they get a different colored shirt sent to them. When the fifty yards are completed, they get a brand-new mower, a weed eater, and blower for finishing the challenge. Rodney was asking God to use him as his vessel and after a couple of years He opened the door for him to start this business, and outreach, too.
Thank you, Rodney, for teaching our young people how to give back to their communities!
His mother Talana, and her friend Jill Granger were there together in the house filling black, green and gold balloons with helium when I arrived Saturday, September 26, 2026. Jill, who works at the Hornell Post Office, told me before she headed back to work that she used to deliver out here in the Fremont area. Grammy Lori Jackson was also sitting close by and she listened and helped out with information, too, as I chatted with AJ. As AJ & I walked together over to the display, after I took pictures of him on his Papa’s riding lawn mower, he said, “They are going to have confetti pop out all over,” and I said, “Oh that will be nice!” He shook his head, and said, “but it will get all over the lawn!” I kind of chuckled at his concern over his freshly mown lawn. I said it will probably easily be raked up.
His family had set up two large Challenge & Complete signs with the balloons, and a large 50, too. There were two people on each side of AJ with confetti. He was holding his “Yard 50 Complete” sign, and they popped confetti out for the photos. He smiled happily as the confetti flew up high all around him, and onto his freshly mown lawn.
I sat and chatted with AJ. He is eleven years old and is in the 6th grade at the Canisteo/Greenwood Elementary School. His teacher’s name is Ashley Boccia. He also had her last year, too. Talana said “She is AJ’s biggest cheerleader, and she supports and encourages him to shoot for his dream of having a lawn care business.
She gave him his first repeating job that he mows every two weeks for her.” Thank you, Ashley, pictured below, for being such a great teacher to AJ.
AJ along with Noah & Nathaniel Gayhart have begun a lawn business together. It is called, “Little Men Lawn Care,” they are hard at work in the picture above. The are the best friends Noah & AJ, and love mowing lawns together. The most challenging lawn to mow was two acres of fields with tall grass. Papa brought his riding lawn mower over to help with this one.
His first and last lawns that he mowed were at his grandparents home where the celebration was held today. The address is Arkport, but it is really in Fremont, they said. His mother said, mowing my dad’s lawn fulfilled many of the categories, my dad Alan Ingalls is a veteran, and he was in the Marine Corp. and he is also a 1st responder, Lori is disabled, and my Nana who lives out back is elderly.
He said he enjoys mowing on the rider, especially at Papa’s house, but almost all of his other jobs, but one, were done with a push mower. The most challenging lawn was two acres of fields with very high grass. This lawn belonged to a disabled man who reached out because his mower had broken down, and he was having a hard time getting someone to complete the job.
AJ said, “My Papa was able to bring the rider over to help with that one.” When AJ talked about his Papa you could tell he was close to him, as he told me about how he helped get him started by buying him a weed wacker to help trim a teacher’s lawn. When he was asked if he learned any new skills since he started mowing he said, no not really as he had been mowing since he was very young. Being a farmer’s grandson he has learned manual labor early, which is a good thing in today’s world.
AJ continues:
“My mom helps me out, and my Papa, too, he’s a farmer.”
Alan Ingles drove up from the farm he works on to help celebrate with AJ at lunch time, as we were talking. He explained,
“We don’t own the farm land anymore, we sold it to the local farmer down here. Our family has been up here for over 250 years though. He works on a farm that raises heifers and beef steer now. When my grandfather was here they had pretty much everything. So their family goes back a long way on this property, and the road they live on is appropriately called Ingalls Rd. “
Alan Ingalls stopped working for a bit on the farm to come and celebrate at lunch time with his grandson AJ. You can see their special bond here, pictured together. Talana says, “Papa Moo is his favorite person in the whole world. He is my dad, but my co-parent, too.”
Alan was referred to as Papa Moo Moo because when AJ was very young he was obsessed with cows, and always wanted to go to the farm to see them. So when he was one years old, and had a limited vocabulary he would always just say He wanted to go to Papa Moo Moo’s so they would know where he wanted to go. The name stuck, and now all of the grandkids call him Papa Moo.
L to R: Talana Ingalls and her father Alan Ingalls, (AJ’s Papa, too.) Grammy Lori Jackson (behind,) AJ, Nathanial & Joseph Gayhart.
When AJ was getting his free, back to school haircut at Garcia’s Barber Shop in Hornell he was telling another boy, Carter Kane from Dansville all about the challenge, as he was there for his haircut, too. So the mom’s got together and exchanged information, and Carter got signed up the next day. It is so good to see young people giving back to their communities, and spreading the word, too.
Now that AJ has completed the challenge he will be getting a visit from Rodney Smith, Jr. or his representative. They will be bringing free equipment to give to him.
Here is a link to their website, https://weareraisingmen.com, in case any of you are interested.
It was good meeting you, AJ and family. Thank you for encouraging your son, and grandson to learn a good work ethic at such a young age.
Janie Ferguson is a Cameron Mills NY contributor to the Sun. She was so impressed with AJ she just had to get a picture with him! Reach her anytime with comments or pitch her a great local story!! spencejaniefergie@gmail.com
