LawnStarter Pairs With Easter Seals Central Texas on Lawn Care Venture

LawnStarter is lending a hand to a special group of budding lawn care entrepreneurs in the Austin, TX, area.

LawnStarter, which connects consumers with lawn care professionals, recently teamed up with Easter Seals Central Texas to help the charity ramp up its lawn care and landscaping venture. Easter Seals Lawn & Landscape, which launched in 2015, delivers high-quality lawn care services while providing paid job training to people with disabilities.

“Easter Seals Central Texas is proud to be partnering with LawnStarter,” says Tod Marvin, president and CEO of Easter Seals Central Texas, an Austin-based nonprofit that provides services for children and adults with disabilities or special needs. “By expanding in the local market, we’ll be creating more opportunities to employ adults with disabilities, giving them valuable paid job training on their way to self-sufficiency.”

Streamlining With Software

An Easter Seals worker mows a lawn.
Photo: Easter Seals

Josh West, a member of the sales team at LawnStarter, says Easter Seals’ lawn and landscaping venture is using LawnStarter’s business software to streamline operations. The software enables Easter Seals to pick up more lawn and landscaping jobs along its current routes in the Austin area, thus improving efficiency and profitability.

“LawnStarter entered this partnership with Easter Seals because they have the ability to scale multiple crews and provide us with the coverage we need to accommodate our customers,” West says. “They need more lawn care jobs, and we need more lawn care providers.”

‘Meaningful’ Contribution

Danny Carson is one of the Central Texans who’ve been helped by Easter Seals.
Photo: Easter Seals

Aside from LawnStarter assisting Easter Seals on a business level, the startup is aiding the nonprofit on a humanitarian level. Easter Seals serves about 8,500 people with disabilities in 21 Central Texas counties.

“Every day, Easter Seals does tremendous work throughout the Austin area and throughout the country,” says Ryan Farley, LawnStarter’s co-founder and chief operating officer. “LawnStarter is honored to play a small but meaningful role in enriching the lives of some of our fellow Central Texans.”

Tackling Joblessness

Tod Marvin is president and CEO of Easter Seals Central Texas.
Photo: Easter Seals

Marvin, the Easter Seals CEO, says LawnStarter is helping make “a world of difference in our own backyard.”

“Unemployment rates for people with disabilities have been double the national average for the last 50 years. Our goal is to reduce unemployment rates for people with disabilities 10 percent by the year 2020,” Marvin says.

Startup-Style Charity

Chris Paladino is the new chief entrepreneur at Easter Seals Central Texas.
Photo: Easter Seals

Easter Seals Lawn & Landscaping is part of a new startup-style, revenue-generating initiative that aims to cover all of the local charity’s operating costs by 2020, according to Marvin.

“On top of growing the impact Easter Seals has for people with disabilities, our hope is to create a model that nonprofits across Texas will be able to duplicate, ensuring that the services they provide are more financially secure, stable, and long-lasting,” says Chris Paladino, the new chief entrepreneur at Easter Seals Central Texas.

Easter Seals Central Texas received a grant from Austin’s RGK Foundation to support Paladino’s new role. As chief entrepreneur, Paladino is working to make sure the nonprofit’s “social ventures impact the mission of Easter Seals while strategically building a stable base for fiscal growth,” the charity says.

Need help tending to your lawn, visit our Austin lawn care page for more info! In addition to Austin, we also provide lawn care service in Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Leander, and Georgetown.

John Egan

John Egan is the former editor in chief of LawnStarter.com. Now, he is a freelance writer extraordinaire. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Posts by John Egan