Paul Biddle during his years of army service. Photo: Supplied.
Horrified by the idea of a veteran being charged $120 a fortnight for grass cutting, Paul Biddle knew it was time to step in.
Now, he’s spearheading a new free lawn maintenance initiative for veterans that will go beyond simply cutting grass, by addressing social isolation through a cuppa and a chat.
For Paul, a veteran of the 16th Air Defence Regiment who served in Iraq, the initiative has also helped him re-engage with his military roots.
“I’m a mortgage broker, so I know how much people get on pensions and things like that, so I’ve gone, ‘Hang on, that’s sizeable’,” Paul said.
“I thought, ‘That’s ridiculous. Surely we can help him out. And he can’t be the only one’.”
Paul said while the RSL helped veterans in hospital through its welfare program, it didn’t extend to lawn mowing.
“I thought, ‘If those guys are in hospital and they’re not able to mow their lawns, we should know about that’,” he said.
Veterans Mowing Service will begin in May and run through the not-for-profit organisation Raising the Bar Foundation, and leverage partnerships with the City of Wollongong RSL Sub-branch and The Barstool Brothers network to attract veterans and volunteers.
It’s an initiative that’s also benefitting Paul, who has re-engaged with the City of Wollongong RSL Sub-branch after having moved on from his military past.
“I was completely disengaged with anything to do with the military until my 20-year Iraq reunion that happened a couple of years ago,” he said.
It prompted him to attend an Anzac Day service, after which he had a chance meeting with City of Wollongong RSL Sub-branch member and Raising the Bar founder Lachlan Stevens, who invited him to join the RSL.
“I said, ‘It’s not me. Maybe I’ll come to Anzac Days’,” he said.
“He said, ‘No, it’s changing, it’s getting younger. We’ve got a really young CEO now and the new generation is coming through’.
“In my mind, I realised if the younger generation doesn’t start to come through, it’s going to die.”
He said that was enough for him to get involved and, in turn, steer his lawn-care idea, where volunteers will offer veterans companionship and help maintain their lawns at no cost.
Already, it has attracted five or six volunteers, with Paul keen to see more come on board – whether to do lawn mowing, lawn edging or brew up a cuppa and have a chat.
“I guess it’s similar to how I didn’t necessarily want to become involved with the RSL,” he said of those who might be reluctant to step up.
“I thought, ‘Well, what am I going to do? What’s the point?’ It came back to having a purpose.
“We’re doing something for someone who couldn’t do it for themselves, and at the end of the day there’s a result achieved because we’re saving them money, we’re connecting with the veterans and we’re ensuring they don’t have to look at that long grass every time they walk outside.”
Paul said he was sure that for some veterans, the monthly RSL meetings were the only outing on their calendars.
“Once they start to lose mobility, they start to lose connections with the community,” he said.
However, the connection went both ways, with veterans able to share stories of their service and careers, while volunteers opened up about their own experiences.
Raising the Bar Foundation general manager Daniel Chin said through RSL sub-branches they were able to reach a significant number of the 3500 veterans in the Illawarra who might need lawns mowed, and through Raising the Bar networks were able to attract volunteers.
As a result, Daniel said they were aiming to mow about 1000 lawns a year.
“I think it’s inherently one of those things that’s a blokey thing to do, to go and mow the lawn,” Daniel said.
“A lot of our guys have joined for that kind of feeling, not only to be able to be a bloke in a healthy environment, but to help people out.
“From what we’ve heard, a lot of the guys are also very excited to have one of our volunteers come in and have morning tea before mowing the lawn and have someone to have a chat with every couple of weeks.”
Daniel said they hoped to eventually create a sustainable model where paid mowing services could support the free veteran service and avoid reliance on sponsorship, which so far has helped provide mowing equipment.
He said the lawn-mowing program also complemented the foundation’s other veteran support initiatives, such as Walk With Us Kokoda, where RSL NSW helped send veterans to the historic Kokoda Track and develop the next generation of veteran leaders.
“With some of those local veterans that come back, we know they’re going to be excited to re-engage and be part of this program as well, and even use it as training for Kokoda,” he said.
“They’ll have a different appreciation for veterans once they come back, particularly the civilians that go over there.
“I think they’ll want to give back to the veteran community, and this is a great way of being able to do that.”
Daniel said applications were now open for the Walk With Us Kokoda sponsorship for veterans, with civilians and other veterans also able to pay their own way.
Interested volunteers or sponsors for the Veteran Mowing Service can contact the Raising the Bar Foundation.
