It’s usually only bad weather that stops Kaitāia’s Joel Cross from carrying out his free community lawnmowing on the weekends - but now he’s got another thing forcing him to suspend the activity for a month or two.
It’s usually only bad weather that stops Kaitāia’s Joel Cross from carrying out his free community lawnmowing on the weekends - but now he’s got another thing forcing him to suspend the activity for a month or two.
In the six months Kaitāia man Joel Cross has been providing free lawnmowing for the community, it’s usually only been foul weather that’s stopped him.
But now love is getting in the way, with Cross putting off the free cuts for two or three months while he gets married to fiancē Ashley Rice.
Cross, who own CrossWorks Lawnmowing and Property Care, as well as working as a physio in town, set up the business a year ago and for the past six months has been providing free lawnmowing and other services to people in the town who are unable to do so themselves.
He has more than 70 clients for his business, but that doesn’t stop him giving up his time at weekends for the free community cuts.
Cross said it’s usually only bad weather - and there’s been a fair bit of that lately - that stops him from his weekend free cuts, but love comes first and he’s putting the service on hold for the wedding and honeymoon.
Born in the UK, but growing up in Kaitāia from age 15 before going to university then returning, Cross said he started the free community cuts for a YouTube channel he set up. The idea was to get the ads from videos of his community cuts on the channel to pay his costs to carry out the free service.
He said watching lawns being mowed was a big thing on the internet - lawn pawn as it’s known - and he wanted to tap into that interest.
Kaitāia’s Joel Cross is suspending his free community lawn mowing service as he has a more pressing matter - his upcoming marriage to fiancē Ashley Rice.
The YouTube channel has so far got more than 5,500 subscribers, and while it’s not providing a living as such, it’s helping pay for some of the costs, such as fuel and equipment, to carry out the work.
“I saw a lot of lawns around the place that were overgrown and a lot of people didn’t have the equipment or ability to cut them. So I thought I’d set up the YouTube channel and start the community cuts to help them out,” Cross said.
“It’s for the elderly, the frail, the disabled and those who simply can’t afford or are unable to mow them themselves.
“The aim was that the YouTube channel would supply some funding through the ads to help pay for the community cuts. The channel took off and it’s helped keep the community cuts going.”
To find suitable candidates for his free community cuts, as well as seeing the overgrown lawns himself, people contact him through his Facebok page - www.facebook.com/JDCrossworks - and there’s no shortage of people needing help.
Cross said he was disappointed that the recent weather has prevented him from carrying out the community cuts and that he has to suspend them for a while.
“But love comes first.”
He said planning his wedding to Ashley - who is Kaitāia-born-and-bred - on a Far North beach on October 28, had also taken up a lot of his time and the impending nuptials, along with their honeymoon, mean he’s just unable to continue the free community lawnmowing service for now.
“It’s something I really enjoy doing and I like that it’s for deserving people,” Cross said.
“I’ll get back into it again after the wedding and honeymoon. The plan is to continue the community cuts initiative in the New Year to help those in need.”
