KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

Residents who may be facing city ordinance violations regarding not taking care of their lawns can now reach out to Community Care Ministries for assistance.

According to Tony Mercado, Property Maintenance Inspector for the city of Tullahoma, one of things he does is enforcing ordinances, and one of the common complaints he receives is about tall grass. He said what he noticed is that most of the time when he went out to address the complaint with homeowners, they would let him know it was a financial issue that was the cause.

“They simply couldn’t afford a lawnmower, the lawnmower they had was broken down or in several cases their lawnmower was stolen,” Mercado said. “I didn’t believe it to be right for me to try and enforce something where it would impose a hardship on someone, but at the same time we have to maintain the city ordinances for safety reasons.”

Mercado then reached out to several lawn mower manufactures and received a response from Briggs & Stratton, parent company of Snapper, which donated several pieces of equipment that he could use to create a program help people. He said the next step was finding how to implement the program, and he talked with Lisa Cardwell, Executive Director of Community Care Ministries and The Attic Outlet, and Ernie Jones, Public Relations for Community Care Ministries, who said they will not only partner with him but also assume running the program.

“What will happen is while I am locating these violations and determining that these people are truly in need, I am gonna be able to refer them to the Attic Outlet, and from there they will be able to help from that point,” Mercado said.

Cardwell said it was a joy in being asked to be a part of the program, stating that one of the nonprofit’s mottos is to prevent homelessness.

“In rental situations, if they are going to not have shelter anymore because they can’t maintain their property that falls under the guides of what we are doing, trying to prevent homelessness,” Cardwell said. “It was important for us to try and hit another avenue in anything and everything we can do to help our neighbors in our community to be able to stay in their home.”

Jones said preventing homelessness in the Tullahoma area is a big task, and Community Care Ministries’ volunteers, including himself, are glad to help and make sure that residents’ yards are in compliance to city ordinances and are able to stay in their homes.

Cardwell said if anyone is interested in learning more about the program to contact Mercado’s office at 931-455-2282 to discuss the program further.

“We will be glad to come out and service and then we will talk about the rest of the season, how we can continue to help and we will help to get you back on your feet, to be able to maintain your yard yourself,” Cardwell said. “Give Tony a call and we will be there with smiling faces.”

Those wanting to help the program and other programs from Community Care Ministries can stop by McAlister’s Deli, located at 1500 N Jackson St., on Tuesday, June 27, where a portion of the proceeds will go towards the ministry.