How Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Services Scaled a 5,000-Kid Movement with a Custom Digital Platform
"We used to track everything by text — it wasn’t sustainable or scalable. I needed a better way, and that’s when I reached out to Sunset Studio. They got right to it. I told them what I was thinking, and they built something better than I imagined. The new system even helps kids track their community service hours, which they can now use for college applications."
The Vision
Rodney Smith Jr. started Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service with a mission to inspire service through lawn care. His 50 Yard Challenge encourages kids across the United States to mow 50 free lawns for the elderly, disabled, single parents, and veterans — instilling discipline, empathy, and pride through real community work.
What began as one small act of kindness in 2015 has grown into a national movement with over 5,000 young participants, and captured the attention of major media outlets. Rodney has been featured on CNN, FOX News, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and even on La Croix cans and snack packaging across America. His story has inspired millions, proving that acts of service, no matter how small, can create waves of impact.
The Problem
As the movement gained momentum, so did the administrative challenges. Kids were submitting photos via text, and Rodney was manually tracking progress for thousands of participants. There was no central place to manage user registrations, review submissions, or automate shirt requests. The system wasn’t scalable and was holding the organisation back from growing further.
Rodney needed a way to organise submissions, celebrate kids' progress, and reduce the manual effort — without losing the personal, mission-driven heart of the challenge.
Our Approach
We worked closely with Rodney to understand the flow of the 50 Yard Challenge — from sign-up to completion. Our goal was to turn his existing process into a fully digital experience that would feel as inspiring as his mission. Every feature was designed to reward action, streamline communication, and elevate the sense of accomplishment for each child.
We also made sure Rodney had tools on the back end to easily manage submissions, get notified of key events, and maintain the spirit and quality of the initiative without getting overwhelmed.
What We Built
Custom Registration & Progress Tracker: Kids register online and track their lawn care submissions through a clean, intuitive interface.
Photo Uploads & Milestones: With every submission, kids upload required photos — before, after, in-action, and with the homeowner — which are stored and viewable throughout their journey.
Shirt Milestone System: Inspired by karate belts, the platform tracks each child’s progress and displays their current shirt colour — from white at the start to black upon completing 50 lawns. When a new shirt is unlocked, kids are prompted to request it directly through the portal by submitting their preferred size.
Automated Admin Notifications: Rodney is automatically notified when a new user signs up, when a lawn is submitted, or when a shirt is requested — reducing manual tracking and making it easy to stay on top of activity.
Leaderboard & Regional Rankings: Real-time leaderboards celebrate the top mowers nationwide and by region, with medals for the top three and dynamic updates that fuel healthy competition.
Hall of Fame: Kids who complete the 50 Yard Challenge are inducted into a Hall of Fame with a celebratory profile — a permanent badge of honour.
Admin Tools for Rodney: The back-end dashboard simplifies moderation, tracks overall stats, and allows Rodney to focus more on impact, not inboxes.