Photo by Richard Martone.
Earlier this week, a mysterious bearded hero man took it upon himself to do a little groundskeeping work around the Lincoln Memorial, since no one else could do it because of the federal government shutdown.
Turned out that man, Chris Cox, was part of the one-man Memorial Militia, who made it his mission to make the areas around the National Mall and memorials look nice and pretty for all the veterans coming to town for this weekend’s Million Vet March. Unfortunately, Park Police interrupted his self-less landscape duties and told him to move along.
A charitable organization called Crowd It Forward heard about Cox’s selfless act and decided to pay it forward, er, crowd it forward, with a Random Act of Crowdfunding. Crowd It Forward founder Kendall Almerico tells DCist in an email that “Cox’s selfless act inspired us to create a fund to do something special for him in return.” That something special is an attempt to raise $1,500 to purchase Cox a new riding lawnmower, you know, to make his life a little easier. The details:
At Crowd It Forward, we want to reward people like Chris who do selfless acts to benefit others. As a token of our appreciation, we are raising funds to do something for Chris in return for his random act of kindness. In this Random Act of Crowdfunding, if we raise at least $1,500 through your tax-deductible donations, we will buy Chris a new riding lawnmower. If we raise less, we will purchase Chris a new set of tools to help him with his wood carving business. Any funds raised over $1,500, will be donated to The Green Beret Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that provides resources to facilitate the special needs of wounded, ill and injured Green Beret veterans.
At the time of writing, Crowd It Forward has already raised $440 for Cox’s new riding mower, and there’s 80 days left to donate. Previously, Crowd It Forward raised over $1,000 for the families of the Navy Yard shooting victims.
Update: Almerico says they’ve reached out to Cox “several times but have not heard back yet. But, as we state on the site, any donations above what is used for the mower or tools (or if he does not want the mower or tools then all donations) will be given to the Green Beret Foundation to help wounded special ops veterans.”
If Cox does respond, he will also be able to choose a charity, if he does not want the mower, Almerico said.
