One Fort Dodge father has taken what started as a family discussion on ways to spend time together and to do some good in the world and turned it into a grassroots initiative to help provide free outdoor spring cleanup services for local senior citizens, as well as residents with disabilities or special needs.

“My wife and I are really trying to look for areas of opportunity that help show our kids how they can impact our community and help other people,” Dave Pearson said.

Pearson and his wife, Danielle Pearson, have three children ages 9, 12 and 18. He said lately it’s been hard to find volunteer opportunities for the younger kids because of COVID concerns and restrictions.

Pearson said he and his wife have a “soft spot” for elderly folks and they thought offering their services for some spring cleanup work would be a great way to spend time together as a family and to help others.

“It started out with us helping some elderly folks that we knew with their gutters, with some trimming up and clearing their landscaping bed, picking up tree limbs and raking leaves,” he said.

The projects weren’t really about the work, he said, but about building relationships and seeing firsthand the positive impact the family can have on their community. It wasn’t long before Pearson decided to expand the service offerings to include those with disabilities and special needs.

“We thought, we have some extra time and resources, so let’s make some extra time with our kids and try to help impact others and teach them some hardworking skills,” Pearson said. “That’s kind of how it evolved.”

When a person or a family reaches out to ask for spring cleanup help, Pearson goes through an initial consultation to determine what their needs are and if the family can handle the job.

“If it’s something that fits and we’re able to do without too much liability, we just round up some people and go over and take care of what we can,” he said.

The Pearsons didn’t want to make this family project just a one-time weekend thing, so they even took a classified advertisement out in The Messenger to offer their services to those in need.

“It started out as a family project and it seems like it’s growing little by little just with people hearing about it, people asking about it,” Pearson said. “We’re hoping to help kind of grow it … the initiative of just helping others and impacting your community.”

Pearson was brought up with the desire to serve others ingrained into who he is, a trait he and his wife aim to instill into their own children, with this family project being one facet of that goal.

“It’s teaching our kids exactly what we’re wanting to teach them and that is to reach out, serve in your community, help people who can use the help and work hard,” he said.

Pearson wants to see this free spring cleanup initiative continue to grow with others volunteering to join his family, or to even do a similar project on their own.

“If we can have some other people who are looking to volunteer for something like this, that would be helpful too so that we could just kind of help coordinate some work and help people that need it the most,” he said.

To reach out to Dave Pearson to volunteer or to request services, call 515-571-3840.