How 1 Johnson County business keeps giving back despite rising fuel costs

KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.

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Gas prices in Missouri and Kansas have climbed significantly since the war with Iran began.

Some drivers are paying increases of more than $1 per gallon.

Before the war, the average price for a gallon of gas in Missouri was $2.60. Prices had been slowly trending down during the ceasefire, reaching $3.43 per gallon on July 6. When attacks began again the next day, prices started climbing. Three weeks later, prices have increased more than 40 cents per gallon in Missouri.

Kansas drivers saw a similar trend. The average price per gallon was $2.53 before the war began and rose to $3.46 per gallon three weeks ago. Prices now are nearly 30 cents higher per gallon.

In Johnson County, gas prices have gone up $1.30 since the war with Iran started, according to an NBC News gas tracker.

Green Lawn, a lawn care company based in Shawnee, has seen its fuel prices rise 32% in the last year.

"Rather than pricing those increases to our customers and changing the prices of our services, we keep focused on efficiency and try to not be focused on... what the price is today or next week," Green Lawn President Craig Hawkins said.

Hawkins said optimizing their routes is their best strategy for managing rising costs. He said these costs can influence everything from what they pay their employees to purchasing new equipment.

Despite the financial pressure, Green Lawn volunteers its services through a Shawnee neighborhood program called The Mow Squad. Homeowners that qualify get their lawns mowed for free. Craig and his team have been mowing Richard Milne's lawn every week since last summer.

Elizabeth Griffith, the City of Shawnee's volunteer coordinator, said the program serves residents who are especially vulnerable to rising costs.

"The incomes typically are fixed for the population we're serving," she said. "They're limited, and they do have to face those tough decisions."

Milne wrote Green Lawn a thank you letter to express his appreciation. That letter is now the first thing visitors see when they walk into the Green Lawn office.

"It sits here at the front of our office to remind us every day that things like that are important, and they mean something to somebody," Hawkins said.

For Hawkins, rising fuel costs will never change Green Lawn's commitment to the community.

"It's not something that we'll ever stop doing in response to fuel costs or other rising costs, but something that we feel like is part of our obligation as a business and a part of the community," Hawkins said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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