Helpful band of whipper snippers

WHILE most teenage boys are sleeping in or playing computer games on the weekend, ­Muhammad Cheema and his mates are mowing the gardens of elderly residents in their neighbourhood; free of charge.

Noor Ahmed, Israr Ahmed and Muhammad Cheema mow the lawns of elderly residents in their Rooty Hill neighbourhood for free. Photo: Bob Barker.

WHILE most teenage boys are sleeping in or playing computer games on the weekend, ­Muhammad Cheema and his mates are mowing the gardens of elderly residents in their neighbourhood; free of charge.

The team of five boys — Cheema, 15, Noor Ahmed, 17, Israr Ahmed, 18, Salim Elakawi, 15 and Ahmad Mohanna, 16 — started up their business, Cutting Grass Boyz, six months ago to help the elderly and disadvantaged residents of Rooty Hills.

Fuelled by the smiles and gratitude they receive from grateful neighbours, the boys are nominated in the Young Achiever category of The Daily Telegraph and News-Local’s Champions of the West awards; a grants competition for the Fair Go for the West campaign that consists of 13 categories, each offering a $10,000 grant.

Teenage boys - Noor Ahmed , Israr Ahmed and Muhammad Cheema - who mow the lawns of elderly residents in their Rooty Hill neighbourhood for free. Photo: Bob Barker.

“It’s better than sitting around wasting time on computer games and TV,” Cheema, the group’s founder, said.

“When we go around and do the gardening for free, ­people are just so happy and pleased to see us. It feels good to be giving back to the community like that.

“At first they were hesitant, it was like they couldn’t believe we wanted to do this just to help for free, but a few weeks into it they started trusting us and got friendlier.”

The plans were hatched after the boys saw an elderly man in their local park picking up rubbish. When they asked him if he was being paid he ­replied he was just doing it to help keep the community clean and tidy. The boys lent the elderly gentleman a hand.

The idea to extend their ­enterprise followed. They got together and printed up pamphlets which they put up around their neighbourhood.

They complete around three jobs each weekend while still putting in the hours to clean their local parks and study, some of them for their Higher School Certificate.

“I think more people our age should do things to give back to their community,” Cheema said.