MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — It didn’t take much digging inside Tom Clime’s garage to discover the message he's spent a year working to share. It's a message most wouldn't expect from a landscaping company.

“People think rough, maybe a little gritty around the edges,” Clime said with a laugh. “They’re probably not wrong.”

Clime owns Thomas Clime Landscapes, a business more associated with dirt and heavy lifting than heart. But last year, his crew dragged in something they’d found on the street: a stack of 4-by-8 sheets of steel.

“I don’t know why they picked it up,” he said. “I still don’t know why they did it.”

He also can’t quite explain what happened next. When he looked at one of the steel sheets, a question hit him: How can I make a difference in a subtle way?

That question turned i

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