These athletes used their strength to great use when they helped shovel heaps of snow in the driveways of the elderly and people with disability one snow-laden Monday morning.
Winter storms were headed toward Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. That was why High School Head football coach Brian DeLallo decided to cancel his team’s weight lifting workout. He posted on Twitter recently: “Due to expected severe weather, Monday’s weightlifting workout has been canceled. Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money–that’s our Monday workout.”
Due to expected severe weather, Monday’s weightlifting workout has been cancelled. Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money – that’s our Monday workout.
— Brian DeLallo (@BDeLallo) January 16, 2022
High School football players David Shelpman, 16, and Aidan Campbell, 17, were just two of the 40 athletes who shoveled snow on their neighbors’ driveways. Aidan shoveled four driveways with David. David shoveled another two driveways and shoveled for seven hours. Aidan on the other hand shoveled for five hours, he told Fox News Digital.
David also helped her mom volunteer at a spaghetti dinner for homeless veterans. He said, “I definitely always do feel good about being able to help others out.” He also added that helping others “makes me feel like a part of something bigger than myself.”
This giving back to the community project was a tradition that was long established even before Coach Brian led the team. “Jeff had always had our kids do this,” he told Fox News Digital. “Any time we had a snow day and school was canceled, he had the kids go out and shovel driveways for people in the community who were elderly or who were disabled or otherwise could not shovel their own driveways. So this is something we’ve been doing for a long time. Definitely not my idea. I learned it from Jeff and we’ve just carried on this tradition.” Jeff Methany, the former coach of the team, started the tradition more than 20 years ago.
This received much more attention than we ever expected. I must give any credit for the idea to Jeff Metheny, who was Head Football Coach at Bethel Park for 25 years before me. We are simply carrying on 1 of the many great traditions he established. Thanks, Coach Metheny! https://t.co/LEnwMbcvPr
— Brian DeLallo (@BDeLallo) January 18, 2022
This activity is more than a tradition, this is the team’s way of building a relationship with their community. “We have really good community support here,” Coach Jeff said. “We also have a great athletic department. Sports are important in our community, high school sports are important. We get great crowds and support. So this is a way to go out and connect with them.”
He stressed “This was a good way to kind of get them face to face with their neighbors, doing something that gives back to a community that is so supportive of our program. It’s really nice to be able to do that.”
It’s great to see a community helping and supporting one another at a time when challenges abound. This selfless act is a beacon of light to a world in need of love now.