Members of the Hall football team spent three hours washing cars at Troy’s Mobil in West Hartford, and raised nearly $600 for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Hall football team car wash fundraiser. Courtesy photo

By Ronni Newton

Soap and water – and a bit of elbow grease on the part of Hall High School football players – led to a donation of $594 to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Students involved in the football program were excited to undertake a philanthropic effort, and held a three-hour car wash on Aug. 18 at the Troy’s Mobil in West Hartford’s Bishops Corner. Each player volunteered for at least an hour.

Players said they were elated at the success of the event.

Area residents and Warrior alumni – some of whom showed up just to donate – were extremely generous, team captains Jack McHale, Hugh Wells, Todd Cravedi, and Nolan Tibball said. They even received support from outside West Hartford, with the Farmington High School athletic director and a Bloomfield High School assistant football coach coming to get their cars washed.

“We as captains decided to do a fundraiser as a pre-season team building activity,” said McHale. He said that it gave the captains a chance to lead in a different way, and brought the players together as a team on behalf of a great cause.

“This benefited me as a football player because it helped me form a sort of chemistry with my teammates –  a necessity for our football team to be successful in the upcoming season,” McHale said. 

Wells agreed that the fundraiser was a chance for players to bond while at the same time helping out the community. “Using the Hall football name for good” was another benefit, he said, and it was great to see how much of the town cares about the team.

“Being with your team outside of football enables you to get to know each other better, which is a vital part of leadership and teamwork,” Wells added.

“Our team decided to select Connecticut Children’s Medical Center [as the fundraiser’s beneficiary] because this specific organization has deep ties within our own Hall football family,” said Tibball. “We as players get the privilege to live out our dreams every day while playing on the field. We hope that by providing support to children through CCMC we will help those kids accomplish their own goals and aspirations later on in life.”

Tibball said that working together on behalf of something that did not include any personal reward helped strengthen the entire Hall football program. “What I found most rewarding about our fundraiser was the sense of selflessness I felt. This same concept can be applied to football where if you aren’t able to sacrifice for the sake of the team, you won’t be successful,” he said.

“It benefited our team because we got to bond as a unit,” Cravedi said. “We are closer than we have ever been in my past years as a player.” Plus, it was fun, he added.

The team is thankful to Thomas Troy (Hall ’54) and the staff at the Troy Mobil in Bishops Corner for allowing the team to use the station for the car wash.

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford!

Hall football team car wash fundraiser. Courtesy photo

Hall football team car wash fundraiser. Courtesy photo

Hall football team car wash fundraiser. Courtesy photo