A US American high-school football team in the town of Bethel, Pennsylvania, put their skills to good use this week, helping shovel snow and clear driveways and roads for local residents.
The football team of 16 and 17-year-olds were due to have weightlifting practice, but it was cancelled as a result of a huge snowdrift and icy temperatures. So, the school's head football coach, Brian DeLallo, decided to was time to show residents what the team was made of.
The coach said in a tweet:
"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."
The team then spent much of the day helping the community and the vulnerable, shovelling for 100 homes in total.
In an interview with Fox News DeLallo said that the team have been doing this sort of activity for over 20 years, first started by former coach Jeff Metheny, but it had just never received media attention before. He said:
"Jeff had always had our kids do this. Any time we had a snow day and school was cancelled, 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."
One team member said:
"It was a fun way to spend the day. We just kept going until we'd done six houses. We even skipped out on having lunch. It made me feel like I was a part of something bigger than myself."
A resident added:
"I have lived in Bethel Park for more than 40 years now. And acts of kindness like this are exactly why I have stayed for as long as I have, and why I will never leave. These young men have no idea how much something like this means to me and it makes me so proud to live here."
[Based on reporting by: Positive Outlooks]
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