One of the school's hockey players lost his home in the wildfires earlier this year, with three teammates raising money for the cause.
Patch Staff
Avon Old Farms School
AVON, CT — For the Avon Old Farms School hockey team, the recent wildfires in California weren't just something on the news.
They hit much closer to home for one of the players, who lost his home in the infernos earlier this year.
Out of that disaster, however, three of his teammates banded together to raise money to help fire victims like their teammate.
The private parochial boarding school, located at 500 Old Farms Road, Avon, announced that three hockey players raised nearly $3,200 for victims of the recent Los Angeles area wildfires.
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The trio — Indiana Grossbard, 17, of Wilton; Cooper Snee, 18, of Franklin Lakes, N.J.; , and Josh Travaglino, 18, of Scarsdale, N.Y.; all attend Avon Old Farms School and play on the varsity hockey team.
According to the school, the players learned that the home of Sam Houston. Houston, 18, a native of Pacific Palisades, Calif., was among those destroyed.
"Like thousands of others, nothing was left of Houston’s home after the fires burned through entire neighborhoods throughout January. He says that this wasn’t the first time his family had to be evacuated due to threat of wildfires, but it very quickly took a turn for the worst," wrote Avon Old Farms in a release.
Sadly, Houston watched the fires on the news knowing his home was in jeopardy.
“My mom and I were both here in Avon, and my dad was visiting my sister in Colorado, so none of us were there, but we were getting updates from our neighbors,” Houston said in an Avon Old Farms release.
“During that time, there was such a lack of certitude. We were hoping our home and our town would be alright, but our neighbors were sending videos of the fires getting closer. Then it hit our neighborhood and we just had no idea what to do.”
Houston said it wasn’t just the loss of his own home that devastated him.
“It’s actually a pretty small town, and I love it so much. All the schools, the churches, they burned down, too. We’re going to try to rebuild because we don’t want to leave that place, but it’s going to take a long time,” he said in the release.
His teammates on the varsity hockey team were impacted by what they saw.
“I’ve been fortunate to have never experienced that, but I can see how hard it is to lose everything,” Travaglino said. “You could almost see it on his face. I just wanted to do whatever I could to help.”
“You don’t wish that on anyone,” Grossbard added. “He’s a great kid, a great teammate, so we wanted to do something for him.”
“Obviously, what he and his community have gone through is unimaginable. We just wanted to do what we could to help,” Snee said.
Travaglino, Snee, and Grossbard brought their idea of organizing a raffle fundraiser to Avon Old Farms Head of School Jim Detora, as well as Avon Old Farms Director of Athletics and Assistant Varsity Hockey Coach Geoff Barlow.
They didn’t hesitate to give the green light.
“The news of the wildfires hit close to home and they wanted to help somehow,” Barlow said. “They all came together and used their connections to track down all of the raffle prizes. The hope is to raise funds for the victims and be sure the devastation gets some attention on campus.”
Houston said he was moved by his teammates' actions.
“I didn’t ask for any of this,” says Houston. “The first I heard about it, the guys had already gotten approval from the school administration. They’ve really just overwhelmed me with support during a tough time.”
Prizes include several authenticated signed items from sports legends across hockey, football, and basketball including a signed Shaquille O’Neal basketball and signed Mike Eruzione (1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey) jersey.
Tickets were sold for $5 each.
“We wanted to get some big items to draw more donations in,” Snee said.
In total, they raised $3190 in the raffle, which was held on Feb. 15.
Proceeds from the raffle will go directly to families affected by the fires.
Houston said his town has created a spreadsheet compiling what each affected family needs, allowing him and his teammates to personally direct any funds raised to those most in need.
“It’s not getting thrown into some general fund. We are doing it for specific families,” Grossbard said. “I think that’s important.”
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