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#FoxesUp4Heroes Unites Community While Raising Money for Northern Westchester Hospital
Across social media, Fox Lane student-athletes and coaches can be found doing incredibly creative at-home workouts. Varsity lacrosse Captain Jake Bazyk dances in his basement. Varsity football player Griffin Zegras bench-presses his couch. Fox Lane baseball coach Matt Foley does shuttle runs with big buckets of water.
The motives behind these activities are explained in Director of Health, PE & Athletics Adam Lodewick’s video — before he does bench presses, pushups and squats while using his daughters for added weight. The workouts are part of a campaign created by Lodewick and Fox Lane coaches called #FoxesUp4Heroes.
“Some of our coaches were challenging their athletes to do things like stick tricks and pushups to keep them engaged with one another and to keep their spirits up,” Lodewick said. He and a few of the Fox Lane coaches including Matt Hillis, Craig Henley, Matt Foley and Andrew Giuliano started brainstorming ways to engage all of the district’s student-athletes while doing something positive for the community.
“We were trying to think of a way we could do something for the workers at Northern Westchester Hospital who are sacrificing so much right in our backyard,” Lodewick said. “That’s when we came up with the idea to challenge each other to do a creative at-home exercise to raise awareness about the importance of social and physical distancing. Once you do your workout, you nominate someone else to do a creative activity or exercise and use the hashtag #FoxesUp4Heroes.”
Afterward, you can choose to visit the GoFundMe page started by Lodewick to donate money to Northern Westchester Hospital, though no one should feel obligated.
“We are hoping students and others, for that matter, learn that even during the toughest of times, we need to stick together, stay positive and help out whenever or wherever needed,” said Lodewick. “That’s what so important and valuable about athletics. When you are on a team and have teammates, those are the values you learn. Not everything goes as planned, you can be down or losing, but to succeed and get through adversity, you need to stick together and do whatever is required for the sake of the team. That’s what these healthcare workers are doing right now to help save lives.”
Lodewick emphasized the fact that this challenge is not just a Bedford Central School District or Fox Lane effort. It’s something that anyone can do. That idea was proven over the weekend as rival schools like Somers, Greeley, Byram Hills and Yorktown all joined the challenge under the hashtag #RivalsUnite4Heroes.
“We want people to know and understand the importance of staying home and being smart but that you can also still be a part of something,” Lodewick said. “So many of our athletes, especially our seniors, are missing that feeling of being a part of a team. This is just one way they can stay connected and be a part of something. There are people out there, right in our backyard, risking their lives and if we have the means, let’s show them how much we appreciate them and what they are doing.”
So far, the challenge has raised $4,742 towards its $10,000 goal since it was created four days ago.