MASON, Mich. — Nine members of the Mason Varsity Football team joined together to help a local couple in need heat their home Saturday morning.
Tom and Teresa Makin built their house in 2002. It is heated primarily by an outside wood burner.
“We burnt a lot this year compared to what we’ve burnt in a while. We do have a propane backup, but propane is expensive,” Teresa explained.
The Makins live on roughly 98 acres, on a lake surrounded by woods. Typically, Tom is able to collect their firewood himself.
“But my husband recently had open-heart surgery in February of this last past year and turned around and two months, three months later he had kidney surgery. So we haven’t been able to do a lot and the wood that we had, we ran out of,” Teresa said.
She reached out to Brian Droscha, owner of Droscha Farms. They have been friends since childhood.
“I more or less the first time around called as a joke. ‘Hey, you got so much wood. Do you mind sparing some?’ And, they brought down some. And then we got the big, huge snow and it’s like, we couldn’t get in the woods. And I said, ‘Hey, can you spare some more?’ and, this happened,” Teresa said.
Casey Droscha, Brian’s son and assistant coach for the Mason varsity football team, contacted head coach Gary Houghton to see if they could gather some of the players to help with the haul. Joseph Arnold and Noah Fredericks were among the players who showed up to help.
“Houghton sent out a text on Friday night saying that a family needed help getting wood,” said Arnold, sophomore tight-end and defensive linebacker.
"And if they ran out, they were basically going to freeze to death,” said Fredericks, sophomore tight-end and outside linebacker.
“I just like helping out the community because they always help us with football and everything like that so I thought I may as well give back,” Arnold continued.
Houghton said ,"We really push citizenship and community service. It's just it's a thing here, and I don't… I never wanted this program to be about just wins and league championships and winning a state title. Those are all very good things, but it can’t be everything."
After about an hour and a half, the volunteers were able to transport an estimated six face cords of firewood, enough to heat the home for about four weeks.
“It’s awesome. I think it’s awesome. I mean, I literally cried. I just thank and bless the Mason football team and my family and friends for helping us this year,” Teresa said.
“There’s an expression that I use; it's a quote and I can't even tell you who quoted or who originally said it, but it's that, ‘You haven’t lived today until you have done something for someone who has no chance of ever repaying you,’" Houghton said.
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