Hero Spotlight: Team Hot Rod
When Andy Conroy beat cancer, his friends Peter Scruggs, Michael Deaton, and Trevor Hamilton knew they needed to do something impactful to celebrate. They had all grown up together in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn and had a background of doing mission and volunteer work, so this felt like the ultimate opportunity to pay it forward.
Deaton came across Mercy Home when researching Bank of America Chicago Marathon charities and the group agreed: they would run the marathon and raise money for our Home as Mercy Home Heroes.
“We thought this would be an excellent introduction to not only running the marathon, but have a great organization to represent during it,” Scruggs said.
The group named themselves Team Hot Rod after their favorite movie “Hot Rod,” which they watch multiple times a year.
Though the group all played sports in high school, they were “pretty new” to running. They’ve been running now for about a year to prepare to take on 26.2 miles this October and are feeling optimistic.
“We’re feeling good,” Scruggs said. “We learned that the best way to go about it is just holding each other accountable and telling as many people as we can about it—like why we’re running, who we’re running it for. It’s been an enjoyable process.”
Both Scruggs and Deaton have been utilizing Mercy Home’s training partner, the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA), to prepare for the marathon. The whole group connects every two weeks to talk about strategies and best practices and keep each other motivated.
They are also working hard on their fundraising, using social media posts or emails to reach out to loved ones for their support. They also found motivation from visiting Mercy Home for the kick off event, and added that Heroes Manager Mary Connolly has been a big support as they undertake both training and fundraising.
“Mary has been just totally instrumental in our success so far,” Scruggs said. “We can reach out to her at any time with questions on either the running or the fundraising and she’s always there to point us in the right direction.”
As the group has learned more about the work Mercy Home does and the support we provide our young people, it has made them reflect on their own upbringings and feel gratitude for what they have.
“We are blessed and fortunate to come from families that provides tremendous amounts of love and support,” Scruggs said. “And we’ve never had to deal with a lot of the issues a lot of the kids have to deal with. I think that’s what made us want to [become Heroes]. We want to be able to make a difference at the end of the day.”
The team is looking forward to attending the pasta dinner, where they are excited to hear more about our mission and from our youth speaker. Their drive to make a difference makes Scruggs think back to what started their interest in running this year.
“When Andy beat cancer, it was pretty cool that our first instinct was [to] celebrate but also think how we were going to make an impact in that celebration,” he said. “The fact that we were able to take that and translate it into this huge impact that’s going to have a lot of ripple effects, that helps the motivation.”
Team Hot Rod has taken Connolly’s advice to think about the kids when training, and Scruggs said that advice has really helped, as well as underlined the ongoing support the team has received from Mercy Home.
“Mercy Home is always there for us, just like they’re always there for the kids,” he said.
When Team Hot Rod steps up to the starting line on October 11, they will do so knowing that they turned a personal success into one with far-reaching positive impact, and the Mercy Home family will be cheering them on the whole way.
