'Pretty incredible': Local sixth-grader sponsors own hoops team at Boys and Girls Club

By ALEX SPONSELLER
Posted 12/3/19

By By ALEX SPONSELLER When Luca Fellela needed money to sponsor his basketball team at the Warwick Boys and Girls Club, he looked no further than himself to get it done. The motivated sixth-grader spends his summers mowing lawns for his neighborhood and

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'Pretty incredible': Local sixth-grader sponsors own hoops team at Boys and Girls Club

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When Luca Fellela needed money to sponsor his basketball team at the Warwick Boys and Girls Club, he looked no further than himself to get it done.

The motivated sixth-grader spends his summers mowing lawns for his neighborhood and has established a nice business for himself when he is away from school. When the Boys and Girls Club was running dry on local sponsors, Fellela decided to take matters into his own hands.

“We reached out to some multi-million-dollar businesses that wouldn’t [sponsor a team]. But then we got a call from a local mother telling us that her son who was in sixth grade had his own lawn mowing business, mowed some lawns in his neighborhood, and wanted to sponsor his own team,” said David Palumbo, who is the director of basketball for the Warwick Boys and Girls Club. “A kid that makes pretty much nothing was able to sponsor his own team – it was a good-hearted story.”

The Warwick Boys and Girls Club tipped off its season last week, and Luca’s Lawn Care donned its orange jerseys and hit the court to compete.

Along with the chance to play alongside his friends, Fellela was also presented with two tickets to an upcoming University of Rhode Island men’s basketball game. Warwick Boys and Girls instructional director and former Vets coach Jim Garcia was present to hand him the tickets.

Palumbo was proud to see a local athlete make a difference in his community and to see such a positive response on opening day.

“It was great. We had a good opening crowd there that day. Whether it was the kids, parents, coaches, everyone in the crowd was pretty overwhelmed with what he did,” Palumbo said. “For a kid that probably made very little money over the summer to sponsor his own team, it is pretty incredible.”

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  • JohnStark

    Along with the adoptions last week, this is the Story of the Year.

    Thursday, December 5, 2019 Report this