Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway’s latest charitable endeavor is a real hit for first responders

Garnet Hathaway probably wouldn’t mind a few more hits to his name.

The Flyers forward is eighth in the NHL with 119 through 35 games, but if the NHL found another 43 like last season, he likely wouldn’t complain. In February, the NHL announced it had conducted an audit on hits recorded “as part of the ongoing effort to provide the most accurate statistical accounting possible of NHL games,” and added a bunch to Hathaway’s already high total (he finished second in the league last season).

But Hathaway isn’t looking to pad his stats for pride. Far from it in fact. His hits total is more for a good cause.

In October, Hathaway and his wife, Lindsay, announced a partnership with Flyers Charities to launch Hits for Hath’s Heroes, a campaign to help raise funds for his charity that supports local first responders. For every hit the Flyers record this season, the Hathaways have pledged to donate to local first responders with a match from Flyers Charities.

“He thought it would just fit so well with policemen, firefighters, first responders,” Lindsay Hathaway told The Inquirer as her husband played the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game in which he registered three hits.

“They’re tough, they’re resilient, and so I think that’s kind of how Garnet plays hockey as well. So it was a natural fit.

“And, he’ll kill me for saying this, but I’m not sure we would have gone off goals,” she said with a laugh. “Garnet, he’s the energy guy; he gets a lot of hits. So that was kind of an idea that Garnet had always had.”

The Hathaways founded Hath’s Heroes in 2019 while he was a member of the Washington Capitals. While in the nation’s capital, the charity donated more than $125,000 to nonprofits in support of mental health programming for first responders.

The forward also provided tickets to local first responders and met with them after the game. He has continued that program since arriving in Philly through Hath’s Heroes last season.

“When we first started it, we were trying to make it so the first responders and their families could get away from the stresses of their work, of their life, and enjoy a game,” Hathaway said before he recorded three hits against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It’s been amazing for me to be able to meet them and get to know them on a personal level and chat about the game and chat about their day, and I think just get away from work and not taking work home with them.

“Hopefully, they enjoy it, and to be able to meet them and just hear their stories is really special for me.”

When Hathaway met Rowan Mack after the Flyers’ 7-5 win against the Minnesota Wild in late October, she made sure Hathaway knew how to spell her name. As her mother, Stephanie Mack, told The Inquirer, the 5-year-old told the 6-foot-2 forward, “This is how you spell it, R-O-W-A-N.”.

Attending the game through the Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation with Rowan, Olivia, 10, and her father, Bruce Spencer, the moment was not just funny and sweet but impactful for Stephanie Mack. She said her daughters struggle to engage with men following the death of her husband, Pennsylvania State Trooper Martin Mack III, 33, who was killed in the line of duty by a drunk driver in March 2022 in Philadelphia alongside Trooper Branden T. Sisca, 29, and a pedestrian they were helping on I-95.

“Watching them be able to talk to Garnet was emotional for me, because I’m just like, ‘Wow, they still know how to do it,’” Mack said. “‘They don’t take it for anything, they don’t feel privileged, they feel honored to know that their dad is still honored, and they don’t expect anything.’ So to know that Garnet gave tickets to the Families Behind the Badge, and we were able to go and hang out and meet him, it was just so comforting to know that people still honor my dead husband. It’s something that the girls won’t forget. It’s one of those core memories.”

For Hathaway, meeting families is just as powerful. “He comes home beaming, just so happy” from meeting “the most grounded, humble, selfless people,” Lindsay said. And the connection to first responders runs deep for Garnet. Growing up in Maine, he often heard stories about his great-grandfather and namesake, Garnet Mcelroy, who was a firefighter in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Although he never met him, he felt a bond and a pull toward firefighters and first responders.

Because of their work with first responders, Garnet and Lindsay Hathaway were honored by the Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation. The nonprofit, incorporated in 2007 and based in Conshohocken, has three pillars: to provide financial relief to the families of fallen and critically injured first responders; a positive nonenforcement action to bring officers and children together; and Check Your Six, a mental health and emotional well-being program.

“We’re blessed to have athletes like him in the city who care about our first responder community. They’re brave and courageous, and they face danger every day so to have somebody of his stature in their corner really means a lot,” Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation associate director Jack Costello told The Inquirer. “And he’s just completely down to earth, and he’s here tonight on his own time to talk to a lot of these families. And he and his wife, [are] just great people, and we’re lucky and blessed to have them.”

Standing in front of the Quaker City String Band and surrounded by community members as the snow fell outside, they received the 2024 Andy Chan Community Spirit Award at the fifth annual Andy Chan Holiday Block Party. The award was presented by Teng Chan, the wife of Highway Patrolman Andy Chan, who was severely injured in the line of duty in 2019.

“I can’t express how much it means to me and Lindsay,” Hathaway said after accepting the award. “We’ve been in this city for not even two years, and we get introduced to a community like this where you see people come together for the ones they care about. More importantly, they put their lives on the line to protect them each and every day. I want to thank Mark [O’Connor, executive director], Jack, and Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation for introducing us and bringing us into this community that inspires us and makes us want to do even more.”

For now, Hathaway will keep providing tickets and meeting first responder families after games — and make sure the hits keep coming from the Flyers.

“I was first for a while, but I went a couple of no-hitters,” said Scott Laughton who contributed three against the Penguins and is No. 2 on the team with 80 hits. “But, no, that’s awesome. I think he’s great in the community and what he does for the team and the city. He’s ingrained himself right away, and it’s awesome to see.”