Hope McHale had no idea what was coming when she and her 17-year-old twin sons settled into a suite at UBS Arena on October 10. By the end of the night, the Islanders and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation had paid off her mortgage and committed to covering college tuition for both boys, a gesture tied to the death of her husband, FDNY fire marshal Martin “Woody” McHale, nearly fourteen years ago.
“It's life-changing for us. Obviously, nothing can bring back their dad, my husband. But it helps ease some pressure on us,” McHale said, according to Newsday. The outlet reported the surprise presentation happened during the Islanders' game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at UBS Arena, honoring a family that has carried the weight of Woody's death since December 2012. Per the New York Post, he suffered a heart attack while driving home after a shift and crashed into a neighbor's house on Christmas Eve that year.
A Career That Began Before the Towers Fell
Woody McHale joined the FDNY in 1989, worked in Brooklyn's Engine 252 and was promoted to fire marshal in 1999, Newsday's report notes. He arrived at the World Trade Center site before the towers collapsed on September 11, 2001, and collected several medals and awards over the course of his career. The Post adds that he was a 9/11 responder who helped work the Ground Zero morgue.
Matthew and Ryan McHale were under 4 years old when their father died, according to the Post's reporting. Hope McHale moved with her sons from Bayside, Queens, to Long Island in 2014 to fulfill what the Post described as her husband's last wish, and she now works in sales for Ralph Lauren while raising the twins, who are seniors at Manhasset High School.
Why The Foundation Chose This Family
The same report notes that Tunnel to Towers partly selected the McHale family because Woody played on the FDNY football team for 20 years, serving as captain for 12 of them. The assistance fits a pattern the foundation has repeated elsewhere: it paid off the mortgage for the family of late FDNY firefighter Deo Lall Jr. on Staten Island, and it paid off a Binghamton firefighter's mortgage after he died battling a downtown fire, per WBNG, which reported that Tunnel to Towers planned to pay off mortgages for 25 families of fallen first responders nationwide on Independence Day in 2025.
The foundation's reach extends into education as well. A scholarship program described on Tunnel to Towers' website provides full coverage for undergraduate degrees and accredited trade or certification programs for eligible children of fallen first responders. Staten Island FDNY widow Irene Maiello was among roughly 1,700 families whose college tuition worries were addressed through that program, SILive.com reported, after her own mortgage was paid off in June 2022.
An Islanders Owner Pitches In Too
Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky spent the evening with McHale and her sons in the owner's suite, according to the Post. Ledecky said the family received a big assist and praised McHale for raising two children alone, calling the twins terrific and predicting they would have great careers.
The Post reports that Matthew McHale was accepted to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's flight school in Florida, while Ryan has his sights set on Fairfield University in Connecticut. Ledecky reportedly put in a good word for Ryan with his own contacts at Fairfield, and he described the night as feeling like a hat trick given all the goodwill on display.
Hope McHale told reporters that she and Woody struggled to have children and had the twins late in life, calling them his prized possession and fatherhood his proudest moment, per the Post. The Islanders also raised $34,000 in 50-50 raffle proceeds for Tunnel to Towers that night, adding to an arena-wide giving effort: the team's Hockey With a Heart initiative has distributed more than $2 million to nonprofit organizations since UBS Arena opened in 2021, Newsday reported.
