Alex Hamill grew up playing youth sports in Coeur d’Alene, where raising funds for teams was often done by selling candy bars, washing cars, selling coupon books and discount cards.

As he grew older, he thought, there has to be a better way — or, at least, another way.

So Hamill, a former standout football player at Lake City High, and his longtime friend, Paul Landers, have started an internet-driven company — wefund4u.com — that helps teams, schools, programs, etc., raise money, without the need for coaches and players to do all of the grunt work.

“Obviously I grew up a little kid on the football field, building forts out of pads. I’ve been around sports my whole life,” Hamill said. “I came back (after playing football at Washington State, and later coaching in college) and started coaching a Junior Tackle team, and I’ve just seen that high school teams need more money. For Idaho football and Idaho programs in general, they need more money, and I just felt like I could come up with something that could be incredibly efficient for those people.

“I’m helping kids that … I was that kid.”

Wefund4u.com has been in operation for a few months. Hamill’s first “test case” was the Lake City High track and field program, coached by his longtime friend Kelly Reed.

In one month, wefund4u.com raised $7,500 for the Timberwolf program.

How it works: A database is created with the players’ (and coaches’) social networks — Facebook, Twitter, etc. The company promotes the fundraiser through those networks, as well as through email campaigns and text messaging. Players can “share” the info on their social networks, reaching friends and family members and perhaps others, like businesses and alumni groups.

Those interested will be directed back to the wefund4u.com site, where they can learn more about the fundraiser, view the team’s donation page, and contribute if interested.

“Instead of having to go door to door with whatever people are selling, we’re taking that small fundraiser in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and exponentially throwing it out there, to families and friends throughout the country,” Hamill said.

Hamill said efficiency is one reason why his fundraising idea should work.

“I don’t feel they’ll ever use coupon books, discount cards, I just feel they want to support the team,” he said. “For the coach, it’s incredibly time efficient; they can spend their time actually doing what they like. They allow our site to do the work, and concentrate on their sport and what they love.”

HAMILL, WHO majored in business and sports management at WSU, took the idea to Landers, with whom he played sports growing up. Landers was pre-med at Colorado, and has an insurance business here.

“He knew how to build a business, and was incredibly ‘techy,’” Hamill said.

“I went to coach Reed, who’s one of my best friends, and said, ‘I think I can raise you a lot of money, would you be willing to try this?’

“7,500 bucks, I’d say coach Reed’s happy.”

Hamill, 31 and a 2004 Lake City grad, has been selling medical devices to orthopedic surgeons in the area for the past five years.

His initial target group for this company is high school teams, but can also extend to other extra-curricular programs like band and drama, as well as youth sports and nonprofits.

“I really think I can benefit kids at all level of sports and activity,” Hamill said. “I thought, If I could ever give back, I’d give back to people like that, because that’s who I was.”

Hamill said he doesn’t intend for his fundraising company to replace the fundraisers schools and teams do now. The more money a program has — for equipment, for players to attend camps, for coaches to attend camps, etc. — the better.

“I’m somebody who understands the sacrifices other people made for me when I was growing up,” he said. “The coaches that volunteered their time, because now I do it. The coaches in high school that make no money, who are out sweating with their players, who shouldn’t have to go out and fundraise. That’s why we do what we do. They do too much already.

“I just care about the advancement of Idaho sports, because being in Arizona (where Hamill was a grad assistant at Arizona State), you can see how much money those people have, the opportunities …I feel like Coeur d’Alene, we’re moving toward that, but we’re nowhere near southern California, Texas, Florida … it all starts with exposure.

“I feel like if schools have more money, it creates more opportunity,” he said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.