The student-athletes at Danbury High School get it.
They totally get it.
As these youngsters navigate their way through the school’s hallways and on their respective playing fields and courts and in the pools, they are doing their best toward being the best students, athletes and teammates they can be.
They are continuing to learn every next day. And another thing they have learned is the value and importance of giving back to the community and having a positive impact on society in doing so.
A recent example of that was the participation and contributions from hundreds of student-athletes from Danbury’s fall sports teams to an event which benefits a most worthy cause.
With Danbury High School’s athletic director, Chip Salvestrini, serving as the athletes’ point man and officially as a co-chair for the event, Salvestrini and the athletes teamed up to give inspirational support and contributions to the Annual SafeWalk which raises funds and, most importantly, awareness for the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury.
The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury is a non-profit organization with a vision to end the violence against women, men and children, and to foster equality and empowerment for all.
The center serves the needs of individuals and families in the Northern Fairfield and Southern Litchfield county communities of Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Kent, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Sherman and Washington.
It provides prevention, crisis intervention, and support services with regard to domestic violence, sexual assault, and other major life transitions. The center’s free and confidential services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
The athletes on the Danbury fall sports teams organized their own fundraising events in a traditional way, bake sales, etc., and they came out en masse to support the 2019 SafeWalk event at the Danbury Mall on Oct. 4.
“The experience of participating in the SafeWalk was truly an honor,” said Danbury High senior Jasmine Stone, a two-year captain on the cheerleading team. “Hearing and reading the stories of how many people who have lost their lives to domestic violence touched my team and I. Realizing how real domestic violence is and how it could affect anyone is the reason I am proud to have supported such a wonderful organization like the Women’s Center.
“The SafeWalk was something that my whole team participated in,” Stone continued. “My team and I realized that these people are your average people that you might see around you every day. Those whose lives are greatly impacted by domestic violence can be in severe need for help, so as privileged as we are we decided to support those who are in need and want an extra hand in life.”
Alycia Sweeny and Mia Gregory are two more Danbury seniors who get it.
Sweeny, a tri-captain for Danbury’s girls swimming and diving team, was proud of the full participation of her team and how it was the first time the program raised the most money among the fall sports teams.
“This was beyond a special moment for our swim team,” Sweeny said. “As captains we talked to the girls about the SafeWalk being mandatory to support women for a good cause. Everyone has their intense, bad moments and as girls we could, in a way, relate to things that have happened. We understand how it can be very hard for women in the world, especially because we are very precious as humans.”
Gregory is a captain of the girls’ volleyball team who put in plenty of effort leading up to SafeWalk as a co-chair of the event. She and Emma Sullivan, her fellow captain, were true leaders in stressing the importance of this event to their teammates and the whole team did indeed step up.
“My teammates and I wanted to participate in the SafeWalk and give back to the community because the Women’s Center of Danbury has done so much for the people in our community and we all knew it would be right if we help such an awesome organization grow to be even better,” Gregory said. “To ensure that the volleyball team had full participation at the SafeWalk, Emma Sullivan made sure we made it clear how important it was to be there. If someone could not participate, we told them to donate so we still managed to help such an awesome organization.”
That kind of sincere spirit and attitude from so many youngsters who were prominently clad in the blue and orange Danbury Hatters school colors throughout the Danbury Mall on that Oct. 4 Sunday could not have made Salvestrini and Pat Zachman any more proud. Zachman is the President and CEO of the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury.
“It is beyond heartwarming and it is amazing to stand on the stage and to look out and to see a sea of youth faces in front of me as I am giving my domestic violence awareness remarks at our SafeWalk,” Zachman said. “In particular, Danbury High School. To say they go above and beyond is an understatement. Chip Salvestrini, their athletic director, has been instrumental in getting the kids fired up and interested in not only showing up but providing the kind of support that they do.”
Salvestrini estimated that close to 400 Danbury High School athletes from the nine fall sports teams participated in the event and raised over $2,000 for the center.
“The gist of it for us isn’t raising money – it’s giving back to the community,” Salvestrini said. “It was exciting for me to see our team colors at the women’s center Safewalk and how we, as a team, have brought more awareness to the function. Every single year more kids understand why they’re doing it.
“We actually have some real good leaders here,” Salvestrini continued. “Our captains came together and really did a great job of getting their teammates involved and getting parents involved.”
Zachman pointed out that in addition the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury being a haven for victims and other people to contact when in need, it also provides many outreach programs, including several programs at Danbury High School.
“We’re a firm believer here at the women’s center that an informed community is a safer community,” Zachman said. “So we’re at Danbury High School doing our primary prevention and education programs because we know fully that without partnering with our youth, we can never hope to end domestic violence.”
So whether she witnesses the positive impact from the student-athletes either at Danbury High School or at the annual SafeWalk at the Danbury Mall, Zachman’s heart will continue to be warmed by so many classy youngsters who are successfully stepping up for their community as well as doing just that in the classroom and for their respective sports teams.
“It is such a positive, positive thing that these kids are doing today,” Zachman said. “We could not be more grateful and proud of Danbury High School’s athletes. They’re our future, they’re our hope, and it it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing to see them come out in force at our SafeWalk. They are something and we are so, so grateful.”