Men's lacrosse program and physical education professor join fight
At right: Fechtmann brothers Kevin (left) 
and Brian escort Charlie Chatterton Friday morning.
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - The help heighten the concern for those living in poverty conditions, Dr. Charlie Chatterton recently turned to the Eastern Connecticut State University community for assistance.
Many responded, among them the men's intercollegiate lacrosse program, to help the cause.
Under the directioof third-year head coach Justin Axel, virtually all 50 healthy members of the lacrosse program will join ranks with Chatterton - a former collegiate lacrosse player himself - who aims to complete his 34th marathon run in 36 months Friday morning.
All of Chatterton's marathons, which began with the Adirondack Marathon in mid-September of 2006 -- have been used in order to bring attention to the problems of poverty and hunger which plague numerous communities throughout Connecticut and the entire U.S.
An associate professor of Physical Education, Chatterton's ultimate goal is to run 1,000 miles and take over One Million Strides to help Brake the Cycle of Poverty. In addition to bringing attention to poverty, the Eastern community will be collecting canned goods on Friday to be distributed to the disadvantaged. Moreover, the Eastern Foundation has pledged to donate $1 for every canned good contributed, with the money being used to purchase additional food items. The food will be donated to a local pantry in Willimantic, to be distributed locally to a number of shelters, soup kitchens, and church organizations.
Below: Members of the men's lacrosse team with Charlie Chatterton during the speaking program which followed the marathon Friday morning.
"I thought that it would be neat to get the campus community involved," says Chatterton, who has run marathons to support poverty awareness from New Orleans to Boston and including Hartford, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Disney World. "I extended the offer to our coaches, and Justin (Axel) responded. It's nice to go out and run and do these different things, but it's nice to try to involve people that you work, and to also get the students involved."
Chatterton and his lacrosse relay partners will circle the Eastern campus a total of 26 times Friday morning. The first one-mile loop - as well as a subsequent number to follow - will be run through the early-morning darkness. Axel will join Chatterton at 5:30 a.m. for the first ten-minute leg of the marathon. Joe Ailamo and Kevin Wade - newcomers to the lacrosse program - will form the first two-man team of players, with 24 two-man sets to follow throughout the morning.
The players will be outfitted in an assortment of old Eastern lacrosse jerseys, many wearing those worn by the original Eastern men's lacrosse team more than a dozen years ago.
"I'm a former lacrosse player, so I think that it's kind of a neat connection (with the current Eastern lacrosse team)," observed Chatterton. "They should be able to keep up with an old lacrosse player - I was out of college by the time most of them were born," he laughs. The Eastern coach agrees. "If my players can't run a ten-minute mile, then (I say) don't waste my time on Monday," joked Axel, in reference to the start of the team's non-traditional season this coming Monday.
As an undergraduate, Chatterton was a four-year lacrosse letterwinner at the University of Delaware in the mid-1980s. It was an experience that he reflects upon often. "A lot of times, you want to give back to something that's been very good to you," said Chatterton. "I know with athletics, and lacrosse in particular, I owe a lot to that for where I am today. So perhaps some of those players, right now, maybe they start a lacrosse clinic somewhere in some area that doesn't have the resources - giving those youngsters another positive thing to do in a community that is in poverty. So, maybe the players look for opportunites to use their talents at what they're good at, to give back to their communities in some way that is meaningful."
If all goes according to plan, Chatterton expects to reach the makeshift finish line adjacent to the University's athletic complex sometime after 10 a.m. Barring unforeseen circumstances, he plans to be in front of his sports marketing class by 11 a.m.
A speaking program in front of the campus's Student Center, will follow the completion of the marathon. The program, coordinated by Kim Silcox - Eastern's Director for the Center of Community Engagement - will include Eastern Executive Vice President Dr. Michael Pernal; Ellen Paul, representing Connecticut Congressman Joe Courtney; Windham First Selectman Jean deSmet; Deb Poulin, Connecticut's Commissioner on Aging; and Victoria Nimirowski, the Executive Director of the Windham Area Interfaith Ministry.
A total of 26 placards located around the marathon circuit will provide various facts about poverty.
In late August, Chatterton contacted coaches in the Eastern athletic department, inquiring about their interest in having their teams support the initiative. Axel realized the opportunity that his project afforded his student-athletes, and immediately responded in the affirmative.
At the team's first organizational meeting of the year on Wednesday night, Axel informed his student-athletes of their role in the marathon run and had each player sign up for a ten-minute running slot. The players will run in pairs and carry a lacrosse stick, handing off "the torch" to their teammates at the conclusion of their run In involving all 50 of his student-athletes, Axel "wanted to make sure that Charlie has support through all 26 miles."
In addition to shadowing Chatterton on the run, each student-athlete has also been asked to donate two canned goods to the cause.
"I think that it's going to be a great experience for my kids," noted Axel, who came to Eastern in the fall of 2007 after serving as assistant coach at Salisbury University. "When I saw Charlie's invitation to get involved, I thought that it would be a great event to be part of. When Charlie said that he was doing something here on campus, it was a no-brainer. It's a great cause to be running for, and is a great way for us to kick off the semester on a positive note. It's the kind of experience you look for as a coach because it's a first-hand and true life-learning experience. We have a great group of kids," noted Axel, "and they'll have fun with this."
In addition to his ties with the lacrosse community as a former Division I player, Chatterton has also formed a special bond with the Eastern student-athletes while serving as their NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative. In that role each year, Chatterton also identifies one of Eastern's 17 intercollegiate programs for academic excellence and awards the Faculty Athletic Representive Team Academic Award.
Chatterton's goal is to complete 38 marathons by the end of the year. The marathons are dedicated to the more than 38 million Americans who struggle against poverty. In addition to running, Chatterton has lobbied in Washington and also participated in the Brake the Cycle of Poverty Bicycle Trip earlier this summer. While he has focused on raising awareness, he has also raised $10,000 for five organizations dedicated to the fight against hunger and poverty.
"These people (living in poverty) only want a chance. They don't want to be worrying about putting food on the table, worrying if their kids have enough. They don't want to live like that," says Chatterton. "It comes down to basic dignity of all people, and that's why we try to be a voice for them and to help them."
