Two weeks ago, the Pep brought you the story of the sisterhood softball team next door at Providence Catholic School, and a horrifying experience endured during a rest stop following a victory a few weeks ago on March 31. Their bus was broken into after stopping for dinner, leaving the girls with no supplies for school, as well as the bus windows destroyed.

Last Sunday, April 11, the team held a BBQ plate fundraiser on the Providence campus. All 500 tickets sold out, including that of extras available for purchase.

Katherine Chavarria is head coach of the team, Mike Silva, parent and Central Catholic Graduate Class of ’85, and Elise Denoux, Providence Athletic Director and Vice Principal of the school, were all graciously willing to provide an interview to the Pep on their thoughts and experiences over the past few weeks. 

Chavarria first recalls the night where the incident took place. From her perspective, she says that her “mom mode,” started to kick in.  She says, “My first concern was for my girls and I wanted to make sure they were emotionally okay through it all. Stepping on broken glass as I walked through the bus was surreal, as I’m walking through, seeing bare seats and empty backpacks thrown all over, all I could think about was how I was going to tell my girls everything was gone.”

She continues, “I lined them up so they could be escorted one at a time to confirm their belongings had been taken, and as soon as I watched my first kid, one of my seniors, take that first step onto the bus, I stopped filling out the police report and put the clipboard down to make sure I was there for the kids as they each came back out. They were, that day, and always will be, my first concern and main priority.”

The next day, the team met for the first time since the incident, for a team prayer. Chavarria says it was so she could, “check on the girls and so the families could support each other.”

Next came the light bulb, from a parent, about hosting a fundraiser. Chavarria says, “As I watched each person truly show the care they have for each other I knew something more than a hug needed to be done, but I wasn’t sure what. A freshman parent, Mr. Flores, threw out the idea of a small fundraiser. I talked to Coach Denoux, our VP & Athletic Director, who approved it, and when presented to the parents, a senior dad, Mike Silva, stepped up to organize the whole thing. It was truly amazing to watch everyone step up when the opportunity came.”

Parents wanted to help, and put something together to make sure at least some of the lost funds were recovered, per Denoux. She says, “I was grateful that our parents wanted to help each other recover from the incident. In my role as assistant principal and athletic director, sometimes I do not have the time to pause and the week after Easter was no different with our major school fundraiser replacing the gala for this year and the middle school district track meet.  Because of all those responsibilities, I just trusted our softball families and Coach Kat would come together.”

And, as always, they as a family-oriented team did just that.

Silva, being a parent himself, describes what planning the event was like. He says, “The actual idea originated with Coach Kat; some parents, including myself, simply met after practice and started discussing ideas for BBQ plates and supplies. After that initial meeting it took off…we leveraged technology apps to create a list of supplies and team families volunteered or sought out what was needed. Our motivation was to immediately replace equipment and personal belongings that were stolen.”

He continues, “This speaks volumes to our Catholic identity… Hopefully, the amount raised can replace the physical property, although nothing can replace the actual feeling of being violated and having personal mementos taken from your person.”

Denoux then explains the process and setup of putting the event together.”We got the pre-order link and used Venmo for donations, so a few days before I would get Coach Kat and the lead parent an update of how many orders and donations we received. From the beginning, we were overwhelmed by the support from our Provet alumnae and Catholic School community,” she says.

Fast-forward more than a week later. It was a clear and hot day on April 11, the day the team planned on having their fundraiser. The players, coaches, parents, and other volunteers had been working tirelessly to meet the demands of those wanting to buy food and support their cause. Including, getting pre-bought plates to those who ordered them. One of those players was Isabelle Stephens, junior shortstop on the team. She shares her thoughts about the fundraiser, saying, “The fundraiser felt very instrumental in helping those of us who lost not only our uniforms but laptops too.”

She continues, “Experiences like this, while horrible and upsetting, also show you why Catholic school communities are so important to each other and how much we can really help and care for each other.”

Bryan Medellin, a junior at Central, was among those in line to get their plates. He explains how hearing about the ‘misfortune,’ led him to do whatever he could to help. “I put myself in their position and realized how devastated one would feel. I know that the Providence young ladies would be the first in line to help us out, so I wanted to be there for them.”

Car after car, plate after plate, Chavarria, Denoux, the team, Silva and other parents didn’t expect the results received at the end of the day. According to the Providence Athletics social media pages, the team raised over $14,000 in overall sales following the event. “It brought me to tears,” Chavarria said. “Seeing the total raised from the fundraiser was unbelievably shocking.” She adds, “I knew that word of the fundraiser had grown and we were preparing to sell out of all the food we had, but I never estimated we would have raised that much money. It left me speechless and full-hearted to know that the community came together to support my girls the way they did.”

Denoux, had a similar reaction, saying, “Of course, I was shocked at the amount raised because we knew the donations that had come in and the pre-sale of 500 plates, so we estimated about 7 to 8 thousand dollars. And then the day of the event, car after car just kept coming to campus. Some were just alumnae or family friends coming to support and others there to pick up dozens of plates to share with others. When we learned of the total funds raised, we were all surprised and truly humbled. We know we have the Sisterhood and Brotherhood behind us.”

Humbling indeed, everybody, no matter what school, drove through to support the cause. Chavarria adds, “I’m a public school kid, so I didn’t grow up feeling the embrace of the Catholic School Community, but as the parent of a kid who goes to one, I’ve seen it. On Sunday, I felt it! Team parents and I got to Providence really early Sunday morning to start set up, and I was beyond grateful to see Central Catholic dads walk up at 7AM, in their ‘CC’ gear, with grilling equipment to offer help. It was a true testament to the brother and sisterhood shared through that small street between the schools. Holy Cross sent a softball player to drop off a donation check, Antonian and Incarnate Word donated through our Venmo. The Archdiocese shared our story. Feeling the Catholic School Community embrace was incredibly heart warming. “

Silva adds, “All parents and families collaborated to make this event successful; it was a true leaning in from all. This has brought us closer together and strengthened the already good communication we had; it’s also made us appreciate and understand each other much better, as every person manages this type of incident differently.“

Denoux adds, “Our softball team has always been a close family, and they had previously volunteered together and reached out to support other events, so I knew they would roll up their sleeves to help out.  Still I am most proud of how this team rallied around each other in a time when they could have easily felt defeated. I cannot thank our parents, Central brothers- Nathaniel Trevino, Esteban Serrano, and Nathaniel Delgado, and Holy Cross brother- Ivan Vasquez, and all of our players and managers for cooking, prepping, serving and cleaning up last Sunday. It was a great day for the Providence community!”

Lorena Serrano, freshman firstbasemen, was there the night of the incident. She has a message for those who came out, saying, “On behalf of the team, thank you to everyone who came out and donated. It means a lot to us in our time of need.”

$14,000 is the estimated amount of money earned at the fundraiser, which will be divided and portioned to each individual family who lost something on March 31. No one top another in the amount of amazement after hearing this heart-warming story, even those who were physically there. Or as Denoux puts it, “It was pretty impressive to witness.”