In partnership with Boeing, the Seattle Sounders established “Change Champions,” an initiative that highlights local organizations and the impact they have in their communities.
Prior to the May 9 match against San Diego FC, the club honored the Here and Now Project, a social support network for people with spinal cord injuries and any other mobility disabilities.
"Our club has a long history with the Here and Now Project, as part of our commitment to advance equity in play and life,” said Director of Impact and Fan Development Emma Kersh. “We are honored to work together to help their community members maintain access to soccer and use the sport to spark joy."
Executive Director of the Here Now Project Kenny Salvini describes the organization as an outlet to “get knee to knee with people that have been where you've been.”
“We run social gatherings all up and down I-5, and on the Peninsula,” he said. “We've got like 15 or 16 different in-person and virtual gatherings that we just bring people together and share what we like to call their experience, strength, and hope.”
Salvini views the non-profit as a “passion project" after suffering a snow skiing accident 22 years ago that left him paralyzed. Since then, he’s dedicated his time to supporting those who face similar struggles of paralysis. What informally started in 2012 with seven individuals “under a tent out on the Peninsula” has grown to about 800 people all over Western Washington and in the Northwest.
“I always say I was dropped into a world no longer built for me in a body I couldn't control, and there's so many downstream complications that come with a disability like this that it takes what I call a whole tribe to help kind of crowd source tangible solutions to everyday challenges,” said Salvini. “With people getting discharged from the hospital earlier and earlier these days, we're seeing people have less opportunities to gain the education and the necessary tools, even equipment, and just kind of all of the mental, emotional, and spiritual intangibles too, that come along with an identity crisis like this.
“[So] we're trying to bridge that gap between the hospital and home, or whatever that next facility is, where people might be going.”
The Here and Now Project welcomes anyone living with changed mobility, as well as loved ones affected by mobility changes, to its group gatherings and events. They bring care packs to the newly injured directly in the hospital. They have several trained peer mentors that they are looking to deploy all over the state. Overall, they are trying to reach as many people with spinal cord injuries as they can — including those outside of the state through virtual community offerings.
“It starts with direct hospital outreach, where we bring backpacks to people all over the state, and it's filled with kind of useful swag, like blankets and a care journal, t-shirts, and adapted water bottles, anything to kind of make that hospital stay a little bit easier,” said Salvini. “Then we bring that kind of support outside the hospital to the local meetings all over the state.”
The nonprofit provides ways to show people that there's a rich and meaningful life on the other side of one of these diagnoses. Salvini recognizes that “it may take time to find it,” but through events like their upcoming 5k on August 9, potlucks and picnics, adaptive bowling events, and long trail rides, he hopes that he can show individuals “what's possible and what's out there.”
“We're always just trying to find that next thing that will help folks regain that sense of identity, and find that meaning and purpose that's on the backside of one of these situations,” said Salvini.
Sounders fans can support the Here and Now Project's mission and its advocacy efforts to support those who are faced with paralysis by donating to the cause or providing what Salvini calls “time, talent, and treasure.”
“If you have the time to come to a 5k, get plugged in with the community, maybe volunteer at one of our events, help us set things up…. Yeah, there's all sorts of ways to get [involved] and I think everybody can find that on our website too.”
