Washington D.C. Sports Teams Collected and Donated More Than $100,000 for Local D.C. Community Programming Combating Gun Violence


Capitals, Capital City Go-Go, Commanders, D.C. Shadow, D.C. United, Mystics, Nationals, Spirit, and Wizards joined in partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety to donate to Washington nonprofits The TraRon Center and YAAY ME, INC.

Washington, D.C. (November 30, 2022) – The Washington Capitals, Capital City Go-Go, Commanders, Mystics, Nationals, Spirit, and Wizards along with D.C. Shadow and United today announced a combined donation of more than $100,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety to support Everytown for Gun Safety’s Community Safety Fund, providing direct investment and capacity building to community-based violence intervention programs. The funds were directed from Everytown to local organizations The TraRon Center and YAAY ME, INC.

The TraRon Center works to expose youth gun violence survivors to creative therapeutic modalities to assist with grieving and coping. With a focus on the inclusion of creative arts, TraRon Center will equip survivors and children with beneficial strategies to sort through the complexities of loss while promoting community health and solidarity. Funding from the Community Safety Fund will support youth transportation, program supplies, events, and program personnel – including a dedicated Art Therapist and Trauma Counselor.

“Cities across the country are in the midst of a gun violence crisis, but fortunately, community-based violence intervention organizations like The TraRon Center and Yaay Me, Inc. are on the frontlines doing life-saving work every day,” said Michael-Sean Spence, Senior Director of Community Safety Initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety. “Despite the challenges, these community violence intervention groups have persisted, responding to increasing gun violence while scaling their work to more people in need. We’re grateful these D.C. sports teams are rising up in this pivotal moment to help keep the district safe and provide much needed support to critical organizations to sustain and expand their life-saving work.”

The collaborative sports teams’ effort was launched on June 3, 2022, National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Teams drew donations from fans, athletes, ownership groups, front office staff, and organizational employees.

As part of this effort around National Gun Violence Awareness Day, teams who were in season utilized their individual platforms to raise awareness across their fan bases. Collectively, that included combinations of the following:

  • Making the call to action to fans to donate to the Everytown for Gun Safety’s Community Safety Fund
  • Social media avatars changed to orange
  • Broadcasting statistics and data on the affect gun violence has in the community
  • Specially designed warm-up clothing with orange accents and gun violence prevention messaging
  • Donating proceeds from select sales and events to Everytown for Gun Safety’s Community Safety Fund

Gun Violence Awareness Day is also known as Wear Orange Day. Wear Orange began on June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya Pendleton’s 18th birthday. On January 21, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.



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