Tomorrow (Sunday), over 400 Westporters will gather at Saugatuck Elementary School. Decked out in wacky costumes, and filled with energy, they’re there for the 7th annual Day of Champions.
The color-wars-style family fundraiser benefits Experience Camps for Grieving Children. The nonprofit provides free summer camp to children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver.
All 20 teams there show up for someone. All honor someone.
Showing up, having fun, at the Day of Champions. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Here are 3 stories, of Westporters lost just in the psat year.
Team Lucky Stars: Honoring Alyson Luck
Alyson Luck was a joyful, kind, smart, loving mom and wife. To many, she was a confidante, fierce friend and inspiration.
Growing up in Westport she studied art history, earned a graduate degree from Bank Street, and spent over a decade working at New York’s Jewish Museum and Guggenheim.
She came back home, back to the little cape house she grew up in and called her dream.
She became the director of the One River School of Art & Design on the Post Road. It’s a place where people of all ages could make art without pretense, surrounded by community.
Alyson Luck and family.
Alyson was the life of the party and lit up any room she was in. You always knew she was around when you heard her amazing laughter. She loved her family, her kids, her friends, her work and her town.
I called her the Mayor of Westport, because she knew everyone, and everyone knew her. Anyone who knew her would tell you the same thing: She made them feel happy. She’d be so proud we are making it possible for other kids to attend Experience Camps. – Michael, Alyson’s husband.
Alyson died last June at home, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 43.
The Day of Champions team formed in her name is made up of the friends and family who loved her, showing up now in the way that matters most.
Alyson and Michael’s two children will attend Experience Camps this summer. It’s a place designed for exactly this kind of loss, where kids who carry grief get to just be kids for a while. The team fundraising in Alyson’s honor is making that possible for them, and so many others like them.
North Star Team: Honoring Nat Brogadir and Slava Leykind
Nat Brogadir was a wonderful husband, dad, brother, son and friend, who filled every room with energy and warmth. He will forever be remembered with a smile on his face, and a beanie on his head.
Beyond his accomplished professional life, he was deeply rooted in his Jewish identity and his community. Friends and family know him as someone who never shied away from standing up for what he believed in, even as he faced a battle with kidney cancer.
Nat was just 40 years old when he died. He was devoted to his wife Jenny, whom he met at sleepaway camp when they were both 12 years old, and an adoring father to his daughters, Hadley and Kira, the lights of his life.
Nat Brogadir and family.
Nat coached their soccer teams, skied alongside them, and sat proudly in the audience at every dance recital. Friends called him “Camp Nat” because he always led groups of kids and adults in fun activities in the backyard. Day of Champions was one of his favorite events each year.
Nat loved the people in his life fiercely. He had a rare gift for forming deep connections with everyone he met, because of his genuine warmth. As a result, after Nat died his community did not look away.
They showed up. A grassroots campaign — the Beanie Project — was launched in his memory. 1,500 beanies were sold to honor his spirit, give back to a cause important to him, and connect those who were missing him.
We feel Nat’s absence every moment of every day, and the hole left in our family can never truly be filled. But the incredible love and support from our community has carried us through the hardest days and reminded us that we are surrounded by people who continue to honor Nat’s spirit with kindness, laughter, and connection. — Jenny, Nat’s wife
The Day of Champions team honoring Nat is filled with friends who have become family — “framily,” as they like to say. They will show up in red and navy for his favorite football team, the New England Patriots.
Honoring Slava Leykind
Slava Leykind appreciated life fully, and lived it with remarkable grace. To his wife and 3 kids, “superhuman father” is an understatement.
Born in Minsk in 1982, Slava emigrated to Minneapolis with his family as a child. He attended the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and built a career in investment banking, becoming co-head of US consumer investment banking at Canaccord Genuity.
While his family and friends were impressed by his professional accomplishments, what they loved most was his calm demeanor, quick wit, devotion, and the way he showed up for the people in his life.
Slava died in July 2025 at 43, following a Mount Everest-themed endurance event in Jackson Hole.
At his funeral, his oldest daughter Charlotte sang. His friends recalled his playful energy, and the depth of his loyalty. His wife and soulmate for 2 decades, Amy, told stories of his devotion to their children: how he brought love and a sense of calm to the wonderful chaos of a full house.
A close friend put it simply: Relationships aren’t measured in years, but in depth. By that measure, Slava Leykind left a very large life behind.
Slava was and always will be the North Star to our family. Given the central place family held in his heart, he would be especially moved to know that we are helping children whose families have experienced profound loss attend Experience Camps. — Amy, Slava’s wife
The team honoring Slava at the Day of Champions carries that spirit forward, showing up the way he always did: wholeheartedly for the people they love.
What Showing Up Looks Like
Grief has a way of making people feel invisible. The casseroles stop coming. The phone calls taper off. People don’t know what to say, so they say nothing. They mean to reach out, and they don’t.
The friends and families behind all of the Day of Champions teams chose differently. They chose to stay close, to keep saying the names. Saying someone’s name out loud is one of the most powerful things you can do for the people who loved them.
It is how we keep them present. It is how we make clear that just because someone is gone does not mean they are forgotten. They are remembered. They are celebrated. They live on in the people who carry them forward.
Showing up, at the Day of Champions.
Tomorrow, those friends will show up in t-shirts on a field in Westport. They will run relay races and cheer, because that is how you tell someone: We have not forgotten. You are not alone. Your children matter to us.
That is what Experience Camps is built on, too. Founded on the belief that grieving children deserve joy and connection and the chance to be understood, the organization now runs camps across the country. There is one in Kent, Connecticut, opened in part because of fundraising done here in Westport.
How You Can Be Part of It
Tell us about the person who died in your life: Share their name and a favorite memory about them in the comments section.
Spread the word: Childhood grief is more common than many realize. In the United States, 1 in 11 children will lose a parent or sibling before the age of 18. If you know a family that could benefit from Experience Camps, share their website and social media with them.
Donate: The Day of Champions goal is to raise $175,000 for Experience Camps. All 20 teams have fundraising pages, to learn more about who and what they’re honoring. Click here to make a donation that can make life-changing support possible for kids right here in our community.
