BRIDGEPORT - People show their support for their favorite causes in different ways.
And, for one Red Sox fan, he couldn't think of a better way than to walk 203 miles, from one of baseball's most famous ballparks to another. All while looking to hit a home run that could impact thousands for years to come.
En route from Yankee Stadium to Fenway Park, Boston attorney David Spillane stopped long enough, along Straford Avenue in Bridgeport, to tell FOX61 "a lot of people tell me that this is very crazy."
His step-by-step mission: raise $100,000 for the Elizabeth Stone House, in Roxbury, MA, which supports survivors of domestic violence and related trauma. His inspiration: a male survivor he heard speak on behalf of Elizabeth Stone House.
"He said that he wishes that a place like this had existed when he was a child with his mother," Spillane said.
His walk began Tuesday, just before a the opener of the Red Sox-Yankees series in New York.
"I walked through the Bronx wearing a Red Sox shirt and a Red Sox hat," he said proudly.
He'll finish his northeastward trek at week from Saturday, just prior to game two of the Yankees-Red Sox series at Fenway Park. The money Attorney Spillane is helping to raise will be used to nearly triple the amount of service that the Elizabeth Stone House will be able to render.
"We believe it’s going to be the largest complex in the state devoted entirely to survivors of domestic violence," said Jim May, Director of Development for Elizabeth Stone House. He is acting as Spillane's spotter on his walk.
Last year, he raised $50,000 for the Elizabeth Stone House by walking 161 miles from Stockbridge, MA to Boston, two locales prominent in James Taylor's hit “Sweet Baby James.”
"I’ve seen James in concert 17 times," said Spillane, who said Taylor never took him up on his invite to walk along with him.
This no doubt is a man who supports things he likes. To contribute to Spillane's walk, click here.
If you would like to walk with Spillane along the rest of his route to Boston, the following is his daily walking schedule:
- September 21: West Haven, New Haven, Northford, North Branford, Durham
- September 22: Durham, Middletown, Portland, East Hampton
- September 23: East Hampton, Marlborough, Hebron, Columbia
- September 24: Columbia, Windham, Chaplin, Hampton
- September 25: Hampton, Pomfret, Woodstock, Thompson
- September 26: Thompson, MA: Douglas, Uxbridge, Mendon, Holliston
- September 27: Mendon, Hopedale, Milford, Holliston
- September 28: Sherborn, Natick, Wellesley, Newton
- September 29: Newton, Brookline, Boston – Fenway Park