East Haven Vet Encourages Community To 'Step Out For The Brave'

EAST HAVEN, CT — For Chris Kowalczik, a corporate initiative to volunteer for a meaningful cause has turned into a yearslong effort to raise awareness of – and support for – veterans experiencing homelessness.

In July 2018, Kowalczik's former company, Reed Exhibitions, gave its employees two days to volunteer for the organization of their choice. He chose Homes for the Brave, a Bridgeport nonprofit rehabilitation center that provides housing and services to veterans.

Now, Kowalczik, a veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1990, is a member of the board of directors at "Step Out for the Brave," a fundraiser sponsored by Homes for the Brave that challenges participants to walk 40,000 steps to help the 40,000 veterans experiencing homelessness nationwide.

"Step Out for the Brave" participants are given a week, Aug. 7 to 15, to walk their 40,000 steps. The event was modified last summer due to COVID-19 – it used to be called "Step Up for the Brave," and volunteers would get their steps in together at Webster Bank Arena, Kowalczik said.

"We wanna make sure that people are doing it in a safe environment, so that's why we took it to a more digital platform, and said, 'Just step out for the brave,'" Kowalczik said. "Rather than having everybody in that one, confining space doing it, now you can walk wherever."

The event began in 2015 with 86 participants, Kowalczik said, and has grown since then: Last year it was made up of 630 walkers from 17 states who raised a total of $106,000 for Homes for the Brave.

Kowalczik was among those participants, having walked his 40,000 steps throughout East Haven while carrying the American flag. This year he hopes to do so again, and those interested in participating can donate or join his team online.

"When you are in the service, it's about the person standing next to you," Kowalski said. "That type of support shouldn't end just because we are no longer wearing the uniform."