Dawn Churi’s life goal is making the world a better place by helping disabled children play sports and fit in.
In 2020, her dream came true when the executive director job opened at BlazeSports America.
Churi was born in Mount Dora, Florida and graduated from the University of Florida in 1999, but she said her life truly changed 15 years later.
In 2014, Churi went on five mission trips to Haiti which she said changed her outlook on life.
On these trips, Churi worked at an orphanage, helped build medical clinics, worked at a school, and put on a soccer tournament. All these volunteer assignments sparked her dream to work for a non-profit.
She said after these trips and years of working with a for-profit organization, she felt it was time to make a change.
“I really felt called to work for a non-profit,” Churi said. “I wanted to take my skills to a non-profit and I believe the best non-profits in the world are run by people that used to work with for-profits. I got a chance to shadow some non-profits as I made the transition, and I ended up spending six years at Georgia Tech.”
Churi worked for the non-profit wing at Georgia Tech called the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. She managed marketing, communications, and fundraising in her six years with the organization from 2014 until 2020.
Churi said the experience at Georgia Tech was important to her career growth.
“It was really critical for my career,” she said. “I had sports business experience and marketing experience, but I had not done any substantial fundraising until my time there.”
Six years after her time at Georgia Tech, Churi’s dream job opened. She said the opportunity felt like a dream come true.
“When the executive director job became available it just felt like the perfect opportunity back in my roots of sports,” Churi said. “I wasn’t that familiar with adaptive sports in particular so I didn’t know if the job would be right for me, but when I went to an event I just fell in love in like five minutes and said yes right there. That’s how I ended up with BlazeSports.”
BlazeSports America is a non-profit organization whose mission is to change the lives of individuals with physical disabilities through adaptive sports. They have served more than 12,000 disabled athletes in 28 years and are commited to equity and inclusion.
Churi said the organization’s goals align perfectly with her own.
“One of my favorite quotes is ‘Don’t just aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference,’and that’s part of the reason I went from the for-profit world to the non-profit world,” she said. “That’s what we do here at BlazeSports and if I’m going to dedicate 50 hours per week to a career, I want it to be about more than just making a living. I want to make a difference.”
BlazeSports America employees believe Churi is succeeding in her goal to make a difference.
Mark LaRotonda, one of the two head coaches for the BlazeSports America tennis team, said Churi is an excellent leader for the organization.
“She really cares about the kids,” he said. “She makes sure they have programs and things and events like this tennis event we’re at right now. That’s the biggest thing.”
Maggie Fintel, the marketing coordinator at BlazeSports America, said Churi is an inspiration to many people including herself.
“She does so many great things for the program,” she said. “Every year she gives a speech at our annual awards ceremony and just her words and how many people she impacts is really big. She’s just a really great influence for me and she attends every event no matter how busy she isshe’s always there. She’s just a great person to be around.”
Despite the praise from those around her, Churi said she always keeps her focus on helping thechildren and staying humble.
“What I’m doing is easy compared to what these kids do,” she said. “Everybody deserves to be treated fairly and equally, and I believe that these athletes I work with work harder than any other athletes on the planet. I always just want to focus on the kids because, like I said, it’s easy for me and you to go play basketball, but for these kids they need a 4,000 dollar wheelchair just to do it. So, I just want to focus on serving these kids and doing my part.”
BlazeSports America’s mission statement is to ensure that the quality, diversity, and availability of its programs is the same as the sports programs open to those without any disabilities.
Churi said that is what drives her.
“Our mission statement really guides me in a lot of what we do every day here,” she said. “Making a difference is just the main goal and all athletes, disabled or what not, should be treated the same and given the same opportunities. All people should be.”
Churi doesn’t just want to help and provide resources to the children, she works with them and strives to know each of them.
She said that is her favorite part of the job.
“Traveling with the families on trips and getting to know their stories individually and really getting to know the kids’ disabilities and what they go through is my favorite thing,” Churi said. “I mean these are some of the toughest athletes in the world. They’re very very good and in some cases they’ve had 10 or 14 surgeries, so I think just spending time with them is when I’m having the best time in my role.”
Currently, unlike in states like Alabama and Arizona, Georgia has no adaptive sports at the collegiate level.
Churi said BlazeSports America is trying to change that.
“We work on big picture things here as well, you know, looking five to ten years out, and one of those things is bringing adaptive sports to the collegiate level in Georgia,” she said. “We’ve talked to the University of Georgia and Kennesaw State as well, and we just want to make it to where our graduates can play at the next level in the state of Georgia instead of out of state.”
Despite the big picture wishes and lofty goals for adaptive sports that BlazeSports America and Churi have, she still always keeps her focus on the kids she works with on a day-to-day basis.
She said nothing inspires her more than them.
“They’re the story, They’re the inspiration,” Churi said. “I’m just trying to be a portal for them to inspire everyone. I mean, if you meet any of our athletes, you’d know that their stories are so much harder than mine and so much more resilient than mine. They work harder than anybody I know because they have to. They’re the stories that should be told and they’re the inspiration for everything.”
Churi said she hope that by the end of her life her goal of making the world a better place has been achieved. She said that would make everything worth it.
“My dying wish would just be to look at myself and ask did I leave the world a better place,” Churi said. “Was the world better after I left? And, if the answer to that is yes then I think it’ll be a successful life that was all worth it.”
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