PAVE of LaPorte County (People Against Violence Everywhere) is giving a donation of $1000 to the 12U travel baseball team, the Michiana Renegades. PAVE gave the donation in the name of Rachel Steffens, a professor at Purdue Northwest who passed away recently from an unforeseen medical issue.
Joe Perez, the president of PAVE, said that the organization wanted to give an award to young people and because of Rachel’s diligence to the community, it only made sense to give the award in her name.
“[Rachel] was an amazing person [and] a great supporter of PAVE,” Perez said.
Rachel Steffens was heavily involved in her community. In addition to being active in PAVE’s efforts, was also a committed member of the Lakefront Career Network, an organization that strives to cultivate career-oriented individuals in the Michigan City area and connect them with one another. Perez also mentioned that Steffens was an amazing professor, choosing to spend her time with the students that needed more time than the class allotted.
Perez believes that for Steffens to have taken on such an active role in PAVE, she must have seen “something of value and importance in what [he] and [his] colleagues of PAVE were doing.”
Perez admits that he wanted to invite Steffens to serve as a board member of the organization, but, unfortunately, never had the opportunity to extend the offer to her.
“It made sense that [Rachel] would have an award that would go to young people to expand their horizons and provide better access to positive programming,” Perez said. “It made sense to put it in Rachel’s name because that’s what she did for people.”
The Michiana Renegades are the first recipients of the Rachel Steffens award. According to Perez, the team was having trouble finding a way to travel to New York for a baseball tournament and were asking for donations. PAVE had extra funds available and decided to give them the newly named award. The coach, Stephen Gill, was surprised when PAVE offered them the award.
“We were really excited to hear that [with the donation] they would be able to make the trip,” Perez said.
While in New York, Perez said that the team will be able to see iconic places like Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site. He hopes that seeing sites like this will allow them to see a bigger picture that will keep them focused on their goals and being successful.
In the future, Perez wants the award to give young people the opportunity to do something positive within the community.
“The kids walking down the street won’t engage in negative behaviors because the people in the community will know and expect great things from them,” Perez said.
PAVE is an organization that wants to promote positive programs and opportunities to end violence amongst young people.
“We seek to break the cycle of violence in our community,” Perez said. “The more people that know about us, the better.”