LYNN — The city showed what coming together for a cause truly means through a perfect play drawn up to assist Tracy Elementary’s boys’ basketball team. Brian Diaz, Tracy Elementary’s Principal Carrie Nicosia, Donald DeLeire, Tony’s Pub & Grill, and a host of other residents made it happen.
The team needed new shoes, so DeLeire and other community members are donating. The donation is pending approval from the school committee.
The chain of events got started when Brian Diaz reconnected with Nicosia, his former English teacher who is now principal and basketball coach at Tracy. Diaz saw a post on Facebook from Nicosia that prompted him to message her directly. This is how he found out that the kids on the team didn’t have the proper footwear to play in.
“I just happened to spread the word and was going to do something on my end, and word got out quickly,” Diaz said. “Don [DeLeire] heard about it and asked me about it. He happened to know her husband, and that was the connection. Pretty much the next day Don went out and did that (bought shoes).”
DeLeire, president of Congress Insurance Agency, said that when he talked to Brian, he knew he wanted to help out.
“Brian and I texted back and forth,” DeLeire said. “I found out the age of the groups and I also got the specific sizes. We bought them brand-new shoes. The shoes that I bought were Nike sneakers. I gave my wife a list of the kids who still needed shoes, including their sizes and ages, and they were able to match them up.”
He said that they got the shoes from Foot Locker, but it was a bit difficult to find the sizes at first since it was just after Christmas and stores were low in inventory.
DeLeire also wanted to shed light on the assistance of Tony’s Pub, which is owned by Nicosia’s husband. The venue hosts many fundraisers for the schools in Lynn and was the place where he connected with Diaz to give him the shoes.
“It feels great to give back,” DeLeire said. “It feels great, because thank God that I’m in a position where I never needed to have people help me. But that’s why I think it’s imperative for small businesses like me to do this. Anybody can be successful, but if you can’t share that success, it’s not as gratifying.”
It’s also important for his company since, he stressed, it’s not just insurance that they’re involved in. They’re also involved in the community and giving back.
“And like I told Tony and his wife, I’m just doing exactly what they do,” he said.
Diaz said that he had focused on spreading the word to the community and the outcome was exactly what he had hoped.
“The whole message of this is so many people in Lynn know each other,” Diaz said. “As big as Lynn is, it’s also just as small. And I say that because a lot of us know each other and a lot of things could happen in this city if we all came together.”
“If we just had more unity in the city and came together more, a lot of things like this could happen,” Diaz said.
