New Canaan  Community Shows Up for ‘2023 NC Combine’ Benefiting Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer [PHOTOS]

New Canaan’s Chris Falsetta told a stadium full of community friends and supporters Sunday morning that his then 12-year-old daughter, Gracie, was diagnosed with leukemia almost exactly one year ago, on Oct. 13, 2022. 

Since that time, many people have approached Falsetta and asked how the past year has been, he said. “And I say, ‘It’s been incredible,’ and I usually get puzzled looks,” Falsetta said from midfield at Dunning Stadium under sunny, warm skies minutes before the 2023 N.C. Combine began. “ ‘What do you mean incredible?’ Well, it’s been incredibly tough, right? You know that.

JMG Insurance To Sponsor New Canaan Fire Department in Oct. 1 ‘Combine’ [Q&A]

A local insurance company is stepping up to help sponsor an Oct. 1 community event to benefit a special nonprofit organization. 

JMG Insurance Corp is sponsoring the Fire Department for the 2023 New Canaan Combine, benefiting the Gracie Fund for Pediatric Cancer. Created by New Canaan’s Falsetta family—here’s an interview with dad Chris about the effort— the Gracie Fund is named for the Falsettas’ 12-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia last year and is undergoing treatments. The Combine—organized by House of Telos owner Rebecca Kimball, a 2004 New Canaan High School graduate (podcast here)—is a fun athletic competition between the New Canaan Police and Fire Departments that also brings in community members to fundraise for a good cause. We put some questions to the company’s Francesca Forlivio. 

Here’s our exchange.