Colton Britton didn't need a voice to leave a lasting impact.

Chris and Michelle Britton's youngest son was born in 2014. Unlike his two older brothers, Chase and Owen, Colton had nonverbal autism. While he didn't communicate with words, Colton charmed all he came in contact with through his joyful attitude.

"He had a laugh that people still talk about," Michelle said. "He had a giggle, a laugh that would light up the room. He had this incredible, infectious laugh. He was happy."

"He was happy all of the time," Chris added.

Colton didn't need words to signal to his parents when he wanted to pull up clips of Thomas the Tank Engine on YouTube. He knew his mom's iPhone password, where to access the YouTube app, and how to scroll for a specific clip to obsess over.

Thomas the Tank Engine was Colton's favorite character. He liked to play with train track pieces and assemble them to form unique paths.

Colton, see, was the conductor of a life that was atypical. He would not experience the same events and milestones as his two older brothers. He would not travel along a conventional path, which didn't bother Colton. He didn't know what he was missing. He found joy in everything. It was everyone else in his orbit who had to adjust. Michelle explains how Emily Perl Kingsley's poem, Welcome to Holland, aptly describes the experience of raising a child on the spectrum.

You planned for a trip to Italy, but you landed in Holland, as Kingsley wrote. It's a beautiful place, but it's just not what you prepared for.

"You're going to have milestones," Michelle explained, "but they are going to look different."

"When you have a brother with different needs, you just learn to accept things," Chris said of Colton's influence on his older brothers. "You learn to accept people as they are. They took care of him. No matter what the situation."

The Brittons discovered the Eagles Autism Challenge in 2019 thanks to one of Michelle's closest friends, and Colton's godmother, Tina DiIenno. After extensive research, they connected with the organization's mission.

"It's a great organization not just for what they do for innovative research, but also what they do for families," Michelle said about the Eagles Autism Foundation. "When you have a child who is non-verbal, there aren't many places you can go that are going to be sensitive to their needs. You're not going to get to participate in the same things that other families get to participate in. Your walk looks different."

The Brittons never felt alone in their walk with Colton. Michelle, who is now the principal in the Rose Tree Media School District, was previously a special education teacher and a school counselor. Chris is a math teacher and head football coach at Springfield (Delco) High School. They've had support and resources to help all along.

And that support was needed more than ever when Colton passed away in July 2020. He was 5 years old.

EAF rallied around the Britton family, however it could. Jason Kelce, the future Hall of Fame center and ambassador for the organization, sent a personal message to Colton's brothers. EAF also provided an outlet for the Brittons to ensure Colton's name lives on.

The Brittons formed Colt's Crew in 2021 and started to host fundraisers for the Eagles Autism Challenge. In four years, Colt's Crew raised more than $100,000 for EAF. With over two weeks before this year's EAC, Colt's Crew has already brought in more than $35,000, the team's most in a single year. Chase, the Britton family's oldest son, prefers to honor his brother's memory through his actions. He has devoted himself to growing the success of Colt's Crew, creating something positive to help others.

In his college essay for Penn State, where he will enroll this fall, Chase wrote, "Through this initiative, I have learned the true meaning of resilience – not just surviving adversity but transforming it into something that benefits others."

Just further proof that Colton didn't need a voice to make an impact.

"It's all for Colton. It's all for Colt's Crew. This is something we can do in his name," Michelle said. "We're five years going strong. The Foundation is part of our family. Although this has helped us through the grief process, because it's connected to the Eagles, there's that sports mentality to it as well, so it allows the boys to not focus necessarily on the fact that Colton isn't here anymore, but the Eagles are involved."

In addition to a marquee fundraiser, Colt's Crew creates T-shirts each year. To say that Michelle loves to design T-shirts is a bit of an understatement. One year, Michelle asked Chris to design a football play where the routes would form a heart. They called it the Colt's Crew Special in honor of the Philly Special. This year, Michelle planned to pay homage to Kelce and theme the T-shirt to emulate the annual Ocean Drive fundraising event in Sea Isle City, New Jersey.

As Colton would show his family time after time again, not everything will go according to plan.

EAF asked the Brittons to represent the Foundation at the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay. Michelle revamped the T-shirt design to mimic the branding for what has become the NFL's annual road show. And they'll be wearing those shirts with pride as they remember Colton and champion the cause for families with children on the spectrum at EAC.

"I'm really hopeful with the innovative research that what we're doing is going to make a difference down the road," Michelle said. "There's always going to be a soft spot in my heart for working with students who are on the autism spectrum. We're both really lucky. We get to work with kids every day. I work in an elementary school and sometimes it can be hard. Colton would be in fourth grade. Sometimes, I'll look at the fourth graders and think he should be in fourth grade."

"You're more apt to think of what is going on at home with the families," Chris said. "You're more accepting because you don't know what's going on in their lives. You try to understand things a little bit more. Everything's different. Everybody is different. Football is a team sport and you have to bring a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds together for a common goal."

On May 17, the common goal is for Colt's Crew and the thousands of participants in this year's EAC to provide funding, hope, support, and – maybe most importantly – a voice for those in the autism community. Bringing that joy to others is something that would make Colton laugh and smile.