Overdose Awareness Day August 31st from Heroin Support on Vimeo.
Heroin Support Inc started in the summer of 2013 after a close friend had become hooked by this deadly and addictive disease called heroin. At that time I had no idea that this drug existed nor did I know how powerful it’s stranglehold is on its victim. I took it upon myself to gather as much information on this drug to help myself and others better understand its history and its characteristics. After weeks of research online I started to discover there were a few others out there across the country on Facebook in particular that were fighting this epidemic in their area of the country. So next I set out to create a “Public” Facebook community called “Heroin Kills You” to bring awareness to this heroin epidemic and provide a central point of daily posts on heroin. The community grew to over 34,000 members over the next 2 years. During that time I realized that there was nowhere for active users, those in recovery or family/friends of users to gather online and chat about their struggles. Thus I formed the private Facebook support group “Heroin Support” which has grown to over 50,000 members since the summer of 2013. My vision for this group was to provide a safe, supportive online chatroom where anyone affected by this disease named heroin could join and get feedback and support. The group today consists mostly of active users and those in recovery but we do have a strong membership of parents and friends who joined to learn more about the daily struggles of a user and also to provide encouragement and support to get these active users to seek treatment and the life of recovery.
In the summer of 2014 we decided to take a leap forward and we started the wheels spinning on our 501(c)3 nonprofit called Heroin Support Inc (EIN# - 47-1293444). We are now a fully approved nonprofit as deemed by the IRS and we can take tax-deductible donations from individuals and businesses. You can click here to view our eligibility to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions via the IRS. We hope to be able to raise funds to assist those struggling to get started in their recovery process, to help educate the general public and our children about the dangers of heroin, and advocate for better treatment options instead of incarceration. In the late summer of 2015 we officially release our website at www.HeroinSupport.org.
Later another private Facebook support group “Heroin Memorial” was born for those who lost their Angel to heaven because of this disease called heroin. This support group is for the family and friends left behind to struggle with their feelings of depression and sense of loss after losing their loved one. You can learn more at www.HeroinMemorial.org.
On Christmas Day 2017 I lost my cousin Chris to an overdose in Cincinnati, Ohio. He had struggled for years with his addiction and just days before his death I had managed to convince him to get help and I had actually helped him in the enrollment process at City Gospel Mission's treatment program for men. Unfortunately, like so many others, he had to get his one last fix before going into treatment. He left behind several young children and a fiance.
Remember that “Every addict is someone’s son or daughter”.