Finding Courage to Speak of Son's Death, New York Times

2000 Woman of the Year - Ginger Katz, Connecticut Post

'You don't want my pain' Heroin addict's mother makes impression with eighth-graders, The News-Times

Couple tries to prevent tragedy by speaking about their own, Effingham Daily News

Decade of Dedication: Ginger Katz's Courage to Speak anti-drug program marks 10 years, Connecticut Post

For the Children, a Mother Revisits Her Sorrow, New York Times

Katz still has the Courage to Speak against drugs, The Stamford Times

Knowledge is Power- Ginger Katz is on a mission to educate parents about drugs, The Advocate

 Current News:
                                                                            
By Julia Werth
December 31, 2018



Starting the conversation, parenting through the opioid crisis


Kileen Doyle never spoke to her son about drugs while he was growing up. She wasn’t even aware that some of his classmates and friends in Norwalk were using.

That changed abruptly when her son’s long-time friend, a boy who had been on his swimming team and in his martial arts classes, died of an overdose: heroine mixed with valium, a prescription drug.
“I was completely unaware of drug use when my children were growing up, before Ian’s death,” said Doyle.
And, according to Ginger Katz, Ian’s mother, that’s not surprising at all. People – especially parents – simply didn’t talk about drug use.

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By Ruth Epstein 
November 5, 2018



We have to save lives’: Program in Waterbury to help parents prevent drug abuse, addiction

Ginger Katz wants the demand to stop. “There are dealers who are targeting our children,” said Katz, whose son, Ian, died of an opioid addiction more than 20 years ago. “Prevention is key. We are focusing on treatment and that is imperative. We have to save lives. But if we don’t look at the other side of the problem, we are going to repeat this cycle.”

Katz is founder of the Courage to Speak Foundation, a nonprofit organization that tries to educate parents of children about the danger of drugs. On Wednesday, she and her facilitator will bring the group’s “Courage to Speak – Courageous Parenting 101” to Waterbury. The two-hour program attempts to give parents the tools and information they need to prevent drug use and addiction in their children.

“There’s a crop of children every year in the schools and if we don’t educate them, we will repeat the cycle,” said Katz, whose son died in 1996. “We know the opioid crisis is an epidemic. Do we want a pandemic?”

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By Robert Sample 
September 28, 2018




An anti-drug crusade that began in heartbreak

Were he alive today, Ian Eaccarino would be 41 - but his life was cut short by a drug overdose at the age of 20.

Eaccarino's death in 1997 gave his mom, Ginger Katz, a new mission that involves keeping his memory alive and ensuring Eaccarino did not die in vain. Katz created the Courage to Speak Foundation, which educates young people about the horrors of drug abuse. It also alerts parents to the signs of drug abuse and the parenting techniques they must employ to stop it.

"My son was a good kid ... a wonderful kid," said Katz in a presentation July 20 at Jockey Hollow Middle School. "He made an unhealthy decision to use drugs, and I'm not ashamed of him. Instead, I speak out."

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Courage to Speak

By Kimberly Armstrong
 
May 23, 2016

Ian was 20 years old when his mother, Ginger Katz, found him dead of a heroin overdose in the basement of their Connecticut home. Faced with the loss of their youngest child, doctors recommended that Katz and her husband, Larry, tell grieving relatives that he died of a heart attack or brain aneurysm to soften the blow. Instead, as Ginger Katz lay awake the night before her son's funeral, she decided to speak out. "I could not, would not, bury my son with a lie," she told parents at Stafford Middle School. "I felt very early on, if we don't address it, if we shove it under the rug, more people will die."

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Hour Staff Report

March 3, 2016

Blumenthal to hold forum - heroin epidemic 

HARTFORD — Larry and Ginger Katz, co-founders of the Courage to Speak Foundation, and Darnell Crosland, president of the Norwalk NAACP, will be among those on hand Friday afternoon when U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal plays host to a forum to combat the heroin epidemic. The forum will be held at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Southwest Community Health Center in Bridgeport.

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By Ruth Epstein

November 5, 2015


Ruth Epstein Republican-American Virginia 'Ginger' Katz speaks to students at Sharon Center School during a
recent assembly. Katz, whose son, Ian Eaccarino, died from a drug overdose at age 20, is the creator of the
Courage to Speak Foundation, formed to try to prevent families from going through a similar tragedy.

SHARON — Virginia "Ginger" Katz's son died young, but his story is being used to save others.
The Norwalk resident was at Sharon Center School last week to talk to parents one evening, and sixth- to eighth-grade students the next day, about her Courage to Speak Foundation.

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In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs

By Katharine Q. Seelye 

October. 30, 2015


Ginger Katz and her husband, Larry Katz, of Norwalk, Conn., lost their 20-year-old son Ian to a heroin overdose in
1996. She then started a foundation to try to end the silence surrounding addiction. Credit Katherine Taylor for The
New York Times

Ginger Katz of Norwalk, Conn., has equally lofty goals. After her son, Ian, 20, died of a heroin overdose in 1996, she founded the Courage to Speak Foundation to try to end the silence surrounding addiction, and she has developed a drug-prevention curriculum for schools and written a book, "Sunny's Story," told through the eyes of Ian's dog.   She is still traveling around the country speaking to students and their parents.

Courage to Speak's Drug Prevention Night Moves Audience to Tears

By Katherine Du

October 12, 2015


Demetri Dassouras and a friend at the Courage to Speak Dinner. Credit: Katherine Du.

The 11th Annual Courage To Speak Empowering Youth to Be Drug Free Family Night, Ginger Katz's brainchild, took place on March 16, 2015 at West Rocks Middle School in Norwalk, Connecticut.

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Burlington High School parents attend 'Courage to Speak' drug addiction prevention presentation 

BURLINGTON - When Ginger Katz took the stage at Burlington High School Sept. 17, she started by saying her son Ian died Sept. 10, 1996, due to an overdose of heroin mixed with Valium. He was 20 years old. To save face, Ian's doctor suggested Katz tell people her son had died of an aneurysm. Instead, she told the truth.

Drug Prevention Night Moves Audience To Tears

By: Katherine Du

March 17, 2015

The 11^th Annual Courage To Speak Empowering Youth To Be Drug Free Family Night, the brainchild of Ginger Katz, took place on March 16 at West Rocks Middle School in Norwalk.

After her son Ian passed away in 1996 of a heroin overdose, Ginger had the choice to tell the world that he had died of a heart attack or an aneurism. She, instead, had a self-described “vision to speak out” that drove her not only to pen a drug prevention book titled Sunny’s Story, but also to found the Courage to Speak Foundation, which developed drug prevention education curricula for elementary, middle, and high schools around the nation. Her program has reached 16,800 students in Norwalk alone so far.

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