Current News:
By Nia Hamm
April 17, 2018
HARTFORD -- The opioid epidemic is ravaging communities across the nation including many in Connecticut.
However, some local health officials believe far more people may be suffering from opioid addiction than the state actually reports. This could mean the opioid crises is far worse than previously thought.
“The only word I could describe what it’s like to lose a child is, it’s human torture,” said Ginger Katz.
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Courage To Speak About Being Drug-Free Celebrates 14th Annual Family Night
by Jon Craig
March 18, 2018
The 14th Annual Courage To Speak Empowering Youth to Be Drug Free Family Night will take place on Tuesday, March 20 at 5:30 p.m., at Roton Middle School, 201 Highland Ave. in Norwalk.
All are invited to the event, which will bring students, parents, educators, school and government officials, business and other community leaders together to affirm their commitment to keep children safe from drugs and other risky behaviors. A complimentary dinner will be served.
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NORWALK, Conn. (WTNH) — Parenting during the opioid epidemic: a Norwalk mother is traveling the state, with a plea for prevention. “I’m in a club that nobody wants to join – nobody signs up for this,” said Ginger Katz who lost her son Ian to a heroin overdose in 1996. “I got up for my morning run and I found him at 6am. My cries for help were heard two blocks away.”
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LEADING BY EXAMPLE - Middle school course teaches parents how to keep kids off drugs
By R.A. Schuetz
November 18.2017
NORWALK — Parents and advocates gathered in the West Rocks Middle School library Thursday evening to learn about parenting during the opioid epidemic.
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NORWALK, Conn. -- The Courage to Speak Foundation has developed a new program, “Parenting Through the Opioid Crisis and Beyond,” a free drug prevention course designed specifically for parents of elementary, middle, and high school students. The program was developed by the Courage to Speak Foundation by a grant from the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. This new program is specifically designed to address the current opioid epidemic and is offered free to parents in the community.
The Courage To Speak!
October 2017
FAIRFIELD– The Courage to Speak Foundation Presentation Ginger and Larry Katz, Co-Founders of the Courage to Speak® Foundation will be speaking at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, 545 Stratfield Road, Fairfield on Thursday, October 19th at 6:30 PM in the Parish Hall.
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Weymouth sixth-graders learn about opioid epidemic
By Zane Razzaq
May 25, 2017
WEYMOUTH – “Don’t keep secrets in, get your pain out” was author Ginger Katz’s message to an audience of Abigail Adams Middle School students and parents Wednesday evening.
Ginger Katz’s son, Ian, died in his sleep of a heroin overdose in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 20. Katz described her son as “bright and very sensitive, with an insight well beyond his years.” Eleven years after his death, in 2007, Katz wrote the book “Sunny’s Story.” The book is narrated by the family dog, Sunny, as he watches Ian’s addiction develop.
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Addiction Awareness Event Scheduled For Sept. 27
The Courage To Speak Foundation CEO Ginger Katz will discuss substance abuse and addiction in Milton.
By Kristal Dixon (Patch Staff)
September 20, 2016 2:46 pm ET
MILTON, GA -- A church in Milton will host an event next week to inform local residents about the perils of drug addiction.The Courage To Speak Foundation will bring its addiction awareness discussion to Birmingham United Methodist Church at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27. Fulton County District 2 Commissioner Bob Ellis, along with members of the Fulton County Youth Commission, are slated to attend next week's event. During the discussion, residents will hear from foundation founder Ginger Katz, who will give a presentation about substance abuse and addiction. Katz will go over how to recognize the warning signs; addiction and its impact on families; the code of silence and its dangers; how to identify risky behaviors and friendships; and what to do if you suspect your child is using drugs or alcohol. The foundation was created in 1996 after Katz, and husband Larry, lost their son, Ian, to a drug overdose. Since its founding, the organization has been dedicated to preventing drug overdose deaths from affecting another families. Birmingham United Methodist Church is located at 15770 Birmingham Highway.
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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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April 5, 2016
Courage to Speak plans annual event on March 14
By Jeff Eydt
March 7, 2016
NORWALK -- Join Ginger Katz and The Courage to Speak for their 12th annual "Empowering the Youth to be Drug Free Family Night" event to help those with drug addiction on Monday, March 14. This is the Courage to Speak Foundation's 20th year in its mission to spread awareness and help save lives.
"Going to rehab is five to ten times more expensive than a college education," said Ginger Katz, founder of the Courage to Speak Foundation. "Even if your kids don't do drugs, we need to get the word out to help prevent and help those with drug addictions. The Courage to Speak Foundation has students invite their parents to the event to celebrate the work of drug prevention."
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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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Son's death made her an activist - Norwalk woman tells of drug use tragedy
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.
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Mrs. Katz's son, Ian, at 17.
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
By Chris Warren
September 25, 2015
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.
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Drug Prevention Night Moves Audience To Tears
By: Katherine Du
March 17, 2015
The 11th 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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Norwalk Takes Anti-Drug Stance At Courage To Speak Night
by Casey Donahue
March 17, 2015
NORWALK, Conn. -- The Norwalk community gathered at West Rocks Middle School on Monday night for the annual Courage to Speak Empowering Youth To Be Drug Free Family Night.
The night was hosted by the Courage to Speak Foundation, whose founder, Norwalk mom Ginger Katz, lost her son Ian to a drug overdose in 1996. Since her son's death she has worked to develop drug prevention curriculum and programs for schools to teach kids about the dangers of drugs and some refusal techniques. Her book, "Sunny's Story" tells her family's tale through the eyes of their pet beagle and has become regular reading in Norwalk schools and other districts around the state.
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