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The dark-green convertible couch where twenty-year-old Ian Eaccarino died of a heroin overdose ten years ago is a silent presence in the basement studio that was his bedroom. His sister Candace, age thirty-eight, who has Down Syndrome, sleeps on it every Tuesday night when she visits from the group home where she lives in Fairfield, CT. Every week, she puts its cushions on the floor, covers them with a blanket and makes a bed for her brother. "Ian comes down from the clouds," she insists, "and sleeps there."
At the other end of the room, Ian's mother Ginger Katz has established headquarters for The Courage To Speak Foundation, Inc., a project that took shape in the dark months following her son's death. "When I see Candace cry, I get angry with Ian for causing her so much pain," she says softly, "but I know it was the drugs. Drugs make you crazy. Drugs stole Ian from us."
Ginger Katz is determined to break what she calls "the code of silence" around the disease of alcohol and other drug addictions. Speaking as a parent who has experienced the ultimate loss, she has been telling Ian's story all over
the country, sharing insights with parents and with young people ranging from teenagers in high school and college to children in elementary and middle school.
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The Courage to Speak Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded by Ginger Katz that fosters open communication about the prevention of alcohol and other drug use among young people. Ginger has been inspired to speak out by the untimely death of her son, Ian to whom her effort is dedicated. Since 1996, she has given over
1000 presentations nationally, reaching thousands of middle school, high school and college students and their parents. Addressing young people, concerned parents, educators and law enforcement professionals, Ginger tells her son's story. Through it she weaves powerful prevention information and identifies denial as part of the disease. She asks parents to listen and young people to speak out, encouraging an honest, open dialogue between peers and between generations.
Click on this link to find out about The Courage To Speak’s programs.
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