Long Islanders remembered at International Overdose Awareness Day

The lights were dimmed, and one by one, men and women holding electric candles stood at the microphone and read the names of family members and friends who had died from drug overdoses.

The reading went on for more than 20 minutes Friday. The names, compiled on 20 pages, were submitted by participants in THRIVE Recovery Centers on Long Island, organizers said. The centers provide outreach, guidance, education, wellness and referral services for those seeking to overcome addiction. The bulk of the people named were from Nassau and Suffolk counties, organizers said.

Some of those reading struggled to hold back tears, like Lori Carbonaro, of Selden, when she read the name of her son, Nicholas, who died in 2014.

"He was 22 years old," she told Newsday later. She has since become an advocate for the needs of families as a member of Families In Support of Treatment, or FIST.

The event at THRIVE's Hauppauge office brought out more than two dozen advocates, family members, Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Pigott, and a Suffolk County assistant district attorney to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, which is Saturday.

They called for greater emphasis on education, prevention and treatment programs.

"This a day to let people know that people using drugs and their families — that they're valued. That they're seen. That they're heard," said Jeffrey Reynolds, president and chief executive of FCA, or Family & Children's Association, the Garden City-based nonprofit agency that hosted the event and operates THRIVE centers in partnership with several community groups. 

Some advocates talked about their own substance disorder battles and how recovery is possible, leading to fruitful lives. Anthony Rizzuto, Alcohol and Substance Abuse counselor of Seafield Center in Westhampton Beach, spoke of his own path during 31 years of sobriety. 

Meanwhile, Victoria Sholl, of Lindenhurst, laid bare the horror of watching her "smart" daughter Jessica, who took Advanced Placement courses in high school and graduated from college, get caught up in addiction for eight years.

"I will tell you, it's horrible to watch," Sholl told the audience. "It's a family disease, it really is, because it affects everyone in the family." 

Later, Sholl stood beside her daughter, Jessica Sholl, 29, as Jessica told Newsday her story.

"I was an intravenous heroin user for a good eight years. Crack and heroin. Anything I could put in a needle, I did," Jessica said. 

"I had years of in and out of treatment, and in and out of 12-step meetings and stuff like that," Jessica said. "Then the last time, I used once," she said — and then, on her own, she resumed treatment.

Asked how she set on a path to recovery, she said, "I can't explain it."

Jessica now works for THRIVE, in its crisis response unit. She said she's been drug-free for almost three years.

Listening to her daughter describe her addiction, Victoria Sholl said, "It's devastating. It was even going on longer than I even knew. ... I was definitely in denial. It was the ending of high school and the beginning of her first year in college" when it started.

"She was very functioning. Still played softball," Victoria said.

"I batted .638 my last collegiate season and I was shooting heroin in the locker room," Jessica said.

While overdose deaths have declined, many advocates said the problem is still acute.

The FCA, in a release, noted overdose deaths fell between March 2023 and March 2024 by 9.4%, going from 110,082 to 99,684, citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Suffolk County, overdose deaths fell from 443 in 2022 to 320 last year; and in Nassau County, they went from 218 in 2022 to 149 in 2023, Newsday has reported, citing state Health Department figures.

"This year things are a little better than they've been in years past," Reynolds said.

He noted, however, that a spike could occur at any time.

"Let's not celebrate too quickly," he said.

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie