Wake Up, East Meadow sheds light on addiction

Renato Manaloto, 22, was frustrated by yet another online memorial dedicated to a local resident who had died of a drug overdose. “It’s gotten to the point that I see ‘Rest in peace’ on Facebook and I’m like, ‘Who is it now?’” Manaloto says.

He was compelled to take action, and on April 9, he called on his friend Giovanni Fuentes, 24, for help. Within hours, the pair had put together a “Wake Up, East Meadow” Facebook page, hoping to sell 200 bracelets to raise awareness of drug addiction, but the page quickly went viral, attracting more than 1,000 fans in just three days.

Looking for more help, the two men had recruited another friend, Amanda Louisa, 22, who commented on the Facebook page minutes after it was launched. The trio soon decided to turn Manaloto’s small idea into a larger campaign, and they are now working with a local lawyer, who is helping them — pro bono — to develop a nonprofit organization.

Manaloto, Fuentes and Louisa want to help create awareness and offer financial assistance to East Meadow residents who are fighting addiction — particularly of heroin and prescription drugs — but they are also developing a positive, safe online community where friends and loved ones can share memories of those they’ve lost. Their determination comes from personal experience with addiction: They have each lost someone to heroin.

Louisa said that a close friend of hers died three years ago. Manaloto lost a good friend in July 2011, he said, after the young man tried the deadly drug for the first time. Fuentes added that a friend of his died this year, just two days after leaving rehab.

Louisa said that when her friend died, there was a stigma associated with heroin and those who used the drug, but, she added, “The shock factor is gone.”

Fuentes agreed. “It’s absolutely insane that it’s become such a common thing in our town,” he said.

“Even kids as young as middle school have access to everything,” Manaloto added. “They can send a text message and have [the drugs] come to their house.”

While addiction has killed their friends and many other young adults they knew in high school, the three want to help prevent more unnecessary drug-related deaths. And the support from the community has been overwhelming and invaluable, they said. Doctors are offering immediate, free services to those facing addiction. Parents, siblings and friends of drug abusers are offering to talk about their experiences.

People who have overcome addiction have also reached out to the group, saying they are willing to share their stories. Many others have asked to donate their time or talents to help raise funds to increase overdose awareness.

“People felt that their one little idea couldn’t make a difference, so they never really voiced it,” said Manaloto, “but now they have this huge community of people listening.”

Wake Up, East Meadow is planning more outreach and awareness-raising efforts, and its founders hope to create a video to show in the local middle and high schools. “Right now, all you learn in school is ‘Don’t do drugs, drugs are bad,’ and that’s not helping,” said Louisa. In the video, the trio want to focus on East Meadow teens who have died.

“These are the people who grew up in your town and went to your school, and you might know their younger brother or sister or just saw the family in the community,” Louisa said. “It’s a real issue. It’s not just us saying, ‘Don’t do drugs.’ These people had a full life ahead of them, and they were great people and they were lost to their addiction.”

The group also hopes to set up a fund through the East Meadow School District for students who are battling addiction but don’t have the resources to get help.

Manaloto recalls feeling invincible when he was in high school, but he said that since he graduated from East Meadow High in 2007, he has known several young people who have lost their lives.

When Wake Up, East Meadow’s creators aren’t responding to messages, meeting with their attorney or planning the future of the organization, they are in school and working at part-time jobs. Manaloto is majoring in psychology at SUNY Old Westbury, Louisa is in an accelerated nursing program at Wagner College on Staten Island and Fuentes is working toward a degree in criminal justice at Nassau Community College. They answer messages well past midnight, exchange text messages while working and in between homework assignments, and have been known to fall asleep with phones in hand, but they add that all the effort is worth it if they save even one life.

“I thought, taking this on, that I would be so stressed out and wouldn’t be able to juggle everything, but I wake up so happy,” said Louisa. “I’m exhausted right now, but I’m so happy.”

“It’s a sad topic, but we’re shedding light on the problem,” said Fuentes, “and we’re able to do it in the happiest way possible, in the most positive way possible.”

“I always wanted to help people, and this is the perfect way to do it,” added Manaloto, saying that people in the community are already approaching them with words of gratitude.

Eleven young adults in East Meadow have died of either a drug overdose or in a drunken driving accident since the year began, said the Wake Up, East Meadow Facebook founders. “Addiction is not who they were,” Louisa said. “They had a problem. It doesn’t make them bad people. It doesn’t erase all the good things they did in their lives.”

Visit the Wake Up, East Meadow Facebook page or follow WakeUpEMeadow on Twitter to connect with the creators, share your story or provide community support. You can also reach them by e-mailing WakeUpEastMeadow@gmail.com.