John Brower Jr. Foundation to host 11th annual Heroes Against Heroin walk

When John Brower Jr. was a child, he had a habit of making sure nobody was left out.

In kindergarten, when a new girl arrived at school and struggled to find a group, John welcomed her without hesitation, telling her she could join his friends.

Years later, when a friend was in crisis and threatening to take his own life, Brower took three days off from work and stayed with him until he was through the worst of it.

That was the kind of person he was, his parents, Jody and John Brower, said. He always looked out for others, his mother said.

John Jr. was a wrestler in high school who also competed in cross-country and track. His greatest strength, his parents said, was his willingness to help people.

After his death from an opioid overdose at age 25 in 2014, friends came to the Browers with stories of the ways in which their son had helped them, often without ever telling anyone.

His parents turned that devastating loss into a mission. The John Brower Jr. Foundation was established in his memory, and this year the family will host its 11th annual Heroes Against Heroin 5K Walk at Jones Beach State Park on Sept. 12.

The event, held in partnership with Outreach, a Queens-based nonprofit organization that provides substance-use and mental health treatment and recovery services to adolescents, young adults, adults and families, brings together families who have lost loved ones to addiction, people in recovery, advocates and community members. Outreach operates residential and outpatient programs across Long Island and Queens, including several programs in Brentwood, Islip and Bellport. Proceeds benefit its treatment and recovery programs.

For the Browers, the walk is about far more than raising money.

“It creates an opportunity to have an open dialogue,” Ellen Barker, Outreach’s vice president for development and communications, said. “There’s a lot of discussion that happens at the actual event.”

Families affected by addiction can meet others who have had similar experiences, while people in recovery and those seeking information can connect with treatment resources. Narcan training will also be available.

Barker said that Outreach is seeing an increase in substance-use cases among young people, along with more mental health issues. The organization serves between 3,000 and 4,000 people annually in its residential and outpatient programs in Queens and suburban Long Island, she said.

Outreach recently opened Long Island’s first young-adult residence for those ages 18 to 25 at its Brentwood campus. There is also a residential program for adolescents ages 12 to 18 and a recovery residence for adult women.

John Venza, vice president of residential services and business Development, a 35-year Outreach employee who has worked in the substance-use field for 44 years, oversees the organization’s residential beds. The drugs available to young people, Venza said, have become increasingly dangerous. He pointed to the prevalence of illicit pills containing fentanyl, and increasingly potent cannabis products, as particular concerns.

“Drugs are much more aggressive, much more dangerous,” he said, describing them as a “dirty drug supply,” creating more chances of accidental overdoses.

For Outreach, the Brower walk provides an opportunity to address those dangers while also emphasizing that addiction does not discriminate. The organization’s services focus not only on substance use, but on the user and their family, Barker said. Young people receiving treatment often return to their families, making family involvement an important part of recovery.

“Substance use doesn’t just impact the person who’s going through it, but it impacts their loved ones as well,” she said. That broader impact is something the Browers have experienced firsthand.

At their son's funeral, John Brower Sr. recalled a young man approaching him and saying that Brower might not remember him. The man then told Brower that his son had saved his life. He had been contemplating suicide and checked himself into a hotel. John Jr. stayed with him for three days.

Stories like that have shaped the family's work ever since. Eleven years after his death, his parents continue to hear from people whose lives he touched.

The walk, they said, is a way to ensure that John's instinct to help others continues to influence people even though he is no longer here.

The Heroes Against Heroin walk will begin at 10 a.m. on Sept. 12 at Jones Beach State Park’s Field 1, with registration beginning at 9. The event will be held rain or shine and will include a walk along the boardwalk, a DJ, refreshments and free Narcan training. Registration is $25, and participants of all ages are welcome.

For the Browers, every participant represents another person willing to stand against the stigma surrounding addiction. And for a family that lost a son far too soon, it is also a way of keeping alive the quality that defined him most.

He helped people.