Our son Joel Kenneth Sanders died from an opioid overdose April 18, 2019. He battled substance addiction for 11 years. During his last few years successfully sober he sought to help others struggling with the same affliction. I aim to honor Joel and continue “in his steps”by telling his story and collecting others’ stories on video while crossing the U.S. on a standup bike beginning July 1, 2021 in San Francisco and ending in Charleston, SC. I want to humanize the opioid crisis to de-stigmatize the disease through story and raise funds for organizations addressing this crisis.
100% of all donations will go and be apportioned to these organizations as listed on the website injoelsteps.com; no funds will go to myself or the costs of the crossing. We all have friends or family fighting this affliction, many secretly because of the stigmatization surrounding Substance Use Disorder. Lets help them together through support v shaming and kindness v caricature. Addiction is a brain disease; it damages decision-making; it IS treatable. Please join me in honoring and helping those we love battling in this arena.
100% of all donations will go and be apportioned to these organizations as listed on the website injoelsteps.com; no funds will go to myself or the costs of the crossing. We all have friends or family fighting this affliction, many secretly because of the stigmatization surrounding Substance Use Disorder. Lets help them together through support v shaming and kindness v caricature. Addiction is a brain disease; it damages decision-making; it IS treatable. Please join me in honoring and helping those we love battling in this arena.