Over the recent years, we’ve all spent too much time at Levinson’s listening to rabbis speak in their eulogies of the young man or woman whose body is before us in a coffin.
The eulogies have the same heartfelt mantra about them: He was loved by everyone. She was getting her life together. He just made some bad choices.
The other day I sat with a young Jew who was clean for a handful of months. He/she (gender matters not here) grew up in Pikesville to “your typical Jewish family.” There was no abuse, there was a dedication to education and hard work and even fun. There was little or no alcohol and certainly no illegal drugs to be found in the house.
Still, the disease found this young person. It quickly spread from “weed” and alcohol to prescription drugs and finally heroine. There was jail time, there was lost time, lost trust, lost schooling, a life interrupted.
The person is clean now.
Hopefully, this time clean means clean.
Drug addiction can come back like a cancer cell once in remission. Through all of the guilt, stigma, sorrow and struggle, families have to remind themselves that this is a disease. This isn’t anyone’s fault.
There are so many opportunities to shed light and to give back.
One of them that is coming up is called Baltimore Party in the Park. It is to benefit the Nikki Perlow Foundation.
Nikki, the 21-year-old daughter of Cliff and Amy and sister to Josh, died of an accidental overdose. She had been clean and sober for 15 months prior to her death. But like all of these young people, there is so much more to them than their disease. Nikki loved animals, particularly horses. She loved fashion, sailing, lacrosse, basketball and softball. And she loved her family.
The Party in the Park will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Padonia Park West Picnic Area, 12006 Jennifer Road in Cockeysville. It will include games, crafts, interactive activities and music, including the children’s band, “Milkshake,” Baltimore’s own “Tall in the Saddle” and “Cruise.”
The event will benefit the Foundation.
More information can be found at BaltimorePartyInThePark.com or NikkiPerlowFoundation.org
Admission is $10 for adults and free for children 12 and under. Rain date is October 17.
By the way, “typical Jewish families” have family members who hurting from disease, be it mental illness, heart disease, cancer, and yes substance abuse. Like other families who give back, so is Nikki through her family.