My name is Susan Spada and I am an attorney specializing in real estate transactions. I am also the Vice President of the Rockaway Rotary Club and a proud member for eight years.  

My spouse is Andrew and I have three children, Garrett (I will explain more about him shortly), Zachary and Ry, who is a transgender female. 

What brought me to first work with PIK was the loss of my son Garrett at age 26 to an accidental fentanyl overdose.  The loss of Garrett was devastating to our family.  However, he had been in recovery for three years with the help of a counselor from PIK.  He was involved in helping the recovery community during that time.    Those were three years that meant the world to our family.  We had our son and brother back.   He was our kind sweet and joyful child again fighting the fight to stay drug free.  Unfortunately he lost his battle.  It is a sad and happy story.  

I knew I had to help the organization that did so much for our family and honor my son.  Everything I do to help PIK in my small way makes me see my son smiling down at me.  

I started by introducing my Rotary Club to PIK,  Rotary has an initiative to promote stigma free environments and assist the recovery community in any way it can.  My Club embraced this mission as the members knew the devastation of a loss from drug addiction first hand.   The Club lived through it and continues to live through it with me and my family.  This year I asked the Club to donate our grant money to PIK.  The members of the Club took on this mission with the full vigor of our membership.  I was proud to stand before the PIK Recovery Center desk showing the plaque memorizing our Club’s donation of the desk.  The desk will welcome all who come into the Recovery Center for the help that was given to my son.  Again, my son Garrett was smiling at me and saying thanks Mom.  

I knew I had to do more so I also joined PIK as a trained volunteer.  I hope to continue to assist this organization in any way I can.  

Thank you for helping to fight the hard fight with all your might. 

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