Note: This article is a paid placement and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Billy Penn at WHYY.
September is Recovery Month and an opportunity to increase awareness of opioid use disorder (OUD) as a chronic, complex, yet treatable disease, raise understanding to reduce stigma, and support those on their journey to recovery. It’s also a time to recognize the committed recovery advocates and organizations in our community.
In honor of Recovery Month, meet some of the local changemakers in our region who are committed to reversing the course of the opioid epidemic in Philadelphia.
Tom Frey, The Everywhere Project
As a father, advocate, and person in recovery, Tom exemplifies what it means to be a community champion. After undergoing multiple surgeries following an elevator accident, Tom became addicted to his pain medication. Today, more than 20 years into his recovery, he works as a plumber and the director of operations for The Everywhere Project (TEP), a Philly-based outreach group that supplies harm-reduction goods and food to the community. “I’m in charge of basically getting the meal site set up and getting the goods, the food, the clothing,” he says proudly. Tom’s personal experience motivates him to spread awareness and understanding about substance use disorders, as well as kindness. Over the course of his time with TEP, Tom, often joined by his son, and other volunteers have handed out more than 1.2 million meals, along with harm-reduction materials and education on proper use of naloxone. Tom is inspired by the number of volunteers, from all walks of life, who work alongside people who are unhoused to carry out successful outreach efforts every week since 2021. “To see that community where everybody’s kind of equal on the lot that day. That’s what I’m most proud of,” he says.
Tara Calderbank, Sync Recovery
Over decades, Tara Calderbank lost nearly everything to addiction — her car, her home, and ultimately her ex-husband, David, who succumbed to an accidental overdose in 2020. Today, motivated by the devastating loss of David, she uses her own lived experience with substance use in her work as a Senior Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) to connect with individuals affected by substance use disorder and provide hope and a path forward to those seeking recovery. “When you don’t feel like you have purpose, and you’ve been beaten down and broken and lived through a lot of trauma, which is an unfortunate byproduct sometimes of this, you need that hand-holding. You need that support,” says Tara. “It’s really such a gift to take something that was a struggle, for some of us for decades, and be able to use that to help other people in a professional capacity.”
Tara also is a board member and volunteers with Sync Recovery Community, a nonprofit recovery community organization that focuses on whole person wellness through the lens of activity and connection, offering activities from hiking and yoga to pottery and painting. “What matters is that we have to address the entire person. We have to educate and debunk the myths that are out there about addiction, number one, and the various care opportunities and pathways and interventions that can be used to address that.”
Britt James Carpenter, Philly Unknown Project
“When I was in active addiction, one of the things that I missed the most was connections to other people. I just felt like I was invisible to a lot of people,” says Britt. “So I started Philly Unknown as a way to heal myself, and also to bring others out of those dark times.” After coming out of active addiction and surviving five overdoses following a tragic car accident, the longtime Philly resident knew he wanted to give back. Through his own experiences, Britt became a voice and a platform for individuals facing similar challenges, spreading awareness and supporting some of the most stigmatized community members.
In addition to “boots on the ground” outreach that provides resources to those in need throughout the city, Philly Unknown manages a 13,000-square-foot healing garden in Kensington and a workforce development program. “One of the largest issues and barriers that people face when they get out of treatment and incarceration is nobody wants to hire them because of their past or the stigma surrounding what happens with somebody that has substance use disorder,” he says. That challenge was the motivation behind his most recent endeavor, Community Thrift, which opened this summer in Brewerytown and provides employment opportunities for individuals in recovery or those recently incarcerated.
These advocates, and others, are being featured in a new docuseries, Reclaim & Reframe: Shaping the Future of Recovery Stories, coming soon on BraeburnRx.com.
