“Fake Pills take Real Lives.”
It’s a message soon to become clearer across parts of Austin, thanks to a grant provided by Williamson County Sheriff, Mike Gleason.
Gleason’s grant enabled Stefanie Turner, the founder of Texas Against Fentanyl and a full-time working mother, and friends to create a first wave of needed resources.
Turner formed the nonprofit organization after losing her 19-year-old son Tucker to fentanyl poisoning in September 2021.
Turner and TXAF volunteers haven’t waited for the grant, but resource constraints—some of which still exist—prevented them from action sufficient enough to meet the need.
To date, Texas Against Fentanyl has spoken to students in numerous schools, set up awareness booths at local venues, and formed a group for, tragically, a growing number of grieving parents: AngelMoms, orchestrated by Carilu Bell, who lost her own son, Casey Dean Copeland to fentanyl in August of 2021.
Austin-based website development company, Studio 3 Marketing, also provided resources and talent to launch the organization’s website.
It’s an acceptable starting point to tackling a pressing problem.
