10 Dec A Mother’s Love, Loss—and Life’s Work

Perhaps no one can identify more with the mission of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance than a parent who has lost a child to overdose. Sadly, the nonprofit’s own executive director, Cindy Grant, is among them. In 1997, Cindy and her husband lost their son, Dan, to an OxyContin overdose.

“I immediately went to one of the prevention and treatment agencies in Gainesville and applied for a job—any job!” she says. “I wanted to learn! I had no idea how to identify the symptoms of addiction or what to look for, or what resources were available in the community.  I wanted to learn how to help prevent that kind of loss for other families.”

“I never thought I would be in this field,” she continued. Before she lost Dan, Cindy planned to finish an anthropology degree and spend her career in academia. “But I noticed more than 20 years ago, when I started working in the field, that coalitions can make a big difference in their communities! So I guess you could say I am the biggest fan of the coalition movement and spent a great deal of my time and efforts helping communities build coalitions to combat the drug problems they see in their communities.”

Overall, Cindy sees HCADA’s role—including herself, the staff, the board and the many volunteers—as a facilitator in the community, getting people to work together to reduce substance abuse. Using the Seven Strategies to Affect Community Change espoused by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), Cindy leads a passionate band of advocates and community change agents.

Cindy is very proud that HCADA’s work spans everything from educating youth who’ve received citations on the risks of drug, alcohol and tobacco use to training and equipping young leaders to provide peer-to-peer prevention. She’s also passionate about their efforts to support law enforcement in increasing compliance checks at alcohol retailers—and decreasing access for underage drinkers. HCADA provides information to local and state legislators writing policy and focuses on community mobilization, working with partners to fill gaps—often finding the funding needed to underwrite the work. In short, HCADA is a multi-faceted organization with a laser focus on one outcome: Cindy boils it down nicely to “We provide information, education, support and advocacy to reduce substance abuse in our community.”

And this is how Cindy continues to work in Dan’s memory to protect other families, other mothers and sons. A woman of great faith, she looks forward to a reunion in the life to come: “I know that we will be together again in the next chapter.”

“The birth of my son, Dan, was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said. “Such pure and unconditional love is something I was blessed with for 19 years. I am ever so grateful for that experience and our time together. And I strive to be a support to others who find themselves in this ‘club’ no one wants to belong to – grieving parents,” she said. “For me, this keeps my son’s spirit alive. Each time I can help or comfort someone else through the devastation of child loss, I look up and smile, knowing this is for Dan.”

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In 1997, Cindy’s son, Dan, died from an accidental overdose at the age of 19. Since that time, she has devoted herself to substance abuse prevention. Cindy is currently the Executive Director of the Hillsborough County Anti Drug Alliance (HCADA) a community coalition operating in Tampa, Fla. The work of the coalition is accomplished via volunteer community collaboration through the various workgroups and task forces of the coalition.