Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 2/8/2023
EAST LONGMEADOW/HOLYOKE – At the Country Club of Wilbraham on Feb. 5, a family sought to remember East Longmeadow resident Sean Murphy, who died of an opioid overdose, and raise $25,000 to help other people with addictions.
Murphy died in March 2022. His sister, Mary Bartolussi, said he had had a relapse after an eight-year period of sobriety and overdosed on fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and is often mixed into other illicit drugs.
“[Murphy] knew so many people. When he was clean, he helped so many people in the recovery community,” whether it was with advice or a place to stay, Bortolussi said. “He had a lot of friends.”
Bortolussi said, “When you lose somebody suddenly, it’s a whirlwind.” She added that her family had not had much time to grieve. “I want his life to be remembered in a positive light.” So, in December 2022, the family decided to start the Sean Murphy Foundation to raise money in his memory for projects affecting the recovery community.
Bortolussi said MiraVista was chosen as the first of the foundation’s projects because she has known MiraVista’s chief of creative strategy and development, Kimberley Lee, for years. In addition, Lee said that throughout Murphy’s addiction, he had sought treatment at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke, which was sold and became MiraVista two years ago.
Lee heard about the foundation through social media and suggested the Welcome Room project. “They were thrilled,” she said. “We’re very, very excited and humbled” to be chosen as a recipient for fundraising.
Right now, MiraVista has a waiting room directly behind the intake area for incoming detox patients. Lee said patients can spend quite some time in the room as the center finishes the paperwork.
“This is often the first stop in their recovery,” Lee said. “We want it to be a space that is comfortable, welcoming and warm,” and says, “we’re so glad you’re here and so glad to be your partner on this journey.”
The number of people who have already bought tickets to the fundraiser “speaks volumes about Sean’s memory and the people who want to honor him by coming to this event,” Lee said.
Since beginning the foundation and choosing the Welcome Room at MiraVista Behavioral Health Center as its first project, Bortolussi said the fundraising has “taken on a life of its own.” There are 125 raffle prizes with a grand prize trip to the west coast of Ireland, where Murphy’s family is from. People are buying tickets through Venmo daily, she said.
The Sean Murphy Foundation has other philanthropic projects in the works. The foundation will be donating to two area funeral homes, Byron-Keenan and Sampson Chapel of the Acres, for families with financial hardship burying someone lost to addiction. There are also plans to donate sundries to a couple of area sober living houses, facilities where people temporarily live in a structured environment after treatment.
The foundation has committed to five years of fundraising for various projects. Bortolussi said the family is interested in partnering with organizations on other projects that affect the recovery community.
“We want to help the recovery community in any way we can. Nothing is too big or too small,” Bortolussi said. “There needs to be more resources for those who are struggling with substance use and more understanding that addiction knows every ZIP code and every part of this world. It is often hidden in families and not talked about out of the belief of protecting the individual, or families try to help but in ways that enable and ultimately become rock bottom for everybody.”
Lee urged, “If there are individuals who read this story and are themselves struggling with an addiction, I would ask them to reach out. There is help available. There is hope. Please call 264-0825.”