The Garrett Webber Memorial Scholarship Fund, a Lakeside, California-based nonprofit, will hold its annual We Walk for Hope 5K at 9 a.m. May 3 at Santee Lakes, 9310 Fanita Parkway in Santee.
The scholarship fund helps people suffering from substance addiction start treatment that they otherwise couldn’t afford.
Founder Wendy Webber said she started this fundraiser after her son Garrett died in 2017 due to a heroin overdose at the age of 22.
“He had struggled with addiction for about five years,” she said. “After he had passed away and we held his celebration of life, in lieu of giving flowers we had asked people to donate to the Garrett Webber Memorial Scholarship Fund that we had just very casually started so if there was anyone else that we knew who needed help with addiction treatment but did not have the means to get into treatment, maybe we could help them out.”
Webber said her husband is a deputy sheriff, they had great insurance, and the financial capability for providing him treatment, and was always able to help him.
“But that is not the case with many other people,” she said. “So, we were very shocked at the amount of money that was donated. That Thanksgiving Day we were walking in the Father Joe’s Thanksgiving Day Walk, and it just occurred to me that maybe we could do a walk, raise money annually and make this a thing.”
Webber said her best friend said this was possible, and in 2018, they held their first 5K walk.
“It is a very small group. We do not really have a budget for advertising or doing much in getting the word out. But we have raised more than $150,000 and scholar-shipped 10 individuals,” she said. “It is a beautiful way for us just to honor Garrett’s life. We also use it as an opportunity to remember many others who have been lost to an overdose. We allow people to send pictures, and we have memorial tables set up with framed pictures, and trail makers with pictures. It serves as a time of remembrance and reflection for a lot of people who have come and have lost loved ones.”
Webber said Garrett had a “really big and tender heart,” and they feel that if he knew that his loss of life could help somebody else that it would mean the world to him.
“One of the things that they tell them is that once you have detoxed, you cannot go immediately back and use the amount that you were using prior to that. I think that is probably what happened when he relapsed,” she said. “There are probably many people out there who get caught up in addiction and alcoholism for many different reasons. He was a great kid. He was diagnosed with social anxiety, and it just got the best of him. Once he got started messing around with drugs, he found so much release from the social anxiety, and it just spiraled from there. He went to treatment several times. He wanted to be sober. He had a couple of stints where he would stay sober for a while. But his world was hard for him. The stress and anxiety, the drugs were his escape from that.”
“I just want people to realize that addiction impacts every kind of person, every kind of family,” she continued. “People were just so shocked. We were this tight-knit family. My husband is a cop. I managed a medical practice. My kids went to Christian schools their whole life. There is nobody removed from it. We just want to remove that stigma so that families who do unfortunately have addiction come into their life, especially with a child, they do not have to feel the shame and embarrassment.”
For more information about the walk, visit www.garrettwebbermemorialscholarshipfund.com/get-involved.
