Letter from the Founder and Director

My friends, 

We just had the most beautiful time together as a community for the New York State Trail of Truth! It was our 10th annual event and perfect in every way. Our messaging was focused on healing this year, ways we remember our loved ones and connect with them, how we are resilient, and how we can bring our energy together to create change. And every speaker, every performer and every aspect of the event from Narcan training to art making to grief sharing in intimate spaces, made the event absolutely perfect in every way. We are so grateful. I personally only have one regret. We missed the youth organizers in the lineup and learned many lessons in the process, so we’re now looking for a stage manager for the National Trail of Truth as a “lesson learned” experience! I feel so bad about it because their presentation was going to be wonderful. And we truly need their voices in the Trail of Truth.

Sadly, we also welcomed families with very recent losses and fresh grief. The pain is palpable and it reminds us how important it is to host an event with the air and space for healing.

And now we make our way to this national calling to do the same with a much broader community. Each year leading up to the Trail, it’s hard to sleep. I so look forward to seeing friends from across the country, being with people who are doing good work and creating change in their corners of the country - the power of that is just incredible. I look forward to offering a beautiful space for families to heal. But, I also feel the weight of this responsibility.

Our goals for the National Trail this year are the same as for the local trail with an extra coating of unity, peace, love and compassion. Our loved ones were loving people, I read it on the memorial submissions, one after another. They deserved to be remembered in a loving space, so that is what we will create.

Thank you to every single one of you who are making this possible.

Much love,

Alexis