{"id":10220,"date":"2014-01-07T09:01:48","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T14:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=10220"},"modified":"2014-01-07T14:32:17","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T19:32:17","slug":"grieving-father-to-discuss-heroin-scourge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=10220","title":{"rendered":"Grieving father to discuss heroin scourge"},"content":{"rendered":"

He has harnessed anguish over daughter\u2019s fatal overdose into activism<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/a>

Andy Rumford (left) chats with Kennett Square Police Chief Edward Zunino after one of the community meetings he has hosted in the area to raise awareness about the dangers of heroin.<\/p><\/div>\n

Not a day goes by that a Kennett Square father doesn\u2019t mourn the loss of this 23-year-old daughter, who died of a heroin overdose less than a year ago. But Andy Rumford has kept busy trying to spare others from his family\u2019s anguish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rumford has spoken at town halls across the region with judges, government officials, police chiefs, even the district attorney.\u00a0 On Thursday, Jan. 16, he will bring his crusade to end the area\u2019s heroin epidemic to Unionville High School. The evening will begin with a networking session in the school\u2019s LGI room at 6:30 p.m., which will be followed by a program from 7 to 9 p.m. that will include prepared remarks as well as a question-and-answer session.<\/p>\n

Following his daughter\u2019s death, Rumford said he had his eyes opened to the prevalence and accessibility of heroin in the area. Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan has said the drug has become cheaper and more available because Mexican suppliers, in an effort to boost profits, are replacing cocaine with heroin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/a>

Andy Rumford created an educational web site called Kacie\u2019s Cause that includes information that Rumford hopes will save lives while continuing his daughter\u2019s commitment to helping others.<\/p><\/div>\n

Rumford formed Kacie\u2019s Cause, an advocacy group, as a way to honor his daughter\u2019s commitment to helping others. He explained that the scourge will not end without a concerted effort from multiple sources, including law-enforcement, government officials, parents, and members of the public. The group has helped to organize Kacie\u2019s Cause chapters \u00a0in Oxford, Parkesburg and Honey Brook, and he said he hopes to see others form.<\/p>\n

He said Kacie\u2019s Cause is seeking to expand its \u00a0group of volunteers in order to reach more communities where families are impacted by substance abuse.\u00a0 Anyone interested in taking an active role in providing awareness, education, and advocacy to confront the heroin epidemic is urged to send an email to\u00a0an**************<\/span>@***<\/span>il.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or attend the Unionville community meeting and speak to one of the team members for more information.<\/p>\n

The Unionville program is open to the public and is not restricted to residents of the school district. For more information on Rumford\u2019s campaign, visit\u00a0www.kaciescause.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He has harnessed anguish over daughter\u2019s fatal overdose into activism By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times Not a day goes by that a Kennett Square father doesn\u2019t mourn the loss of this 23-year-old daughter, who died of a heroin overdose less than a year ago. But Andy Rumford has kept busy trying to spare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[2265,3775,2877],"class_list":["post-10220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-andy-rumford","tag-heroin-epidemic","tag-kacies-cause"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}