On January 12th, 2014, former Highland Park student Jordan Filler passed away due to a heroin overdose in his apartment in Utah. Soon after, his family founded the Jordan Michael Filler Foundation (JMFF) in his name, a foundation dedicated to preventing anyone else from falling victim to a similar fate.

“Very quick after Jordan passed away was when the rumblings of the foundations really started and then before we knew it we had grown into this great organization,” Julia Aronson, Jordan’s cousin, said.

The JMFF has met a very high level of success, made more impressive by the short time span in which that achievement was reached. Last July, just over one full year after its founding, the charity hosted a golf outing and tournament which gathered around 400 people and raised over $200,000.

“[The fundraiser] was at Briarwood Country Club in Deerfield, so right in our community, which was incredible. We had tons of sponsors from local businesses and just an overwhelming amount of support from people that, you know, came from far and near to come out and show their support for what we are doing,” Jessica Filler, Jordan’s sister, said.

Other fundraisers include an annual 5k run and a basketball tournament, both of which have been met with similar reactions. The Fillers have been incredibly appreciative and thankful for the support, especially because of the tragedy

“It’s been really rewarding, the success that’s come from the excruciating anguish that my family and I went through,” Julia said.

The foundation has primarily focused on three initiatives, one of those being the Text-a-Tip program. The Text-a-Tip program is an anonymous texting service that connects students who feel they need help directly with therapists and other forms of treatment. It has already been implemented in Districts 106, 109, 112 and 113, as well as in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff High Schools.

Their second initiative is an education program, which is already a part of 5th-grade classrooms and is about to expand. Designed to take place from 4th through 12th grade, the curriculum is designed to not only educate students about the dangers of addiction and substance abuse but also help teachers identify students with increased potential of falling into these dangers from an early age. Additionally, the program aims to teach coping mechanisms to students as well as parents as a form of early prevention.

“[The education program] is going to teach people coping mechanisms and life skills, which is a huge thing with addiction that people don’t really realize. You know, if you’re a high schooler and you’re vulnerable or you feel sad about yourself or whatever’s going on, you might be vulnerable to take drugs, or succumb to peer pressure, but if you had better coping mechanisms to be able to better soothe yourself rather than needing to take drugs to soothe yourself, that could be a way to prevent drug addiction from ever happening in the first place.” Jessica said.

The last piece of the JMFF’s effort is their fight to reform Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the law that keeps personal medical records of all citizens above 18 years old completely private. The current law allows all adults to completely shut out their former guardians from seeing their health records, even if said guardian is providing their health care. On June 4th, 2015, a bill was introduced to Congress titled the “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646”, which plans to make the changes that the Filler family knows they needed during Jordan’s struggle.

“If [Jordan’s care providers] had told us, we would have had a chance to save him… so that’s definitely something that we’re working towards,” Jessica said.

The foundation’s success has stemmed from tackling a topic that has long been stigmatized and ignored within the community for decades. Matthew Miller, a co-chair of Deerfield High School Chest, says he chose the charity as a finalist for the opportunity to be the benefactor of the school’s annual fundraiser because of its importance to Deerfield.

“The issue is very relevant in our community, you know, a lot of people make one bad choice in high school and they’re doomed, you know maybe they’re a natural addict,” Miller said.

“It’s a touchy subject, I mean, it’s a subject in the past that people have, you know brushed under the rug, no one wants to talk about it, people keep it a secret, there’s a stigma attached to it, you know, people associate addiction and substance abuse with moral failing and having a lack of willpower, and through all of our research we are finding that that is really not the case, it’s a medical disease of the brain just like any other disease. It’s no different than cancer, and cancer patients need chemo just as addicts need treatment.” Jessica said.

Eliminating this stigma is one of the ultimate goals of the foundation, as the lack of direct help in the area causes a vacuum for natural addicts to fall into, creating a dangerous and misleading stereotype. The JMFF is looking to fill this vacuum by opening a new treatment center in the North Shore that would be both a preventative and rehabilitative resource.

“It will be a cutting-edge form of care for our local community…When kids are sent away for treatment and rehab… that’s really not a good way to help people get better. Instead we want to keep them in the community, in his family, in his life, and also treat the family as well, rebuilding the person’s life as it is instead of removing them from their old life and then throwing them back in immediately after treatment” Jessica said.

The story of the Filler family is both tragic and inspiring. Their ability to have turned around from such a terrible event and achieve the level of success in their charitable efforts that they’ve reached in such a short period of time is astounding and undoubtedly something to be admired.