Peer Alliance Recovery Center Queens in Jamaica raises addiction and overdose awareness at heartfelt community and memorial event – QNS

Through art, music, food and social connection, PARC Queens aimed to engage community members and keep them connected to recovery. The event featured spoken-word poetry, a live band, a memorial activity for lives lost to addiction and testimonies from recovery participants.

“Enduring connections don’t need a massive stage — they simply require a room filled with trust,” said Patricia Benecke, assistant director of the nonprofit. “At PARC Queens, something extraordinary happens when we gather; it is a space where lives change, hope is restored and real magic takes root.”

PARC, an extension of Samaritan Daytop Village (SDV) substance abuse treatment center with locations in Queens and the Bronx, has a peer-led outreach team that tackles substance use issues in the boroughs, including a recent uptick in K2 use in Queens, persistent alcohol use, problem gambling and other challenges affecting Queens residents.

Members from the Samaritan Daytop Village Alumni Association, as well as community partners and peer professionals, joined the nonprofit for the event, welcoming both familiar and new voices to unite for the cause.

Taylor Smith, program coordinator at PARC Bronx, returned to Queens to share his testimony alongside peers, participants and former PARC staff members, including Michael Louis, who co-founded his own organization. Samaritan Daytop Village alumni, former PARC staff and Jamel Lewis, who is on his recovery journey, also shared their stories. 

Ronald Griffith, a peer professional at PARC Queens, also celebrated his first day of employment during the event. 

Names of those who died of addiction were remembered by friends and family and anchored to the PARC Queens’ Remembrance Tree, with more names lining its banners with the living legacies of the people whom loved ones carry with them each day.

“Each name demands action. We will continue to speak their names,” Benecke continued. “We break the silence to defeat stigma, demand better resources and turn our grief into absolute advocacy. Behind every number is a name and a human life of profound value.”

Benecke said a memory she will carry with her forever was watching an SDV alumnus, Jeremy, stand up to share his testimony with his mother present in the audience. It reminded her of her own experience at the re-grand opening of PARC Queens in April 2025. 

“I remember looking out and seeing my own parents there, watching me…thinking of how close I came to being another name on a dove, and knowing with absolute certainty that it did not have to be this way,” she said.  

Benecke also gave a shoutout to the PARC Queens and PARC Bronx teams, thanking them for trusting the nonprofit with their recovery journeys. She then thanked Jessica Feliciano, senior director of Recovery Services, for her tireless fight at the nonprofit, ensuring the centers remain lifelines for those who seek its services.

“Keep showing up, speaking out and becoming the person you once needed. Your courage shows someone else the way forward,” she said. “To every name written on a dove or carried silently: you are more than how we lost you — you are how we remember you. May we never forget, carrying forward the unmatched power and resilience that defines PARC Queens.”