About 50 people marched Sunday around 2 Allentown motels to spread awareness about heroin addiction. Watch video
We're going to make a big difference.
That was the message told over and over Sunday afternoon to a group of about 50 people clutching signs saying "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child" and "We The People Say Enough is Enough."
Mothers held up photographs of their children who died from heroin overdoses.
Others who lost a loved one to addiction placed a silk flower on a wooden coffin and took turns carrying it.
The rally and march planned around two east Allentown motels was spearheaded by the anti-heroin group Enough is Enough. The organization was formed last March by Lyn Baker, of Allentown, and John Cramsey, of East Greenville in Montgomery County.
Cramsey's 22-year-old daughter died of a heroin overdose last year and the Lehigh County gun range owner says he's made it his life's mission since then to help others kick their addiction.
He made headlines last year when he was among three people arrested at the Holland Tunnel while on a self-described "rescue mission" for a young woman on drugs in New York City.
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'Burying our leaders of tomorrow'
Cramsey estimated he's helped at least 100 people since his daughter's death, which has included pulling young girls involved in prostitution and drugs out of hotels in what he described as "going into a bee's nest." He said he's also helped dozens of addicts get into recovery homes.
Marchers walked around the Super 8 Motel -- a place where Cramsey says he helped four people using drugs -- and the nearby Royal Motel.
"Drugs will never go away, but we have to slow it down," Cramsey said through tears. "We're burying our leaders of tomorrow.
"I do this every day because it helps me heal," he continued. "It's the only thing that helps me heal. There's nothing I want more than to hug my daughter again."
Cramsey: 'If I had to go back again, I would'
Other parents agreed, saying they would never stop in the fight to spread awareness over drug addiction.
Darlene Lewis, of Northampton Borough, knows the tragedy of addiction. She lost her 30-year-old son Dustin Lewis to suicide in 2014 after he fought addiction and her 27-year-old daughter Amber Lewis in 2015 to a heroin overdose.
Lewis now cares for Amber's two young children and doesn't want her grandchildren to ever turn to drugs, she said.
"We need to educate people," she said. "We need to do what we can do. I don't want my grandchildren to fall into this."
Michelle "Gypsy" Johnson of Boyertown, Pa., carried a sign in memory of her 22-year-old son Billy O'Hanlon, who died from a heroin overdose in July 2011. Her childhood friend, Marie Ash, also of Boyerstown, traveled with her to spread the message.
"It's become an epidemic at this point," Ash said of heroin. "It's out of control."
A somber Tristen Miller, of Walnutport, just lost his brother, Tyler Hillanbrand of Whitehall Township, to a heroin overdose on Jan. 9 and also turned out.
"I just wanted to support a good cause," he said.
Miller recently began his own organization in his brother's name to help educate others.
He posted on Facebook a photograph of his brother's deceased body inside a bag being removed by law enforcement with the title, "An addict's final ride." The post has since been shared nearly 600 times.
Ghost of Christmas Past
Cramsey calls himself the "Ghost of Christmas Past."
By that, he said, he means that when he meets with those battling addiction, he tries to offer them a look at their lives without drugs and what they're missing on drugs.
He discusses their loved ones, hobbies, who they were prior to being addicted, he said.
"I come at them in a non-judgmental way. If they give me a half-hour of their time, I give them the rest of their life," Cramsey said.
Cramsey was arrested in June with Kimberly Arendt, of Lehighton, and Dean S. Smith, of Upper Milford Township, while he said they were on their way to help Jenea Patterson, a girl they believed to be in trouble with drugs in the Bronx.
Patterson had reportedly called Arendt, her former counselor, after a friend had overdosed.
Police stopped the three at the Holland Tunnel and said they found a cache of weapons and marijuana in Cramsey's truck. Officers seized five loaded handguns, a shotgun, an assault rifle, body armor, three bags of marijuana and a pipe.
They were arrested, spent week in jail and are now facing trial in Superior Court in Hudson County, N.J.
Cramsey said Sunday he would have done anything to help Patterson, noting, "If I had to bring her home, I was going to."
Patterson, 18, died of a drug overdose on Wednesday, her father, James Patterson, told The Times-Tribune of Scranton.
"This made me cry," Cramsey said after learning about the teen's death. "For the first time, I felt weak."
Taking a wider perspective
Cramsey said he had no intention to use the guns found in his vehicle in June. They were from the gun range he owns in Upper Milford Township.
"All the ammo (found in the vehicle) was target ammo," Cramsey said, noting if he was a contractor, there would be a ladder on top of his truck. "It's what my job dictates."
Cramsey also called spending three months in jail an eye-popping experience, noting addicts being incarcerated need better resources.
He said, "We need better rehabilitation for these people. We need programs set up in there."
Among the marchers Sunday was Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who said the grip of addiction can destroy lives.
"This has to stop. We're going to work hard to make sure it stops," he said.
Cramsey plans to take his effort nationally and won't stop until he meets President Donald Trump, he said.
He also wants to see similar programs to Philadelphia's "360 Strategy" implemented in other Pennsylvania communities.
The enforcement/prevention program aims to help cities battle the heroin and prescription drug epidemic and related violent crimes.
Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.