Some people spend their entire lives searching for a purpose. Joel Campagnola鈥檚 purpose wasn鈥檛 evident until he tragically lost his son, Nick, to opioid addiction. This event spiraled his life in an entirely new direction where he decided to follow his passion to help others who struggle with addiction. As a carpenter, Joel was running a successful business building and renovating homes; he is now dedicating his days, nights and weekends to help people who struggle with addiction. While his future is uncertain, the one element that guides him is hope. H.O.P.E., as Joel says, means 鈥渉ang on, pain ends.鈥
For those of you who know what Nick鈥檚 Ride 4 Friends is, you have likely been touched by someone in your life who has been through the hell of addiction. For those of you who are not aware, Nick鈥檚 Ride is a peer-based recovery organization with the sole purpose of helping those afflicted with addiction. The purpose of Nick鈥檚 Ride is to give the gift of hope back to the people that have become entangled in the disease of addiction. Many who come to 12 South St. have no one left who will try to help them, because sadly, they have burned all their bridges down. For many, Nick鈥檚 Ride is a new beginning with a new support system. Joel and his volunteer staff will work diligently to get people into rehab and follow them through the recovery process, meeting their families and doing whatever they can to ensure a successful recovery and re-entry back into society.
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The board of Nick鈥檚 Ride has spent the past year trying to find a bigger building to move into, as Joel鈥檚 current space is too small to introduce any new programming or meeting space. The Bouley family has graciously committed a letter of intent to donate the 13 Chapel St. building to our cause. This donation is contingent upon Nick鈥檚 Ride 4 Friends securing $400,000 to go toward the buildout of this facility. This building is very much a part of Auburn鈥檚 history and it has been vacant for years. It will also need a lot of recovery to become a functioning office space and clubhouse for Nick鈥檚 Ride, which is only interested in one floor of the building, but with a hefty renovation budget. We have a vision and many goals that we would like to share with any donors interested in helping us achieve this very lofty goal: Restoring 13 Chapel St. and building a recovery center to help with a pandemic that is killing over 200 people a day in our country.
About 1,500 people attended calling hours for Nicholas "Nick" Campagnola after he died Dec. …
Nick鈥檚 Ride has been dependent on the generosity of the Auburn community since it began in 2017, and we will continue to rely on that generosity. The city of Auburn has been very helpful in trying to commit funding to the purchase and renovation of the monastery and we have been urging community support to help get this building into the Downtown Revitalization Initiative for funding. Our county has pledged funding for a peer support center. The people at 2 State St. 鈥 the Cayuga Economic Development Agency and the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce 鈥 have also been very supportive, as has the Allyn Foundation, which has given us guidance in developing our business plan. We can also thank the Cayuga Community Foundation for funding computers for our clubhouse, which are being used daily by people who are taking online classes, and for the running of our organization at 12 South St. But, to carry Joel鈥檚 mission forward, we need donors.
Sometimes, it just takes one person to believe in someone to make a difference. Joel is this one person. He genuinely wears his heart on his sleeve. He truly wants to lift others and get them back on the right path in life 鈥 it is his passion and purpose.
The board of Nick鈥檚 Ride and Joel are hopeful that we can find community businesses and donors to help. We can鈥檛 give up on those who have given up on themselves, and we can鈥檛 give up on hope. On behalf of the board and Joel, thank you for your continued support and please urge those who are struggling with addiction to come to us so that we can help them, too. Hope is an endless commodity that we anticipate giving freely to anyone who needs our help.
