Purple banners, lights dot Islip to raise drug abuse awareness

One of the worst parts of losing her son to a drug overdose, said Kathy Koenigsdorf of East Islip, was the silence from neighbors and friends who didn’t know what to say.

To encourage people to discuss substance abuse openly, Koenigsdorf and others are bathing Islip Town in a sea of purple lights, yard signs and banners. The goal of the Islip Goes Purple campaign is to shed light on the drug epidemic that officials say claims the lives of hundreds of Long Islanders each year.

Main Street in Islip is lined with purple banners promoting the campaign, and dozens of yard signs appear along streets throughout the town. The Bayport-Blue Point Chamber of Commerce added purple lights to its Christmas tree on Montauk Highway, and a salon offers purple hair extensions, Koenigsdorf said.

"The original intent is that everyone on a block … puts a purple light in the window," said Koenigsdorf, a self-employed accounting contractor and member of the Islip Town Opioid Task Force. "What it says is, I understand that someone has had a loss due to substance abuse."

Drug overdoses on Long Island have exploded in recent years, driven by an increase in opioid use, officials have said. Opioid overdoses alone have killed more than 4,000 Long Islanders in the past two decades, officials say.

Long Island officials reported alarming spikes in overdose deaths in May, which many attributed to stress and anxiety linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

The "goes purple" campaign is part of National Recovery Month in September, an effort of the federal government and private agencies to call attention to issues facing substance abusers and help them enter recovery programs.

Koenigsdorf said she learned of the nationwide campaign several years ago during a trip to Maryland, where she saw shops festooned in purple. Since then, she has sought to persuade Long Island communities to join the campaign.

Dorothy Knowlton Johnson of Blue Point — whose son Max Greenfeld, 28, died from an overdose nine years ago — started a chapter in her community and hopes to expand it elsewhere in Brookhaven Town.

Drug abuse hit home for Koenigsdorf in 2013 when her son, Jake, 21, who had struggled previously with drug addiction, died from an overdose after taking prescription pain medication.

In the days and months after his death, she said, she noticed friends and neighbors were reluctant to speak with her about the tragedy.

"When I saw the going purple thing, I thought, that’s the only way the neighbor down the street knows to say something," she said. "We’re better together than we are separated and in pain among ourselves."

Islip has a page on the town website dedicated to promoting local programs and resources. The cupola of Islip Town Hall is lit in purple this month, and the town's cable channel includes weekly discussions of substance abuse issues.

"There is a problem and obviously during the pandemic, it seems to have [been] exacerbated," Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter said. "It knows no socioeconomic barriers. It can affect everyone really."

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.