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Two local mothers
have come together with one common cause….to raise
the level of DWI awareness. Linda Campion lost a daughter
and Darlene Breen lost a
son because of alcohol-impaired drivers. Kathleen Campion
died in 1989 when a drunk driver broadsided the car she
was riding in. Anson Breen died in 2006 when the intoxicated
driver of a vehicle in which he was a passenger, crashed
into a tree.
Linda is the President of the Kathleen
A. Campion Foundation. Since 1989, she has worked tirelessly
striving to improve
and change New York State’s DWI laws. She has been
working closely with Choices 301, Inc. a local, non-profit
organization and Albany County STOP DWI. Both programs
work together to raise awareness of the consequences of
drinking and then driving. Choices founder, Ed Frank, spreads
the message through a mobile display that he brings to
area schools, colleges and local events. Linda shared an
idea with Ed she had been thinking about for some time.
Her idea was to collect a pair of shoes for every death
that occurred because of alcohol-impaired drivers.
Shortly after Anson’s death, the Breen family gave
permission to Ed to include photos of the crash in the
Choices 301 display. Chelsea Breen was a sophomore at Colonie
Central High School when her brother died in February 2006.
She wanted to do something that would make the young people
in the community stop and listen. Linda’s idea of
collecting shoes came into focus when she saw a photo of
Anson Breen taken at the scene of the accident. The photo
shows Anson’s feet projecting though the firewall
of the devastated vehicle.
Ed introduced Linda Campion and
Darlene Breen in 2006 and the “Shoe Project” was
on its way. A campaign was kicked off On February 26,
2007, the one-year anniversary
of Anson Breen’s death. With the support of the Colonie
High School Administration, students began to collect shoes.
The goal was to collect 524 pairs of shoes. In 2005, there
were 590 alcohol related motor vehicle fatalities
in New York State . The final number reported is
580 fatalities.
Colonie High School students in the auto and wood
working
programs
built and painted wooden displays for the shoes. The displays
will now become part of the Choices 301 mobile exhibit.
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