The founder of Recovery Now NY, Dave Attridge, has died. Attridge started the nonprofit in 2017 to support addicts and their families.
Attridge died in Florida on May 29 after complications from a stroke. He was 50.
Attridge teamed up with the town of Gates and the Gates Police Department to open a drop-in center for addicts and their families called Gates to Recovery.
Mark Assini, former Gates supervisor, said Attridge knew the struggle of addiction from personal experience and served a pivotal role in the town’s response to the opioid epidemic.
“He had wonderful ideas, he was a passionate guy,” said Assini. “That meeting with the chief (of police) and eventually sitting down with me led to some wonderful things in helping those struggling in the addiction community.”
Gates to Recovery quickly expanded to a network of drop-in centers throughout the county serving people in Gates, Webster, Henrietta and East Rochester.
Attridge stepped down from the organization after relapsing and moved to Florida to deal with his own recovery. Randy Cimino took over as president.
Cimino said he kept in touch with Attridge, who would still go out of his way to help others despite his own struggles.
“He would contact me regularly and send people to me because he couldn't because of his situation with his recovery, but he would always reach out and send people to us to help,” Cimino said, adding that the drop-in centers and Attridge saved many lives.
“He’s actually been a big influence on hundreds of people that have recovered. Thousands of people have gotten into programs and made an impact on their life. He was very powerful in the recovery business,” said Cimino.
