After Yelm High School student Collin McLaren passed away in 2022 from fentanyl poisoning, his mother, Karisa Carpenter, has been driven by a purpose of raising drug awareness in local Yelm and Thurston County communities.
On Saturday, Aug. 10, the third annual “Skate for Collin” event was hosted at the Yelm Skate Park by Carpenter and McLaren’s family and friends. Throughout the event, those in attendance were offered free pizza and water before learning about McLaren’s story and Carpenter’s mission.
“I want to get more resources for rehabs and treatment for kids so the financial burden doesn’t fall solely on the parents. It’s so hard to go through that with your child, and you don’t really know what to do,” Carpenter said. “Our youth needs to know how dangerous drugs are.”
Throughout the event at the skate park, Carpenter welcomed organizations to help raise awareness around fentanyl and drug use. Sea Mar Community Health Center had a mental health provider at the event to provide information related to different drug treatments and mental health programs local to the community.
Carpenter aims to create harm reduction, in addition to drug awareness, for kids that haven’t used or have begun “dabbling” with drugs.
“Mental health is a huge aspect of addiction,” Carpenter said.
Katie Strozyk, opioid response coordinator with Thurston County Public Health and Social Services, attended the third annual “Skate for Collin” event on behalf of the organization, which she said attended the event to support the cause.
“We have education about different treatment resources, how to respond to an overdose, how to keep youth safer if they’re going to use drugs, and we also have additional resources like naloxone, also known as Narcan, and fentanyl test strips,” Strozyk said. “We try to get out into the community as much as possible. I don’t think we can really make change in a community from a top-down office approach — it really takes the boots on the ground, community-based work, interacting with people who live in different towns especially at events in rural towns.”
Strozyk said the organization offers a Thurston County Opioid Response Taskforce, which offers community building, program development and outreach events. She said the group is always looking for people to become involved, and people don’t need to belong to an agency to attend. She emphasized that if someone sees a person overdosing, it’s important to call 911 as soon as possible.
“The Good Samaritan law protects folks in case of responding to an overdose. The sooner EMS can get there, the more likely people will survive,” Strozyk said. “The biggest thing for everyone is to carry Narcan on them because you never really know when you’ll have to use it. Also, if you are choosing to use drugs, never use alone. Use with someone around, or at least let someone know where you are. If you’re by yourself, you can’t be found to have anyone respond.”
The event also hosted a “best trick” contest at the skate park in honor of McLaren, who was an avid skateboarder. Carpenter wanted to host the event at Yelm Skate Park to help change the way those facilities are perceived by the public.
“It started in the skate community because skate parks have a bad reputation. There’s a lot of drugs and a lot of kids using them at skate parks. I wanted to shine a positive light on skateboarding because it’s not all about drugs. It’s a real sport with hard work, and people really enjoy it,” Carpenter said. “Collin has been gone for two years. Time flies. What I’m trying to do is save people through him. I want to get his story out there to as many people as I can and let them know that Collin wasn’t an addict. He dabbled, but it happens to kids one time and you’re done. That’s the message that I’m trying to get to parents and the community through my son.”
Carpenter is already beginning to plan the fourth annual “Skate for Collin” event in 2025 and aims for “Skate for Collin” to receive its 501C3 title as a non-profit organization. She’s hopeful to bring more guest speakers to the event next year, along with accepting donations to begin to expand the organization’s efforts of providing drug awareness.
