Meeting people where they are.
Harmonious Hearts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to raise awareness of opioid and drug abuse throughout Rockland County, New York — starting with kids and youth, and reaching the families and neighbors around them.
Rockland is not immune.
In 2020 alone, Rockland County recorded 236 overdoses. Thirty-three of them were fatal. Of the people who survived, roughly two out of three had been given naloxone (Narcan) before help arrived. Of the people who died, only 6 had. That gap — between a kit in someone's pocket and a kit that was never there — is the entire reason Harmonious Hearts exists.
Statewide, the picture remains just as urgent: New York recorded 5,308 overdose deaths involving an opioid in 2023 (the most recent year with finalized state data), and 93% involved illicit fentanyl or another synthetic opioid — not the drug someone thought they were taking. That's down only slightly from 5,361 the year before, after more than a decade of the rate climbing roughly fivefold. Fentanyl has moved into the counterfeit pill supply, the cocaine supply, and increasingly the supply of drugs young people encounter for the first time at a party or through a friend.
We started Harmonious Hearts because information and a $0 kit of supplies can close that gap, and because Rockland County kids and families deserve to hear about it honestly, without waiting for a crisis to make it personal.
The difference between a statistic and a survivor is often just what was in someone's pocket, and whether they knew how to use it.
Our approach
No cost, no judgment
Every kit, every test strip, and every training session is free. We never ask why someone needs one, and we never ask for ID.
Honesty over fear tactics
We talk to kids and teens like they can handle the truth — because they can. Scare tactics don't save lives; accurate information and real tools do.
Meet people where they are
Schools, community centers, kitchen tables. We bring the training and the supplies to Rockland County, rather than waiting for people to find us.