NEW MILFORD — Candles will be floating in Hardcastle Pond on Oct. 27 to draw attention to something both tragic and commonplace.

The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Memorial will remember people who lost their lives to alcohol and drug abuse. People attending the event, which begins at 6 p.m., will be given candles to place on the water at Dilworth Road near Brookchester Shopping Plaza.

The event's acronym — A.D.A.M. — holds a special meaning for one of the organizers.

Joe Loonam lost one of his best friends, Adam Roth, on Thanksgiving Day 1994 at the age of 22, when he was hit by a car operated by a drunk driver. Roth was leaving a bar in upstate New York with friends while on break from college.

"Ironically enough, he was with a designated driver when he got hit by a drunk driver," Loonam said of his New Milford High School classmate.

Loonam said he visits Roth's grave in Paramus each year on Thanksgiving Day.

This year, when he was organizing a visit to Roth's resting place with a group of people who had known him, plans evolved for the memorial event at the pond. Mayor Michael Putrino, who was a Rider University classmate of Roth's, and resident Vanessa Hurley, who heads the New Milford Alcohol and Drugs Alliance, were part of the planning.

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The event is personal to Loonam for another reason: He lost his son, Anthony, on Oct. 26, 2017.

"He was 20 years old and he died of combination of an overdose of pills and asthma, so certainly it's a little more personal to myself," Loonam said. "But also, there's been other people in the community that have lost kids to drug overdoses or being in a car wreck where someone is drunk."

Loonam said among the guests invited to the memorial to speak are Roth's mother and Nick Demauro, the founder of Law Enforcement Against Drugs (LEAD), who was also Roth's high school coach.

Loonam is planning for the memorial to be an annual event.

"Our goal is to each year hold this … to bring the community together, to reflect on those they lost," Loonam said.

For more information, contact Loonam at 201-638-9900 or jloonam@gmail.com.

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com Twitter: @ricardokaul