Ceci Iliff has spent the last few years turning her grief into action.

Iliff’s son, Ben, died in January 2019, and her life has never been the same. Substance use disorder and addiction claimed the life of her son and she’s on a mission to educate people.

“For me, I needed to get Ben help, and there are a lot of barriers to that,” Iliff said.

Ceci Iliff helped form TheCharityChallenge.net, inspiring people to participate in successful, organized fundraising events that empower carefully chosen charitable organizations to affect positive change, provide permanent solutions and enhance the quality of life for all.

The chosen charities are for current and former military service members (Veterans Rally Point), those with mental health challenges (Reliance Health), kids in foster care (Bags of Hope CT) and people fighting addiction (TriCircle).

“There are people who work with these organizations who face these barriers every day,” Iliff said. “The shame and stigma of mental health. That’s what we’re trying to dispel, the things that act as a barrier to treatment.”

The Charity Challenge Twisted Trails 5K Color Run has been the marquee event on Iliff’s calendar for years, and it has been held at Tamarack Lodge in Voluntown. When Tamarack switched hands over the last year, Iliff had some trepidation.

That is, until she met the new owner.

Pam Potemri is a North Stonington resident who has been involved in the community for years and grew up right down the road from Tamarack. She also happens to operate Connecticut Coastal Academy in Essex, a state-approved, private special education program for students in grade 6 through age 22.

Potemri said Tamarack acts as an extension of Connecticut Coastal Academy, but still is a full-event site for weddings and other events.

“(Tamarack) means a lot to the community, and I wanted to respect that,” she said. “It’s a staple in Voluntown, and you always have to respect what came before you. ... Our goal is to get these kids as independent as possible to go to college, to the military, to join the work field.”

Iliff’s mission and Potemri’s vision worked well together, and a new collaboration was born.

“We just connected, and it was magic,” Iliff said.

Potemri was willing to forfeit a potential windfall to let Iliff have the run of the place on a recent Sunday, because she believes in the mission.

Iliff said the charity run attracted over 300 people, and they varied in backgrounds from young families, to the diehard 169-town state runners’ society, to a large group of Coast Guard cadets, to middle-aged couples.

“This affects everybody,” Iliff said. “We had a couple of (almost 100) volunteers who showed up whose lives are in shambles. There are people out there whose intentions are gold. This event is an opportunity.”

More than anything, Iliff wants her son’s memory to mean something for years to come.

“TriCircle someday will have a long-term 15-month residential program for people struggling with addiction to give them every single resource they need to thrive long-term,” Iliff said. “Some people need to re-learn life skills. The system needs to be revamped. ... And for families, anxiety and fear overtakes you. Every drug addiction comes with mental health issues. To them, drugs are a solution to the problem. You would think our solutions to it would be better by now. The way we regard them is challenging.”

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