WickedLocal / North Shore Sunday
Britt Braudo
Photo: David Sokol |
Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer is helping Beverly-based Health & Education Services with its fundraising and awareness efforts, which include a raffle for an all-inclusive trip to the band’s London show in June.
The non-profit, which helps children and adults who are faced with problems such as depression and substance abuse, is hoping Kramer’s involvement will help raise $1.5 million for its capital campaign to repair many HES buildings across the state and support current programs.
On Wednesday, Kramer brought 12 students from the HES Solstice School program to Fenway Park — where Aerosmith will play Aug. 14 — to announce the partnership and take a tour of the park. He answered questions from the kids about how he overcame his own substance abuse and depression, problems he has addressed in his 2009 autobiography, “Hit Hard.”
“I admire his guts; it takes a lot to come out and talk about the trauma that you’ve faced in your life and the difficulties you’ve had, and sometimes the bad decisions you’ve made,” said Paul O’Shea, president and CEO of HES. “Luckily, [Kramer] has turned that experience into something good and has decided to provide service back to the community, and we’re lucky enough that he’s chosen HES.”
Kramer said he has always had a soft spot for kids and enjoys helping out in his local area. He told the kids to seek treatment for any life problems and said his decision to seek out help made all the difference.
“I got an education about what it was that was wrong with me and how I could fix it,” Kramer said. “The main thing to staying sober is that you have to be honest with yourself.”
Kramer said his substance abuse problems started at an early age, when he joined a band and began taking part in the hard-partying lifestyle. He’s been sober since 1987, but his struggles with depression didn’t hit hard until he lost his father in 1993.
“I didn’t really spend the time with any of my siblings or my mom, and I didn’t really go through the proper grieving process, because as soon as my dad died I went home, and we buried him, and 10 days later I was out on the road again,” he said. “It took maybe two years for that to catch up with me.”
Kramer entered treatment for depression in 1995 after he found himself emotionally and physically unable to participate in the band’s pre-production sessions for an album. A friend who was helping with the session urged him to seek help, something Kramer said he wouldn’t have been able to do on his own.
“My depression and anxiety were so bad at the time that if I didn’t start treatment, there’s a good change I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today,” Kramer said. “It’s about the desire you have inside to get over whatever it is that’s going on.”
Kramer’s largest role in the HES fundraising and awareness effort will be in the raffle, which will send the winner and a guest to England to be Kramer’s guests at Aerosmith’s performance during the Download Festival at Donnington Park on June 13. The winner will also receive backstage passes and tickets for the June 15 show at the 02 London Arena, money for travel and personal expenses and an Aerosmith memorabilia package.
Tickets are $2 each, with a minimum of five tickets per transaction and can be purchased at netraffle.org. The raffle will close on June 1 and 80 percent of the proceeds will benefit HES.
HES serves 30 communities north of Boston, with services including primary prevention, outpatient treatment, emergency services, residential care and substance abuse services. The group serves over 25,000 people annually, including over 5,000 children through educational and residential programs. HES has 78 programs on 32 sites on the North Shore and in the Merrimack Valley, with an outpatient facility in Beverly and partnerships with Addison Gilbert, Beverly Hospital, Beverly Hospital at Danvers and BayRidge Hospital. For more information, visit HEShelps.org.
