MANKATO — More than three years since losing Travis Gustavson to fentanyl poisoning, his family continues to honor his legacy by spreading awareness about the drug’s dangers.
The family recently launched the Travis James Gustavson Foundation to further their work. It serves as a way to share the 21-year-old Mankato man’s story while promoting overdose prevention resources.
They also continue to build up an annual awareness event for fentanyl and other substance overdoses, the latest of which will be Sunday in Ray Erlandson Park.
This will be the event’s third year. Each previous one had memorials for overdose victims, information on treatment and prevention and speakers sharing their stories.
Coming together as a community, said Kim Lange, Gustavson’s mother, demonstrates a commitment to address the ongoing overdose epidemic.
“As a community we need to say enough is enough,” she said. “We’re tired of drug dealers destroying our community.”
Two suppliers who provided fentanyl to Gustavson were convicted on murder charges and sentenced to prison in the years after his 2021 death. Blue Earth County has had similar resolved or pending cases come through district court since then.
Law enforcement agencies, including the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force, frequently announce seizures involving fentanyl in its region, prompting criminal charges against suspected dealers. Representatives from various agencies will be in attendance Sunday, including the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Nancy Sack, Gustavson’s grandmother, noticed a change in people’s responses to their outreach work since they started doing it. At their Blue Earth County Fair booth they used to have to work to get people’s attention. This year people were more ready to talk.
“We never had to catch them as they walked by,” Sack said. “They were coming to our table to talk to us about this.”
To her, the response instills such a sense of hope. The stigma keeping people from talking about the issue seems to be dissipating.
“We want the people to know what we didn’t know,” she said. “We’re not going to give up no matter what.”
Sunday’s event will run from 12-3 p.m. For more information, go to www.tjgfoundation-awareness.org.
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