“End this rising epidemic”

Christopher Pilato had the biggest heart in the world, his brother Toby said. When he was your friend, he was your friend for life, said Oceanside resident Louis Mirando. But both family and friends were anguished by Pilato’s death on August 31. He was 25 years old.

“My brother went well beyond when it came to helping people. He was always happy,” Toby Pilato said. “Until the disease of addiction took over.”

Chris Pilato, who struggled with his addiction for many years, died of a heroin overdose at South Nassau Communities Hospital on August 31.

“Heroin addiction is a spiraling epidemic,” Toby Pilato said. “Heroin is being dealt right in Oceanside. People are dying from it everyday, and so people have to know how prevalent the problem is.”

In order to raise awareness, and in order to help the next family faced with heroin addiction, Toby Pilato has set up the Chris Pilato Foundation. According to the foundation’s website, www.gofundme.com/ChrisPilato, its purpose is to help drug addicted individuals that can’t find the right help due to lack of insurance and money, help families coping with a loved one struggling with addiction and “get the sources off the streets and end this rising epidemic.”

Toby Pilato said that, with the help of sponsors, he’d like to set up a resource center in Oceanside. As of September 8, more than 3,300 people had visited the website, and nearly $6,000 had been donated to the foundation. A Facebook page set up to memorialize Chris Pilato received 4,500 visitors in five days.