USA First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff

Dear First Partner Siebel Newsom,
I am the forever grieving mother of my forever 17-year-old daughter, Hannah Van Pelt. I
started a non-profit in the state of California to help educate our youth and our struggling
community about the dangers of fentanyl. Hannah was not like a lot of the other children who
were blind-sided, Hannah knew she was using fentanyl!
I’d like to tell you about Hannah, she was a thriving 17-year-old who had a lot of ambitions.
The pandemic brought a depression that affected many, she turned to drugs and to the worst
one, fentanyl. She was a senior in high school, had lots of friends, she was happy. The
pandemic brought upon fear and depression. There weren’t many available resources for her
when I was looking for therapy everything was virtual. Times were hard for her. Hannah came
to me after going to her pediatrician in February 2021 and admitted to her addiction and she
wanted help. Again, we couldn’t afford the help and there aren’t any facilities in the Los
Angeles County area that assist inpatient rehabilitations for our youth, a county of over 10
million residents.
There are so many things that are bothersome, one the overdoses in record numbers not
only adults but our children. Including my own child. Not enough is being done to assist and
alleviate the situation. There needs to be more for our youth and our communities.
So, mother to mother, it would be an honor to our families if you can help assist in finding a
location to have a memorial wall for our loved ones lost to fentanyl and other drugs. I am
attaching Hannah’s memorial photo for the future epidemic wall.
We have created two memorial walls - one with photos and one with names - to honor those
who have lost their lives due to this drug epidemic. I am including a brochure of virtual
memorial walls, albums, and our awareness campaign. These digital walls and albums
update automatically, and we would also like the photos displayed in hard copy format.
We believe that our loved ones should be treated like victims of a weapon of mass
destruction. They were all victims of Purdue Pharma, Chinese and Mexican cartels. Our
group of California moms would love to meet with you and work together to prevent this from
happening ever again.
We urge you to help us find a permanent location for the Drug Epidemic Memorial Wall within
our capitol. Our goal is to raise awareness about the devastating effects of drug addiction and
the dangers of fentanyl. We want to honor those who have lost their lives to this epidemic.
We believe that your support and involvement would be crucial in achieving this goal.
Best regards,
Mary Van Pelt
Lakewood, CA