Lauren Sisler is an Emmy Award-winning sports broadcaster, ESPN sideline reporter, author and sought-after speaker. But those types of accomplishments and notoriety seemed far from attainable at the age of 18 after losing both of her parents, within moments of each other, to prescription drug overdoses.
Sisler was the featured speaker last week at United Way of Central Alabama’s (UWCA) Pacesetter Campaign Kickoff, a breakfast event held at the Florentine in downtown Birmingham.
The Pacesetter provides a jump-start to United Way’s Annual Campaign in the fall. With this year’s Pacesetter goal set at $11 million, UWCA has brought together businesses and community organizations that have agreed to pave the way toward a significantly larger goal in the months ahead. The money raised will be in support of United Way’s vital health and human services, which are provided through more than 100 partner agencies and life-changing programs in Central Alabama.
At the kickoff event, Sisler detailed her dramatic – and traumatic — journey toward embracing her own story and urged others to do the same.
On top of the grief from losing both parents, who she called her best friends, Sisler was overcome with shame from the way they died — addiction. She said that, for years, she told others that her mother died from respiratory failure and her father suffered a fatal heart attack. Then, with the help of an aunt, she finally realized the value of her whole story.
Her aunt helped her understand that feelings of guilt and remorse had most likely contributed to her parents’ death, compelling them to keep their struggles private. So Sisler decided that she was in the optimal position to help de-stigmatize the challenge of addiction, as well as many other obstacles in life, that so many face. That was when she went public.
At the Pacesetter event, Sisler urged community members to boldly share their own stories of overcoming life’s challenges.
“We’ve all experienced shame in our lives, and it loves to thrive in isolation. It wants to silence us. It wants us to be quiet…but that’s why we’re here,” Sisler said. “We’re meant not just to highlight the good, but also to highlight the hard — the things that have taken us down but did not break us.”
Her message was very much in keeping with the theme of this year’s United Way campaign, “WHY WE UNITE.” United Way is asking people to reflect and express their personal reasons for supporting UWCA. What events in their lives have caused them to seek help – or to help others? Why are they motivated to be part of a communitywide effort to solve some of our biggest problems? The many services provided by United Way partners and programs, including those aimed at addiction recovery, have most likely touched us all at one time or another. Or will in the future.
Mike Suco, President and CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc. and Chair of this year’s Pacesetter Campaign, said the 50-plus companies participating in this campaign are charged with galvanizing support for United Way early in the year.
“We’re here to inspire, encourage and motivate the rest of the companies, the rest of the folks in our community, to give and to surpass this goal,” Suco said. “Hitting $11 million is just the first step. We would very much like to surpass that, raise more money and make this a record year.”
To read more about Suco, whose own life has been shaped by the determination of his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1962, click here.
