Chapter of the Week: End Overdose at Fort Worth

End Overdose's chapter program is vital to our success in equipping young people with lifesaving education and resources. In cities and on college campuses, we trust them to spread the word through a true peer-to-peer model. Our members and volunteers are committing endless hours to End Overdose's cause, so we want to highlight a chapter every week.

Today, we're proud to highlight our End Overdose at Forth Worth chapter! We spoke with chapter president A'dayr Shewmaker about what inspired her to co-found the chapter, her plans for End Overdose at Forth Worth in 2026, and much more!

What sparked your interest in overdose prevention/response and End Overdose in particular?

My friend Kaylee and I started End Overdose Fort Worth together as two sober individuals with two goals: ending the stigma surrounding drugs/overdoses in our community by promoting smart sobriety without being the person that told everyone to "not have their fun." Instead we want to teach everyone how to safely monitor their party experience, and the party experiences of those around them, by giving training that teaches people how to test their products and how to treat overdoses. Go out and have fun, but PLEASE have fun responsibly and always remember: there is an extra R in PLURR that stands for Responsibility. Getting trained through End Overdose allows everyone to party responsibly and keep an eye out on their community members. Another layer of End Overdose at Fort Worth aims to provide free life saving training and products to all of the shelters and centers in the Fort Worth area that are actively assisting our communities. The goal is to end the assumptions and stigma surrounding overdose in our community by providing accurate information and training to anyone who is willing to listen.

Can you describe your experience as the chapter president?

My experience as Chapter President has honestly been very rewarding. Tabling events allows you to meet so many different people (I'm a BIG people person) and share life saving information with them. While the experience of getting people trained in Texas has been a little more difficult than I expected, I am excited to overcome the challenge. My goal one day is to open a shelter/rehab clinic so this is perfect practice on how to provide accurate information, gain people's interest, and help the community. I also would never be able to fulfill my duties as Chapter President without my Chapter Vice President, Kaylee. She does EVERY ounce of our design, social media, and "marketing." If you've ever seen us on social media, it's because of Kaylee. 

What’re the major highlights from your chapter’s work to date?

We just got started as a Chapter in August of this year (2025), but we've already tabled an event and gave long-form training to a local college's medical science group. Honestly, I'm going to give credit to Kaylee again as our social media page is something I'm really proud of. Kaylee puts hours into creating & editing different posts that provide helpful information to our community and the posts are always so cool (I get excited when she shows me). I also have enjoyed making connections in our community with different organizations that are excited to help spread End Overdoses' message that no one else has to die. 

What do you envision for the future of your chapter?

Our future plans include giving back to the community that allowed us to create these future plans as Kaylee and I wouldn't have a future if it wasn't for our community giving up a lot of their time and energy to help us get sober. Kaylee's treatment center is here in the Fort Worth area, and one of our goals in the future is to connect with them and provide free training to the treatment center staff. By the end of 2026 we are hoping to have connected with/trained as many venues, event centers, shelters, and clinics that will listen to us. If you know of any businesses or people in the Fort Worth area that also have a passion for community, send them our way!