James was born on January 26th,1997 on SuperBowl Sunday, weighing in at 11lbs4oz, shocking all of the nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital. He grew up in a loving home with his parents Rudy and Laurie Pinka and his younger sister Shannon. As a young boy he loved trucks and match box cars, Sesame Street and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. By the end of elementary school James was into skateboarding, BMX biking, lacrosse and basketball. He loved fishing and boating at Watch Hill. In middle school James began to play the drums, he learned to snowboard and continued to play lacrosse and basketball. By the end of middle school James realized sports were not his strongest suit although he continued to play because he liked being part of a team. When he didn't make the 8th grade school basketball team his confidence was shattered and may have been one of the first turning points in his life. He also began to struggle in school around this time, further shaking his confidence. Fortunately for James he had an amazing personality, he was very charismatic and had plenty of friends, any insecurities would have gone unnoticed. Later that same year James began to hang out with some older kids, he began smoking weed and drinking alcohol. We later discovered he was being bullied by the Bayport Lacrosse team, a team he was once a part of. James’ highschool years spiraled out of control as he began experimenting with various drugs. He started DJing and soon discovered he had a natural talent for mixing and creating beats. He loved to DJ and preferred the rave scene over Sweet 16’s and weddings. James was on a new path but the lifestyle was filled with late nights and rave drugs. By the time James reached his senior year he really struggled to stay in school. He left school late fall and enrolled in a music production school in Manhattan but unbeknownst to his family James was using heroin and the paranoia, a known side effect of heroin, made it impossible for him to successfully commute back and forth to Manhattan. James was losing weight, losing friends and sleeping incessantly. His drug use escalated to the point of no return unless he was willing to seek help. He finally entered a rehab facility one week after his 18th birthday which forced him into an adult facility. James’ mother was scared to death for him but James embraced rehab. He finally found a community of people who understood what he was going through. He was no longer alone on this journey. Unfortunately insurance will only pay for 28 days and James quickly returned home looking happy and healthy. Twenty eight days of inpatient treatment helped James gain weight and sober up but it did nothing to heal his brain and he relapsed the very next day. The following months were much the same, more DJing, more drug use, the wrong crowd and little motivation in school. James was homeschooled the entire second semester of his senior year and miraculously graduated on time with his senior class. He was invited to a few graduation parties and he managed to win back a few friends he had lost along the way. In July 2015 James overdosed and was rushed to Brookhaven Hospital unresponsive. The doctors administered Narcan four times and saved his life. By the fall James was back in rehab. The technicians at the facility wanted James to stay and enter phase two, but James was anxious to come home and start running a Vape store his family had invested in for him. James’ store was named the Cloud Factory and it brought him tremendous pride and a source of purpose. His life began to improve. He came off heroin and stayed away from all heavy drugs. He always smoked weed and drank with his friends. James turned 19 and it looked like he had tuned a serious corner in his life. All of his old friends were back. His DJ career was taking off, his store was starting to make money and he was happy, truly happy. On July 5, 2016 James was dared by a friend to swallow an entire bottle of Care One Cough and Cold an over the counter cold medicine sold at CVS. James laughed at the idea of getting high off of something so harmless and he accepted the dare. James didn't realize at the time that those pills would interact with the Xanax he was prescribed by his psychiatrist. The combination of the two proved fatal and lowered James’ respiratory rate down to the point where it stopped his heart and James died in his bed on July 6th with his entire family in the house with him. James may have left this world way too early but this was not the end of his story. Shortly after his death James’ mom went down to the Bayport pier to talk to James. She felt connected to him out on this pier. She asked him to remain her teammate and she told him the two of them could still be an amazing team, but she would need to learn how to listen differently. She vowed to do good things in his name, and she promised to speak of him as often as possible. She promised to celebrate all of his milestones with friends and family and she sought to gain a better understanding of addiction and to get closer to those affected by this devastating disease. These promises led her to the Neighborhood House and to the Beading Hearts. These promises gave her the courage to run the New York Marathon in 2017 which led her to CrossFit and Undivided Fitness. All of these pathways to wellness are connected and the James Pinka Foundation was born out of the desire to cast anchors of hope to people struggling to find community, acceptance and inspiration to change. Join us on this journey as we continue to find new pathways to wellness and ultimate transformation.