Owen Cole Brezitski would have turned 13 this year.
A polite, curious kid with a contagious smile, you never had to remind Owen to say “please” and “thank you.” He was a leader in his classroom, a skilled soccer and baseball player and, more than anything, loved his parents and sisters, Makenna and Kyla.
On March 17, 2011, Owen was taken from this world far too soon—the victim of a distracted, 17-year-old driver. Owen, a second-grader at Holy Name of Jesus School, was struck in a marked crosswalk as he and his family left the former Bishop McDevitt High School on Market Street. They were on their way to McDonald’s for Shamrock Shakes after watching the girls perform at a school concert.
It’s been five years since the tragedy, and Owen’s mother, Karen Brezitski, often wonders what her son would be like today. She sees the hurt in her husband Mark’s eyes when spring rolls around, knowing he would love to have just one more baseball catch with his boy.
“I miss the lost potential,” Karen says. “What could have been, what should have been— that’s the heartbreaking thing.”
The tragedy that turned the Brezitski family’s lives upside down in a matter of seconds is an all-too-familiar story.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety recently released a study on distracted driving. It found that 60 percent of teen crashes involve distracted driving. The summer months are the worst. According to AAA, in the past five years, more than 5,000 people have been killed in crashes involving teen drivers during what it calls the “100 Deadliest Days.” This is the period starting Memorial Day through the end of the summer.
It’s not just cell phone use that causes distractions. The study found the biggest distraction is other passengers in the vehicle. Texting or operating a cell phone and attending to something inside the vehicle are the other top distractions.
There are many ways a driver can be distracted. How often do you notice another driver on their phone, head lowered, while dangerously operating a two-ton vehicle? Maybe you do it yourself.
Whatever it is, it can wait. The motto of Owen’s Foundation is as simple as it is powerful: “Slow Down, Be Alert and Save a Life!”
There are days Karen says she has difficulty getting out of bed. But her mission to save lives through sharing her story is part of what keeps her going.
“I want to help make sure no other family suffers a loss like ours,” she says. “No one is 100-percent distraction free, but examine your own behavior and, if what you’re doing is risky, maybe it’s time to change to protect your loved ones.”
In telling her story, there are moments when Karen is close to tears. She, along with her husband and daughters, are incredibly strong and courageous people. Just after Owen’s funeral, Makenna and Kyla knew they had to honor their brother.
The girls—now 19 and 16—decided to make orange wristbands since orange was Owen’s favorite color. The wristbands grew into a foundation, and, when the foundation became too large for Karen and Mark, they brought in The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC) to help.
Through it all, thousands of dollars raised and awareness spread, Karen’s orange band remains permanently affixed to her wrist. Starting to fade, it’s a stinging but motivating reminder of what she now believes she was put on earth to do.
In addition to spreading awareness, tangible results in improving driver and pedestrian safety, along with community improvements and opportunities, have emerged from Owen’s Foundation.
The foundation purchased and installed solar LED crosswalk signs at the former Bishop McDevitt High School. They have since been transferred to the entrance of the new campus in Lower Paxton Township.
The foundation donated money to South Central EMS for new cardiac monitors. It also purchased new helmets and catcher’s equipment for Owen’s baseball association, PHR, and painted, furnished and decorated a new bedroom at the new Silence of Mary Home on Market Street in Harrisburg. Silence of Mary is a home for the poor, sick and dying.
It also set up the Owen Cole Brezitski Memorial Scholarship for a graduating Bishop McDevitt student attending any form of higher education.
Karen says her family’s ultimate goal is to pass legislation to change the rules for drivers approaching pedestrians in crosswalks. By law, drivers only need to yield. She wants drivers to be required to come to a complete stop at marked crosswalks. If they don’t, stiff penalties would apply, especially in school zones.
They are also working to offer free online driver’s education courses and behind the wheel training to novice drivers.
“Everything I do is always out of honor and memory of Owen,” Karen says. “Whatever I can do now helps me move on and feel better as a mom.”
Capital BlueCross has partnered with Owen’s Foundation in the annual “Orange Out” campaign to raise awareness of distracted driving dangers.
Matt Kemeny is a senior communications specialist at Capital BlueCross, one of TheBurg’s community publishers.
Owen’s Foundation is a charitable fund of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC). Orange 4 Owen is a project of TFEC, fiscal sponsor. The official registration and financial information of TFEC may be obtained from the PA Department of State or by calling toll-free, within PA, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
