WPRI-PROVIDENCE FEATURE ON In the NICK of Time:  ​
In the Nick of Time – January 2026 Update
 
​Hi Everyone!
As we continue to build out our organization, we are busy building out our network and becoming more and more integrated into the prevention communities of North Central CT and Western MA. We have become regularly recognized and sought out to join in with various organizations and committees.
Here is an overview of some of our organization’s interactions since last September:
-Community Cafe Conversations (series of three)
-Presented at the Groton Community Cafe
-Attended 2025 CT Prevention Summit
- Connecting the Dots networking workshop
-Attended Trauma and Resiliency webinar
-Emerging Adulthood - trends and theories - Webinar
-Spoke @ the 2026 Outrun Addiction Run - Enfield (volunteered with Today I Matter)
-Teens and Illicit Substances Webinar
-Attended Youth Services Conference - Hartford Marriott
-Trauma Informed Mental Health Support webinar
-Attended Designed to Hook workshop
-Attended Teens and alcohol workshop
-Invited to speak at the “From Stigma to Support” event at the State Capitol (sponsored by State Senator Anwar)
- Spoke at and had our info table at the 2026 Become Part of the Solution Run - Rockville High School
-Attended Problem Gambling (3-part series)
-Presentation at Grafton High School to 75 students
-Attended The Power of Connection Workshop - Mentoring
-SMART recovery facilitator training 
- Attended Addiction Proofing our Youth workshop
-Featured Guest on podcast HourTable4U to discuss ITNOT
-Prevention Storytelling for impact workshop
-Invited to participate in and attending CADCA conference Feb. 2-5 in Washington D.C. (Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America)
-Vaping Awareness Workshop - Middletown - 2/10
-Members of the Vernon ROCKS coalition and the DPYC Ellington Coalition
- Invited Keynote Speaker @ CT Youth Mental Health Summit - Feb. 2026
- WMass Youth Mental Health Summit - coming in 2027
 
All in all, we’ve spoken in front of another 400 to 500 students and adults sharing our message in the last 5 months.
The most exciting development to note is the last one on the list: The WMass Youth Mental Health Summit - coming in 2027. We have begun discussions with the Mental Health Association to co-brand an in-person summit for WMass high school students. The target date will be late 2026 or early 2027.
This summit will include a number of speakers on many different topics. This will allow us to help build student leaders to go back to their schools and help other students understand more about mental health and addiction issues – and most importantly, to help to reduce the stigma to raise their hands for help when they need it. Our plan will be to learn from this first summit experience to be able to make this a yearly event and to expand the summit format into North Central CT as well.
In addition to all of the work we will be doing to put the summit in place, we will be attending a number of events right through the summer with our information table. If you know of any upcoming events which allow organizations like ours to participate, please let us know!
Lastly, please save the date for our 3rd Annual Nick Tshonas Memorial Golf Tournament. Once again it will be held at Topstone Golf Course in S Windsor, CT. This year’s tournament will be a very special one, as it falls on Nick’s birthday – Mon August 10th!
Reminders for the golfers to reserve your spot again this year will go out to each team captain in a few months. We hope to see you there.
Thanks again for all of your support in helping us launch and build In the NICK of Time…it matters!

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In the Nick of Time – June 2025 Update
 
Hi everyone!
We are committed to providing all of our donors and sponsors with updates to keep you aware of how we are growing In the NICK of Time and working to fulfill our mission.
To that end, we want to provide you with a further organizational update from what we shared 3 months ago in March.
Since that time, we’ve continued to build out our organization’s website and social media platforms.
 
Prior to our annual fundraiser golf tournament on August 11th, we plan to:
  • Release our updated website which will include information and resources for mental health issues, addiction, fentanyl awareness and treatment.
  • Release our expansion into social media platforms with our Facebook and Instagram accounts to share information, inspirational messages and advertise events and other educational organizations. More to follow…
 
Our community involvement: since our March 2025 update, we’ve continued to get out in our communities and connect with other organizations.
  • Invited and spoke to the entire junior and senior classes at Oakmont HS in Central Mass at their pre-prom assembly. It was a very well received session as we provided an hour-long presentation to 350 students to share Nick’s story along with information to help form their choices at the point of decision.
  • Invited and spoke with three additional HS classes.
  • Invited and will be speaking at the Ellington Concert Series on Thurs June 26th. The concert series is sponsored by the Ellington Opioid Committee. The event takes place from 6-8pm at 72 Maple St, Ellington, CT.

​Future Involvement:
●       We’ve been invited to present at the CIAC Teen Summit in January 2026. This summit is a virtual meeting with students from many high schools across CT. The event is coordinated and run by student organizations. It’s a real honor that we’ve been asked to participate.
●       We are also in the early stages of investigating opportunities to host or co-sponsor meaningful events to spread awareness and education around mental health and addiction. Initial discussions to support an in-person teen summit are in the works. Such an event takes a tremendous amount of planning, commitment, and resources– but the benefits realized by the attendees may change behaviors and lives for the better.
●       Identifying opportunities to share our message specifically with parent groups.
●       Identifying other organizations to align our messaging with to further support our mission.
●       Preparing written materials for In the NICK of Time to share at in-person events
 
Lastly:
●       We are preparing for this year’s 2nd Annual Nick Tshonas Memorial Golf Tournament which will be held Monday, August 11th at Topstone Golf Course in South Windsor, CT. 
●         Once again, the tournament sold out quickly! We’re sincerely sorry to all of you who have inquired that we are not able to accommodate for this year. And we thank you all for your continued support.
 
Many of you have asked about supporting this year’s fundraiser. We appreciate any type of raffle prize, gift basket, sports tickets, sponsorship or donation. We also have sponsorships for tee box signs where you can share a company logo or special message for any donation of $100 or more. Here is the link: https://www.itnot.org/golf--sponsorships.html
We also have a special 26 for 26 donation pledge in place on our website for those who want a way to remember Nick for his birthday. August 10th will be his 26th birthday. Here is the link if you are interested:  https://www.itnot.org/donate.html
 
Your generosity has helped us to build our organization and has allowed us to do significant work in our communities to support our mission.
 
Thank you again for your support of In the Nick of Time – it matters!
 
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In the Nick of Time – March 2025 Update
It’s been about 6 months since our inaugural Nick Tshonas Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit In the NICK of Time. We can’t thank you enough for your support!
Since that time, we’ve begun to build out our organization in several ways: furthering our website capabilities, developing informational materials, expanding our networking efforts, and becoming visible by telling Nick’s story in our communities.
To date we have focused on supporting our mission to reduce the stigma surrounding depression, mental health issues and addiction:
●       Invited and spoke with students in health classes at four high schools.
●       Invited and spoke with the Bryant University Men’s basketball team – unofficially dubbed as the official NCAA team of ITNOT (please root on the Bulldogs - America East Conference Champions and headed into March Madness!).
●       Invited and participated as featured guests on two podcasts.
●       Invited and participated by Kyle Cares as only one of nine featured breakout speakers at their 2025 Rhode Island Scholastic Teen Mental Health Summit at RI College – 300 HS attendees from 30+ schools.  https://kylecaresinc.org/
●       Invited to become a member organization of the Governor’s Prevention Partnership. ITNOT interviewed in February and will be featured in their 2025 multi-media campaign to spread their message. We will also be part of future speaking engagements.   https://gppct.org/
●       Recently accepted into the DOJ’s CT US Attorney’s HEAT Program (Heroin Education Action Team). This provides ITNOT with speaking opportunities, partnering with members of the DEA’s Fentanyl Task Force, to speak to and educate CT high school students about the opioid epidemic and the impact of fentanyl on our young people. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/heat
 
In addition:
●       In the NICK of Time has been featured in two stories by WPRI-12 Providence. The feature linked below has been nominated for a local news Emmy Award in Rhode Island: https://youtu.be/jElI_h3oARY
●       Invited and will speak to ~200 Central MA high school students at pre-prom assembly in May.
●       Additional speaking opportunities are being lined up as we continue to network with local, state, and other organizations.
●       Identifying opportunities to share our message specifically with parent groups.
●       Investing in the buildout of our website to be able to share more information regarding our community activities as well as building out the proper platform to house and share resources for young adults and parents.
●       Once the website platform is upgraded to support resources properly, we’ll invest and build out our social media accounts to share information and updates on ITNOT’s activities – more to follow!
Lastly:
●       We are preparing for this year’s 2nd Annual Nick Tshonas Memorial Golf Tournament which will be held Monday, August 11th at Topstone Golf Course in South Windsor, CT.  We hope to see many of you back there again this year! More to follow…
●       We are also in the early stages of investigating opportunities to host or co-sponsor meaningful events to spread awareness and education around mental health and addiction.
●       One such significant event would be for the teenagers/young people of Northern CT/Western Massachusetts. We are doing significant networking to identify if there are any events like the teen summit event hosted by the Kyle Cares Foundation that we participated in earlier this year. Such an event takes a tremendous amount of planning, commitment, resources, and money to put host – but the benefits realized by the attendees may change behaviors and lives for the better.
 
Your generosity has helped us to build our organization and has already allowed us to do significant work in our communities to support our mission.
 
Thank you again for your support of In the Nick of Time – it matters!