Friends and relatives of a Floral Park man who lost his battle with drug addiction nearly a year ago turned out Friday night for a fundraiser aimed at raising awareness -- and hopefully saving lives.

Jason Treanor died of a heroin overdose last July at 29 years old. His family organized the event at Jack Duggan's in Floral Park to counter the growing heroin and opioid problem on Long Island and throughout the country.

"My hope is that other families out there aren't going to feel like my husband and my kids feel, because this was just a very devastating loss," says Tina Haneman, Treanor's sister.

Experts say about 23 million Americans are drug addicts.

"On average, every 19 minutes somebody dies from an overdose," says Orin Dablemont, of the Teen Challenge Substance Abuse Recovery Program. "That's an epidemic, obviously, of astronomical proportions."

The statistics hit close to home for Marisol Ali, also of Floral Park, who is dealing with her own son's battle with drug addiction.

"It's a disease, and people don't really think it is," Ali says. "Especially here in Floral Park -- there's a lot of drugs going on."

All proceeds from the fundraiser will go to the Teen Challenge program, which operates solely on donations.