SPRINGFIELD – Grief encompasses a wide range of feelings and experiences. How we choose to navigate those feelings is dependent on various factors. When Michael Glownia lost his daughter, Erika, from fentanyl poisoning in 2023, he channeled his pain and gave it a purpose.
In June 2025, EF5 was established as a nonprofit grassroots organization focused on helping others heal.
“The vision for wanting to do something started soon after I was out of the heavy grief of losing my daughter, and the first goal was to see if I could help so that other fathers wouldn’t have to experience what I experienced,” Glownia said.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is reported to be 50-100 times stronger than heroin or morphine. Although recent trends indicate a slight decline in fatalities, more than 100,000 people died in 2023 due to a drug overdose, with 70% of those deaths attributed to opioids like fentanyl.
EF5 stands for Erika’s father, family, and friends fighting fentanyl. Glownia explained that the name also refers to a tornado with the highest classification on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
“It uproots foundations, alters landscapes, and leaves families standing in stunned silence where something once stood whole,” Glownia said. “We chose the name EF5 because fentanyl loss carries that same magnitude of devastation. It arrives suddenly. It reshapes everything. The house still stands, but nothing inside is the same.”
Efforts to raise awareness of the campaign have spread to state senators during a recent trip to Salem. Glownia and Board President Kenya Luvert met with Sen. Floyd Prozanski, who shared a personal story of loss.
“As a president, I’m networking and really supporting Michael the best way I can,” Luvert said.
The organization offers grief support and resources, including a Fentanyl Loss Support Group that next meets on February 23rd, and then in March changes to the second Thursday of the month, at the Restored Peer Connections Center in Eugene. The meetings are open to people who have experienced other traumatic losses as well. Movement and breathing exercises are incorporated in the meetings to help manage grief. Naloxone and Narcan are distributed at events.
“I reflected on how I was lucky to get some grant money to help me get through, go to grief support, counseling, and grief rituals,” Glownia said. “I met other people, mothers, fathers, who didn’t have the resources that I was lucky enough to have at that time. I wanted to figure out a way to channel some resources to people who need it, and offer support.”
Money from Erika’s Magic Money Fund is awarded as grants to people experiencing financial strain due to grief. The organization also hosts fundraising events through memorial projects, such as “Dancing Our Sorrows Away,” a community dance at the WOW Hall on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 11 a.m.
“The ultimate goal is to end the fentanyl epidemic,” Glownia said. “People talk about turning your pain into purpose, or making that shift from being a victim to realizing I’m still here. I’m alive.” He also hopes to break down some stigma around men grieving. “Most of the grief groups and support groups that I’m at, sometimes I’m the only man who’s there,” he said. “I think it’s a pretty brave and strong thing to be that emotionally vulnerable, to allow yourself to be witnessed in your emotional state.”
Glownia said the unconditional love between him and his daughter is what motivates him to keep sharing her story.
“I hear her voice in my head saying, ‘Keep going, Dad.’ Everything happens for a reason,” Glownia said. “I just want to do my part to try to make things a little bit better.”
To learn more about EF5, Erika’s story, and where to get help, visit ef5live.org.
