Our Mission

Honoring a Life, Preventing Harm

At EarthTōn, mental health is not an afterthought. It is the foundation of everything we do. Our own journeys through addiction, recovery, and healing have shaped every choice, design, and word we share. The art we build and the candles we pour are meant to remind people that no matter where they are in life, they are not alone.

EarthTōn is a creative space built on connection. Each market and art fair gives us a chance to speak openly about the struggles that too often stay hidden. We talk about addiction and recovery without judgment. We offer Narcan and fentanyl test strips at every event because we believe in harm reduction and compassion over silence. When someone approaches our booth, we see a person, not a label. Parents tell us about children they have lost. Friends share stories of people still fighting. Others simply stop to say they have made it one more year sober. These conversations are why we do what we do.

Our outreach is about breaking the stigma that keeps people suffering in isolation. Addiction is not weakness. Depression is not failure. Mental illness is not a character flaw. These are human experiences that deserve understanding, patience, and love. By speaking openly, we aim to replace shame with empathy and silence with connection. Every art piece, every candle, and every conversation helps build that bridge.

We partner with harm reduction groups (such as Mateo's Message), mental health advocates, and local organizations to make resources visible and accessible. Together, we organize awareness efforts, share education, and create spaces where people feel seen and supported. The goal is always to make help easier to find and hope harder to lose.

Mateo’s Message: What Mateo Would Do

This mission is also deeply personal. Mateo (2001–2023) was magnetic; he was loud, loyal, and unapologetically himself. He made people laugh, stood up for his friends, and made work worth going to.  His sudden death from a single fentanyl-laced pill broke something in our community that will never fully mend. Through Mateo’s Message, his family now fights to spare others that same pain by promoting harm reduction and honest conversations about addiction.

  When I met Mateo, I wasn’t in recovery yet. We were partners in crime, both trying to escape our own pain in the only ways we knew how. We laughed together, worked hard, and made choices that came from a place of struggle more than direction.

In time, I found my way to sobriety. Mateo didn’t get that same chance. His death changed me. It made me see how thin the line is between surviving and being lost, and how badly the world needs honesty about addiction. EarthTōn became my way to keep fighting for people like us, to give others the chance that Mateo never had.

That’s why EarthTōn stands for second chances:

• It is a second chance for the wood I reclaim, giving scraps new purpose
• It is for people like me, years into sobriety
• It is for stories like Mateo’s, that deserve to be told

At every art fair, you’ll find free Narcan and fentanyl test strips at our tent. 

No lectures. 

No shame. 

Just tools to keep people alive long enough to heal.

1. Take What You Need
   • Fentanyl test strips (they work, take five!)
   • Narcan (easy-to-use nasal spray, always free)
2. Visit MateosMessage.com
   • Donate, volunteer, or learn
3. Talk About It
   • Share his name.
   • Share your story.
   • Fight the Stigma.

"Mateo would’ve laughed at the idea of being a ‘message.’ But he’d also be the first to hand you a test strip if it meant saving your life."
~ W. Blake Ogram