The call came from Harrisburg Hospital on Feb. 8, 2015. Cathy Quigley was told on the phone that her son, Kyle, had been involved in an auto accident.

“I just knew he was gone. They had me wait in a small room,” Quigley recalled of arriving at the Pennsylvania hospital and finding out that Kyle had died.

She would later learn that her 30-year-old son had been killed by a drunken driver in a crash in Fairview Township, Pa.

Cathy Quigley recounted that horrible day in 2015 while joining with hundreds of marchers Sunday for the annual HERO Campaign Walk on the Ocean City Boardwalk to remember the victims of drunken driving.

Her son’s picture was included in the HERO Campaign’s “Memory Banner, a photo collage lining the wall at the Ocean City Sports & Civic Center in honor of drunken-driving victims. Kyle Quigley, who lived in New Cumberland, Pa., was an Iraq war veteran who had formerly served with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

“He should be here,” Quigley said, fighting back tears, while stressing how much she misses Kyle.

    Marchers gather around a HERO Walk banner as the event gets underway on the Ocean City Boardwalk.
  

Quigley had never participated in the HERO Campaign Walk before, but expressed relief that she had made the three-hour drive from her home in Lemoyne, Pa., to join with others who had tragically lost loved ones.

“I will be back,” she said of her plans to march in the walk in the future.

The walk is one of the signature events of the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign, which was founded in 2000 by Egg Harbor Township residents Bill and Muriel Elliott in honor of their late son. John Elliott, a Navy ensign, was killed by a drunken driver in Salem County, N.J., on July 22, 2000, just two months after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy.

“Today is a day of remembrance. It’s also a day of hope. But it’s also a day of supreme sadness for the ones we’ve lost,” Bill Elliott said while addressing the crowd with his wife and his daughter, Jen Adamchak, standing by his side.

Jen Adamchak noted that her brother’s 47th birthday would be on Nov. 17 if he were still alive. She said it was a “powerful” experience to have so many people marching in honor of her brother and other victims of drunken driving.

“It’s overwhelming,” she said. “Even after all these years, to have the continuing support of all these people is a great tribute in memory of my brother and all of the other loved ones that we’ve lost,” she said.

    HERO Campaign founders Bill and Muriel Elliott and their daughter, Jen Adamchak, pay tribute to the victims of drunken driving.
  

The mission of the HERO Campaign is to promote the use of safe and sober designated drivers as a life-saving measure on the highways.

A total of about 300 people preregistered for the HERO Campaign Walk, as well as a run on the Boardwalk that preceded it.

In a surprise, family members, friends and other supporters of brothers Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau participated in the walk.

Johnny Gaudreau, a star player for the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets, and Matthew were both killed on Aug. 29 by a suspected drunken driver when they were riding their bicycles on a rural road in Salem County, N.J. It was on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding.

About 75 people were part of “Team Gaudreau” at the walk. They included Johnny and Matthew’s parents, Jane and Guy Gaudreau, and their sisters, Katie Gaudreau and Kristen Venello.

“I think they are doing it to honor their boys and to keep their legacy alive,” Jessie Venello, a family cousin and spokeswoman for the Gaudreau family, said of the family’s participation in the HERO Campaign Walk.

    Members of "Team Gaudreau" honor the memory of NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, who were both killed by a suspected drunken driver while they were riding their bikes in Salem County, N.J.
  

The walk also included the unveiling of an Ocean City Police Department patrol SUV wrapped in the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign logo. Ocean City’s police department had a patrol car decorated with the HERO Campaign logo several years ago.

Bill Elliott said the HERO Campaign hopes to have 100 patrol cars from police departments in New Jersey and other states out on the road in the next year.

He noted that the HERO Campaign has secured a New Jersey grant to have 10 more patrol cars wrapped in the logo.

The police vehicles serve as “rolling billboards” to promote the HERO Campaign’s mission for safe and sober designated drivers. They include the message, “Be a HERO. Be a Designated Driver” and the blue and yellow emblem of the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign.

    Officers with the Ocean City Police Department unveil a patrol SUV wrapped in the HERO Campaign logo.

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Hero Campaign Walk

Hundreds of participants marched in the HERO Campaign Walk on the Ocean City Boardwalk.