Joey Edward Campbell

Joey Edward Campbell graduated from Santa Margarita Catholic High School in 2000. He passed away on Memorial Day, May 25th, 2009. While his family continues to struggle with understanding why he was taken from them at such a young age, they are also trying to find a way to honor his memory and do something positive in his name. In one of his last letters to his family, Joey wrote that he wanted to do something positive and good with his life and that he wanted to give back to others.

Joey and his brothers loved basketball. All three Campbell boys played basketball at Santa Margarita Catholic High School. It is the Campbell Family's hope that the 3 on 3 Annual Basketball Tournament for Joey will be a means of sustaining the Joseph Edward Campbell Benevolent Fund, thus keeping Joey's memory alive. Proceeds raised from the tournament will go directly to families in crisis-whether it is a family who has lost a loved one and needs to cover funeral costs or a family struck by sudden tragedy that comes with heavy expenses.

To be able to honor his request of helping others and to do it by using his favorite sport, basketball, would make Joey so happy.

From the Campbell Family - "We want to thank everyone for your ongoing support and to inform you about our new direction. Most of you know that Joey passed away from a drug overdose. To watch someone you love so deeply suffer from addiction is heart wrenching. Then to watch that person lose their battle because of the addiction is unbearable. All along, we knew we also wanted to put our energy towards the substance abuse/ addiction crisis. Substance abuse (addiction) is a serious problem in Orange County and the statistics keep climbing, our youth are abusing drugs and alcohol, becoming addicted and dying on a record scale. Because we want to bring more awareness to this crisis, and try to educate our youth and their parents on the dangers of drugs, we are excited to announce our merger with California Youth Services (CYS), an organization that works with public and private schools, law enforcement/probation and the courts across Orange County.  Stay tuned for information about the annual 3on3forJoey Basketball Tournaments. Moving forward, please make all donations to California Youth Services.  All donations are tax deductible"