Serene and Grateful Entertainment was established in 2024 to provide a musical and creative outlet for people. The organization, also referred to as SAGE, also provides resources for those who have suffered from or been affected by substance abuse and addiction.
“There is this stigma within the recovery community that once you get cleaned up, you don’t have fun anymore, and we are trying to prove the opposite,” Andrew Kase, the nonprofit’s LGBTQ+ outreach director, said.
The organization hosts free community events once a month throughout the island, providing music therapy, Narcan demonstration training, guidance and mentoring, connections to other community resources, pet therapy and an assortment of workshops dedicated to showing a post-recovery life.
“The opposite of addiction is connection,” Kase said.
The locations are not always the same, but Kase said SAGE has found a base at Paradise Studios in Massapequa.
Sean Mullady founded SAGE in memory of his son, who died in 2022 from a drug overdose.
“He said he felt something when he couldn’t get a hold of him. He knew something had happened,” Kase said.
Mullady was consumed with grief and remorse, leading him to go to a long-term facility seeking help, Kase said.
Mullady came to the realization at the facility that people in recovery can feel spiritually and emotionally connected, and that they can also express their feelings to one another in a number of ways, which led to SAGE’s creation, Kase said.
Kase said people who suffer from addiction live two lives, one in active addiction and another in recovery. He said the mission of the organization is to showcase a vibrant recovery that features creativity.
Anyone can donate to the organization, which goes toward providing more community events and supplying resources.
