It is with broken hearts and profound sadness we share our beloved former colleague and forever friend, Lill Prosperino, has passed away. Lill was a light. Their smile and laugh made the whole room — virtual or in-person — brighter. Lill embodied harm reduction. Lill was and is harm reduction.
Throughout their work as NHRC’s harm reduction resource coordinator as part of the HepConnect team, Lill echoed the importance of ensuring the following message held true: “Nothing about us, without us.” Their patience, kindness, and deep love called people into the harm reduction movement, uplifted the voices, expertise, and heart of people who use drugs, and made the world a safer, more just place for all people.
Lill was and remains a legend throughout Appalachia, where they were instrumental in direct service work, packing harm reduction kits and distributing life-saving supplies, including with our friends at the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition. Lill was also vital in building up NHRC’s HepConnect work, a regional initiative that focused on the intersection of hepatitis C and drug use in key states Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia, focusing on screening and connection to care, harm reduction and community education, and strengthening health care infrastructure.
Lill’s imprint on the harm reduction movement spans far wider than the Appalachian Region, as they worked nationally to educate and offer support to harm reduction and related social justice organizations and individuals, and created safer and more inclusive spaces for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming (TGNCNB) people within harm reduction programs. They were a fearless harm reductionist who always centered those who have been most marginalized, and their love and care for people who use/used drugs and all people was endless.
Everywhere Lill went, they went with their full heart. Undoubtedly, their love and care will continue to have impacts on generations to come. We will strive to embody the many lessons Lill taught us. Because of Lill, the harm reduction movement and world is a better place than it was before them.
NHRC will be offering a space/event to honor Lill, and we will share details as soon as we can. As we continue to feel a hole in our hearts with Lill’s passing, we find some comfort in still hearing their words of wisdom in our minds, including through a previous HepConnect time capsule video (they start speaking around 14 minutes in) and the Honcho Campout recording, “Queer As in Harm Reduction! Revolutionary Love in the Queer Community.”
We hope hearing their words and seeing their light will bring some comfort to you, too.