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Second Chance Diner aims to inspire those impacted by opioid crisis Second Chance Diner aims to inspire those impacted by opioid crisis

By Byron Tollefson

Eddie DePalma opened up Second Chance Diner last month.
© 2018 (c) Byron Tollefson

(***SOT***)
“Donny you whipping you in the kitchen?”
(***VO***)
EDDIE DEPALMA NEVER THOUGHT HE’D OPEN A DINER. ESPECIALLY JUST THREE BLOCKS FROM HIS CHILDHOOD HOME IN CAMILLUS. AND ONLY THREE YEARS AGO…EDDIE WAS TRYING TO SURVIVE.
(***SOT***)
“I’m a recovering addict.”
(***VO**)
HE WAS ADDICTED TO HEROIN. HE SAYS IT OVERTOOK HIS LIFE AND THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM.
(***SOT***)
“You know it’s tough. I’ve lost a lot of friends. A lot. I lost my best friend and you know the entire world. I went to seventeen funerals in one year.”
(***VO***)
THE OPIOID CRISIS HAS HIT HARD IN ONONDAGA COUNTY WHERE THE DEATH RATE IS HIGHER THAN THE NATIONAL AND STATE AVERAGES. AFTER YEARS OF EFFORTS…EDDIE SOUGHT HELP AND JOINED A TREATMENT PROGRAM.
(***SOT***)
“To say my first attempt was a go…I mean that’d be a total lie. Not my first. Not my second. Not my third attempt. Not my fourth. Not my fifteenth. Things changed for me when I admitted that I needed help and I let go.”
(***VO***)
TODAY EDDIE IS THREE YEARS CLEAN. HE PUT HIS LIFE SAVINGS INTO THE DINER…WHICH JUST FINISHED ITS FIRST MONTH IN OPERATION. AND GUESS WHAT HE CALLS THE DINER.
(***SOT***)
“Second chance diner.”
(***VO***)

(***SOT***)
“I believe this is my second chance. And I believe the name draws to a lot of people. You know why, why does he call it that? So I like being asked that question you know, I like telling people my story and giving people hope you know?
(***VO***)
HOPE FOR OTHERS…AND THE TOWN HE’S CALLED HOME ALL HIS LIFE. BYRON TOLLEFSON…N-C-C NEWS.

Eddie DePalma never thought he’d open up a diner. Especially just three blocks from his childhood home in Camillus. He’s lived here all his life. He even went to West Genesee High School, half a mile down the street.

One month ago, Second Chance Diner officially opened, after a year of planning. DePalma is the first in the door before the sun rises. The diner’s opening is the culmination of a long journey for DePalma.

Only three years ago, DePalma was addicted to heroin. He had lost his best friend to addiction. One year, he went to 17 funerals.

“I became a different person,” DePalma said. “Everything I was, everything I knew, was gone and buried.”

Drug overdose deaths set a record high last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 70,000 Americans died. The opioid crisis has hit particularly hard in Onondaga County. A report from the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development found Onondaga County’s opioid overdose rate to be 27.2%, higher than the state and national averages.

“I was in the heart of the epidemic in my city,” DePalma said. “That’s why my diner is in the heart of my city that I’ve lived in my whole life.”

He was a barber for ten years in downtown Syracuse. DePalma says it started with prescription pills at work. As those drugs became less available, he turned to heroin. He says he tried over fifteen times- perhaps more- to break free of the addiction.

“Things changed for me when I admitted that I needed help and I let go,” DePalma said.

He joined a treatment program and met others in recovery. Today, he’s three years clean and just celebrated one month of Second Chance Diner in operation.

 

DePalma says the name came to him in a dream. He put his life savings into the diner. At work, he wears a sweatshirt that says “Food Is Love.”

He says people often ask him why he calls it Second Chance Diner.  One customers did so on Wednesday- and he happily explained.

“I believe this is my second chance,” DePalma said. “And I believe the name draws to a lot of people. You know why, why does he call it that? So I like being asked that question you know, I like telling people my story and giving people hope.”

 

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