On October 20, 1993, 75 year-old Julia “Nana” Coppola was instantly killed by a 17 year-old drunk driver in a horrific crash on New Haven’s Townsend Avenue. Coppola was just minutes from the family’s Morris Cove home, traveling with two of her daughters, who both survived the crash.

Her family became heavily involved in supporting the efforts of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) CT, including crash survivors Michelle Coppola Lettieri, who now serves as MADD CT Director of Victim Services, and Paula Coppola D’Agostino, who joined MADD to assist with development (fundraising); as welll as their sister Marietta Coppola, a MADD volunteer and supporter.

On Saturday, Oct. 1, the extended Coppola family will be in Branford, gathering as team “Julia’s Jewels” to participate in Walk Like MADD CT 2016. The annual Branford walk, one of four held across the state, steps off from the Branford green at 10 a.m. in honor of Julia “Nana” Coppola this year.

An anticipated crowd of between 300 and 400 participants will head out on a route taking them to Branford Point and back to green. Between registration opening (begins at 8:30 a.m.) and the closing bell at noon, participants will receive breakfast and lunch and can participate in fun, fall activities including a kid’s fun run and pumpkin painting. It’s a celebratory day to remember victims such as Coppola, who had a love of life, family and friends.

“She was full of life,” said D’Agostino. “Her family was most important. She loved to cook for her entire family, and her home was always open to all who walked in.”

Lettieri said “Julia’s Jewels,” like other teams registered for the walk, will also be raising funds to assist MADD in its mission. The combination of fundraising and fun is a key element of many MADD events, she added.

“MADD is an organization to help victims and stop drunk driving, but our events are celebrating and enjoying life,” said Lettieri. “We want people to know that they’re fun events.”

“The walk really paints a picture of that,” adds MADD CT Walk Manager Jaime Roy. “It’s not just MADD working to eliminate the 100 percent preventable crime of drunk driving; it’s a team effort and a community effort. So at these walks we have teams of families, we have law enforcement teams and teams from schools and community organizations. It really takes everybody in the community to come together, in order for us to work to make sure our communities are safer.”

There’s still time to sign up for the Branford Walk Like MADD event as a walker, team captain, or sponsor. Registration per walker is $25 for adults, $20 under age 18, free for ages four and under. Fundraising above and beyond the registration fee is encouraged. Advance registrants receive a Walk Like MADD T-shirt and can put their team online to track fundraising at www.walklikemadd.org/branford. Even if you can’t attend, you can participate by making a donation to a walker or team online, or even signing up as a “virtual walker,” said Roy.

“We’re also still seeking corporate sponsors for the Branford Walk,” said Roy.

In the 23 years since their mother’s death, MADD CT has made great some great strides in the fight to end drunk driving, said Lettieri. Gains include lowering the state’s legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit, putting the Ignition Interlock Device (IID) law in place (July 2015), and now a new law which allows judges to take child endangerment into account when someone is arrested for driving drunk with a child as a passenger.

The IDD law requires drivers charged with operating under the influence to install what is essentially a Breathalyzer on the ignition; with use required after a second offense. Drivers need to exhale into a tube connected to the IID. If the driver’s BAC exceeds .025, the vehicle won’t start.

“When our mother was killed, the BAC was 1.0. In the nearly 23 years since, we’ve lowered it to .08; put in IID and passed the child endangerment law. The stepping stones that have been made in the years that we have been involved have been huge,” said Lettieri. “But are we done? No. But we’re getting there — through our education, through our youth programs, through awareness and fundraising.”

The problem still looms, however. MADD CT Executive Director Janice Heggie Margolis said new statistics show the state experienced an unexpected spike in drunk driving fatalities in 2015.

“In Connecticut, it’s significant to note 97 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in 2014, and in 2015, six more than that (103) were killed,” said Heggie Margolis. “So as hard as MADD works to educate about this 100 percent preventable crime, people are continuing to drink and drive.”

The message will be carried to walkers across the state at each of the four Walk Like MADD 2016 events, including Branford, said Heggie Margolis.

“We will be talking about the increase in fatalities. It should be going down; it’s consistently gone down, and this year’s we’ve had a spike,” she said.

Back in 1993, Heggie Margolis was the MADD CT member who delivered red ribbons to Coppola’s funeral, at Lettieri’s request, to help raise awareness about the need to end drunk driving.

“I thought people would tie the ribbons on their car after her services,” said Lettieri. “They tied them on their arms, as a symbol of support. That’s when our journey started at MADD.”

“The sisters and their family got behind MADD before, and more than ever after, the day of that event,” said Heggie Margolis. “And everything the three sisters have done in honor of Julia to assist MADD’s mission has been in celebration. It’s meaningful, poignant and sad; but all of their family and friends have been there to support them from the beginning, and a lot of it has been celebratory. They’ve held dinners, tree plantings, fashion shows — these folks, from the moment Julia was killed, have never stopped supporting MADD. That’s really huge.”

Back in 1993, Heggie Margolis was also the Coppola family’s MADD Victim Advocate. Funds raised through efforts including Walk Like MADD help continue to provide free Victim Advocates to assist families as the navigate the criminal justice system. Today, MADD CT has three Victim Advocates, working full time to assist victim’s families, said Heggie Margolis.

“The funding that we raise at walks like this helps us to provide services in the criminal justice system, at no cost, to over 600 families a year. So that’s just a small piece of it. We work in schools every day of the week; we’re in the courts, we’re up at the legislature. And if that isn’t quite enough, we’re educating our law enforcement officers about how to use ignition interlocks, we’re talking to them about the child endangerment legislation, we offer them a death notification training program,” said Heggie Margolis. “These are all things that we provide to the community; but most people don’t have a clue about what we do. And unfortunately, until you’re affected by a drunk driving crash, you probably won’t. That’s why it’s so important to tell people what we do, with this money that we raise.”