doingitforjon.com

For the families who carry
what can't be put down.

The Jon Baenziger Foundation walks alongside families who have lost someone to overdose — because grief shared is grief made bearable.

♥  Support a family today

About Jon

Jon Baenziger with a child on his shoulders
Jon Baenziger smiling

He had a laugh that lit up the room.

Jonathan Baenziger was born July 25, 1991 — a son, a brother, a friend. If you were around Jon, you were laughing. He'd laugh at just about anything, and his laugh had a way of pulling everyone else in. That was Jon.

Like so many families, ours knows the particular heartbreak of loving someone through addiction. We lost Jon in 2020 — not to who he was, but to what found him. This foundation is our way of keeping his spirit alive and making sure other families don't walk that road alone.

BornJuly 25, 1991
Passed2020
FoundationEst. 2024

In his own words

A man of deep feeling
and quiet courage.

Jon kept a diary. Inside its pages you find someone who carried enormous pain and guilt — but also someone who was fighting, hoping, and reaching toward the people he loved. This is who he was.

Jon's handwritten diary entry, September 2012

Jon's diary  ·  September 2012

Transcription

Sept 2012 "Today I feel helpless or something. I just want everything to be ok. I need to stay away from negative people and people who aren't good for me but it's hard. I don't know what to say to my family. I have caused them so much harm. I hope one day they will forgive me."

Jon wrote these words eight years before we lost him. He was a man who felt everything deeply — the guilt, the love for his family, the desperate wish for things to be different.

He wasn't defined by his addiction. He was defined by moments like this one: honest, vulnerable, and still holding onto hope.

We share this because we know there are families out there who recognize these words. Who have seen this same struggle in someone they love. You are not alone — and neither was Jon.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." — Hebrews 11:1
Written at the bottom of the very page Jon signed.

Our Mission

"Grief shared is grief made bearable."

The Jon Baenziger Foundation provides compassionate support to families who have lost a loved one to overdose. We believe healing happens in community — through shared stories, steady presence, and resources that help families find solid ground again.

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Community

Connecting grieving families with others who truly understand what this loss feels like

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Support

Compassionate guidance, counseling resources, and a steady presence through the hardest days

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Hope

Honoring those we've lost by walking alongside those still here — doing it for Jon