‘You’re not alone’: Woman forms nonprofit after daughter dies from overdose

The mother of a woman who overdosed and died in Catawba County started a nonprofit to help people in the community.

Parents who lost daughter to drug overdose hold event to warn others

There have been more than 37,000 overdose deaths since 2000 in North Carolina. In 2022, the state averaged nearly 12 deaths every day.

Leslie Hulbert, of Maiden, said her daughter Malorie died after overdosing last year in a car in a parking lot in Claremont.

Malorie was 36. She left behind three children after fighting her substance use disorder for years.

“I prayed every night, ‘God, I don’t ever want to get this call. Just protect her. Save her. Deliver her,’” Hulbert said. “And I got that call. I wasn’t immune from that call.”

A year later, Hulbert started to help others by offering peer support groups for families suffering from addiction while also assisting children who have lost loved ones. Hulbert and her husband are raising Malorie’s children and have seen that impact first-hand.

The community has supported her endeavors through donations for Malorie’s Place .

“We’ve had outpouring from the community from monetary to children’s stuff,” Hulbert said. “I’m just overwhelmed. Every day there is something different.”

Hulbert isn’t a therapist but said she knows how to guide people on how to find resources to battle addiction. She also helps grieving families.

Hulbert hopes her efforts will help families who are unsure where to turn next.

“I feel by helping other people -- by what I’ve been through and by what she had been through, and to be that voice -- that there is hope. You’re not alone,” she said.

Hulbert is planning an open house for Malorie’s Place along South Main Street next week.

The services she provides will be free to the public.

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