June 19, 2024 • 10 mins
Live from the Travelers Championship: Interview with Luke Roux Foundation
Carri and Steve Roux honor their son Luke, killed in a drunk driving incident. Hoping to create awareness and save lives though conversation.
Carri and Steve Roux honor their son Luke, killed in a drunk driving incident. Hoping to create awareness and save lives though conversation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi her communities. We are liveat the Travelers Championship Birdie's Fred Charity ten
by Webster Bank, next to themini golf course in the fan zone,
where every charity a part of Birdi'sFred Charity through end of play earns an
extra fifteen percent of every dollar donate. Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Right go to Travelers Championship dot com, click on Birdiees for charity, scroll
through, pick one, pick more, pick some that resonate with you,
(00:22):
and you're going to be making ahuge difference in the lives of these charities
here in our state and beyond.Now one of those charities that's going to
benefit is the Lukeroof Foundation. AndI'm here with Carrie and Steve Ruth.
Thank you for being here today.Thank you so much much for having us.
Absolutely. Now, for those thatmay not know about the Lukeroof Foundation,
(00:42):
please tell us who was Luke andhow can we help and what is
your mission? Absolutely, Luke Lukeru is our is our son who was
killed by a drunk driver almost twoyears ago, and we created this foundation
to reduce fatalities caused by impaired drivingtoday and eliminate them tomorrow through three pillars.
(01:07):
And those three pillars are education,which is public awareness, policy change
at the local, state and federallevels, and also through technology, and
really technology we believe is going tobe the ultimate way to reduce and maybe
someday eliminate unfortunate deaths through impair driving. And for the both of you to
be sitting here today and telling thestory talking about what happened, I can't
(01:34):
put myself in your position. I, in full disclosure, was hit by
a drunk driver. Thankfully everything wasokay, but my mother tells me that
was the worst call of her lifebecause I was unconscious for two days.
Hit from behind. I was ata stop. Somebody hit me at seventy
miles an hour, had went rightthrough my staring wheel, and I know
(02:00):
what it did to my mom.But I'm here. I applaud you,
and I know people listening to thisinterview are going to be amazed by your
strength, which is probably not thesame level every day, I would imagine,
but on behalf of everybody for youtalking about Luke and getting this word
out and raising awareness. I justwanted to say thank you because it can't
(02:23):
be easy. No it's not,but you know our grief and pain will
never go away, but we arealso it's important to us that other people
don't have to go through it,and so that's why we are doing what
we're doing. How can people donateor help? What are some of your
(02:46):
needs that we can share. Someof the initiatives we're doing right now are
more focused on awareness and education.So one thing that we have done for
the past last two years, ifwe are supported the Safegrad Project graduation parties
(03:06):
or events that high schools have ongraduation night to keep the kids in a
safe alcohol drug theory environment. Andso we've worked with a couple of those
committees to provide ride share gift cardsfor them as for them to always have
that on their phone in their pocketin case they do come into a situation
(03:27):
where they need a safe way home. So not only do we give them
that ride share gift card, wealso share Luke's story and the importance of
not obviously driving and pair, butalso not letting your friends or anyone drive
impaired. Well. We're still inthe midst of the worst one hundred days
of fatalities for youth and underage drinkingor underage driving well, under the influence
(03:51):
of anything these days, right,So it's mind boggling in twenty twenty four,
with everything that's at everyone's fingertips,that these accidents, which are not
many things are one hundred percent preventable, but driving while under the influence,
it is one hundred percent preventable.Absolutely, And you never know. You
could be saying yourself, I'm justgoing five feet right, you never know.
(04:14):
I mean in the headlines we heardabout justin Timber, like Big Star
right in the Hampton's driving while underthe influence. I don't there's no reason.
Thankfully nobody was hurt, but it'sjust like you hear these stories and
you see these people only had oneor two right, or more whatever the
case is, or I just wantto go home. You don't realist until
you hear stories such as yours thatthere's a real there's other people that are
(04:39):
affected by all of this. Iwant you to take a moment and put
your notes down and tell me aboutLuke. You know, it's funny because
I get asked this question a lot, and it's hard. It's hard to
talk about him because you know,he was one of our boys. So
what I thought to do was andof course if I describe him, you
(05:00):
know, he'd be, you know, the perfect son, as you know
most mothers or parents you know wouldsay, or you know, wonderful.
But so what I did was II printed out a couple of quotes that
other people have told us about.Oh, I'd love to hear him.
This is part of the presentation thatI've done when I've talked to students,
(05:25):
I've included this as well. ButI'll just read one where this came from
a friend of his and he said, I honestly believe he was as close
to a perfect person as humanly possible. In the classroom, during hockey,
or even just at the lunch table, Luke always made the people around him
better. Luke also made me striveto be a better person to try to
(05:46):
emulate him. And through his hardworking attitude and kind heart, I know
he would have gone on to doamazing things. So in honor of Luke,
in honor of this foundation, inhonor of saving lives more lives in
his his name, I would imaginehe would be be pretty proud of you.
(06:09):
Would he be embarrassed of you doingall this? Would he like all
the embarrassed he would because he wasquite humble and he did not ever want
to be the center of attention.So you you're going on the national iHeartRadio
podcast platform. You're about to beput on the cover of eleven radio stations
in the state of Connecticut. It'sthe summer. We have stations like Kiss
(06:30):
ninety five seven, Casey one ohone, Country ninety two five, the
River. We have stations that arein his demographic. We have stations that
have parents. You know, maybeyou know what We have all these ears
that are here with you right now. You have a platform to say a
message right now. Maybe Steve,what would that message be? Well,
(06:50):
as I mentioned before, with ourthree pillars, you know, the first
is education, which Carrie and theteam are doing a great job with today.
This is part of that communication andmessage. Policy change takes time.
Technology will take even longer. ButI will say this that the reason why
we need to implement technology changes isbecause technology continues to improve. Our decision
(07:15):
making as humans when we're impaired isnever going to improve. And the justin
Timberlake, the example is a perfectone. Right. He has all the
resources available to him that he couldhire his driver to come pick him up.
But once you start drinking, ifyou don't have a plan to get
home, you are going to putyourself and others in danger. And our
(07:38):
ask today, the thing that everyonecan do today is to make those plans
before you have your hand. Gohave a great time. So thank you
for letting us share that with youtoday. It's truly my honor. How
can people get more information about theLuke Roof Foundation? Where can we go?
The Luke Groof Foundation is on socialmedia and it's Luke Underscore roo Underscore
(08:01):
a Foundation. And we also havea website that's really easy to remember.
It's just Luke gru dot com.R o u x r o u x.
And you know, I'm I'm reallyhonored that you took the time to
I'm really honored that you took thetime to to sit here and and chat
with me, share a little bitof Luke with us. And and you
said he was one of your boys. So how many children do you have?
(08:24):
Three? There's three boys? Yeah, and how how are they doing?
Oh, when he was the youngest, and how are the the two
other kids? They're doing the bestthey can? Yeah, yeah, are
they helping spread the messages as well? They're they're they're bye by their actions,
right, that's true. Helping tospread the message. Yeah, these
these accidents don't need to happen inthis day and age. You know,
I always when I go to eventsand parties, I'm my my official title
(08:48):
Director of Community Access right, andeverybody wants to buy me a drink when
I come into an event or whatever. And sometimes I've taken to just holding
a glass and oh, I've gotone, I've got one. I've gotten
But that I think to myself,I go, why, in this day
and age, can I just sayI'm not drinking because I am driving home,
you know what, And my titlewould not look good splash across you
know, the newspapers, especially ifI heard somebody or worse right, or
(09:09):
if I get hurt or worse like, I don't want that to do that
to to my mother or to familymembers or two siblings or too to what
have you. And it just seemsso you know, it seems so elementary
to say don't don't do this andthat. And that is another thing that
we've done is we've sponsored events asthe designator, the driver sponsor. And
(09:30):
you know, if you if yousee the name and you know the story
that might make you think more thantwice to not drive after you've had a
drink or two. So care ifyou wouldn't mind, just give everybody your
website once again. Website is Lukel u k E rue r o u
X. That's just one word dotcom all right, Well, thank you
both so much for being here.I wish you continued success. Lots of
(09:50):
love to your two boys you havewith you and Luke, who I know
is watching down and I'm sure veryproud of his parents and putting some safety
over you all as well. Sothank you for being here. Thank you
for the opportunity to share the work.
Hi her communities. We are liveat the Travelers Championship Birdie's Fred Charity ten
by Webster Bank, next to themini golf course in the fan zone,
where every charity a part of Birdi'sFred Charity through end of play earns an
extra fifteen percent of every dollar donate. Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Right go to Travelers Championship dot com, click on Birdiees for charity, scroll
through, pick one, pick more, pick some that resonate with you,
(00:22):
and you're going to be making ahuge difference in the lives of these charities
here in our state and beyond.Now one of those charities that's going to
benefit is the Lukeroof Foundation. AndI'm here with Carrie and Steve Ruth.
Thank you for being here today.Thank you so much much for having us.
Absolutely. Now, for those thatmay not know about the Lukeroof Foundation,
(00:42):
please tell us who was Luke andhow can we help and what is
your mission? Absolutely, Luke Lukeru is our is our son who was
killed by a drunk driver almost twoyears ago, and we created this foundation
to reduce fatalities caused by impaired drivingtoday and eliminate them tomorrow through three pillars.
(01:07):
And those three pillars are education,which is public awareness, policy change
at the local, state and federallevels, and also through technology, and
really technology we believe is going tobe the ultimate way to reduce and maybe
someday eliminate unfortunate deaths through impair driving. And for the both of you to
be sitting here today and telling thestory talking about what happened, I can't
(01:34):
put myself in your position. I, in full disclosure, was hit by
a drunk driver. Thankfully everything wasokay, but my mother tells me that
was the worst call of her lifebecause I was unconscious for two days.
Hit from behind. I was ata stop. Somebody hit me at seventy
miles an hour, had went rightthrough my staring wheel, and I know
(02:00):
what it did to my mom.But I'm here. I applaud you,
and I know people listening to thisinterview are going to be amazed by your
strength, which is probably not thesame level every day, I would imagine,
but on behalf of everybody for youtalking about Luke and getting this word
out and raising awareness. I justwanted to say thank you because it can't
(02:23):
be easy. No it's not,but you know our grief and pain will
never go away, but we arealso it's important to us that other people
don't have to go through it,and so that's why we are doing what
we're doing. How can people donateor help? What are some of your
(02:46):
needs that we can share. Someof the initiatives we're doing right now are
more focused on awareness and education.So one thing that we have done for
the past last two years, ifwe are supported the Safegrad Project graduation parties
(03:06):
or events that high schools have ongraduation night to keep the kids in a
safe alcohol drug theory environment. Andso we've worked with a couple of those
committees to provide ride share gift cardsfor them as for them to always have
that on their phone in their pocketin case they do come into a situation
(03:27):
where they need a safe way home. So not only do we give them
that ride share gift card, wealso share Luke's story and the importance of
not obviously driving and pair, butalso not letting your friends or anyone drive
impaired. Well. We're still inthe midst of the worst one hundred days
of fatalities for youth and underage drinkingor underage driving well, under the influence
(03:51):
of anything these days, right,So it's mind boggling in twenty twenty four,
with everything that's at everyone's fingertips,that these accidents, which are not
many things are one hundred percent preventable, but driving while under the influence,
it is one hundred percent preventable.Absolutely, And you never know. You
could be saying yourself, I'm justgoing five feet right, you never know.
(04:14):
I mean in the headlines we heardabout justin Timber, like Big Star
right in the Hampton's driving while underthe influence. I don't there's no reason.
Thankfully nobody was hurt, but it'sjust like you hear these stories and
you see these people only had oneor two right, or more whatever the
case is, or I just wantto go home. You don't realist until
you hear stories such as yours thatthere's a real there's other people that are
(04:39):
affected by all of this. Iwant you to take a moment and put
your notes down and tell me aboutLuke. You know, it's funny because
I get asked this question a lot, and it's hard. It's hard to
talk about him because you know,he was one of our boys. So
what I thought to do was andof course if I describe him, you
(05:00):
know, he'd be, you know, the perfect son, as you know
most mothers or parents you know wouldsay, or you know, wonderful.
But so what I did was II printed out a couple of quotes that
other people have told us about.Oh, I'd love to hear him.
This is part of the presentation thatI've done when I've talked to students,
(05:25):
I've included this as well. ButI'll just read one where this came from
a friend of his and he said, I honestly believe he was as close
to a perfect person as humanly possible. In the classroom, during hockey,
or even just at the lunch table, Luke always made the people around him
better. Luke also made me striveto be a better person to try to
(05:46):
emulate him. And through his hardworking attitude and kind heart, I know
he would have gone on to doamazing things. So in honor of Luke,
in honor of this foundation, inhonor of saving lives more lives in
his his name, I would imaginehe would be be pretty proud of you.
(06:09):
Would he be embarrassed of you doingall this? Would he like all
the embarrassed he would because he wasquite humble and he did not ever want
to be the center of attention.So you you're going on the national iHeartRadio
podcast platform. You're about to beput on the cover of eleven radio stations
in the state of Connecticut. It'sthe summer. We have stations like Kiss
(06:30):
ninety five seven, Casey one ohone, Country ninety two five, the
River. We have stations that arein his demographic. We have stations that
have parents. You know, maybeyou know what We have all these ears
that are here with you right now. You have a platform to say a
message right now. Maybe Steve,what would that message be? Well,
(06:50):
as I mentioned before, with ourthree pillars, you know, the first
is education, which Carrie and theteam are doing a great job with today.
This is part of that communication andmessage. Policy change takes time.
Technology will take even longer. ButI will say this that the reason why
we need to implement technology changes isbecause technology continues to improve. Our decision
(07:15):
making as humans when we're impaired isnever going to improve. And the justin
Timberlake, the example is a perfectone. Right. He has all the
resources available to him that he couldhire his driver to come pick him up.
But once you start drinking, ifyou don't have a plan to get
home, you are going to putyourself and others in danger. And our
(07:38):
ask today, the thing that everyonecan do today is to make those plans
before you have your hand. Gohave a great time. So thank you
for letting us share that with youtoday. It's truly my honor. How
can people get more information about theLuke Roof Foundation? Where can we go?
The Luke Groof Foundation is on socialmedia and it's Luke Underscore roo Underscore
(08:01):
a Foundation. And we also havea website that's really easy to remember.
It's just Luke gru dot com.R o u x r o u x.
And you know, I'm I'm reallyhonored that you took the time to
I'm really honored that you took thetime to to sit here and and chat
with me, share a little bitof Luke with us. And and you
said he was one of your boys. So how many children do you have?
(08:24):
Three? There's three boys? Yeah, and how how are they doing?
Oh, when he was the youngest, and how are the the two
other kids? They're doing the bestthey can? Yeah, yeah, are
they helping spread the messages as well? They're they're they're bye by their actions,
right, that's true. Helping tospread the message. Yeah, these
these accidents don't need to happen inthis day and age. You know,
I always when I go to eventsand parties, I'm my my official title
(08:48):
Director of Community Access right, andeverybody wants to buy me a drink when
I come into an event or whatever. And sometimes I've taken to just holding
a glass and oh, I've gotone, I've got one. I've gotten
But that I think to myself,I go, why, in this day
and age, can I just sayI'm not drinking because I am driving home,
you know what, And my titlewould not look good splash across you
know, the newspapers, especially ifI heard somebody or worse right, or
(09:09):
if I get hurt or worse like, I don't want that to do that
to to my mother or to familymembers or two siblings or too to what
have you. And it just seemsso you know, it seems so elementary
to say don't don't do this andthat. And that is another thing that
we've done is we've sponsored events asthe designator, the driver sponsor. And
(09:30):
you know, if you if yousee the name and you know the story
that might make you think more thantwice to not drive after you've had a
drink or two. So care ifyou wouldn't mind, just give everybody your
website once again. Website is Lukel u k E rue r o u
X. That's just one word dotcom all right, Well, thank you
both so much for being here.I wish you continued success. Lots of
(09:50):
love to your two boys you havewith you and Luke, who I know
is watching down and I'm sure veryproud of his parents and putting some safety
over you all as well. Sothank you for being here. Thank you
for the opportunity to share the work.
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