Ashburnham man helps late friend’s son: ‘Support means showing up’

ASHBURNHAM — Town resident Joshua Page channeled his grief into action following the devastating loss of a close friend.

The businessman is mourning the passing of his “best friend in the entire world,” Derek Acker, who took his own life on Dec. 30 at the age of 54, leaving behind his wife of 22 years and four kids.

In the wake of the tragedy, Page decided to launch The Support Movement, a fundraiser he created to help support Acker’s family, specifically his friend’s oldest son Colton, “in the same way Derek always showed up for others.”

“The goal is to raise enough money to help him purchase his first vehicle,” Page said about selling T-shirts and hoodies, with the proceeds helping Colton get a car. “A reliable car means a driver’s license, some independence and the ability to move forward after a lot changed very quickly.”

He emphasized that this is not about charity, it’s about “support,” the single all-caps word that is featured on the front of the black T-shirts and hoodies. On the back it says, ‘Because none of us were meant to carry it alone.”.

“Support means showing up. Support means standing beside someone when life gets heavy. Support means stepping in when circumstances change and a young man loses the chance to do something on his own,” Page wrote in the form people can use to order them.

Every dollar raised after the cost of the T-shirts and hoodies is going to Acker’s family, with the initial goal to sell 250 of them combined.

“I’m selling hoodies and T-shirts to raise money for [Derek’s] oldest son. However, I think the message will be far bigger than I imagined,” Page said. “What I appreciate the most is the conversations that (are) happening around the word support. It’s presence without conditions, it’s staying on the phone to listen, it’s checking in with others, it’s raising money for Colton so he can afford his first vehicle. Derek was my best friend in the world and I may never have another one like him. He was my support and I will continue to help support him.”

He and Derek met back in 2018 at a men’s retreat in Florida that was being held at an old Girl Scouts camp. They were both there for a Rooftop Leadership program, a professional training and coaching organization founded by former U.S. Army Green Beret Scott Mann whose offerings focus on developing purpose, understand human behavior and mastering strategic influence and storytelling.

“There were about eight men in each bunkhouse from all over the country,” Page recalled. “The bunk beds were brutally uncomfortable, maybe five feet long, so my legs hung way off the end. The next morning one of the guys joked about my big feet being in his face all night. That was Derek.”

Later that day as they gathered under an outdoor pavilion for training, the participants were asked to write out their personal stories and told to partner up and share them with someone else.

“Derek and I partnered together. Within minutes, we were both crying and hugging as we shared our stories. That moment was the start of our friendship,” Page shared.

Derek was a general contractor from Buffalo, New York, and Page, who graduated from the electrical program at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Fitchburg in 2002, has run his own company, JP Electric and Son out of Fitchburg, for over 23 years.

“Our lives ran in parallel,” Page said of him and his best friend. “Married, young kids, tradesmen, entrepreneurs. For the past eight years we talked almost daily. Never small talk, never surface-level conversations. We talked about legacy, what true happiness really means, our marriages and of course, our kids.”

Not too long ago Page was sitting on a plane heading to Buffalo to attend Acker’s wake. He disclosed that since his friend died, he hasn’t been able get one word out of his head — support.

“It started as I tried to understand what Derek truly meant to me. Was it friendship? Communication? Having someone who understood my life? It was support,” Page said. “Derek was my male support, something I didn’t even realize I was missing until he was gone. We met at a pivotal moment in my life and attending that retreat truly changed my life.”

He shared a post on social media this past week about an encounter with one of his customers, an 82-year-old woman who sings at nursing homes.

“She told me a story about a moment that stopped her cold. While she was singing, another woman in her 80s started crying. When someone asked why, she said, ‘My daddy used to sing that song to me when I was a little girl,’” Page wrote. “That moment wasn’t about age. It was about connection.”

He was there working in her small one-bedroom apartment and followed up by asking the woman “In all your years of living, what’s the purpose of life? What is this all for?” She replied, “To be there for others. To take care of people. I think that’s what it’s for.”

“Over the years, Derek and I had hundreds, maybe thousands, of conversations about purpose and legacy,” Page continued. “…we kept coming back to legacy. To what it all meant. To what we would be remembered for. We even talked about writing our own obituaries.”

He shared in his post that he recently spoke a man in his 60s “who lost everything years ago and lives alone.”

“What keeps him going isn’t comfort or retirement. It’s his seven grandkids who call him Grandpa. And the people at work. The conversations. The feeling of being part of something,” Page wrote. “This isn’t about getting older. It’s about what keeps people alive. We don’t need a crowd. We don’t need constant conversations. Sometimes a person is just searching for acknowledgment. Not because anyone did something wrong, but because being human can feel unbearably lonely even when people care.”

He wrapped up his post by stating that “without purpose, we have nothing.”

“Without connection, purpose fades. Without hope, people disappear long before they die. And sometimes hope isn’t found in answers or fixing. It’s found in feeling recognized in a way that finally lets the heart rest.”

When he talked with Colton after his friend died and the teenager told Page he wouldn’t be able to get a truck now due to finances, Page said he knew “exactly what I needed to do.”

“I designed these hoodies and shirts with the word support screaming in my head,” Page said. “What I didn’t expect was the conversation this word would start. Support has taken on a life of its own. I truly believe this movement may be bigger than just helping Colton. If one person reads the back of that shirt and feels something, if it reminds them they don’t have to carry life alone, then this has done its job.”