National Overdose Awareness Night draws a crowd

Hundreds filled Foster Park to celebrate recovery, remember those who fell to addiction

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It was a night of memories, celebration, and renewed resolve.

National Overdose Awareness Night was observed in Kokomo on Aug. 31 with an event in Foster Park spearheaded by Turning Point System of Care. Dozens of non-profit organizations, businesses, and healthcare providers set up informational booths, while attendees enjoyed a cookout and live music from DJ Pugh.

While the event took on many aspects of a celebration, it also served as a vigil and a memorial for those victimized by addiction. According to Turning Point System of Care board member Paul Wyman, the night demonstrates how the local community is unifying around the problems of addiction and mental illness.

 “This event has two-fold meaning,” said Wyman. “One is this is an opportunity for our recovery community to come out and be together and have an opportunity to grieve those who have lost their lives to addiction. Through that grieving, we want to create hope that there is a better tomorrow.

“The second aspect of this is, by coming out and having the event in public in a park, it really helps break down the stigma and bring awareness to the overdose crisis in our country. Anytime we can bring awareness and have people come alongside us at an event like this, that’s the big win and that’s when things start happening.

“When you look at the incredible partnerships between local government, non-profits, the private sector, churches. Just go down the list and look at the partners that have gathered around this. It’s no wonder the people in our recovery community have so much hope.”

Sherry Rayl, Director of Community Development and Marketing at Turning Point System of Care, explained that National Overdose Awareness Night was created in 2017 in response to the record number of deaths caused by addiction. The next year, Turning Point was founded in Howard County.

“And both have just grown since then,” said Rayl. “We had about 300 attend last year.”

Rayl explained that the local community has been hit hard once again this year by the tragedy that follows addiction, which made this year’s event even more important.

“With the number of suicides going up, we will address that tonight as well,” said Rayl. “The numbers in the second quarter went way up, and it was very young people – mid-20s to 30s. It’s important that we address these issues publicly, one, to break the stigma, and two, to share that felonies don’t define futures. We want to let people know that these people matter. It’s important to make sure everybody is included in the conversation.”