BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – The Raleigh County Prevention Coalition was host to an International Overdose Awareness Day event at the Art Park near uptown Beckley.
A free, community-wide rally was held in support of raising awareness to lives lost to overdoses. The event started with a Walk to Raise Awareness hosted by Active Southern West Virginia.
There were nearly 30 on-hand community resources, giveaways, guest speakers, music, hot meals, drug awareness training, a candlelight vigil, and a special memorial wall for people to add photos of their loved ones lost to overdose.
“We lost 93,000 people in our country last year, I think at this point in time it’s safe to say we’ve all been affected one way or the other, and so we need to reach out and let people know that we do not want to keep losing lives, we want to try to help, and offer treatment and recovery to people,” says Event Chair Donna Eleo.
In addition, those who had lost loved ones to drug overdose were invited to bring a pair of shoes to donate to a local recovery program.
