GREENFIELD – Addiction can be a stigmatizing disease. Sometimes, that means those who are most in need of help could be hiding in plain sight, afraid to bring their struggle to light for fear that they’ll be judged or prosecuted.

But on Sunday, a local anti-drug abuse group, End The Stigma, Enough is Enough, hopes Greenfield residents who have been or know someone who has been affected by the ongoing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic will wear their hearts on their sleeves and join in on “Black Balloon Day,” a townwide coordinated solidarity event to bring awareness to the true extent of the problem.

Saturday and Sunday, the group will distribute black balloons to residents at the Greenfield Fire Station to be inflated and flown outside their homes. The balloons, which can be picked up for free between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. each day, are intended to identify those touched by the addiction and overdose epidemic.

The event itself, said Sarah Ahern of Amherst, the group’s founder, will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, marked by 12 tolls of the churches’ bells. At that time, she hopes residents will walk outside and take a moment to view the balloons.

“We hope they’ll step outside and take a look at all the black balloons, and realize they are not alone,” she said. “That addiction impacts everyone.”

If residents are uncomfortable coming outside, she said, they can roll up their windows instead and snap a photo of the balloons, which can be shared on social media under the hashtag #BlackBalloonDay413Edition.

At 5 p.m., Ahern said, 12 more tolls will mark the start of a candlelight vigil on the Town Common, with speakers from the Task Force and a reading of a list of names of those who have been lost to overdoses. Balloons will also be distributed then.

Ahern said the event is being held in collaboration with another local group, Help Not Hate, the RECOVER Project, the Opioid Task Force, State Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, the Greenfield Fire Department, and the Greenfield Police Department.

“The Montague Police Department will also be flying balloons in solidarity with us,” she said.

Ahern, who was raised in Greenfield, said she got the idea to plan the event after seeing a similar one in Peabody. She lost a cousin to addiction last summer, and said the shock of the event motivated her to get involved and found End The Stigma. 

“I want to bring the community together. It’s a public health epidemic and we need to fight it,” Ahern said. “It’ll be a nice time to get together and remember those we’ve lost and those still fighting the brave battle of addiction.”

You can reach Tom Relihan at: trelihan@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 264
On Twitter, follow
@RecorderTom