GREENFIELD — The opioid painkiller and heroin addiction epidemic continues to deepen statewide, and with it comes mounting overdose deaths — at least 1,500 last year, according to the most recent state figures.
The RECOVER Project, a peer-based recovery and support center in Greenfield that’s been on the frontlines throughout the crisis here, will hold its second annual candlelight vigil in the Miles Street Energy Park July 30 to remember local people who’ve lost their lives to addiction.
Participants are asked to meet at the RECOVER Project on Federal Street at 1:30 p.m. They’ll walk as a group to the vigil, which starts at 2 p.m. with music from Special K.
Heather Taylor, a RECOVER Project member who helps plan events, said the vigil rose from a series of overdoses in quick succession last year among members of the recovery community.
“We had three or four overdoses within a little over a week. We’re in the middle of an opioid epidemic, and that hit home for us, so we wanted to come together as a community,” Taylor said.
She said the event was well-attended, and this year the organization felt like it was time for another.
“We really brought community together, and we thought it necessary to have another one,” Taylor said. “There are so many people that don’t realize how significant overdose and addiction are, and we need to put it out on the forefront so people see it’s a real thing, it’s really happening and we need real change.”
Taylor said officers from the Greenfield Police Department will secure the roadway, allowing the vigil attendees to march to the event.