GREENFIELD — In homage to those who have died due to drug overdoses or as a result of opioid addiction, The RECOVER Project will host its annual vigil on Saturday, Aug. 30.
Starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of Saint James and Andrew the day before International Overdose Awareness Day, the vigil will feature personal testimonies from those impacted by addiction, educational resources, a memorial of paper hearts to honor those who died from addiction, a reading of names and a display of purple lights.
“It’s a day designated for folks to come together and grieve our losses collectively,” said Sarah Ahern, a peer recovery coach. “This is open to all community members. If you lost somebody, come and join us. You don’t have to come and talk. You can just be in a community with other people that understand that hard process. … These are real human beings that cared about their community and so we’re remembering them.”
Ahern, who is an overdose survivor, said eight of her family members have died from fatal overdoses, along with her 26-year-old niece, who she said died in December from long-term health problems she developed as a result of her addiction.
Now in its 11th year, Ahern said The RECOVER Project’s annual vigil aims to provide overdose victims’ families and loved ones an opportunity to grieve and recognize that they are not alone. With each paper heart representing a community member who has died from addiction, Ahern said The RECOVER Project has already received roughly 40 names. She suggested that anyone who wishes to add a name to the reading can email her at endthestigma1@yahoo.com.
“It’s touched me personally, it’s impacted my family — now 10 years later, I feel like we’re living in a war zone with this, and people don’t understand that,” Ahern said. “Even though the data is saying that, you know, overdose deaths are going down, that really is an outlier.”
The state Bureau of Substance Addiction Services announced in July that Massachusetts experienced a more than 36% decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2024, and local statistics show an even larger drop. Franklin County and the North Quabbin region saw a 62.5% decrease — from 32 deaths in 2023 down to 12 in 2024, according to data from the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region.
Alongside the Greenfield vigil, communities around the state and country are gathering in observance of International Overdose Awareness Day, including Easthampton, Amherst and Northampton. A similar gathering is planned in Holyoke on Friday.
Among those who spoke at the Easthampton vigil on Monday was state Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, who serves as Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery.
Velis recalled the day his life changed — Feb. 20, 2017, when he stopped drinking and using drugs. He said if he did not stop, he would not have been speaking at the podium as a state senator.
One day, he said he hopes he can pull out his phone and not find someone in his contact list who has died from an overdose.
“I wish I can tell you that’s this year, but it’s not,” he said.
Dr. Ruth Potee, an addiction medicine physician who serves as Behavioral Health Network’s medical director for substance use disorders and has been medical director at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction since 2014, is helping to organize a vigil in Springfield on Friday. She said that although overdose prevention is a 365-day-a-year job for her, these vigils are an important and necessary recognition.
“We lose young people still every day. I spent time this week reading the obituary of a 28-year-old patient of ours who died by overdose and it’s just heartbreaking,” she said. “It’s not just heartbreaking for the loss to his family and his friends and his community, but to all of us who spent so many years providing care to people who die unnecessarily, often at young ages.”