International Overdose Awareness Day is next week, and a group of community members will be back at the Mary Street Centre to mark it.
Johan Strydom, Grief Recovery Specialist with Rising Above, an Indigenous initiated and governed charity says the Aug. 31 event aims to raise awareness about overdoses, and how preventable they are.
“On that day we also try to remember the people that have suffered as a result of overdose. Either people that passed away or those who sustained a permanent injury, and then the loved ones that have been left behind because of a fatal overdose,” he says.
Strydom says the event started two years ago when a few community members came to him and asked if they could do something in Parry Sound for Overdose Awareness Day. The group then decided to get a few paint stir-sticks, paint them white and invite the public to write their loved one’s name or a message on there and then plant them at the Mary St. Center in the in the ground.
“On the 31st of August we will be at the Mary Street Center on James St. from 9:30 until 2:00 in the afternoon to plant sticks. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we will also have buckets with sticks at different locations in Parry Sound including the Friendship Centre, The Salvation Army Food Bank, Bendigo, Mary St. Center and the Canadian Mental Health Association,” he says.
Strydom says people are welcome to write a message or name of somebody that they’ve lost to an overdose and just leave it in the bucket, which they pick up and plant at the end of the day, adding they’ll be available on Thursday during the main event.
“This will be our third year that we’re doing it and it has been amazing. We see a lot of people coming by sharing their stories and and putting names on sticks. Last year we had a request from some children that came and said they were worried about a family member that is in an addictive lifestyle, and asked if they could put their names down,” he says.
Strydom says as a result, this year the group will have some stones available for anyone with somebody they’re worried about. He says people can write a name or message on one of these stones and the group has permission to put it in the garden at the Mary St. Centre as an ongoing prayer for them.
Strydom invites the community to come out on Thursday and share their story. “It really brings healing to share your stories and this community has suffered for many years now with a lot of hurt and so please come join us,” he says.