Special Event To Be Held In Recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day
On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, from 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Greene County Public Health (GCPH) and Be Hope Church will host “Heartbreak, Hope & Healing,” a collaborative, community event celebrating International Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Awareness Month in Greene County. This interactive event will include a free meal for all attendees, a health resource fair featuring free naloxone, a Celebrate Recovery meeting, and guest speakers who will discuss their experience with losing a loved one to an unintentional overdose.
"We are excited to host an event with Celebrate Recovery for a second year. This year, our focus is to honor Ohio Overdose Awareness Day by having two speakers who will discuss their experience with losing a loved one to an unintentional overdose. We hope that sharing their story will help others who are healing from their heartbreak," said Melody Kingsley, Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone) and SafeTrade (Syringe Services Program) Coordinator with Greene County Public Health.
Project DAWN, a part of the Ohio Department of Health, offers educational materials and free naloxone distribution (Narcan®). Founded in 2012, there are over 100 locations of Project Dawn in Ohio.
Following the Celebrate Recovery meeting, two special speakers will join the stage to discuss their powerful and very personal stories about Opioid Use Disorder.
One of the evening’s guests is Molly Cruz. Molly has over four years in recovery and is a survivor of human trafficking. The last 3 years she has been doing radical, boots on the ground outreach to supply Narcan and other harm reduction supplies to areas hardest hit by this crisis. She is now a Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist, and a certified harm reduction specialist in Franklin County. “I am so honored and grateful to be a chosen speaker at this event. I have always loved the CR meeting at Be Hope and have been on their stage before. This topic is so important to me as I have lost my son’s father to an overdose”, said Cruz.
The other featured guest is Christina Daley. She was a working mother of three children, 8, 10 and 21, when she got the call her oldest child, Blake, had died from fentanyl poisoning. Christina is a native of Ohio, a hairstylist, and devoted wife and mother. After her son died, she decided that her way of healing is to tell her son’s story and make people aware of the dangers of fentanyl. “Even through unimaginable loss, we can find hope and strength within us to keep going”, she said.
“Be Hope Church believes that everyone benefits from recovery and recovery awareness. We celebrate Molly and Christina, who tirelessly use their personal experience to help others make transformational changes in their lives. We are honored to host this event and invite you to join us on August 31st”, said Lisa Cary, Recovery Pastor, Be Hope Church.
This event is a collaborative effort featuring the following agencies: NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), Brightview, Families of Addicts, Sunrise Treatment Center, CareSource, TCN Behavioral Health, Her Story House, DeCoach Rehabilitation Centre, Help Me Grow, Central Outreach Wellness Center, and more.
Be Hope Church is located at 1850 N Fairfield Road, Beavercreek, Ohio 45432. “Heartbreak, Hope & Healing” will start at 5:30pm and end at 8:30pm on Wednesday evening, August 31, 2022. FREE transportation is being offered to and from this event; please call 937-426-3926.
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