Gavin Lanes. Brandy Dagneau. Ashley Laurie. Tyler Lysk. Logan Reeve. Esca Forget. James Bentley. Nicole and Trevor Boucher. James Bennett. Jennifer Zurch. Tammy Easter. Mark Hanly. Devon Schuk. Jon Schuk. Ken Hennigar. Michael Stone. Sampson Stein. Owen Bebb. Jordon Wakelam. Cassandra Stainger. Ricky Smith. Ty Cathart. Denise Eadie. Richard Gordon. Cole Monk. Angie Smart. Chelsey Fillion. Ashley Gale. Garnet Orcutt. Brandon Smith. Melissa and Monica. Terry and Ingrid.
These are the names Willow Morgan, event co-ordinator for the Wild Women of the North Society’s International Overdose Awareness Event, read out Saturday afternoon (Aug. 31). Standing on the Friendship Stage at LeBourdais Park, Morgan read the list of people for whom this event was planned, adding “and many more people, some who have died 20, 30 times and are still struggling.”
“We have people struggling with cancer who aren’t sure how to do pain meds properly,” she said. “There are a lot of people who are affected by this opioid crisis, and that’s why we’re here today.”
The six-hour event included live entertainment, opportunities to speak with counsellor Gail Rutledge, free food, care packages and a chance to share memories about loved ones at a memorial table that was set up.
Naloxone distribution and training was also available during the event.
“We’ve been doing naloxone training for over year, and because it’s just been me, I’m kind of overwhelmed by people requesting the training, so we’ve started doing events to do [the training],” said Morgan.
During the day, they also opened the microphone up for people to share their stories.
“It was kind of a community-driven event,” said Morgan. “We wanted to do something for Overdose Awareness Day, so I kind of did a call-out to the community to see who wanted to do something. The City asked us to use the park, and Dave Beaudry volunteered to do the concert, and his dad has the sound set up here. We invited all the service agencies in town.”
Tracey Cochrane was also at the event working on a documentary.
To learn more about the Wild Women of the North Society, email wildwomenofthenorth@gmail.com.
READ MORE: Wild Women of the North Society raising funds in Quesnel
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