Family and friends were invited to write messages of remembrance and hope on the memorial wall at Westfield’s Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
WESTFIELD — Families and friends gathered to remember their loved ones lost to overdose at the Elm Street Plaza on Overdose Awareness Day, Aug. 31.
“We’re here to honor the lives of those we lost,” said Jessica Lincoln, director of the Westfield Peer Recovery Center, one of the organizers, along with Gabby Nardacci of Tapestry Health and Hunter Pelkey, Westfield’s substance use coordinator.
Many other community organizations were present to share naloxone and overdose response information, peer support and recovery connections, treatment and referral, grief support and community care.
“We chose a puzzle piece as the symbol for tonight’s event,” said Lincoln at the start of the program. “Every person is a piece of something bigger. Sometimes people struggling can feel they no longer fit. Every piece matters. One connection can be the reason someone gets another chance,” she added, pointing to a table with blank puzzle pieces on which family members could write a message or someone’s name.
One group of friends there, in memory of their loved ones, was wearing T-shirts from a national Walk for Life that one of them had participated in earlier this year. On the back of the T-shirts were the names of those they had lost.
Mindy and Chris Provencher talked about Mindy’s son, Austin Wise, who died in Westfield in 2023. “Forever 25,” Provencher said about Austin. She said two of the people listed on the back of her shirt were cousins; the others were friends and friends of friends.
Wendy Godin of Westfield held up a photo of her son Zachary Saunders, who passed away in 2020. “Today, August 31 is his birthday,” she said.
“I try to find as much peace as I can with this,” Godin said, holding back tears when asked if remembrances like this one were helpful. “Talking to the people, listening to the speakers, I feel drawn to this.”
Several people in recovery spoke during the program. Charles Di Rosa, program director of the Valor Recovery Center in Springfield, said if someone had told him 12 years ago that he would be giving a message of hope, he wouldn’t have believed it.
“I know what addiction feels like; I came frighteningly close to losing myself. Today, I am 12 years clean and sober,” Di Rosa said. He said it hasn’t been about perfection but about progress and learning how to live differently.
“Being in a position where I can give back is meaningful to families who lost someone to an overdose. We’re keeping their legacy alive. We’re keeping their names alive,” Di Rosa said.
Katie P. said that after 20 years of addiction, she overdosed and was confined to a wheelchair.
“Without the lifesaving drug Naloxone, I wouldn’t be here today.” She said she had lost her father to an overdose at age 14, as well as two partners, her cousin and a good friend, but she had been saved time and time again.
“Tapestry Outreach met me where I was with harm reduction just to stay alive. Because Tapestry kept me alive, I was there when the Peer Recovery Center opened its door.” She said the center is peer-led by people who “get it,” and has become a sanctuary under Lincoln’s direction.
“Today I stand before you 1 ½ years in recovery and no longer in a wheelchair,” she said.
Another Peer Recovery Center member, Patrick H., said he is now an alcoholic in recovery, clean and sober for nine months. Still, last November he was in a homeless encampment in Westfield.
“I’m learning how to face things one day at a time, one hour at a time, who I am without alcohol and drugs being the center of my life. I have people around me helping me get through it,” he said, talking about the center and Nardacci of Tapestry Health. “When you have nowhere to go, having someone say ‘come in, sit down, you’re welcome here’ helps you more than you can know.”
Patrick said he recently lost his brother, Greg, to addiction. “I knew my brother was more than his addiction. When we don’t talk about addiction, it can be incredibly isolating,” he said, adding that he was glad he got to see the old Greg a few weeks before his brother passed. “He died from an overdose on his birthday, a day that now carries two meanings for me.”
“People deserve the opportunity to survive their worst day until they’re ready,” Patrick said. “As long as someone is alive, there is still a possibility.”
The evening ended with the lighting of candles and a moment of silence. Anyone with questions may call Tapestry Health Harm Reduction at 413-241-5379, Westfield Recovery Center at 413-507-0787 or Westfield’s substance use coordinator at 413-572-6334.
