This past Sunday, Moving Starke County Forward hosted an event for Overdose Awareness at Wythogan Park. The event honored the community’s first responders as well as featured moving testimony from a former addict who is now working to raise awareness and promote recovery.
The event coordinator was Jordan Morris, a member of the Moving Starke County Forward Leadership Team. Morris said they wanted to include a ceremony honoring first responders because of the incredible service they provide to the community.
“Honoring first responders seemed to be something that happens less frequently than it probably should,” Morris said, “So we sent invitations to all of the departments that have individuals serving as first responders.”
Fifteen awards were presented to several different departments including the Starke County Sheriff’s Office, dispatch, EMS and local fire departments to thank them for their sacrifices and commitment to the community.
Following the award ceremony, Tiffany Witham shared her recovery story with the crowd of about 50 community members who were gathered for the event. Witham’s former probation officer approached Morris about including Tiffany as the speaker since she was three years clean this past July. Witham struggled with addiction for 6 years before recovering. It was a long, tedious process but she uses her past experiences to help raise awareness and provide recovery encouragement to addicts.
Witham said, “I understand people fear or hate what they don’t understand and there’s a lot of people that do not understand addiction. They hate addicts, they write these horrible things about them…and they need help and it’s a hard habit to break. I just want people to understand that there is hope.”
Tiffany’s full speech can be found on the Moving Starke County Forward Facebook page.
The event concluded with a candlelight vigil where individuals lit a white candle in memory of lost loved ones. International Overdose Awareness Day is Thursday August 31. Community members are encouraged to wear silver or gray on this day to show support for addiction recovery and overdose awareness.
