Edinburgh’s Walk to Remember to raise overdose awareness

In the midst of pain and sorrow, hope can be found in togetherness.

The opioid epidemic and addiction continue to claim lives and devastate families. Between 2020 and 2023, 212 people in Johnson County died from a drug overdose. Over the same period, emergency medical personnel administered 1,569 doses of naloxone to reverse an overdose.

Healing from those wounds can be hard.

But during the annual Edinburgh Walk to Remember, the community hopes to remember those who have died from overdose, end the stigma around substance use disorder and show that recovery is possible.

“When you’re in recovery, it becomes a part of you when you’re trying to help the next person. This is a way to do it on a much larger scale with a much larger platform,” said Toby Mullis, one of the walk’s organizers “This is the ultimate way to show people you love them.”

The Walk to Remember Edinburgh Overdose Awareness Walk will again bring people together to stand against addiction from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday. All are invited to the free event at Irwin Park to enjoy music, food and fellowship while hearing testimonies from those impacted by overdose and substance use disorder.

Participants will walk through the heart of Edinburgh with slogans, t-shirts and signs spelling out their mission. To close the event, people will release butterflies and say the names of those who have died from overdose.

“We were just losing too many people to this horrible disease, and we wanted to do something for these people who we have lost, and help their families with their grief,” said Missy Hogan, who helped found the event.

The first Walk to Remember event was held in 2021. With posters, t-shirts and other memorabilia, hundreds of people came to Edinburgh’s downtown to honor those they had lost to drug overdoses. They marched for mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and friends.

Hogan, who recently completed four years in recovery, was inspired to help organize the event after losing someone close to her, Sheyenne McCall, to an overdose.

The experience motivated those in recovery to plan a public display of awareness, she said.

The goal has been to offer a sense of comfort to a community rocked by overdose. Organizers are bringing the event back again this year, as Edinburgh and surrounding communities continue to struggle against substance use disorder.

The walk is organized by Recover Out Loud, an active recovery community that uses fitness, sports, social events and other activities as an integral part of the recovery process. They are open about the trials that led them to this point and share their own experiences in the community.

Since forming initially in Greensburg, the group has expanded to include gatherings in places such as Franklin, Bloomington, Seymour, Nashville and Edinburgh. A clubhouse and fitness center is established in Columbus.

Leading up to the event, organizers have reached out throughout the community to raise funds and enlist sponsors to help support the event. They hosted a spaghetti dinner, a motorcycle ride and a canoe trip to generate money to put on the walk.

“We have such an amazing group of people, these fundraisers that have helped us. They have gone above and beyond with the fundraising, because without them, we wouldn’t be able to fund this,” Mullis said. “A bunch of people in recovery put this on to help for the community because they care about people.”

The Walk to Remember will offer people an opportunity to gather in fellowship while enjoying music, a bounce house, food and ice cream. Vendors and resource tables will be set up to provide information for individuals and family members on where to get help.

“They may not know where to go if one of their loved ones is struggling with addiction or alcoholism,” Hogan said. “Having resource tables out there for people who have maybe never dealt with this before is important.”

Local residents Terri Willey and Nicky Gracious plan to share their own experiences in recovery. People can also buy special t-shirts to help support recovery efforts.

“It can help them remember their loved ones, and raise awareness for when people see you wearing the shirt,” Mullis said.

The centerpiece of the whole event will see all those gathered walk from Irwin Park through downtown Edinburgh with a motorcycle escort.

None of the walk would be possible without supporters, donors and others in the community who have been impacted by overdose and addiction. Organizers wanted to specifically thank the Edinburgh Police Department, which has put an emphasis on prevention and harm mitigation within the town.

The department is set to actively lead the Walk to Remember, something that many of those in recovery would have never anticipated.

“Personally, to have the Edinburgh Police Department, who actually arrested me, to have this relationship with them and have them lead this walk and block off the streets, who would have ever thought that?” Hogan said.

IF YOU GO

Walk to Remember — Edinburgh Overdose Awareness Walk

What: A community event to remember those who have died from overdose, as well as to provide resources and information about recovery from substance use disorder.

When: 2-6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Irwin Park, North Main Street, Edinburgh

Schedule

2-2:30 p.m.: Fellowship and mingling, resources and information

2:30-3:30 p.m.: Testimonies by Terri Willey and Nicky Gracious

3:30-4:30 p.m.: Walk

4:30-5:30 p.m.: Food and activities

5:30 p.m.: Butterfly release and reading of names