Members of St. John´s met at the church Monday and set up the crosses, one for each person who died of an opioid overdoes in 2017. They will be up for around a week at which point other churches may take them up and display them across the county.

EVANS CITY — Borough residents saw the return of white shirts on wooden crosses at St. John’s United Church of Christ this week, set up to honor the victims of the opioid epidemic and offering support to survivors.

Members of St. John’s met at the church Monday and set up the crosses, one for each person who died of an opioid overdoes in 2017.

They will be up for around a week, at which point other churches may take them up and display them across the county.

The T-shirts affixed to the crosses each list a person’s gender and date of death due to an opioid overdose.

The church first raised the crosses last year after church members learned more about the epidemic and wanted to do something to help.

Griffin said other than a few people who called to say they found the display troubling, nearly all of the feedback was encouraging.

A full story will appear in the Butler Eagle.