Butler remembers lives lost to overdoses
Sixty-five bell tolls chimed at Calvary Church’s Grace Wellness Center, proclaiming the number of overdose deaths in Butler County last year.
The church on East Diamond Street was quiet ahead of the commemorative event on International Overdose Awareness Day on Thursday, Aug. 31. Light streamed in through the stained-glass windows and people, some holding pictures of loved ones, filled the pews.
“Every number has a face, every number has a name, every number has a story,” Pastor David Janz said. As he numbered each life lost this year, people rose from the pews to write the name of a friend or family member on a memorial tree canvas.
An open mic was available, and people were invited to share the stories of their loved ones and talk openly about their grief.
“If anything else was killing people at this rate, there would be outrage; people would be screaming,” said Sammi Confer, who shared she is 1,441 days sober.
Framed photographs of her friend Lauren, a mother of two who died of an overdose at 26, and Tammie, the mother of a friend who died of overdose at 62, sat on a table showing pictures of her family members and friends who lost their lives to addiction.
Overdose is wiping out an entire generation, Confer said.
“ (Overdose) is killing people that could have been artists … that could have been poets,” she said. “Every number is a name and we are their voices.”
Melissa Ofchinick, who sat in one of the pews, held up a small photograph of her son, Dustin Scott. It was slightly worn around the edges, and she folded it and folded it again throughout the service. Her son was 27 when he died of an overdose on Aug. 11, she said.
“He was a good-hearted, loving, kind soul, and the drug overtook him,” Ofchinick said. “There weren’t enough resources. He had mental health issues too. I’m just overwhelmed right now.”
“You know, just because he was on drugs doesn’t make him a bad person.” she said. “His life matters … there’s a stigma. Like, ‘They’re junkies. They don’t matter.’”
The stigma has got to go, said Mary Conner of Clarion County.
She addressed the crowd as a guest speaker, sharing the story of her son Michael, who died of an overdose at 26 in 2020.
Michael loved his little sister, she said. He enjoyed playing video games and was a sensitive soul who struggled with his mental health, she said. The weekend he died in his bedroom at home, he texted his mother with plans for the next day. Her son had had a dark weekend, Conner said, he just wanted to escape.
The dealer who sold him the drugs that killed him is still walking the streets, she said. She added that addiction doesn’t discriminate.
“Every one of you is one injury, one crisis away from being in the same place,” Conner said. “As long as I live and breathe, (my son) will never be forgotten.”
Following the speakers on Thursday evening, people processed on Main Street, holding candles in remembrance of their loved ones. Afterward, they joined together for a plaque dedication at the Grace Wellness Center.
