Chicago Heights Hosts Candle Light Vigil to Mark Overdose Awareness Day
Chicago Heights’s City Hall will be a host site for an International Overdose Awareness Day event on August 28 that will include, among other activities, a candle light vigil to recognize those around the globe and at home who have fallen victim to a drug overdose death in 2020.
“Each year we lose hundreds of thousands of people from drug overdose globally, and Chicago Heights is not immune. You may have seen it; it has happened to people around you,” said Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez. “International Overdose Awareness Day provides an opportunity for us to reflect on practical ways to prevent overdose in our community, and by knowing the real facts about drugs and what to do when we see someone experiencing an overdose we can save lives.”
An estimated 585,000 people died internationally as a result of drug use in 2017, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s ‘World Drug Report 2020’. In Illinois, in 2019, there were 2,687 overdose deaths. Deaths rose to 3,511 in 2020, a jump of 30.7%. And in Cook County alone there 1,272 opioid-related deaths in 2019 and a record 2,000 in 2020, Gonzalez noted.
Chicago Heights’s event, “Light Up the Heights in Purple,” is being organized by the #breanalandproject’s Aisha Betancourt, a Chicago Heights resident. Betancourt’s daughter, BreAna, died of an overdose in 2019, and the #breanalandproject, which raises awareness of the risks of substance use, aims to honor her daughter’s life. Betancourt manages a #breanalandproject support group on Facebook.
The city hall outdoor event, which begins at 6:00 p.m., will feature an outdoor informational video playing on a loop and purple substance use resource folders will be handed out to each car that passes through that will contain important health care and support services information.
A 22-minute candle light vigil will cap off the event.
“To remember and honor those who we lost, we will give out a taper candle to the first 50 adults who would like to stand with us for 22 minutes of a silent vigil starting at 8:00 p.m.” said Betancourt. “We will also recognize those who remain in the fight against substance use disorder.”
International Overdose Awareness Day is a global event held on August 31 each year and aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death.
Chicago Heights City Hall is located at 1601 Chicago Road.
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