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Remembrance walk planned for families, friends of overdose victims
YOUNGSTOWN
When Hope Lovrinoff-Moran looked at a list of people in Mahoning County who died from drug overdoses since April 1, 2015, the name at the top hit her like a slap in the face, she said.
Donald “Donny” LoGiudice, 28, died April 2, 2015, of a drug overdose, less than a day after his father picked him up from a rehabilitation center. LoGiudice was a friend of Lovrinoff-Moran’s daughter’s, and the reminder of his death stung.
It’s a sting – or, more likely, a stab – of pain that LoGiudice’s parents feel on a daily basis, his father, of the same name, told The Vindicator. He and Donny’s mother, Loretta, faced an acute reminder of their loss this week, when Donny would have turned 30.
On Saturday, the LoGiudices and Lovrinoff-Moran will be among the family members and friends of overdose victims who will gather to remember those they lost, and educate community members about drug addiction.
Ohio Change Addiction Now Mahoning County will host its first “Steps of Change” event from noon to 5 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown, 1105 Elm St., across from Wick Park. Other Ohio C.A.N. chapters will conduct similar events around the state that day.
“The most-important part of it is to educate the public, and empower them with knowledge and give them some hope for the ones who are suffering from substance-abuse disorders, or who have family or loved ones who are,” said Lovrinoff-Moran, an event organizer. “We want to send out the message that it is possible to recover, and also we want to educate about prevention and the other facets of recovery.
The event begins at noon, when people can register for a remembrance walk that begins at 1 p.m. After the walk, participants will hear from several speakers – including the keynote speaker, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Pinjuh – with some connection to the drug-addiction epidemic.
The walk will honor the 66 people who died in Mahoning County from drug overdoses between April 1, 2015, and March 31 this year. Sixty-six pairs of shoes tagged with their names will line the walking route on Elm Street.
Before the walk begins, participants will read aloud the 66 names. Lovrinoff-Moran said the aim of the remembrance walk is to reduce the stigma that often is attached to addiction.
“We’re also trying to make it personal,” she said. “When you see those shoes, those empty shoes, it is a very powerful visual to know that we’ve lost the potential that was each and every person that we lost. Because we lose not just a person, we lose their potential – the gift they would bring to this world.”