Community to rally for Hope Over Heroin

The headlines can often paint a bleak picture, but there is hope for people fighting opioid addiction.

“People do recover,” Amber Strnad said.

Strnad started Lake County Ohio’s Fight Against Heroin last year, creating a Facebook page in October. A month later the group began having meetings.

That group has been part of a community effort to organize the Hope Over Heroin rally coming Aug. 25 and 26 to the Lake County Fairgrounds in Painesville Township.

The event will shine a light on those who have overcome addiction with filmed testimonies from local residents, Strnad said.

Four pastors came together in 2014 to start Hope Over Heroin after 14 heroin overdoses occurred in one weekend. This year Hope Over Heroin rallies have been held in several places across Ohio (and Florence, Kentucky), including Akron.

“Hope Over Heroin is a collaborative faith-based ministry believing in and witnessing the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change lives,” according to the its website.

“While we are a faithbased organization, we recognize the importance of every resource that makes up a community’s fight against addiction. There is no singular solution.”

The Lake County rally will begin with a prayer march Aug. 25 at 5:30 p.m. Those who have lost loved ones will be given a balloon to carry during the march. At the end of the march, there will be a balloon release, and a video sharing photos and words about loved ones lost will be played.

The main event — starting 7 p.m. both days of the rally — features live music and testimonials from those who have overcome addiction. The event also will feature a “city of resources” for those seeking treatment, recovery, grief counseling and churches, among other things.

Agencies on hand will include Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers, Ravenwood Health, Midwest Recovery Centers, The Addict’s Parents United and Signature Health, among many others.

Strnad said one of the goals of the event is to get people into treatment. Vehicles will be available to transport people from the event to treatment.

“It’s about uniting the community, showing people they’re not alone, they don’t have to hide,” Strnad said. “To show them they’re worth it, they don’t have to be ashamed to want help.”

Another goal of the rally is to fight against the stigma of addiction.

Strnad admits that she once didn’t have much compassion for those struggling with addiction. She thought it was a choice. She said she started losing friends to addiction and began educating herself.

“I realized everyone needs to be educated on addiction — especially addiction — because it changed my life and taught me compassion and empathy and I would do anything to help someone struggling with addiction now,” Strnad said at the first Lake County Ohio’s Fight Against Heroin meeting in November 2016.

In a phone interview Aug. 17, Strnad added that we need to learn from each other.

“We need to listen to the people who have overcome this,” she said.

Strnad sees the Hope Over Heroin rally as “just the beginning.”

Those who go to treatment will be “flooded” with letters of encouragement in the following weeks.

“We’re going to show them the whole community is behind them,” Strnad said.