In the past five years, 75 people
have died from drug overdoses
in Mason County.
Their lives were noted with 75
purple pinwheels, photos of loved
ones and signs of hope as about
80 people marched Tuesday in
the fifth annual Overdose Awareness
Walk from Shelton’s Kneeland
Park to downtown’s West
Railroad Avenue and back. The
event was part of an international
Overdose Awareness Day.
Mason County Community
Services hosted the walk in Shelton,
and the third annual walk
Wednesday evening in Belfair.
Abe Gardner, the program coordinator
at Mason County Public
Health, and Jamie Ellertsen,
a drug and alcohol counselor with
Olympic Health and Recovery
Services, organized the marches.
Several of Gardner’s friends
died from drug overdoses,
and he survived an overdose,
he said. One of the goals
of the marches is to provide
hope to families who have lost loved
ones to overdoses, and to people who
are still using drugs, Gardner said.
Also, “We want to halt the stigma,”
he said.
Ellertsen lost her brother to an
overdose in 2012. One in three people
struggle with drug and alcohol problems,
she said.
“There’s help out there,” she said.
Anyone struggling with drugs can
call Gardner at 360-427-9670, ext. 131.
Ellertsen and Gardner spoke to the
crowd at Kneeland Park before the
march toward West Railroad Avenue
began. So did Shelton Police Lt. Mile
Fiola. When he was 10 years old, he
found his mother dead from a drug
overdose.
“That was the first time I had to
deal with death from addiction,” he
said.
Fiola said people who he once arrested
sometimes tell him their incarceration
was the beginning of the road
to recovery.
Mason County Commissioner Kevin
Shutty also spoke.
“This is a truly important walk in
our community,” he said.
Shutty quoted a Bible verse he said
was on display at his home: “You are
the light of the world. You are the salt
of the earth.”
About 20 people marched five years
ago at the inaugural Shelton walk.
That number blossomed into about
120 two years ago, but the pandemic
reduced the number of participants to
about 15 last year.
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