Locals gather to honor those lost to addiction - WTAP-TV

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PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - People congregated at Parkersburg City Park in memory of people we have lost to addiction.

WTAP talked to participants about how addiction has touched their lives.

Event lead, Rich Walters, said of the turnout, “It’s an amazing feeling. It’s an awesome feeling to know that the community has your back and that the community gets behind a cause like this…,”

It’s an event meant to not only honor the dead, but to heal the living.

Walters said, “..., there’s mothers here who have lost their children - who have suffered immensely and they’re here trying to start the healing process and a lot of them, you know, they’ve just been suffering in isolation unfortunately and, when they come here, they get to meet a lot of other people who have endured the same things that they’re enduring right now...,”

The sixth annual Parkersburg Memorial Walk kicked off with live music, food, and speakers. The event drew in a crowd. Many of the participants have seen the impact of addiction first-hand.

Participant Joey Barker said, “It means a lot to me because the last 27 - 28 years of my life have been controlled by a substance and I got into some legal issues and then I got accepted into a long term program...and it allowed me to fully let go of that lifestyle.”

Participant Gabby Chaffin said of the event, “This will be my first one. Actually last year I was asked to speak at this event but unfortunately I was still in a halfway house.”

...all with the same goal - to honor those who have died from their addiction.

Barker said, “We’ve lost countless friends - family members. There’s not a person that I don’t know that hasn’t been touched by overdoses in this valley right here, Parkersburg.”

Chaffin said, “Losing my dad to an overdose...he wanted to be sober. You know, he had such a desire to be sober but the disease is so strong that there was no control. It’s inspired me. It’s really solidified my own sobriety.”

Chaffin wants people to understand that addiction isn’t a choice

“It’s not a choice,” she said. “You know, we don’t...we don’t wake up one day and say ‘you know what I want to go die, I want to ruin my family, I want to ruin these relationships’...,”

And Barker encourages people who are struggling now to take that first step - and reach out for help.

He said, “It’s a blessing to be alive. It truly is.”

Copyright 2021 WTAP. All rights reserved.

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