Friends, family and the Weatherly community gathered in Eurana Park for an Overdose Remembrance Day vigil to remember their loved ones who lost their battles with addiction.

The event, organized by Lenore Scatton, brought to light the struggles families face when a loved one loses the battle with drugs.

Scatton, a mother who lost two children to overdoses and a third child to a brain tumor, felt that raising awareness to end the stigma of addiction may save someone else’s loved one’s life.

So she began looking at what she could do and decided on creating the vigil.

“I just wanted to help people.”

Scatton’s journey began in December 2017, when her daughter, Dana was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“My daughters (Dana and Lydia) were really close,” she said, adding that Lydia’s fiance died from an overdose in 2017.

In April 2019, Dana lost her battle to cancer and Lydia spiraled.

Ten days later, Lydia also died from an overdose.

Scatton’s grief turned to determination as she focused on her family.

“And then my son, Joshua,” she said. “At the time, I just felt like you know, if it was any other time, I don’t know that I would have been able to handle that. I think God has a way of working things out in a timely manner.”

On March 30, Joshua also died from an overdose.

“He had a long struggle, a long battle and wanted to be sober and wanted to stay sober,” she said. “He’s not struggling anymore.”

Now, Scatton finds her strength in raising her grandchildren.

Amy Hansen shares a similar story of her son, Kyle, who got addicted to pills after he broke his collarbone and was prescribed Percocet.

“It will be six years since he died,” she said, adding that Aug. 31 would have been his birthday. “He was battling addiction since he was probably 18.

“He was such a good kid. He would never hurt anybody. He was hurting.”

Hansen said Kyle was in and out of jail and each time, she hoped that this time sobriety would stick, but the damage the drugs did was always there and he spiraled back into drugs to take away his pain.

For Sarah Rieger, it was her niece’s struggle that brought her out to the vigil.

Rachel passed three days after her 43rd birthday.

Rieger said that Rachel’s journey began a year earlier when her husband died.

“She would call me and say ‘I can’t do it,’” Rieger said, adding that she offered to take her to the hospital for help. “I couldn’t get her to go.”

Rachel started dating a guy and the pair dabbled in harder drugs.

Rieger said that it was a hot shot mixture of fentanyl, heroin and meth that took her niece’s life.

“There are so many people willing to help,” Hansen said. “I wish it wasn’t such a stigma and a prejudice to everybody. Drugs don’t care what color you are.”

Besides families sharing their stories of their loved ones, Jami Haja, local musician and member of Celebrate Recovery at Blue Mountain Community Church in Palmerton, shared her own story of recovery as well as her talent for singing.

The evening ended with a candlelight ceremony.

“A lot people treat people differently when they realize they are on drugs or that they overdosed several times,” Scatton said. “There are so many things and we have this stigma in our heats, but God loves them and there is someone out there who loves them. So I am encouraging everyone to reach down in your hearts and realize that everybody needs to take a stand. Take a stand for yourself and for other people. Be that voice. Share your story.”