CLEVELAND — Drug treatment and recovery center Stella Maris hosted its second annual Waves of Awareness in Cleveland's Public Square on Saturday, celebrating International Overdose Awareness Day. The event honors and remembers loved ones who have been lost to an accidental overdose.
Hundreds of families from across northeast Ohio attended, with food, music and educational material all part of the day’s activities. Free harm reduction and life-saving materials, such as narcan, were handed out.
5,000 purple flags were also planted in Public Square, to represent the nearly 5,000 Ohioan overdose victims who died in 2023.
“I couldn’t be happier with the turnout,” Stella Maris CEO Daniel Lettenberger-Klein told 3News. “In particular, all the community partners that came together to make it a truly impactful evening.”
Amber Kwallek, one of the attendees at Waves of Awareness, lost her daughter Emily to a fatal overdose in March of 2021. Amber has made it her mission to spread awareness ever since.
She says her daughter battled addiction for more than a decade, but she had been sober for a year before her fatal overdose. Emily battled with addiction for over 10 years.
It’s important to remember that no one is immune to the dangers of drug addiction.
“It’s amazing to me how many people it’s affected,” Kwallek admitted. “All ages, all races, all socioeconomic backgrounds. It’s an epidemic.”
As a part of the event, Progressive Field, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and Terminal Tower were all lit up with the color purple on Saturday night.