‘Many ways to recover.’ Hands Across the Bridge to offer hope, healing in Tri-Cities
A group of advocates wants to bring the Tri-Cities together to help people struggling with addiction.
Overdose Awareness - Tri-Cities will host its Hands Across the Bridge event, bringing Tri-Citians together to talk about how substance use disorders have impacted their lives. After a series of speakers, they’ll walk from the Lampson International parking lot and line the cable bridge to show support.
It was inspired by a similar event in Vancouver, Wash. across the I-5 George Washington Bridge.
The 2nd annual event will take place on Overdose Awareness Day, Saturday, Aug. 31.
Organizers Nancy Delgado and Sarah McCann said their goal was to show people that there is help available and people who care about them. Delgado said that they weren’t expecting much from the first year, but the response was overwhelming.
“It was hopeful, there was a lot of hope,” Delgado said. “Just seeing the community come together and the agencies that were there to put the resources together, it was amazing.”
More than 100 people participated in the bridge lining event. Over the course of the two-day event, they talked to hundreds of Tri-Citians.
They decided to do one large event this year, instead of two separate events for Overdose Awareness and Recovery Month, which starts in September.
The theme of recovery month this year is, “Together we can.”
The Tri-Cities is on track to hit a grim milestone this year, 500 overdose deaths since 2016. Nearly all overdose deaths in Benton and Franklin counties are now related to fentanyl.
Awareness and action
Overdose awareness is something each of the organizers care deeply about. There’s no central nonprofit running the event, just a group of people who want to give people the tools to change their own lives.
Delgado is a recovery navigator with MERIT Resource Services in Kennewick and participated in a roundtable focused on fentanyl overdoses with Gov. Jay Inslee last December.
Like Delgado, most of the organizers work in some aspect of recovery. But this year they want the focus to be on their own experiences with those struggling with addiction.
“We hope that more people not in recovery will show up this year,” McCann said. “If you show up with an open mind (we want to help).”
They want the event to feel welcoming and attendees to know that the people organizing it have been in their shoes or had a loved one who was.
They also hope to give families an opportunity to talk about the grief they’ve faced after losing someone to an overdose.
“We want to acknowledge all the grief and loss this community has experienced over the past year with overdoses and also promote the possibility of recovery,” McCann said. “We want everyone struggling with recovery to know there are all these resources to help them, and if one can’t we can connect them with another that can.”
McCann said that overdoses do not discriminate, it doesn’t matter who you are, it can impact your family. They hope that education and community can help people get past the shame that often comes with struggling with addiction.
They hope to show Tri-Cities families that there are many paths to recovery and one person’s may not look the same as someone else’s journey.
“There’s many ways to recover,” Delgado said. “That’s the beauty with 19 years clean, I know there are many ways to get clean and sober.”
Shelley Little, who is a registered nurse, will be doing a NARCAN demonstration.
Little said that just because the Tri-Cities doesn’t have a community recovery center open yet, that doesn’t mean there are no resources. They hope to connect families to services that make sense for them.
Little hopes it will help encourage community members to carry the life-saving overdose reversal medication with them.
“I live in this community, therefore I value the people in it,” Little said. “And I want them all to be healthy.”
McCann said what stayed with her from last year’s event was the vulnerability and support.
“The turnout (last year) was bigger than we imagined and we were so thankful to be able to provide that space for people in the healing process,” she said.
Hands Across the Bridge
The event is 1-8 p.m. at 607 E. Columbia Dr. in Kennewick. The walk across the bridge will start at 7 p.m.
They encourage attendees to bring posters with messages of hope and pictures of their loved ones. They’ll also have time for attendees to speak about their experiences.
Community organizations will be on hand to offer resources and information, there will also be family activities, food and a free drawing.
For more information, visit Overdose Awareness - Tri-Cities, WA on Facebook.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misquoted Shelley Little.
This story was originally published August 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
