International Overdose Awareness Day is recognized yearly on August 31st. This year, the Root Center for Advanced Recovery hosted our Annual International Overdose Awareness Day Remembrance Ceremony in our Manchester Memorial Garden. This year, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported 929 overdose deaths. This number was down more than 20% from the year prior, but there is still a lot of work that remains to be done so that no other family has to endure a such a loss. Every year, during Overdose Awareness Week, Root invites the community to join us as we come together to honor and remember those lost to overdose, and support those still struggling. The event was held in our Memorial Garden, w e began with some brief remarks from Root Leadership, Community Leaders, like Senator Saud Anwar, Senator MD Rahman, and State Representative Geoff Luxenberg. We also heard from a Root Center patient! Like last year, we put out a handmade box gifted to us by a patient at our Torrington Clinic, who is celebrating two years in recovery. The box is meant to encourage the community to write notes with the provided paper, and leave them in between the stones of our Remembrance Wall. This year, we included a Burning Ceremony in the garden, burning the notes collected last year and allowing the wind to take the ashes and wishes wherever they're meant to be. It was a beautiful display of hope, with the warmth of the fire offering comfort to those impacted by the disease of addiction. The box will remain out in the garden until 9/2. The public is welcome to stop by to visit, leave a note, and enjoy the serene beautiful sanctuary.