The 2022 International Overdose Awareness Day event in Fall River, Massachusetts, was held on August 31, 2022, at the Government Center. The vigil aimed to remember those lost to addiction without stigma, support those in recovery, and celebrate the joy of recovery. The event was organized by Recover Fall River and featured opening remarks from an organizer, followed by comments from Mayor Coogan, and a prayer by Father Rob. Mayor Coogan thanked the organizers, including "the two Lorries" and Recover Fall River, and noted that many of the individuals memorialized were his former students. The vigil was dedicated to Kathy Canarney, a founding member of Recover Fall River, who passed away on September 29, 2021, due to complications from COVID-19. Kathy was celebrated for her 34 years of recovery and her profound impact on hundreds of people and families struggling with addiction. Her family, including her husband Brendan, daughter Alicia, and granddaughter Gabriella, were present. A powerful segment featured the family of Corey J. Morris, including his eight-year-old son Cameron, his mother Brandi Corso, grampy Mr. Brett Morris, uncle Kurt, and stepmom Alice and Brad. Brandi Corso shared Corey's story, detailing his struggle with addiction from a young age, his periods of sobriety, his dedication as a father to Cameron, and his eventual passing on August 27, 2017. The event emphasized breaking the stigma surrounding substance use disorder and inspiring others through shared experiences.
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this is amazing every year i just am amazed with how many people are here it's it's obviously sad that so many people are here but at the same time it's really encouraging that so many people are letting go of the stigma and we're able to be together remember our loved ones and express ourselves safely so give yourselves a hand
0:33so i want to welcome everyone to fall river's 2022 event to mark international overdose awareness day it happens every year on this date no matter what day of the week it is and before i begin i do want to thank all the providers who came out today they offer substance abuse treatment and mental health help and housing they come to work every day it's oh it's not always easy it's a hard job and i'm
1:06happy that to have people like them involved in this event i also want to recognize the artists that will be performing today and the businesses who supported this event everybody who participates today is doing so as a volunteer because they care about addiction and overdose specifically i want to shout out mallard printing who provided all of these beautiful signs and dj dan who's providing music and
1:41coordinating all the details that come with a live music event please consider using these businesses and individuals next time you have the needs for those types of services this year's event is going to be a little different of course as in past years we'll be memorializing and supporting those lost to addiction as well as the loved ones left behind also important will be celebrating the
2:09joy of recovery as there are many people who may be feeling hopeless this very minute this year in addition to two very courageous young women who'll speak you will experience the talents of several local performers who have volunteered to perform because the overdose crisis means so much to them thanks to nikki fontaine dj dan reese and the artists for helping make tonight happen
2:43we at recover fall river hope that you can take a big deep breath knowing you're surrounded by like-minded others who are supportive and share your experiences and perspective on addiction overdose and recovery thank you now mayor coogan is going to say a few words
3:24first of all i want to welcome everybody to fall river especially around the government center for this very hello can you hear me now no no bobby can everybody hear me now okay i want to welcome everybody down to government center in fall river for this very very special night i want i want to thank the two lorries and recover fall river and all the vendors that know how important this battle is um
3:56i look at all these pictures and these faces and many of these kids were my students through all the years in the form of public schools and they fought a battle that they were not successful in but so many of you are and we appreciate you coming down here tonight we just have to continue to fight and fight and fight and we will work our way out of this problem and it's because the
4:22people here tonight care about others that we're going to get through this and i can't thank you all enough for coming down thank you very much tonight now father rob is going to open the event with a brief prayer thank you let us pray on this solemn international overdose awareness day lord god we pause to remember and pray for those lives lost to addiction and overdose we pray for all those in recovery whose
5:11demons are kept at bay one day at a time we pray for those clean 24 hours and wondering if they'll make another day for those in the middle of 90 meetings in 90 days for those whose years clean and sober are like a resurrection we acknowledge the times they cannot remember in the days of pain they will never be able to forget the families that lost in the community that they have found
5:45the lies that they have now that they could once not have ever imagined we also remember those who tried and did not make it we pray for all those that are using today may they seek and get the help needed to deal with those demons god when your people wandered in the wilderness you nourish them one day at a time we confess that there are days when this one day at a time business seems like
6:15very little but we are grateful that there are days when it seems like more than enough inspire us to continue to support love and care for those addicted for those suffering in their lives from addiction of family members and friends may we use our voices and work to remove the stigma of addiction and further enhance the programs and efforts to lessen this ongoing crisis in our community
6:45we ask this in your holy name amen
7:00so on september 29 2021 we lost our dear friend kathy canarney due to complications from covid19 i want to extend a very very warm welcome to kathy's family her husband brendan her daughter alicia her extended family her granddaughter gabriella as many of you know kathy was a founding member of recover fall river kathy and i ran into each other once and we got to talking about issues
7:37surrounding addiction and and she felt compelled to start a grassroots movement to decrease stigma and to promote recovery in fall river in her words she felt the need to help one addict at a time kathy spoke at our very first overdose awareness vigil she she often said she had to give to others what was so freely given to her at the time of kathy's passing she had maintained 34 years of recovery but here's the thing
8:20while kathy poured so much of herself into her recovery she was putting just as much effort into helping others with their recovery kathy and her husband brendan have profoundly impacted the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people struggling with addiction and their families as well kathy showed up rain or shine she showed up for me even when i felt like i was drowning and my life was falling apart
8:51she was always willing to walk into the storm to hand someone a life preserver she never quit on anyone even in the worst of times she had the ability to deliver difficult truths directly but always in the most supportive way she found joy in sharing lessons learned and wisdom gained through her own experience and through her diligent work in narcotics anonymous i often told her she was proof that the
9:26world would be a much better place if everybody in society studied and worked the 12 steps like she did before moving to florida kathy became active in helping families affected by addiction by attending starr's family support group and by working as an interventionist like many other people here i'm sure i don't know where my life would be or where i would be what it would be like
9:54if kathy hadn't been willing to share part of herself with me losing kathy has been devastating for many many people but kathy left a remarkable legacy not only through her family but through all of us who she touched it's now our responsibility to give to others that which kathy so freely gave to us i know that kathy is looking down on us this event meant so much to her we at recover fall river would like to
10:27dedicate tonight's vigil to our dear friend and a friend to so many kathy canary so all right so we all come together for this event and it is international overdose awareness day so this day is like a time to remember it's a time to remember those who have passed and to remember them without stigma you know because when we think of substance disorder that a lot of people have a stigma attached to it and it's to
11:00acknowledge the loved ones that have passed the family members the grief that they go through so the speaker that we have coming up next am i like
11:23there you go
11:35so we come together and we do this and we do it to remember and we do it to break down the stigma that's attached to substance use disorder and having a loved one passed by overdose so it's really important that we share our story so that we can inspire others to do the same inspiring them to and to let them know that they're not alone so i just want to share five years ago
12:04today i was up here with my family sharing about the loss of my brother and while i'm up here there's this little boy he was just like playing around with his little cars and trucks like right in front of the podium he was making noise and people were going to him and this little boy had no idea that just the week before that four days before something like that his dad had passed away
12:30so he had no idea what was going on around him people crying dubs being released it's a pretty significant event you know so while this little boy's playing i just kept like looking at him because i understood what happened with that little boy well that little boy and his family are here today to share about the loss of his dad but i'd also want to say cameron who's now eight has been involved in every
13:08he's been involved in every recover fall river event that we've had anti-stigma overdose awareness he stands out there he holds his dad's photo and he's just an amazing kid and he's like the poster child for overdose awareness day like on facebook so here we are five years later and i'd like to introduce you to him so cameron if you'd like to come up he's eight years old he's here with his mother brandi corso
13:41his grampy mr brett morris his uncle kurt which is corey's brother and his stepmom is also corey's stepmom is also here alice and brad so i'd like to introduce you to the corey j morris family wait one second it takes a lot for somebody to get up here and share their story about losing a loved one so if we can just limit like the amount of chatter in the background we would really appreciate it thank you
14:23so much hello
14:46corey j had such a bigger than life personality anyone who knew him instantly liked him you could be in the worst situation of your life and you could bet corey would have had you laughing laughing and howling through it corey's childhood was filled with playing sports activities and a lot of family unfortunately at a young age of 12 he started drinking and that he started drinking and at 14 pot
15:15smoking at this time corey's parents got divorced and from then on he had trust issues with women still holding his own his drug use started around 18 or 19 when he was working for a stamped concrete company and one of the guys nonchalantly said try this it will make you feel a lot better and corey did from then on it became the struggle of addiction many programs many detoxes corey's dad did everything for his son
15:48took into programs took him to detoxes gave him whatever he needed i had never seen a parent do as much for his son as i saw corey's dad do for him even at points corey was doing amazing holding down the job living on his own but relapse would happen and corey never gave up he tried his best always i can remember the first time i met him and the first words out of his mouth
16:17were i'm an addict i honestly had the utmost respect for him to to be that upfront about it his struggles proceeded and i even started to help by bringing him to programs and detoxes and even looking for detox beds for him as the addiction went on there were days of him living on the streets homeless homelessness trying to find beds sleepless nights and so on and so forth unfortunately days became years and
16:49years of struggling i remember corey telling me at times he would spend nights at buttonwood park as that was not far from where he grew up when i met him he was still struggling and watching watching someone you love and care about struggle is not the easiest thing to take or take a back seat and watch time and time again corey would pull himself out of the devil's grasp but yet
17:16would fall over again but he always tried and persisted at points of corey sobriety he went to detoxes to speak and try to help others get out and cheer many many people on he found an amazing support group and friends that helped him to achieve his longest time of sobriety what also helped him achieve his sobriety was his greatest work of art his son cameron corey was an amazing dad to his son
17:46in the three years and one week time they had together i couldn't have asked for a better dad his son was his biggest achievement cory said if he could have been pregnant with him he would have corey's dedication to cam was amazing he took him to florida with his family and was just an amazing dad any chance cory had to be with his son he took it he was also i'm sorry
18:18even on a halloween that cam was sick he rearranged his plans to see and spend some time with him picked up any medications and anything for cam corey did it the thing about corey was if he loved or cared about you he was there for you or tried tried to help you in any way whatsoever he was also very close to his grandfather and even at the time being in a program
18:41he made it to the wake and funeral that just shows how dedicated he became to make sure he was there for anyone he loved on two years sober corey was a plumber's apprentice for triangle and living on his own in swansea he has always said if i don't want to spend any time with cam then you know that something is wrong cam had just gotten over being sick and corey was saying that he was sick as
19:08well but he started to get distant from cam and that was when we knew relapse had crept in cory after two years had relapsed at this point corey felt he could tame the beast himself and got back and started to fight again and fight for his sobriety this time his struggle on august 27 2017 corey lost his battle and a day that our that changed our family forever as i thought about how to start this
19:42to tell corey's story i understand that his story has become our story and if you ever knew or met cory you know his infectious laugh his bright personality and his quick sarcasm whenever you thought of corey that was what you thought of and it would always bring a smile to your face
20:14and that is so true it does become your story as well when you lose a loved one