Philadelphia opens memorial garden dedicated to overdose victims through September
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Wednesday is International Overdose Awareness Day. It recognizes the people and families impacted by addiction and is a day of memorial to the millions of lives lost.
Philadelphia has a new garden on JFK Boulevard dedicated to overdose victims. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was Wednesday.
The garden is located outside the Municipal Services Building.
"This garden is intended to spread awareness about this crisis and to demonstrate the love that persists for those who have tragically been lost," Mayor Jim Kenney said.
Notes and names are now scattered around the garden with messages from grieving loved ones.
"My brother wasn't just a drug addict who overdosed he was a human being," Delaware County resident Amy Aniras said.
Philadelphia resident Kim Robinson-Presley remembers her daughter.
"I will never forget who she was to me, she wasn't just my daughter, she was also my best friend," Robinson-Presley said.
The last official count for 2020 showed more than 1,200 overdose deaths in Philadelphia and the numbers continue to climb.
"My family's life will never be the same," Philadelphia resident Ramon Cruz said.
Cruz is a former addict. He lost his son Chris to an overdose two months ago. His picture is among hundreds on a virtual memorial page.
"Just trying to keep her name alive and be the voice for the unspoken," Philadelphia resident Coaah Mugga said.
The city will have a series of events with the overdose memorial garden to help comfort and educate people.
"I think the biggest thing is humanizing this crisis not something that happens to other people or something that somebody did wrong a moral failing, but to see this as a human issue this is something that can happen to anybody," Laura Vargas, with the Philadelphia Health Department, said.
The garden is a space for hope and healing. It will be open until the end of September.
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