Friends and family members of drug abuse victims gathered seek understanding and healing at Somerville Overcoming Addiction’s candlelight vigil held at Somerville High School last week. — Photos by Gabriela C. Martinez.

By Gabriela C. Martinez

Somerville Overcoming Addiction (SOA), a grassroots community dedicated to raising awareness about substance abuse, held its First Annual Vigil this past Monday night at Somerville High School. The vigil is one the events to initiate this year’s Recovery Month in Somerville, which is held annually every September.

Members of the Somerville community gathered in front of the high school to collectively mourn and remember family members whose lives were lost to addiction. On the walls of the entrance of Somerville High School there were photo collages honoring those who lost their lives due to substance abuse.

“This is a community healing event. We’re here to hold each other up,” said Jesse Clingan, a SOA member and community organizer.

SOA’s mission is to “connect the community with the addiction support and recovery services, remove the stigma of addiction and eliminate overdose fatalities.” The organization chose Somerville High School for the vigil because they strive to create drug awareness among youth. “Most addicts start when they’re in middle school,” said Nancy Medeiros, a member of SOA. The organization is currently working on a milder, younger version of the documentary Anonymous People and hopes to screen it at Somerville High School.

“We could have held this vigil at City Hall, but we wanted this to be more about the community, not the politics,” said Medeiros.

The program started off with a performance by Maggie Leon, who sang Where Has My Brother Gone, a song she wrote after her brother’s best friend died from an overdose.

Following Leon’s performance, there was a speech by Sandra Pacheco, who lost her 23-year old son, Steve Pacheco, to a heroin overdose.

“How many parents here have lost a child to addiction. Raise your hand,” said Pacheco. Numerous hands stood out amongst the crowd. “There are a lot of us.”

“People will look at you funny when you tell them it was a drug overdose that took your child. They will question your parenting skills and wonder whether you talked to your kids about the dangers of drugs. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t talked to their kids about drugs.”

The second speaker was Mike Duggan, a certified interventionist and founder of Wicked Sober, an organization that provides addiction treatment. Before beginning his speech, Duggan proudly announced that he has been sober for three years.

In between speakers and performers, Justin Hildebrandt, a member of a religious community called Connexion, took to the podium to lead a brief prayer.

The program also included poem recitations by Thomas Warner, whose bother was murdered by an addict, and Joann Rivieccio, who also lost her son in 2009. She recited her poem The Fallen Addict.

Once the program ended, the mourning audience, as well as the members of SOA, lit candles to honor the memory of their loved ones. Families huddled together around candlelight. Many cradled the flame of their candle close to their chests, as the members of the SOA called out the names of their departed loved ones.

In addition, there were other organizations that provide support to addicts present at the vigil, such as the Somerville Office of Prevention, Wicked Sober, Learn 2 Cope, and the Cambridge Needle Exchange.