Mat-Su Opioid Task Force hosting recovery event Aug. 31

WASILLA— The Mat-Su Opioid Task Force is currently in the process of planning a recovery event that coincides with International Overdose Day and National Recovery Month.

This community event is designed to acknowledge those lost to drug overdoses and celebrate recovery at MyHouse and Nunley Park Aug. 31.

The Opioid Task Force established this event last year under a different name: Remembrance and Recovery via Prevention. According to Mat-Su Opioid Task Force chair Michael Carson, they are rebranding the event with a backyard barbecue theme and a new name: Bacon is 100% Better than Drugs.”

The event was originally a two-day event but has since been consolidated into one day. Carson said they’re still working out the final schedule and other details that will be announced before the day of the event.

A variety of local nonprofit organizations, businesses, and groups in the recovery community will have booths on site to connect visitors to important information and referrals to resources.

Carson said this event is all about raising awareness for the ongoing challenges in the Opioid Epidemic while offering hope that recovery is possible.

“Knowledge is power,” Carson said.

True to its name, bacon will be on the menu with plenty of hot dogs and hamburgers to go around at the community barbecue during the Bacon is 100% Better than Drugs event.

The all-day event will start at MyHouse Mat-Su Homeless Youth Center with a name dedication and a ceremony for a small memorial garden. The barbecue will take place at Nunley Park afterward.

Carson said that Task Force member John Green is currently working out a way to honor local lives lost to addiction with a name dedication in a respectful and confidential manner during the event.

“We want to be responsive to those that have lost loved ones and their ideas,” Carson said.

The Task Force is accepting food and monetary donations to stock the community barbecue.

For more information and to learn more about supporting the cause, email james@TNRAK.org.

To suggest ideas for the name dedication, email kellsieskey@yahoo.com.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com