J’s Place Recovery Center put on its fourth annual Hall Recovers Night of Awareness Thursday evening on Roosevelt Square in Downtown Gainesville.
Featuring speakers who have advocated for recovery as well as those who have undergone the uphill battle themselves, the event stood as a beacon for those the community has lost as a result of substance abuse and addiction.
“We're out here honoring those we've lost to the disease of addiction with Hall Recovers,” J’s Place Executive Director Jordan Hussey said. “So we're recognizing people who've made it into recovery, I myself am a woman in long-term recovery, and recognizing those we’ve lost to the disease. Our goal is to bring awareness to the community because it's very isolating, the disease of addiction, and for the families as well.”
Sponsorship funds raised prior to the event went towards the purchase of Narcan, which was given away at Hall Recovers. In total, there were over 500 boxes of Narcan available for free, according to Hussey.
“I think it's very important that the community bond together, families, those in recovery, police, government entities, all of us to come together because this fentanyl and heroin epidemic — it's just shocking,” Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish said. “In 24 years of law enforcement, I've not seen anything take this many lives this quickly and just destroy families.”
Vendors and various exhibitors, as well as several nonprofit organizations, were also in attendance Thursday evening in support of the event that is quickly becoming a Hall County tradition.
As the night came to a close, several speakers addressed the crowd, detailing their experiences with addiction recovery. Danielle Murphy, the Outreach Coordinator for J’s Place, has a history of addiction recovery and expressed gratitude for the level of awareness now seen in the area, thanks in part to events like Hall Recovers.
“I was born and raised here and I went through my addiction here, and I recovered here,” Murphy said. “So it's like I said, everything is coming full circle, I'm making good on it. And I love these people. These are not my friends or my peers, this is my family out here. And I'm just honored to be asked to speak at this event.”
Murphy also provided an account of her time being addicted to various drugs and the moment she was able to pull out and begin recovery.
“I woke up the first morning in jail that I was there, and I felt like I had woke up after 12 years of pure insanity,” Murphy said. “The crave, the desire, the urge, the need to use completely disappeared and I don't know how but it did and it's never returned … so I want to be there as somebody that can believe in others when they don't believe in themselves, because that's what it took for me. And as long as there is breath in my body, I will fight for other's recovery like I fought for my own because where there is breath, there is hope.”
The night ended similarly to how it has in previous years, with the lighting of candles and reading of over 500 names of those lost to addiction.
A video of the Hall Recovers event can be viewed at the top of this page.
