Addiction recovery group hosts A Walk to Remember in Westwood NJ – NorthJersey.com

Alumni in Recovery hosted its first annual A Walk to Remember: Lives Lost to Addiction event at Westvale Park in Westwood on Sunday.  

At its entrance hung The Wall of Remembrance: “There is no death, darling. If you can remember me I will live forever,” it read. 

Photos of young adults who died of overdoses and other drug-related causes, including car accidents and suicides, surrounded the quote.

Farther into the park, 70 posters dotted the lawn, each containing a photo of a life lost in a battle with addiction. 

The day was organized by volunteers for Alumni In Recovery, an organization established five years ago by Nancy Labov.

The Old Tappan resident said her network of about 120 volunteers takes a “peer-to-peer” approach when it comes to speaking to kids about the dangers of drugs. 

“The reason it is called Alumni in Recovery is: If we can actually get young people that actually went to that school to talk to kids, then you have powerful identification,” she said. 

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It’s an all-volunteer service made up of “addicts in recovery,” and most of them are in their 20s. The demographic is largely an “untapped resource,” Labov said.

“Due to the opioid epidemic, we have more young people than ever now that have found their way into recovery,” she said. “I knew that it was something the recovery community could offer.” 

These young adults share their struggles with students in schools in an effort to connect the younger children with those who have gone through addiction.

“Volunteer work is the cornerstone of recovery,” Labov said.

As a nurse who came from a family hobbled by addiction, she knows about recovery firsthand. 

“Thirty years ago I got sober and clean myself,” she said. “I was 26 at the time, and I came from a family riddled with alcoholism.”

She has been a rehab nurse and counselor for over 25 years.

Labov’s group gave presentations in 80 Bergen County schools last year. They also work in Passaic, Essex and Warren counties.

Hackensack’s Melissa Davies, 24, is one of Labov’s volunteers. She stood under an arc of purple balloons on Sunday, handing out information to people as they passed by. Davies said she has “strong addictions” to alcohol and drugs, including cocaine, pills, and marijuana.

“I thought I was normal,” Davies said. She didn’t think of herself as an addict, but one excuse followed another. Her friends and co-workers started confronting her and telling her she was on a bad path.

“My life became unmanageable. I woke up when I almost lost my job,” she said.

Davies has been clean since July 21, 2018. She spent the last six months helping to organize the event. Her boyfriend Christopher Yager, 25, said that along with Narcotics Anonymous meetings, events like this help Davies.

“Today was great. A lot of people showed up. It was a very positive environment,” he said.

About 340 people registered online for the event and were asked to wear purple to the park. Labov estimated the sea of purple in attendance to be about 500. 

“I believe that the people of Bergen County rise to the occasion in an emergency, and this is a state of emergency,” Labov said, referring to the opioid crisis. “This is a way we can get our hands on it and be proactive for the community.”  

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