By Dakota Antelman, Contributing Writer
Hudson – The Hudson Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition capped off a summer of rapid growth Oct. 1 by hosting its inaugural Substance Abuse Awareness 5k at the Morgan Bowl.
The event included 148 runners and walkers who assembled in spite of rain to complete the course. It also drew out local businesses and sponsors who set up booths near the starting line, and over a dozen volunteers who helped run the event.
Through registration fees and donations leading up to race day, the coalition was able to raise $4,000 to be used to fund future events.
“It shows that their support is behind substance abuse prevention in this community,” Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator Jessica Healy said of the people who organized and participated in the event. “I think that the amount of volunteers and the amount of people who registered shows that people really want to go out and prevent kids from getting into trouble in the first place.”
The coalition, which is composed of both town officials and citizens, began considering the idea of a 5k in late spring. Back then, Healy said, the event felt like a “pipe dream.”
As it took shape however, the coalition received donations from local businesses like Boost Fitness and Avidia Bank, and was able to have Patriot Ambulance set up a booth at the race to train people how to use the overdose-reversing drug Narcan.
“We had some people out recruiting runners,” Healy said. “Then we’ve had those of us who have been organizing the race. It’s mind blowing that we’ve got to this point.”
In analyzing the success of the 5k, organizers pointed to increased passion within the community about substance abuse prevention. Healy said she first saw that on a large scale in April when the Coalition partnered with Grace Baptist Church for a screening of the drug abuse awareness film “If Only,” which was produced by Jim Wahlberg, executive director of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation.
“’If Only’ gave us a huge push,” Healy said. “We were able to recruit more people that way and it actually showed what a grassroots community based organization can really do.”
The success of the film has allowed the coalition to branch out into larger programs in recent months. Shortly after the screening, they hosted an event where people of all ages could learn how to administer Narcan.
The coalition and one of its members in particular, Erin Holmes, has also been working to set up a local chapter of the Learn to Cope support group for the families of drug addicts. Learn to Cope Hudson has already started monthly meetings and will begin hosting more frequent meetings later this year.
Finally, last month, the coalition set up a Hidden In Plain Sight exhibit at a Hudson High School parent night, showing parents a model of a teenager’s bedroom and pointing out potential signs of drug abuse that parents might not otherwise notice.
Holmes, who lost her son to a heroin overdose in January, has drawn on her memory of him to organize this year’s events. This week’s 5k was named in memory her son, Matthew Holmes, and Jonathan Testa who also died of an overdose in 2014. Holmes ran in the race with a picture of Matthew pinned to her shirt.
“I think he would have really liked to have spread the word,” she said. “That’s why I do this, in his honor. His name is on the back [of my shirt] and his picture is on the front. He gives me the strength to organize all of this because otherwise I don’t think I would have been able to do this.”
Using the money raised through the 5k, Holmes said the coalition is hoping to set up another Narcan training in the spring, and continue running Hidden in Plain Sight exhibits in Hudson and in Marlboro. The money will also go towards buying informational materials and setting up more outreach events over the next year.
“At first we were talking about smaller events but now I find that we’re very action driven,” Healy said of the group’s growth. “I think that we’ve got momentum. People are willing to step up to the plate, whereas at first it was like ‘Oh well, we’re going to do ‘If Only.’ Now I think, after ‘If Only’, we’ve really have a drive.”
