How to Organize an IOAD Event in Your Community
By Luke Schmaltz, VOICES Newsletter Editor
International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31) is just over two months away. Community leaders and outreach organizations across Massachusetts will be observing this day with gatherings on and around this important date.
If you are interested in attending an IOAD event, you can find one in your area on the IOAD Event Locator Page.
If you are interested in organizing an IOAD event for your community, you can ensure success by considering the experience of others who have previously hosted IOAD events.
To further inform this idea, VOICES has reached out to individuals in SADOD’s network to curate vital pointers, suggestions, and protocols for first-time organizers.
James Derick: Focus on Community
James Derick is Co-founder and Director of Family Recovery for SAFE Coalition, Inc. In 2022, Derrick’s son, Jack, died from an overdose. Through lived experience, he offers practical advice for aspiring IOAD event organizers.
“We have done IOAD events for ten of the eleven years since we began,” Derrick begins. “If I were a new, eager organizer, I would be mindful that this truly is a community event. You do not need to have lived experience to have a strong, empathetic approach to this.”
“Do not set an attendance expectation for yourself. You do not have to have large numbers of people at an event to make a difference. Every time an IOAD event is held, the immediate community is positively impacted. After every event, we get tons of feedback, disproportionate to how many people attended. These events are relevant to any community and everyone in it, whether they have lived experience or not.”
Location and Permits
“The first thing you want to do is find a central location in the community. For the past six years, we have run six events across six different communities on the same day (Aug 31). Great locations for us have been the town commons in some areas and in others, in front of the public administration building or the central library – because all are centrally located. All are municipally owned spaces; therefore, they require permitting.”
“Obtaining permits can be anywhere from easy to difficult, depending on where you are and the dynamics at work in your local government. The most important aspect of this is getting someone to respond in a timely manner. Permit requests need to be submitted as early as you can get them in. For us, that is no later than May, but preferably even earlier than that.”
Visual Impact
“We plant purple IOAD flags in these spaces which reflect the number of people who died from an overdose – according to the previous year’s data,” Derick says. “This information is available to anyone by going to this page on the Mass.gov website and typing ‘opioid overdose numbers’ into the search bar. You can get the numbers by town, county, or for the entire state – depending on how many flags you can plant.
“You are going to want to plant the flags in as visible of a space as possible, preferably in a grassy area that can be seen from the street and that has lots of foot traffic going by throughout the day. One of the beautiful things that happens with flag planting is that people are walking by and you end up having incredible conversations with them about IOAD.”
People Power
“A great strategy to adopt early on is to align your event with the local nonprofit organizations working in outreach, harm reduction, grief support, recovery, and other similar endeavors. If they don’t already have an event planned, you can volunteer to coordinate an event in conjunction with them.”
“As far as staffing your event goes, I always invite people with lived experience to volunteer first,” Derick explains. “I lost my son, Jack in 2022 to overdose, and I can tell you from experience that these events are powerful yet solemn. It is important to maintain a collective frame of mind that there are many people, like me, for whom this day is extremely difficult.”
“We also staff our events with volunteers whom we recruit through our board of directors. Most of them are involved in corporations that have service commitments, or their employees have opted into service commitments for nonprofits. They come out in droves for everything from the flag planting, which happens a few days before the event, to the planning meetings, to the event itself, to the picking up of the flags a day or so after the event.”
“Organizing IOAD events offers a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the community – to actually be physically doing something like planting flags.” Derick concludes “When people stop and ask what it’s all about, you can share your story with them, and it becomes an unforgettable experience -- like a big community hug.”
Aileen Lovejoy: Make It Special
Aleen Lovejoy is a Peer Grief Support Specialist for SADOD, a peer grief support group facilitator for The Sun Will Rise, and a member of Team Sharing. She has been organizing IOAD events since 2017 and offers insight into the details and nuances that can help make an event exceptional.
Lovejoy’s son, Francis, died in 2013 from an overdose after struggling for over 20 years. She speaks in his memory every year at the IOAD events she helps organize.
Show Their Faces
“At IOAD events, people share stories, poems, or anecdotes in memory of their loved ones. It is so important to always have your speakers bring enlarged photos of their loved ones. Have them bring a friend who can hold up the picture so they can reference the image as they talk.”
“One year, I had Francis’ picture at our table at an IOAD event. Someone stopped and said, ‘That’s your son? I knew him – he helped me get into recovery.’ That has actually happened more than once,” Lovejoy says.
Set Them Free
“Within the last couple of years, we learned about doing butterfly releases at these events to commemorate our loved ones. I presented this idea to our planning committee and they agreed to order butterflies – enough so that everyone in attendance could have one to release. Last year, after all the speakers shared their stories, we announced that we were going to do a butterfly release, and we invited everyone there to join in.”
“The butterflies come in little envelopes, so we passed them out to everyone, we all gathered around the microphone, I read a poem, and we released them all at the same time. It was a beautiful, meaningful moment.”
“Also, we invite people to come up to the microphone, with soft, moving music playing in the background, and say their person’s name. Whoever is present is invited up – it does matter if there are seven people there or 70.”
Candles, Tables, and Speakers
“Candle lighting is another special thing we do,” Lovejoy continues. “You can get wax candles with the little paper guards at the base to hand out to everyone. Or, if you are in an area that could potentially have a lot of wind, you can get battery powered candles that won’t blow out. There’s usually some type of clergy present at these events who can say a prayer for all the lost loved ones once the candles are lit.”
“Tabling is another important aspect,” Lovejoy continues. “It is important to invite organizations that support people in some way, including recovery centers, peer grief support organizations, harm reduction organizations, and health organizations. Encourage those who table at your event to have QR codes prominently displayed. This way, people who are interested in their services can capture the important web address information without having to carry around brochures all day.”
“Keeping the event on topic is also key,” Lovejoy says. “It is vital to the sanctity of IOAD to keep politics out of the conversation. This highlights the importance of not inviting people who are running for (or holding) public office to speak. In the past, politicians have gone up to speak before all the people who had stories to share about their lost loved ones. That component really sucks the life out of an IOAD event because someone in government usually has their own agenda to push, rather than memorializing a loved one or addressing the opioid crisis.”
A Home Run
This year, for the second year in a row, Lovejoy and colleagues from past events will be conducting an IOAD presentation at Polar Park. This will take place on September 3, just before the opening pitch of the WooSox vs. Scranton game. “It is so nice to know that the organization's leadership supports us 100%.” she says. “They have invited us back and we will be tabling there that day as well. We will have tables which will include SADOD, The Sun Will Rise, Team Sharing, Learn to Cope, and Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Center.”
Additionally, Gabriel Quaglia, SADOD’s Direct Service Provider Program Manager, will be present to help folks obtain Narcan and give basic instruction on how to respond to an overdose.
Keryn Jacobs: Guide Your Speakers
Keryn Jacobs is the Substance Use Prevention Coordinator for the Weymouth Health Department. She has helped organize IOAD events for the past several years and offers vital information on how to help event speakers compose their speech and stay on topic.
“This year’s theme is ‘One Big Family,’” Jacobs points out. “This theme honors the idea that, through loss, healing, recovery, and advocacy, we form a family not just by blood, but by shared experience, compassion and care.”
“These are prompts to inspire your message," Jacobs says. “You don’t have to use them all – choose what resonates.”
Emphasize ‘Family’ in a Broader Sense
- Connection through shared grief or healing
- Moments when the recovery or grief community felt like family
- How honoring someone helps their memory live on in others.
- Words of comfort and unity
Set a Tone of Sincerity and Connection
- Speak from the heart
- Keep it human, personal, and hopeful where possible
- If you’re addressing anger or injustice, ground it in connection
“Your voice is part of this family,” Jacobs concludes. “Thank you for showing up and
speaking truth. We honor you and are grateful for your presence.”
IOAD event organizers can promote their events by posting details on SADOD’s IOAD Event Locator Page.
Free campaign support resources such as grief brochures and wallet cards can be requested through this link, which also allows aspiring organizers to request assistance from an experienced IOAD event organizer.
Additionally, event promotion ideas and other relevant items such as t-shirts, flags, and banners can be obtained through the overdoseday.com website.