Vigil To Mark Opening Of Overdose Memorial In Gloucester Township

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Camden County officials will host a vigil to commemorate the opening of a new memorial at Timber Creek Park in Gloucester Township that will honor victims of overdose and addiction.

The Camden County Remembrance and Hope Memorial Unveiling and Vigil will take place at 7 p.m. Aug. 31 at the park, 236 Taylor Avenue and Chews Landing Road in the Blackwood section of the township.

The county will hold its annual vigil to honor those who have been lost to opioid abuse following the unveiling. As of Wednesday morning, the county has hit its limit for number of people able to attend the memorial, according to the county website. Officials are working to open up more spots to fulfill what they describe as an “overwhelming response.”

The event will also be livestreamed at CamdenCounty.com/live. Anyone who would still like to submit a name to be remembered can still do so here: https://bit.ly/CC_VigilName20. To see a list of included names click here.

The Camden County Freeholder Board passed a resolution in February establishing the memorial as one way to defeat the stigma surrounding addiction, officials said. Read more here: Gloucester Township Memorial Will Honor Overdose Victims

The memorial will feature a large purple ribbon, the universal symbol of opioid addiction awareness, surrounded by a spiraling, sloped wall, with benches nearby for seated reflection.
There will be additional parking areas near the memorial to help visitors access the site in the 128-acre park.

In total, the memorial and related park additions will cost approximately $437,000. Funding will come from the Camden County Parks Department.

The vigil includes a slideshow of photos submitted by families in the community. The goal is to highlight the horrible toll of overdose deaths in America, while also giving families an opportunity to celebrate the lives of those they've lost.

The park will also offer opportunities for families to honor their loved ones by placing their names on bricks throughout the park, Camden County Spokesman Dan Keashen previously said.

In 2019, a joint Rutgers-Eagleton/Farleigh Dickinson University poll found that roughly a quarter of New Jersey residents or their family members had taken a prescription opioid painkiller in the previous 12 months.

Seven in 10 respondents rated prescription drug use as a serious problem in their community. Since 2013, there have been more than 1,600 suspected overdose deaths in Camden County alone, according to data collected by the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General. Last year, there were 3,200 overdoses in Camden County, 329 of which were fatal.