International Overdose Awareness Day 2025

Published on July 22, 2025

Celebrate recovery and remember lives lost to overdose.

Join us for Manchester’s annual International Overdose Awareness Day Wellness Event and Vigil on Thursday, August 28th, 2025, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Center Memorial Park in Manchester. Hosted by the Opioid Settlement Fund Committee of Manchester, this year’s event embraces both remembrance and recovery. It offers space not only to honor those we've lost to overdose, but also individuals in recovery, families affected by substance use, and anyone impacted by the overdose crisis. This family-friendly gathering offers space to share your story, learn about local resources, and come together as a community in moments of both joy and grief. Everyone is welcome, because connection is the opposite of addiction.

This year’s event is coordinated by the Opioid Settlement Fund Committee of Manchester, with support from the Department of Leisure, Family and Recreation, the Manchester H.O.P.E. Initiative, the Change Collaborative of Manchester, and the Pathfinders Club. These partners are working together to create a more compassionate community by reducing stigma and supporting people who use drugs. Their efforts focus on prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery, with a commitment to meeting individuals.

Luminary Walk:
A primary component of the International Overdose Awareness Day event is the Luminary Walk, a vigil pathway designed to honor those who have passed away from or have survived an overdose & found recovery. Folks will have the opportunity before or during the event to dedicate luminaria to a loved one impacted by opioid use.

Submit a Luminary

Sidewalk tabling:
Local organizations will offer information and swag to spread the word about services relating to opioids/addiction/grief/healing in town. Tables will embody, “connection is the opposite of addiction” and fall somewhere in the categories of; Prevention, Intervention, Harm Reduction, Recovery, and Treatment.

Wellness Activities:
Folks can explore alternative forms of healing and recovery through holistic wellness activities like somatic yoga, breathwork, and sound healing. Wellness sessions will take place throughout the night in the Mary Cheney Library.

Activities include:

• FREE food

• FREE T-shirt to 1st 100 guests

• Music

• Guest speakers

• Information tables by local businesses and organizations

• Wellness activities for adults (Yoga, Sound Healing, & More)

• Children’s activities

As the Manchester community bands together in commemoration of International Overdose Awareness Week, we hope you will join in remembrance of those we’ve lost to drug overdose, uplift those in recovery, and celebrate those individuals and organizations who work tirelessly to create a more vibrant, safer community for all.