Andover Cares Festival
Thank you to everyone who helped make the andover cares festival a success!
ANDOVER – Last year, this community saw a total of 11 fatal drug overdoses, part of the opiate crisis rampant in the region.
It was 11 deaths too many for the Rotary Club and concerned townspeople. As Board of Selectmen Paul Salafia put it, it spurred residents and officials to say: “No more.”
Thanks to combined efforts of Andover’s community, this year’s overdoses are down significantly - only three this year, according to Salafia.
“The town really stepped up,” he said, praising the efforts of allparties in town combined, as a community. “The numbers are down because the town addressed it. You can’t say, ‘Not here.’ It is here, it can happen anywhere.”
On Saturday, a couple hundred from the community came together throughout the bright day to celebrate the annual Andover Cares Festival at the Doherty Fields and Cormier Youth Center in Andover.
Andover Rotary Club launchedthe Andover Cares movement in 2015 in response to the recordbreaking number of heroin-related deaths and incidents that hit the community in 2014 and 2015. The movement’s goal: to break the stigma, and provide resources to those affected by addition.
“Andover Cares is synonymous with community, with Andover, with what we’re trying to collectively do to combat the opiate crisis here in town,” said Andover Town Manager Andrew Flanagan to the crowd. “Over the past year, we’ve made a lot of progress. Andover Cares has donated to the municipality, and provided us with the ability to do things we otherwise would be unable to do...We as a town are behind Andover Cares, are behind what we’re trying to do, and we look forward to another year of progress.”
Starting at 3 p.m., the festival featured a number of musicians from the area, including hometown rocker Carissa Johnson and Neil Young cover band Rust Never Sleeps. Johnson, whose punk rock sound borrows from Joan Jett, has been recognized for her debut album “For Now,” which won Album of the Year 2016 by Limelight Magazine.
Rust Never Sleeps played classics such as “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man” with an uncanny resemblance to Young himself.
The event also featured talks and discussion forums by experts in the opiate addiction field, and featured speakers of all kinds, including Phil Lahey, president of Merrimack Valley Prevention and Substance Abuse Project, Andover Police Chief Patrick Keefe, and Joe Connelly, director of community services.
Demetrius Spaneas, music festival chair, happily called the day a success.
By 6 p.m., Spaneas estimated the group had raised nearly $50,000, through donations from local organizations such as Temple Emanuel and smaller donations throughout the day — not far from last year’s $60,000 mark. Andover Cares buttons, for example, were being sold for $20, and $10 for kids under 18,and raffles were happening throughout the day.
Every little bit helped.
“It’s fantastic. I think we’re showing this amazing community support, and I think it’s just fantastic,” he said. “Everybody’s coming out because they realize justhow important fighting the opiate crisis is, and it is actually a battle that we need to do. It’s a battle we cannot lose.”
But while the numbers may be down this year — three overdoses so far this year, compared to 11 last year— Spaneas says the work will continue until it’s done.
“We want to get rid of it completely. And a lot of us have personal reasons why we need to fight this, and we’re happy we can come out and give back to the people who need it the most.”