RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Community members gathered outside Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. for a candlelight vigil hosted by The McShin Foundation.
Organizers said the vigil was more than just a memorial — it was a powerful statement aimed to raise awareness about addiction.
“Addiction… it don’t care whether you’re black, white, man, woman, rich, poor,” said Jessie Wysocki, Chief Operating Officer of The McShin Foundation.
The evening was marked by speakers who have lost people due to addiction, and speakers who have beat it.
According to the Virginia Department of Health , around 2,000 Virginians die annually from synthetic opioid-related deaths.
“The community has a lot of stigma about addiction,” Wysocki said. “Events like this can kind of shed the light on what’s really happening.”
He said each candle lit represented a life lost to addiction, serving as a visual testament to the scale of the crisis. Participants were invited to write names on their candles of loved ones lost to an overdose.