LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Voices of Hope, a nonprofit that supports people in recovery, held its 10th annual Recovery Awareness Day on Saturday.

The event gives attendees access to different vendors that offer several resources.

“We’ve got the health department here,” said Alex Elswick, one of the co-founders of Voices of Hope. “We’ve got folks doing HIV/Hep-C testing. We’ve got naloxone and naloxone trainings.”

People also had the opportunity to remember those who have lost their lives and honor them by painting rocks to be displayed at a memorial site. There were photos of people who have died from overdoses displayed on the park’s fencing.

Kathy Angel, a lead recovery coach with Voices of Hope, who has been in recovery for more than two years herself, believes their lives could have possibly been spared had harm reduction resources been more accessible.

“Harm reduction allows people to live until they can make that active choice and so having Narcan readily available in your community could have saved these people’s lives,” Angel said.

Naloxone distribution sites can be found on Kentucky’s naloxone access portal.

The Recovery Awareness Day brings the recovery community together to have fun through sharing a meal, listening to music, giving out prizes and participating in different activities.

“The participants that come, they can see what I saw when I first came to this event, and that’s just a lot of people working together,” said Gary Biggers, the recovery community center operations manager for Voices of Hope. “A lot of people in recovery coming out and having a good time, and not talking about the bad things, experiencing life and being able to enjoy themselves.”

Recovery from addiction is possible, and resources are available. Find a nearby treatment center on this website.