Scotty B Overdose Awareness Day
We remember. We act. We keep showing up.
Scotty B Overdose Awareness Day brings our community together to honor the people we have lost, stand beside the people who are still here, and turn remembrance into action.
This day is rooted in dignity, harm reduction, grief without shame, and the belief that every life is worth protecting. We gather because people matter before, during, and after crisis. We gather because nobody should have to carry loss alone. And we gather because overdose deaths are preventable.
To Our Community
Rochester, thank you for showing up.
On August 27, 2026, people came together on North Clinton Avenue to remember, learn, grieve, laugh, listen, share resources, and care for one another.
Some came because they had lost someone. Some came because they use drugs. Some came because they are in recovery. Some came because they love someone who is struggling. Others came as neighbors, volunteers, advocates, providers, families, friends, and community organizations.
Whatever brought you there, you helped create a space where nobody had to explain why their grief mattered or why their life was worth protecting.
Thank you for being part of it.
What You Helped Create
A place to be human together.
There was remembrance and grief. There was music and laughter. There were conversations, naloxone, harm reduction supplies, resources, stories, hugs, quiet moments, and people meeting one another exactly where they were.
That is community care. Not fixing people. Not judging people. Showing up, making room, sharing what we have, and reminding one another that none of us are disposable.
Scotty B 2026 Community Photos
A few moments from a day we will carry with us.
These are only a few of the moments shared by our community. Visit the full gallery to look back, add your own photos, and help us preserve the story of Scotty B 2026.
Why We Gather
International Overdose Awareness Day is about more than awareness.
Remembrance matters. So does what we choose to do with that remembrance. For us, this day is about honoring people without stigma, keeping people alive, listening to people closest to overdose, and building a community response together.
Every person lost to overdose was somebody. A child, parent, sibling, partner, friend, neighbor, coworker, or person deeply loved. Their lives deserve to be remembered without reducing them to the way they died.
Overdose is preventable. Naloxone, harm reduction, practical education, safer-use support, accessible health care, and evidence-based interventions save lives.
People who use drugs, people in recovery, people who have survived overdose, and families and communities directly impacted by overdose carry knowledge that should shape how we respond.
No organization, health system, government agency, family, or individual can solve overdose alone. Prevention works best when communities share power, resources, knowledge, and responsibility.
Remembrance Into Action
Remembrance should change what we do next.
A candlelight vigil matters. Saying their names matters. Holding one another through grief matters.
And remembrance also asks something of us.
It asks us to challenge stigma. To make naloxone easy to get. To listen to people who use drugs. To support evidence-based harm reduction. To make care easier to reach. To treat people with dignity before they are ready, while they are ready, and whether or not they ever choose recovery.
We honor the people we have lost by fighting for the people we can still keep here.
The Scotty B Legacy
Eleven years of remembering. A legacy that keeps moving forward.
For ten years, S.O.A.R.S. carried Scotty B Overdose Awareness Day and created space for this community to remember people lost to overdose.
Recovery All Ways was honored to carry that tradition forward in 2026, with deep respect for the people, families, and community members who built it and kept it meaningful.
The names change. The stories are different. The reason remains painfully familiar.
Until fewer families have an empty chair, fewer friends have a name to add to a memorial, and fewer lives are lost to something preventable, we will keep showing up.
12th Annual Scotty B Overdose Awareness Day
Thursday, August 26, 2027
Rochester, New York • Location to be determined
We are already looking ahead to another day of remembrance, harm reduction, community connection, and love. Event details will be added to this page as planning continues.
Come to remember someone.
Come because you survived.
Come because you love somebody who is still here.
Come because you believe overdose deaths are preventable.
Come because nobody should have to grieve alone.
Come as you are.
Every Life Is Worth Showing Up For
The work continues between the gatherings.
We do not have to agree about everything to agree that people deserve the chance to stay alive.
We can remember people without reducing them to the way they died. We can support people without requiring them to become someone different first. We can make room for grief without shame and prevention without judgment.
That is the community we are trying to build. We hope you will build it with us.