Oregon Recovers hosts the Rogue Valley Walk for Recovery

MEDFORD, Ore.- Oregon Recovers hosting the Rogue Valley Walk for Recovery as a celebration of National Recovery Month.

People in recovery along with their friends and families met at Hawthorne Park, wearing their Walk for Recovery t-shirts, as a way to bring attention to the addiction crisis in Oregon and the steps many are taking to recover.

Oregon Recovers says 18% of Oregonians 12 and older have an untreated substance use disorder.

From the park, the group walked up the streets of Medford, past treatment providers, recovery houses, detox centers and more, proudly showing that “Oregon does recover”.

For many participants, Friday was a huge milestone.

“Oregon recovers! Don’t be afraid of the stigma. We’re here to help and we’d love to see you,” one woman said.

“This is a recovery walk and, you know, it’s for a good cause. It’s for people who are fixing their lives and bettering their lives. You know, we’ve done a lot of destruction and destroyed a lot of people in our lives, and this is us showing them that it’s possible to keep going,” a man named Gino said.

“We’re here because we’re celebrating the walk because our mom finally got cleaned and finally got to have a home that she could actually live in,” a young boy said.

“We are doing the recovery walk today as a group, we’re coming together to celebrate everybody in recovery and just enjoying the weather,” Sydney Sutherland said.

“Oregon Recovers, I promise!” a woman shouted.

“I’m doing this walk for my dad. My dad has been the number one supporter since I got clean. He made sure to keep in touch while I was in treatment. He has just walked alongside everything these last six and a half years. So, I’m walking for him,” Sam Stephens said.

“When people talk about what recovery is and who is recovery and who represents recovery, it is an honor to be able to walk with each and every one of you and as our two speakers said tonight the ability to live our recovery out loud isn’t something that this community always had, but now, I think this community embodies [it],” Addictions Recovery Center President Eric Guyer said.