Chalk the Walk hopes to break stigma surrounding addiction

ELYRIA — "Color can come back into your life" after struggling with addiction, Lorain County Public Health Public Information Officer Katie Bevan said, watching artists young and old decorate Ely Square on Saturday morning. Substance abuse affects every walk of life, every community, she said, and is indiscriminate of someone's background or age. Stigma, and other systemic barriers to treatment, can make it harder for individuals to access help, she said. Chalk the Walk in downtown Elyria hoped to highlight the possibility of recovery for those in the midst of addiction, providing resources and breaking down stigma through the community art event. "This event, being out here in the middle of beautiful downtown Elyria gives us a chance to interact with people who might not otherwise think about substance use disorders; they might not otherwise talk about recovery," she said. Saturday's artist event saw LCPH staff giving out naloxone kits and information, alongside local vendors, food trucks and other attractions. Longtime Oberlin Chalk Walk artist Hector Castellanos-Lara, of Cleveland, dedicated his large-scale piece to the late Guatemalan artist Roberto Gonzalez Goyri. Gonzalez Goyri died in 2007, long before Castellanos-Lara could meet him, he said, but he met the late creator's daughter about seven years ago and has since been inspired by his work. He was supportive of Saturday's event, hoping it would inspire youths in the area and bring color and light to difficult subjects. Amanda Weegmann, of Lorain, stood up from working on a memorial piece for her father, Rob Bolinger, her hands and arms covered in purple chalk. Her father died from an overdose June 7, after he was unknowingly sold fentanyl. She checked herself into detox the day of his funeral, she said. She is now 50 days sober, she said, and proud to have made it this far. "It was a major turning point mentally," she said of her dad's death. "... You have to want to get sober. I'm working a program every day, I have an amazing counselor, amazing friends in the program, a big support system." She added later, "I was either going to have to take enough drugs to be along with him, or I was going to get help. And I chose life, thankfully. Because when you're that deep in addiction, your only thought is getting drugs." Some family members gave up on her getting sober, she said, but that hasn't stopped her from pushing forward with her program at LCADA Way. Wiping the chalk dust from her hands, and looking down at the purple ribbon with butterfly wings she'd drawn, she said there needs to be more events like Saturday's Chalk the Walk. "There's such a stigma with addicts — it's 'Addicts are nasty people, they don't deserve to live.' It's so much deeper than that. Once you get hooked, it's not about anybody else. You can't tell somebody 'Hey, stop using drugs.' … I was numbing my emotions, I didn't want to think about what happened, so it's nice that I'm finally able to be able to be like, 'Yes, I have mental health issues, this is why I was an addict.' … It doesn't make me a bad person." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.