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Families hold shoes belonging to loved ones in walk to raise overdose awareness

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It was a showing of support and understanding Tuesday evening during a walk in Jacksonville on International Overdose Awareness Day.

Holding back tears, a mother grieved over the death of her daughter and unborn granddaughter. She and others carried with them the shoes that belonged to their loved ones.

“They are loved. And they will always be loved,” she said.

It was a powerful, emotional walk for the group of people, hurt by the loss of lives to drug addiction.

Their loved ones shoes lined the route.

“We’ve got some candles to light and some hugs to give,” said Cami Caldwell, who lost her daughter to an overdose. “There’s so much stigma and shame associated with overdose and addiction and we want everyone to know they were loved.”

Mike Itani lost his son to a fentanyl overdose.

“It’s excruciating. The only way to really describe it is, it’s like you wake up every day feeling like you just heard the news that day, like it just happened that day,” he said.

The families were there to spread awareness, to try and remove the stigma associated with overdoses.

“Hopefully we can get some justice for these young kids -- young kids who didn’t know what they were taking or were deceived,” said Alex McCondichid, who lost her child to a fentanyl overdose.

The event, “Walk a Mile in Their Shoes,” was co-sponsored by two local nonprofits founded by mothers who lost their adult children to overdoses.


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