Families mourn loved ones lost to addiction, raise awareness during downtown service

PITTSBURGH — A church bell tolled 719 times on Friday morning, symbolizing the significant number of lives lost to drug overdoses just last year in Allegheny County alone.

“We’re dealing with an epidemic in this country. It doesn’t seem to be getting any better,” said Ron Owen, who lost his daughter to a fatal overdose in 2003.

Owen was among the many who heard the chimes at Trinity Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh, ahead of an overdose awareness service hosted by the Coalition for Leadership, Education and Advocacy for Recovery (CLEAR).

The 8th annual prayer service included several speakers, including Owen and area religious leaders.

“Today, what we’re doing is drawing awareness to overdose deaths, and also to recognize all of the people who have died, and to mourn with their family members, and also to pray for the people who are still out there who need our help,” said CLEAR director Karen Plavan.

“We are trying to help others as they move along this path,” Owen said.

He and his wife launched a nonprofit in their daughter’s memory, which raises funds to combat the crisis.

Another parent we spoke with told us she feels hopeful about the $1 billion settlement that Pennsylvania is receiving to help addicts, but she wants to see the money go to improved treatments and longer stays.

Photographs of those who lost their lives can be seen hanging just outside of Trinity.

Paige Alexandra Lengle was there to grieve her cousin, Alexis Conner, who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2017.

“It was very tragic for us, still very hard for us to deal with,” Lengle said. “We’re trying to raise awareness and get people to know, it’s not worth it. It’s not.”

Lengle said the family also lost another relative years later, and she now worries for her mother, who is battling addiction.

“If you’re seeing this out there, mom,” Lengle said, turning to our cameras, in tears. “Please, get help.”

If you need help, you can contact CLEAR at 412-281-8360. Plavan said the organization also needs volunteers, if you’d like to help.

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