Kanawha County volunteers turning pencil boxes into free emergency naloxone help

KANAWHA COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – Since 2022, 463 people have died from an overdose in Kanawha County. To honor their lives, one organization and community members will be taking action to help save other lives.

Volunteers and SOAR WV members will be building 463 ‘Emergency Naloxone’ portable boxes on Saturday at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. These 463 boxes will be dispersed and handed out for free at 15 pick-up sites across Kanawha County on September 26 as part of “Save a Life Day.”

Those behind creating the portable “Emergency Naloxone” boxes said overdoses touch everyone in Kanawha County.

“This is the county that has led the state in fatal overdoses since 2018, in the state whose overdose rate is the entire nation. That makes Charleston the capital of the capital of the capital of the country’s overdose crisis. So, it matters here what we do with our response,” city councilmember Joe Solomon said.

“When we respond with innovation, with humanity, with harm reduction, when we respond with listening to public health and listening to the evidence of what works, then it sends a message that we can do that anywhere,” Solomon said.

The boxes, with a bright yellow design and large letters printed saying “Emergency Naloxone” are designed to grab people’s attention in public places, like churches, restaurants, gas stations, and more along with inside people’s homes and residential spaces. Anyone will be able to pick up the boxes for free on “Save a Life Day.”

Sarah Stone, the co-founder of SOAR WV, said the “first responders” in an overdose situation are the family members, friends and even strangers of someone experiencing an overdose. She said this is why it’s important that everyone is equipped on how to use naloxone.

“I’m a member of this community, but I’m also a member of a community of people who used to use drugs. I’m a person in long-term recovery, and the folks we’re talking about are my peers. People who use drugs, and everyone has the autonomy to do that,” Stone said.

Stone herself knows the weight of losing someone to an overdose.

“I lost a brother in overdose in 2007, which is a long time ago now, it feels like, and a lot of dear friends,” she said.

Now, she fights to help people in addiction by helping create the pencil-case-shaped emergency boxes.

“I’m sorry for our losses. It’s a lot of people in a community, and it’s preventable. When I was using drugs, people didn’t talk about this. Certainly, there weren’t any pencil boxes on the wall anywhere,” Stone said. “When I was using drugs, we would be lucky if EMS would have naloxone when they got there. So, it’s important to get it in the hands of family members and community members. I have a friend who reversed an overdose at a stoplight of a stranger.”

The 15 sites where the boxes will be distributed on Sept. 26 include:

• Risen City Church – 1410 4th Ave on Charleston’s West Side
• Westside Health Center – 303 Ohio Ave on Charleston’s West Side
• West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute – 118 Capitol St – 1st Floor in Downtown Charleston
• General Hospital in Downtown Charleston
• Southeast Church of Nazarene with Union Mission Ministries – 5102 MacCorkle Ave SE in Kanawha City
• Chesapeake Healthcare Center – 11950 MacCorkle Ave
• Old Smiths Parking Lot – 106 Beech Street in Clendenin
• The Church Mouse – 5457 Big Tyler Rd in Cross Lanes
• Serenity Club – 1225 Ohio Ave in Dunbar
• Malden Fire Dept – 3924 Malden Dr
• Gateway Christian Church – 8300 MacCorkle Ave in Marmet
• BridgeValley – Davis Hall – 619 2nd Ave in Montgomery
• Kingdom Life Fellowship Church – 405 1st Ave S in Nitro
• Cafe Appalachia – 206 D St in South Charleston
• Gateway Christian Church – 422 B St in St. Albans

The Charleston CARE team will also be engaging hotspots throughout the city on Sep 26.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOWK 13 News.