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Making a real difference

By Staff | Mar 20, 2016

I get the opportunity each month through this column to shine a spotlight on instances of leadership being demonstrated "under the radar" within our community. It’s within this context that I invite you to read about a really neat example of leadership happening here in our community to positively counter the rising heroin epidemic.

We can’t open a Web browser or a newspaper any day of the week without being confronted by yet another heroin-related death within our community. Nashua is but one of many small cities and towns across our country that are struggling against this ever-increasing battle – and too often seeing ourselves on the losing side of that fight.

It’s gratifying, therefore, to witness efforts that are being organized on a grassroots level to counter the stigma of heroin addiction and bring awareness to how prevalent this issue is across Greater Nashua.

Many of you have likely never heard of a woman named Darlene Pina. Like many of us, Darlene lives right here in Nashua. Darlene grew up not too far from Nashua, in the town of Scituate, Mass., before coming here to attend Daniel Webster College. After getting her bachelor’s degree, she went on to eventually get her MBA at Rivier University and now splits her career between a company in Concord, Mass., and a job as a yoga instructor here in Nashua.

But it’s what Darlene does outside of her jobs that I want to highlight. Last fall, I experienced a touching moment when I participated in a special awareness walk that Darlene organized at Greeley Park in an effort to get Nashua people talking about our heroin epidemic. I was but one of the more than 60 people who gathered on that crisp fall morning and walked as a group down Concord Street toward downtown. We carried homemade signs and wore T-shirts – all decorated with personalized messages relating to a family member, a friend or a work colleague who had fallen victim to heroin abuse. I particularly remember walking with two women that morning – both of whom were mothers of heroin victims. One of the mothers had already lost her son, while the other shared with me a story about her son being so far gone that she was now going through court proceedings to adopt his son – her grandson – so that his child would at least be saved.

Darlene’s leadership, and her commitment to bringing so many disparate people together – all united by this epidemic despite their diverse backgrounds and life situations – resulted in a powerful moment for me as I heard the stories of those two mothers and so many others that morning.

Darlene just organized a second walk here in Nashua, which took place yesterday. I wrote this piece prior to yesterday, so I can’t tell you how many participated. But I can tell you that the Facebook event page promoting the event had almost 700 people planning to attend. That is powerful. And it’s a clear indication of just how many lives in our city are impacted by this epidemic. Furthermore, it’s evidence of the significant impact Darlene is having upon our community, far outside of her job and her own family.

Darlene will be the first person to tell you that she hasn’t done this alone. Others are pitching in and making this effort successful.

Meg Doucette created lanyards that people at yesterday’s walk were able to take and insert a photo of a loved one who has fallen victim to heroin before wearing that lanyard during the walk. Others, like Laurie and Tracey, are helping out in other ways like making sure those without cars can get to the event, or making homemade shirts and leggings for people who want to memorialize someone through their attire.

It’s sad knowing that this epidemic has its claws have wrapped around so many of our families. But, Nashua is fortunate to have residents like Darlene who have stepped up when they didn’t have to, and who are inspiring others to do the same. Darlene, thank you for your leadership.

Chris Williams is a former mayoral candidate and currently a partner with Velocity Performance

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