Brandi Shepherd, founder of WAR, said during the rally there will be guest speakers including Ann Hasse of Fellowship Missions, herself, Kenny Howard, Brandy Black and Kathy Buckheit. Shepherd also wants there to be enough time during the rally for those attending to be able to tell their stories if they want. After the speakers, those attending the rally will walk around the courthouse.
Shepherd said paperwork has been filled out to make WAR a nonprofit organization to help provide people with resources, such as Narcan training and Moral Recognition Training. She said she just wanted to provide aid to the community.
The organization was started after Shepherd’s brother died of an overdose and she wondered what she could do to help with the pain. She then went to a parade and members of Huntington United Against Overdose asked Shepherd to walk with them and that group reignited her passion in trying to help people with addiction.
Shepherd said there are already some great programs in the area that help those with addictions, but she wanted to be another resource to help.
She hopes people can come out of the rally with awarenesss of addiction and recognize they’re not alone, whether the person is an addict themselves or a family member or friend of an addict.
