All You Need Is… –
September 1, 2019 – One of the chalked messages included the name of a man who died last October at the age of 27. “Narcan would’ve said his life,” said the message, which accompanied by a couple of red and yellow flowers. Shelly Yankowsky, recounted that both her sons, Adam and Sean, died from drug overdoses and imparted three lessons to the crowd. She said that however difficult it may be, families shouldn’t enable their loved ones to keep abusing drugs by giving them money or bailing them out in other ways. She urged people to “plant seeds” for their loved ones to recover by letting “them know that when they are ready to get better you are there for them.’ Finally, she told the audience, “Love them unconditionally. Let them know that no matter what, you will always love them. They will mess things up a lot. Love them anyway. Tell them every chance you get that you love them. There may be a day that you can’t tell them that anymore.” In closing, she said, “They are people. They are your people. They are all our people.”
