Display on Foxboro Common remembers those lost to opioid addiction
By Juri Love For The Foxboro Reporter Aug 29, 2024

Heather Mulligan is one of many moms who has lost a child to the opioid epidemic.

Heather’s daughter Shannon died from fentanyl poisoning on March 6, 2021. To remember Shannon — and others who have died due to the ongoing opioid crisis, Mulligan, of Norton, was among the volunteers who planted colorful flags on Foxboro Common for “The Stakes are High.” The display provides a visual representation of all of the lives lost in Massachusetts to opioids.

“It’s surreal to see all these flags because there are people’s children. We have a long way to go to stop this disease of substance use disorder. We need to come as a society to stop the stigma of it so that there is more help available to people that are suffering substance use and better understanding and to treat it as a disease just like we treat cancer,” Mulligan said.

Volunteers planted 18,670 flags representing the lives that were lost in Massachusetts alone to opioid overdose deaths since 2015. Each year is represented by a different colored flag, and signs posted indicate the number of lives lost each year. The highest was 2022 with 2,375 deaths while the lowest was 2015’s tally of 1,710.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, from 1999-2021, nearly 645,000 people died from an overdose involving an opioid, including prescription and illicit narcotics.

Kris Long, of Foxboro, has been organizing “The Stakes are High” initiative for the past half-decade to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic and the number of accidental overdose deaths. This event was supported by the Foxboro Jaycees, of which Long is a member.

Long, who has five children — two of whom are in recovery — said she does this every year to raise awareness to let people know that addiction is still an important issue.

“It’s nationwide. It went from one death every 15 minutes in 2015 to now it’s down to one person dying every five minutes from accidental overdose. The number has increased and increased. I do it to strike curiosity to ask about why and help people understand. Also more importantly to validate those lives that had been lost which does not discriminate.”

Long said she was impressed this year by the number of kids who volunteered to help place the flags on the Common.

“It starts the conversation and raises awareness. It creates empathy for the people who are struggling. If you don’t think it’s happening in your town, in your school system, or in your profession, you are kidding yourself. It affects everybody. There are doctors, teachers, and actors affected by it, also. Having these many volunteers means we are starting and spreading this conversation and that’s where the change will happen,” Long said.

One of the many volunteers gathered on Saturday morning at Foxboro Common to plant flags was Alice Dobson, a 10th grader from Sharon High School.

“As people are driving by, it grabs their attention and makes them more aware of the opioid crisis. I didn’t really know about it before this event, but I think it’s something we need to raise more awareness about and find a way to help people who are caught in it,” Dobson said.

Scott Francis of Ashland, who is the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery Metro West regional coordinator, came to volunteer for the first time as a person in successful long-term recovery.

Francis, who has not used alcohol or drugs since 2007, said he changed his lifestyle because he wanted a better life.

“This wonderful group of people is doing incredible work,” Francis said. “We want to remove the stigma and end this overdose epidemic. Seven people a day in Massachusetts are dying. That’s way too many.”

Dan Foley, of Stoughton, brought his two sons, Mason Foley, 7, and Maverick, 5, to help place the flags. It was the family’s second time participating.

“This is such an important cause to me. For me, it’s important to show my sons the importance of causes like this and the value of volunteering and helping out and raising awareness for all the people’s lives that were lost and hope that we can help to prevent the loss of other lives,” said Foley.

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Previous events…

From the SUN CHRONICLE, 7/9/2019 by Jeff Peterson

On the days leading up to Labor Day weekend, the Town Common will be carpeted by nearly 8,000 multi-colored miniature flags to raise awareness of those who lost their lives to addictions in Massachusetts over the past four years.

Spearheaded by Foxboro Jaycees, the local display is being planned in conjunction with Overdose Awareness Day, a global event held each year on Aug. 31 and dedicated to helping eliminate overdose deaths.

“When you go and see a flag representing your own loved one it shows that somebody cares,” said organizer Kris Long of Foxboro, a past Jaycee president currently serving on the local board of directors. “It validates their experiences” as well as the heartache.

Foxboro Common will be the location for both for the multi-day memorial display and an 11 a.m. gathering at the Common bandstand on Sunday, Sept. 1 featuring entertainment, information and speakers focusing on the addictions crisis.

Green, blue, yellow and purple lawn flags will be located on the north end of the Common surrounding the bandstand, with different colors designating the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 grouped separately into four sections in between the spoked walkways.

The flags will be accompanied by small lawn signs purchased by sponsors to help offset costs of the display that will present facts about the opioid crisis.

The cumulative number for the four years in question will be between 7,800 and 8,000 deaths.

The effect will hopefully evoke similar sentiments to recent memorial galleries which blanket landscapes with thousands of small flags in honor of American service personnel.

Foxboro Jaycees Present “The Stakes Are High” September 1, 2019

Many people have asked. The color of the flag represents the YEAR. 2015=Green, 2016=Orange, 2017=Yellow, 2018=Purple (the most recent year is always purple). In 2019, 2018 will become “blue” and 2019 will be purple. EACH flag in that section represents one life, a person who died of an overdose in that year. For example, there are 2033 purple flags on the Common, each one representing one of the 2033 who died of an overdose that year.

Event on Common over weekend to mark losses to, heighten awareness of, opioid addiction

By JEFF PETERSON For The Foxboro Reporter 8/29/2019
Thousands of miniature flags blanketing the town Common in recent days will provide the multi-colored backdrop to an addiction awareness event this coming Sunday.

Billed as “The Stakes are High: Remembering Those Lost to the Crisis,” the event is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Sunday on the Common bandstand and will feature entertainment, information and speakers focusing on the addictions crisis.

Spearheaded by Foxboro Jaycees, the local display was planned in conjunction with Overdose Awareness Day, a global event held each year on Aug. 31 and dedicated to helping eliminate overdose deaths.

Organizer Kris Long of Foxboro, a past Jaycee president currently serving on the local organization’s board of directors, said the memorial display helps validate the experiences and the heartaches of those affected by the opioid crisis.

Volunteers from Foxboro Jaycees were on hand last Saturday to lay out grids for the memorial flags, which represent every overdose victim in Massachusetts from 2015-18 — as well as every child born in to addiction during 2018.

Visible to passers-by during the past week, the green, blue, yellow and purple lawn flags located on the north end of the Common surrounding the bandstand are grouped separately into four sections between the spoked walkways, with different colors designating the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Those lost during 2015 are represented by green flags, in 2016 by orange flags, in 2017 by yellow flags and in 2018 by purple flags.

Due to backlogs and other difficulties in confirming many deaths by overdose, Long said a precise number is virtually impossible to establish. However, she said the cumulative number for the four years in question is between 7,800 and 8,000 deaths.

“Because of that these numbers can never really be final,” Long said in a previous interview. “People don’t always understand that.”

The effect is intended to evoke similar sentiments to recent memorial galleries which blanket landscapes with thousands of small flags in honor of American service personnel.

“It’s a reflection,” said Long, whose two children have struggled with addiction-related issues. “It’s not meant to be somber.”