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.”