People lost to overdoses remembered
In her youth, Chante Nee was involved in Girl Scouts, volleyball, community theater, aid efforts for Hurricane Katrina, the state police Camp Cadet program and more all before she attended college at Penn State University.
While attending school, she would suffer a back injury and be put on pain medicine, being prescribed opiates to deal with the pain.
Chante died from a drug overdose in 2019, leaving her mother, Kathy Nee, of Butler, with the memories of her personality.
Nee said that after being sober for nine months, Chante died after relapsing in January 2019 at age 30.
Nee, of Butler, shared her daughter’s story Wednesday, Aug. 31, at an event for International Overdose Awareness Day planned by the Butler County Opioid Overdose Coalition. She said she wanted to share the parts of Chante that she remembers outside of her addiction.
"Our loved ones were so much more than their disease," Nee said.
About 50 people attended the evening event at Grace Community Wellness Center of Glade Run Lutheran Services in the former Grace @ Calvary Church at 123 E. Diamond St. across from Diamond Park, to hear coalition members and others talk about loved ones who have died from overdose.
The evening started with the ringing of a bell 66 times, to symbolize the 66 people who died of drug overdoses in Butler County in 2021. Coalition figures show there have been 581 overdose deaths in Butler County since 2011; 68.2% were male, 31.8% female. Ninety-eight percent of those who died were white, 2% were Black.
There have been 32 deaths related to drug overdose this year in Butler County.
The coalition is made up of first responders, police and sheriff’s deputies, drug and alcohol treatment providers and representatives from Butler County Community College and Slippery Rock University and Lisa Gill, a prevention specialist with the Butler County Human Services Drug and Alcohol programs.
Donna McKissick, of Butler, lost her daughter, Ashley McKissick, to overdose in 2018. McKissick said that while her daughter struggled with addiction for years, she remembers her as the full person she was, rather than by the way she died.
"She was a funny, silly, contagiously happy person," McKissick said. "She loved me, taught me forgiveness, she was my ride or die. She was always there."
McKissick said she and Nee have been working for years to not only reduce the stigma behind addiction, but to help people get to recovery and follow through.
Dozens of people got up from their seats as the bell sounded to write the name of a loved one who died from overdose on a memorial tree canvas.
David Janz, pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Butler, said the canvas and bell ringing were meant to emphasize the significance of each death.
Several people also spoke about their journeys through addiction, and shared memories of people they knew who died from overdoses.
The Butler County commissioners opened the event by sharing their support for those going through addiction.
To close the event, the coalition provided people with candles for a memorial walk down Main Street, which ended back at the church where the attendees would also dedicate a tree to the people who died of overdose.
Donna Jenereski, director of the Butler County Drug and Alcohol Program, said more than 30 businesses agreed to place purple flags outside in commemoration of the remembrance event and walk.
McKissick said the number of people present at the event was encouraging.
"There is hope," McKissick said. "Let's make some changes."
Recovery picnic scheduled
The coalition will host its second annual Recovery Picnic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at Butler Memorial Park as a way to encourage and support people in recovery and give them a positive, alcohol- and drug-free activity.
