Hundreds march in Portland to raise awareness of addiction and celebrate recovery

As protesters from the 500-strong Portland Recovery March flocked to Pioneer Courthouse Square Saturday morning, raising signs declaring “End the Addiction Crisis Now,” community members welcomed them with cheers.

The group had just completed the sixth annual Walk for Recovery by the nonprofit advocacy group Oregon Recovers. They walked about two miles around downtown Portland to raise awareness about the addiction crisis and the possibility of recovery. Along the way, participants passed through recovery service providers such as Central City Concern, Outside In and Fora Health. Support services also offered resources under tents on the square.

Oregon has the second highest level of untreated addiction in the country and ranks 50th in access to treatment, according to the federal government’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Saturday’s walk is the fifth of six around the state that Oregon Recovers is planning for National Recover Month — all of which are fundraisers but also community celebrations.

“Many of us engage in recovery in church basements at AA meetings or NA meetings,” said Mike Marshall, co-founder and executive director of Oregon Recovers. “It’s about declaring pride in recovery. …It’s about coming out of the shadows and re-establishing ourselves in the light.

Oregon Recovers advocates for changes to the state’s drug treatment system, including more sobriety centers, more drug treatment centers and more rehabilitation beds. But politics wasn’t the focus of Saturday’s event, said Jesse Cornett, the group’s director of policy and advocacy. Instead, he said, it was about connecting with community and family — like with his nephew and his nephew’s father, who were both in attendance.

Similarly, Brandon Lial of 4D Recovery, which supports youth and young adults in recovery, said he keeps running into people he knows at recovery events.

“It’s important for us to see each other,” Lial said. “It’s pretty cool to come back and see everyone in the community.”

For Nicole Clark – a singer who performs the role of Sassey – the event offered an opportunity to stand in the spotlight and tell her story. She sang “Amazing Grace” on an outdoor stage after the march ended, an experience she called scary but also healing.

“It was amazing,” she said of the event. “I love seeing people come here and just support people who are struggling with addiction or in recovery.”

Support from the recovery community while raising her children, she said, has been essential to both her mental health and theirs. She brought two of her children for the walk.

Toni Odir also brought her two young children. The eldest, aged 3, carried a sign commemorating his uncle, Odir’s brother, who recently died of an overdose. Odir had previously participated in the Walk for Recovery to honor his own recovery, but this year, representing his brother changed the tenor of the event.

“It was a lot,” she said. “It was emotional for me.”

Cassie Marusa, for her part, was present for the first time this year. She has ties to several groups distributing resources in the square: she volunteers for Go the Distance, which encourages recovery through fitness. She works for Cascadia Health, the largest provider of behavioral health services in Multnomah County. And she lives in a home at the Miracles Club, a peer-run black recovery center.

During the walk, Marusa said passing Fora Health — formerly De Paul Treatment Centers — was particularly poignant. She had almost used this recovery center, but had started using it again while waiting for a place. Seeing him Saturday was like coming full circle, she said.

“That’s where it all started, where I started thinking about recovery,” Marusa said. “And now I’m here and I’m doing a lot better.”

— Aviva Bechky covers politics and education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. They can be contacted at [email protected] or the @avivabechky.

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