NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The fifth annual "Bridge the Gap" event was held on Saturday at Riverfront Park in North Little Rock.
It was hosted by the Hope Movement Coalition along with the CWC Alliance and allowed families who have lost loved ones to an overdose—or people who have struggled with addiction—to come together.
Staci James founded the Hope Movement Coalition in 2019 because she saw a need and wanted to fill it.
"I lost my son in March of that year,” James said. "I realized that there was nothing in place to support me, to support my loss, and I slowly met other Arkansas families, and we came together to form this coalition.... we didn't want any other family in the state of Arkansas, whether they had a loved one struggling with substance use disorder, or they had lost a loved one, to not to be able to talk about what was going on in their lives.”
Since then, the group has provided support for anyone going through this unimaginable tragedy.
One of those people is Samantha Rudd, who lost her daughter Brittani to fentanyl in 2021.
“We were just devastated to lose her,” Rudd said. “She was a shining, bright light [and] always smiling. Yeah, she's very much missed."
Rudd said that events like this help because she and others can remember their lost loved ones and help those struggling.
Carmen Jones, who lost her daughter Jasmine last year, said the same thing.
"It makes me feel like I got a lot of support,” Jones said. “I didn't realize so many families were dealing with this, just like me."
Together, those families honored their loved ones and their memory.
James said these are the conversations that have to continue—the group is big on “stopping the stigma” and allowing loved ones to talk freely about their loss without feeling any guilt or shame.
"You can't throw a rock in Arkansas and not hit someone that's been affected by the opioid epidemic or the fentanyl crisis,” James said. "We all want to save lives. We don't want to see anybody else go through what we've gone through."
James also said that while the Hope Movement Coalition’s growth is somewhat bittersweet because it means more people are losing loved ones, she’s glad people now have this support resource.
According to James, last year’s "Bridge the Gap" event saw over 1,000 attendees from 11 different states.