Board proclaims August Child Support Awareness Month and Aug. 29 Overdose Awareness Day; recovery advocates thanked

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 6 adopted two proclamations: designating August 2025 as Child Support Awareness Month and Aug. 29, 2025 as Overdose Awareness Day.

Vice Chairman Fanning read the Child Support Awareness Month proclamation, which affirms the county’s commitment to child support services and to promoting parents’ engagement and financial responsibility.

Vice Chairman Fanning then read the Overdose Awareness Day proclamation, which noted provisional state data cited in the proclamation: an estimated 1,800 opioid overdose deaths in Arizona in 2024 compared with 2,087 in 2023, and stated that fentanyl contributed to approximately 80 percent of Arizona opioid‑related deaths in 2024. The proclamation also listed local Overdose Awareness events including a memorial and a community basketball tournament and called for expanded access to treatment, peer support and prevention programs.

Public comment preceded the proclamations. Channing Anthony Velasquez, who identified his address and said he spent four years in Border Patrol from 2019–2024, thanked the board for acknowledging overdose awareness and spoke about his recovery from fentanyl and amphetamine use: “I was a part of the earlier opioid epidemic that led to my drug of choice being fentanyl and amphetamines at the end... proud to stand before you today and help others get clean and continue on that road to recovery.”

The board moved and seconded adoption of the proclamations; the motions carried by voice vote.