Recovery groups urge New Milford to reserve town green for annual Overdose Awareness Day

Members of New Milford’s recovery community urged the Town Council to protect the town’s annual International Overdose Awareness Day events and to keep the date on the calendar so nonprofits can plan reliably.

At the meeting, Coach Tony Moresy, who leads recovery events and runs the Brian Cody Foundation, said the weekend provides essential visibility and community connection for grieving families and people in recovery. “We need to find a way to preserve the last Saturday in August specifically for the overdose awareness campaigns that we need to continue to run until such time as there’s no overdose deaths,” Moresy said.

Why it matters: Recovery organizers said the event builds local supports, reduces stigma and helps connect people to services. Several speakers said scheduling systems for the town green are unreliable and argued that a fixed reservation or a formal town policy would prevent nonprofits from being pitted against each other for scarce dates.

Town response and next steps: Council members agreed to review park scheduling procedures and staff said they would coordinate with park and recreation staff to try to reserve the date annually. The mayor said he would follow up with staff to clarify the process and report back.

Other context: Speakers noted New Milford’s recovery work has grown in recent years, including a recovery 5K and other community events that organizers say have strengthened local networks of support.