Community comes together at Jack’s Walk in hope, support

Date: 5/25/2022

HOLYOKE – The Jack Jonah Foundation saw a strong turnout for Jack’s Walk again this year, remembering a West Springfield teen lost to an accidental overdose in 2019, and raising awareness about opioid addiction.

The May 14 walk was around the Ashley Reservoir in Holyoke, as that was Jack’s favorite place, said his father Kirk, who used to take him there. Friends and the community came swarming in to help Kirk Jonah with the Jack Jonah Foundation and the walk. Kirk said the walk was one of the first large events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic where people have been able to gather and honor those lost to addiction.

“Everyone wanted to get involved because we lost 107,000 individuals in 2021 on overdose,” Kirk said. “We [had] pictures of those who passed with their name, year born, year passed; we want to honor of those we’ve lost and loved ones, to educate our young adults and community on the opioid crisis, where we have factoid signs during the walk. Lastly, there is the support of those who are fighting the fight of addiction, and at the end of the walk we have pictures of those who did recover, with the statement of ‘there’s hope.’”

The Westfield Fire Department set up a station showing how to use the anti-overdose drug Narcan. Learn to Cope, a community that offers support and education to families are experiencing addiction and recovery, was also present at the event. Learn to Cope hosts virtual meetings every Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Other booths included the Hope Boutique at Hope for Holyoke, a reward-for-recovery incentive program that provides a safe place for those who want to recover from addiction, are addicts, or are in recovery; author Michael K. Tourville; and JCFilms, which produced the movie “Jack Jonah.” The event also included food and a tie-dye station.

Kirk said the idea of starting a nonprofit foundation came to him in a dream shortly after his son died.

“I really wasn’t sleeping at night, and a friend told me that was God and Jack trying to speak to me, to open up and let them in,” he said. “I did, and I got flooded with the Jack Jonah Foundation, the tie-dye logo, opioid awareness, he told me to change my speech, make it more positive, a recovery, a path, and it just evolved. In the event you will see tie-dye, Jack used to make me tie-dye things such as socks, shirts, etc., and he loved the band Grateful Dead.”

After the first fundraiser walk in 2019, Kirk was approached by Tourville, an Agawam resident who had written the books “Voices from the Fallen: True Stories of Addiction, Grief, Recovery and Courage,” and “A Promise to Astrid,” which had been turned into a movie. Tourville told him that JCFilms and actor Dean Cain, who had worked on that film, were interested in making a film about the opioid crisis, and looking for a personal story to tell.

“We filmed all the movie here in the area. At the reservoir, West Springfield, Agawam, Holyoke, all over, and the movie premiered the same year, in 2019, in November. This whole thing keeps evolving,” Kirk said.

He said he has spoken to thousands of young adults about drug addiction, sharing his own story and stories he has heard.

“Here I am six years, one month, and a week from Jack’s death and I never thought I would be in this position,” he said. “I did a lot of speaking when I was younger, and I never realized it was God’s way of preparing me for the hardest speeches of my life.”

For more information, visit www.jackjonahfoundation.com.