WAVERLY, Ohio — Dozens of people gathered outside the Waverly Police Department on Thursday afternoon to add heart-shaped locks to the city’s Love Locks memorial fence, marking the second year Pike County groups have held the overdose remembrance event.
UPDATE (Aug. 27, 2026, 6:41 p.m.): This story has been updated with additional information from the Pike County General Health District.
The community remembrance and overdose awareness event ran from noon to 2 p.m. in the police department’s parking lot at 71 N. Market St., drawing families who have lost loved ones to overdose, people in recovery and community partners from Pike County and surrounding counties, according to a Facebook post from the Pike County General Health District. Each lock added to the chain-link fence represents a life lost to a preventable overdose, according to a plaque the Pike County Quick Response Team has mounted at the memorial site.
Guest speaker Heather Kouns shared her experience with addiction and recovery with the crowd, an act the health district said took courage and offered proof that change and recovery are possible. The health district thanked the Waverly Police Department for donating use of its parking lot for the event and singled out Officer Roosa, who spent the afternoon at a grill making more than 300 hot dogs for attendees.
Resource tables staffed by community partners lined the lot, providing information and support services to residents alongside the memorial. The health district said every lock placed during the event represents a story, a person, a family and a life that matters, and that the gathering was meant to show people still struggling with addiction that recovery is possible and that they are not alone.
The event was presented with support from the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, American Legion Merritt Post 142, Workforce and Business Development, Transitions and the Paint Valley ADAMH Board. Kroger, Walmart, Rural King and Beast & Bottle BBQ were listed as community sponsors. Mission partners included Pike County Probation, The Recovery Council, Equitas Health, Focus Residential, the Waverly Fire Department and the Pike County General Health District.
The Pike County Drug Court, The Recovery Council’s Men’s Transitional Program and Focus Residential Services provided volunteers to help set up, support and clean up the event, which is funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Waverly Police Department and the Pike County General Health District.
