YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - People from all walks of life came out to the Walk A Mile in My Shoes Remembrance. 

The shoes placed around Wick Park represent the people who are no longer here to walk alongside loved ones. Leray Jackson from Youngstown said, "I came here to support the movement. I have a few loved ones I know personally pass away from the disease, so I am always here to support."

Susan Burnett brought her dog Vito to walk. Burnett who is with Compass said, "So we feel it is important to do things like this and get our consumers and our residents involved in this. They know a lot of people who have succumbed to opioid addiction, and they want to support them."

The effort by OhioCAN or Ohio Can Change Addiction Now, Mahoning County is working to keep more people from losing loved ones and to help save lives.

The local organizer Hopeann Lovrinoff-Moran said, "We want people to start talking about harm reducing techniques such as providing safe places for people who use drugs. There are also Fentanyl test or Carfentanil test strips so they can test any of the drugs they are using for the deadly drugs. It will show on the test strips if Fentanyl or Carfentanil are present. We also should implement syringe exchange programs which will not only benefit the community with reduced HIV or Hepatitis C, and you will not be finding needles in public places as often since they are being exchanged."

The Mahoning County Health Department had looked into the safe drug spaces, and needle exchange programs but found there was plenty of opposition. 

Names of loved ones who are remembered were read aloud. Empty shoes that line the park a reminder of lives lost too soon, or the shoes of loved ones whose lives are forever changed by loss. 

You can find OhioCAN on Facebook or by calling the coordinator Hopeann Lovrinoff-Moran at 330-507-5313 in Mahoning County.