EDITOR’S NOTE: This report has been corrected to reflect that the Walk Against Drugs takes place Sunday.
PORT ANGELES — A student-led anti-drug group will hold its first Hope After Heroin Walk Against Drugs on Sunday for all who are concerned about the effects of drugs on the city’s youth.
The family friendly walk will begin at noon at the Fairmount Grocery, 1137 U.S. Highway 101, then head north on Fairmount Avenue to Lauridsen Boulevard, east to C Street and then north to Eighth Street.
The walk will continue east on Eighth Street and then north on Lincoln Street to the Clallam County Courthouse, where a rally is planned.
Trash bags and gloves will be available so participants can pick up any trash encountered along the walk, said Tina Sperry, the adult advisor to the student group.
Participants are asked to not park in the Fairmount parking lot, Sperry said.
A shuttle service will be available at the Safeway parking lot at 11:30 a.m. for those who want to park near the courthouse.
The founders of Hope After Heroin are Lincoln High School students Makiah Sperry, 17; Caitlin Balser, 17; Chante Robideau, 17; and Micah Nichols, 16, who have said they have seen the effects of drug abuse on friends and family members and want to help in any way they can.
The group members have said they started taking action after having been affected by friends and loved ones’ battles with heroin and methamphetamine.
Since their first cleanup on Oct. 9, the group has held five clean-up events in areas known for discarded drug paraphernalia, and it has collected more than 720 pounds of trash and 96 used hypodermic needles.
Sperry said some of the trash the group has found in parks and other cleanup locations includes feminine products, used condoms, human feces in the parks and downtown, hundreds of alcohol containers, clothing and children’s toys.
On Sunday, the group took part in a cleanup in downtown Port Angeles around the intersection of Lincoln and Front streets.
At Sunday’s cleanup, the group gathered 19 needles, two methamphetamine pipes, a bag of suspected methamphetamine and about 200 pounds of trash.
Sperry said suspected drugs are turned over to the Port Angeles Police Department, and needles are disposed of through Clallam County Health and Human Services.
The next Hope After Heroin cleanup will be held at noon Nov. 29, and will begin at Erickson Park and the Dream Playground at the corner of East Fouth and South Race streets. It will then move to Webster Park at East Fourth and South Eunice streets, and the area around South Peabody and East Second streets.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
