C.R. Temple, a founder of Chocowinity-based Same Power Ministries, believes the 12/2 Shine the Light youth rally held Saturday at Festival Park more than accomplished its goal: shining a light on the opioid epidemic.

“It was very powerful. We fed up to 2,500 people. There were a lot of hurting families, a lot of families who had just gone through their children (overdosing) and dying in the past several weeks,” Temple said Monday. “They got information from the vendors. They got prayer. They got support. They were showed a lot of love.” Temple knows all that is important. After all he is a recovering drug addict who knows the toll drug use takes on families.

“There were a lot of mothers and dads out their looking for support for their children. It was just one powerful day,” Temple said.

The event was so successful, it bears repeating, he said. “We’re going to repeat it in August of this coming year,” Temple said.

“This was definitely a community effort,” Temple said, naming some of the organizations, people and groups involved with organizing the event. Those entities included, but were not limited to, Second Baptist Church of Washington, First Christian Church of Washington, Celebrating Recovery of Washington’s Harvest Church, Amy Ward and Brothers in the Field, a fishing and hunting ministry formed six years ago. “There’s just so many, so many,” Temple said.

Their involvement with Shine the Light shows they have loving, caring hearts, he said. “They were a big part of serving. They were serving that day, which we all should be doing as servants of God, reaching out to our brothers and sisters who are lost, who are hurting,” Temple said.

“The community came together, and that’s what’s need in the county to attack this opioid epidemic,” he said.