Movie targets growing heroin epidemic
Five Greene County churches will show a movie simultaneously Friday night in an effort to combat the heroin and opiate epidemic.
The movie, to be shown at 6 p.m. in six locations across the county, is called “An Appalachian Dawn,” and tells the story of a Kentucky town that dealt with its drug problem.
“There’s such a predominance of drug activity in our area, drug-related deaths, and children born addicted to drugs because their parents are on drugs,” said the Rev. Richard Berkey, pastor of Rolling Meadows Church of God in Waynesburg. “The government is doing everything they can possibly do.”
The movie will be shown at First Baptist Church, 303 W. High St., Waynesburg; Nazarene Church, 115 Deerfield Lane, Waynesburg; Harvey’s Grange, 106 Grange Road, Graysville; Hewitt Presbyterian Church, 1206 Crucible Road, Rices Landing; Carmichaels First United Methodist Church, 104 South St., Carmichaels; and Mapletown United Methodist Church, 926 Mapletown Road, Greensboro.
Berkey said he and other organizers of the event tried to pick various locations to bring more people out for the three-hour movie.
There is no cost to attend the viewings.
“This whole thing came about because people started praying, and now, our churches are coming together to say ‘We are one,'” he said. “It’s about restoring lives. We want to get God back in the picture, because God is the only one who can restore life.”