Service highlights drug recovery
Jeremy Zollars of Waynesburg speaks during the “Recovery Sunday” service at Waynesburg Baptist Church. He stood before a congregation of family, friends and community leaders as a sober man who’s thankful to be alive.
Jeremy Zollars of Waynesburg shakes hands with President Judge Farley Toothman during the “Recovery Sunday” service at Waynesburg Baptist Church.
A crowd gathered at First Baptist Church in Waynesburg listens to President Judge Farley Toothman speak during the “Recovery Sunday” service.
WAYNESBURG – Jeremy Zollars started abusing drugs when he was a teenager. He’s been to rehab, jail and halfway houses several times, but he couldn’t stay sober.
“Little by little, I started to lose my family,” Zollars said.
He said his father didn’t want anything to do with him.
“I threw my life away for a substance in a bag,” he said. “I didn’t want to wake up anymore, but I was too afraid to pull the trigger or hang from a ceiling.”
On Sunday, the Waynesburg resident stood before a congregation of family, friends and community leaders as a sober man who’s thankful to be alive. He received a standing ovation after sharing his story of recovery at First Baptist Church of Waynesburg during its “Recovery Sunday” service.
It began like a typical Sunday service with hymns, prayers and Bible stories, but it soon became a tear-jerker when Zollars and others who have lost family members to heroin shared their experiences.
“It’s not that addicts are bad people, but when that switch goes off, they will do anything to get the drug,” he said. “It’s an everyday struggle, and some days I think about using more than others.”
His addiction began in high school with alcohol and marijuana, but he started abusing pain pills, then heroin.
“That’s when the dance really started,” he said.
After battling addiction for 18 years, Zollars had enough. He said he’s been sober since June 27, 2014.
Zollars attributed much of his recovery success to his stay at the Oxford House, a sober-living facility that opened in October 2014 at Cumberland and Greene streets in Waynesburg.
“That place has saved my life,” he said. “I’m glad I’m one of the miracles that made it through.”
Lynn and Don Bird, of Morris Township, Greene County, also spoke during the service. Their two oldest daughters, Jennifer, 32, and Megan, 30, didn’t make it through. They died of heroin overdoses four months apart in 2014.
“You can’t believe you can go through this,” Don Bird said. “We’ll never ever be the same as we used to be.”
Zollars and the Birds all had a clear message of urgency for the community to work together to combat the heroin epidemic.
“I just hope more families don’t have to go through what we have,” Lynn Bird said.
The Rev. Ed Peirce, pastor of the church, led the service with a prayer for addicts and their families.
“Strengthen them in the work of their recovery, and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love,” he said.
During a noon luncheon, state and county officials, including President Judge Farley Toothman and Sheriff Brian Tennant, shared their perspective on the issue.
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll, spoke of her nephew’s battle with addiction and about the need to lower the amount of prescription drugs in the community.
“Every single person that I talk to is somehow affected,” she said.
State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, also personalized the issue by telling the audience of her father, who died of health problems brought on by alcohol addiction when she was 15 years old. She said a “common thread” for addiction starts with alcohol and marijuana before leading to more serious drugs like opiate pills and heroin.
“The younger we can get to our kids to tell them of the dangers of addiction, the better,” she said.