September is National Recovery Month!
National Recovery Month, now in its 24th year, highlights individuals who have reclaimed their lives and are living happy and healthy in long-term recovery .Right here, in the Great Northwest we celebrate with the biggest Recovery Celebration west of the Mississippi River. Hands Across the Bridge and Oxfest come together on Labor Day for an annual celebration.
Hands Across the Bridge started twelve years ago when two women in recovery read an article about National Recovery Month and realized people all over the United States were celebrating their recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. They decided they would stand on top of the bridge at daybreak to celebrate that they were no longer under the bridge in their addictions. Patty Katz and Louise Wedge, along with the support of the community, held the first Hands Across the Bridge celebration on the I-5 Bridge in 2002.That first year saw about 200 people. Over the next eleven years, the event grew with more than 2500 people joining hands in 2012.
The tradition has been after the completion of the Hands Across the Bridge ceremony, the participants travel to Ester Shore park to the Oxfest celebration. Oxfest is an all day event filled with family fun, including multiple bands, food vendors and family activities. Oxfest, sponsored by the men and women living in the more than 500 hundred Oxford Houses, both Oregon and Washington.
This year Hands Across the Bridge and Oxfest has received a very generous donation from Access to Recovery (ATR). Additionally, other ATR recipients; Phoenix Rising Transition, Iron Tribe, Bridges to Change and Highland Access to Recovery and Reentry Programs are helping to organize and coordinate this event.
Please “Join the Voices of Recovery Together on Pathways to Wellness.”
September 2, 2013
Hands Across the Bridge / Oxfest
10:00am – Noon
For more information call Patty Katz @ 360-903-4645 or visit the website @ http://www.handsacrossthebridge.org
Oregon
The Red Lion
909 N. Hayden Island Drive
Portland, OR 97217
Washington
Esther Short Park
301 W 8th Street
Vancouver, WA 98660
Oxfest
Esther Short Park
Noon till Dark
Celebrating Recovery
A One Day Music Festival for the whole family!
I am a Life Coach/Brief Interventionist. My emphasis is on trading in our relationship with alcohol, drugs and negative thinking for an amazing relationship with others and most importantly developing an extraordinary relationship with our self!
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