Tasia Stockstill, of LaPorte, who came up with the idea for a gallery of victims of heroin abuse, stands in front of portraits of a man and two women who died from heroin overdoses. Photo by Stan Maddux
LAPORTE — They died from using heroin, but they shouldn’t be remembered as merely statistics.
The faces of nine people from LaPorte and Porter counties who have died from heroin overdoses are featured in a new gallery of portraits called “Faceless Epidemic.” It was unveiled recently at a LaPorte drug treatment clinic.
“Their lives mattered,” said Debbie Spurling, director of development for Frontline Foundations, which operates faith-based substance abuse treatment centers in LaPorte and Chesterton.
“You can just see the people through the eyes and the smiles. It is very impactful,” she said.
The exhibit of painted and sketched images will be moved from place to place to raise awareness of the dangers of heroin. It’s currently at the LaPorte clinic, which opened last year at 605 Michigan Ave.
Listed above each portrait is the individual’s first name and the years he or she was born and died.
Jodi Lawrence showed up Friday to view the portrait of her daughter, Lynsey, whose image was captured from a picture of her on the beach during a family vacation in Florida a year or two prior to her death in 2012.
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