7th Annual Celebration of HOPE Virtual Walk

7th Annual Celebration of HOPE Walk is a virtual success!

“The journey toward hope and recovery might be difficult, but the transformation at the end is really wonderful to see,” said Stephen Willis at HOPE Sheds Light’s 7th Annual Celebration of HOPE Walk.

Willis, HOPE Sheds Light Co-founder, has been the master of ceremonies for all seven of HOPE Sheds Light’s annual walks, although things looked much different this year as the COVID-19 pandemic led the Toms River-based non-profit organization to make the walk virtual.

Dedicated to educating families on the disease of substance use disorder, HOPE Sheds Light held its virtual walk at its usual spot on the Hiering Avenue Boardwalk in Seaside Heights, however instead of thousands circled around the stage, they circled around their computers and mobile devices as they prepared to walk from different locations from state to state.

At the annual HOPE Walk, the community comes together to celebrate recovery and provide hope to those affected. “It’s a wonderful thing to know that at any moment we have the freedom, the ability and certainly the power to choose what we do and how we live our lives,” said Willis. We can choose to be a victim and feel helpless or we can choose to get brave with God’s grace and work together for positive change. We are free to choose joy over sadness. Understanding and love over anger and resentment. And we can absolutely choose to embrace recovery and speaking out loud and asking for help and showing up. When we do it together, our recovery can become real and we can celebrate and feel proud of ourselves for the work we’ve done. Let’s get brave together. I promise HOPE will be here for you when you need us.”