The art show takes place at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, August 27.

The artists are participants in the weekly Art in Recovery classes offered by the Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County (MHA). The classes are presented as an opportunity for “an artistic expression of your own personal recovery through painting and drawing.”

The exhibit was created last year to raise awareness for International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31. With Art in Recovery classes now being held at both MHA’s Jamestown and Dunkirk locations, this year’s showing will have works from across Chautauqua County.

The event is free and open to the public. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served.

The exhibit can also be viewed on Sunday, August 28, before or after the 10 a.m. Recovery Sunday worship service at St. Luke’s, when MHA Certified Peer Specialist Sean Jones will be the guest preacher.

Two fairs will take place tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at pondside in the center of the Jamestown Campus, while an 11:15 event will be held on the front lawn of the North County Center in Dunkirk. JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus in Olean will host a similar fair on September 8th at noon outside of the College Center.

Those in attendance are encouraged to bring a t-shirt to participate in the fair’s “Tie-Dye For Hope.”

Resources will be available from JCC’s support services as well as organizations from throughout the surrounding communities.

International Overdose Awareness Day is observed annually on August 31st and according to its website “the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind.”

Highlighting the day’s events is a free community screening of the film “Heroin: Cape Cod USA,” a documentary that follows eight people in their 20s as they battle addiction.

• RELATED: IAN EASTMAN FROM EVERGREEN HEALTH DISCUSSES OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY

The film will be shown for free at the Scharmann Theatre starting at 6 p.m., with a remembrance of loved ones lost to the overdose epidemic following the screening.  A Performance by local poet Autumn Echo and Chautauqua Hospice Bereavement Coordinator Jamie Probst will guide the remembrance.

Other events occurring during the day include a resource fair from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the JCC Student Union and a Narcan Training session from 4-5 p.m. in the JCC Carnahan Theater.

Evergreen Health provides medical, supportive and behavioral services throughout the Western New York area. The syringe exchange program helps to decrease the spread of viral infections like HIV and Heptatitis C, as well as prevent drug overdose.

For more information on Evergreen Health or International Overdose Awareness Day, visit EvergreenHS.org or call 847-2441.

WRFA public affairs director Jason Sample talks with Ian Eastman from Evergreen Health Services about International Overdose Awareness Day and a series of events scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 31 at Jamestown Community College.

LAKEWOOD – Area residents wanting to learn more about the effort to fight the heroin epidemic and reduce the number of fatal overdoses in our community may want to attend a community discussion later this week.

Wednesday, Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness day and in conjunction, Evergreen Health Services is teaming up with the Chautauqua Mall to host an event intended to educate the public about drug use and also create awareness that an overdose can happen to anyone.

“Overdose isn’t something that people talk about, but, according to the CDC, it’s the leading cause of accidental death in our country. Overdose Awareness Day gives us all an opportunity to reflect on the practical ways that we can prevent overdose in our community,” said organizer Ian Eastman from Evergreen Health. “If you know the facts about drugs, and what to do if you see someone experiencing an overdose, you can save lives.”

Eastman said the event will feature a panel discussion with several participants.

“We’re going to have various organizations that help with addiction services that will be there from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. So if you want to come a little earlier and stay a little late to talk with those organizations you can,” Eastman said. “The program itself goes from 6 to 7 p.m. We have Dr. Robert Berke from Family Health Medical Services speaking. We also have Jamestown Police Department Chief Harry Snellings, Julie Franco of the Chautauqua Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Council, and Steven Cobb from the Mental Health Association.”

Eastman said International Overdose Day originated in 2001 in Australia, and has been observed annually by communities around the world for 15 years. Evergreen Health, a healthcare provider that specializes in substance user health and overdose education and prevention, is bringing the event to Jamestown as a response to the rapid increase in overdose deaths throughout the region.

Again, the panel discussion will begin at 6 p.m. in the center of Chautauqua Mall. There will be seating available for the public.

For more information, you can call (716) 763-1823 or visit chautauquamall.com.