{"id":146659,"date":"2026-01-23T18:52:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/146659\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T18:52:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:52:45","slug":"local-families-gather-to-honor-loved-ones-lost-to-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/146659\/","title":{"rendered":"Local families gather to honor loved ones lost to addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 In a poignant display of community support, families gathered at Riverwalk Park for the annual “Light a Candle for a Loved One” event, hosted by the Be Finally Free organization.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The eighth annual “Light a Candle for a Loved One” event brought the community together for a night of community support. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n

The event, aimed at raising awareness about addiction and recovery, brought together those who have experienced the struggle of addiction and those committed to helping others overcome it.<\/p>\n

Debbie Ormonde, founder and president of Be Finally Free, shared the personal motivation behind the event. <\/p>\n

“We’re gonna celebrate with people that are in recovery, that have been cleaned for a while, and we’re gonna help mourn with the people who’ve lost their loved ones,” she said. <\/p>\n

Ormonde started the event after losing her niece, who was tragically killed by someone under the influence of methamphetamines. <\/p>\n

“I wanted to be able to remember her and her life. And so that’s how this whole event started,” Ormonde explained.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The eighth annual “Light a Candle for a Loved One” event brought the community together for a night of community support. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n

The evening featured pictures of individuals affected by drug addiction, creating a somber yet hopeful atmosphere of prayer, remembrance, and support.<\/p>\n

Rico Jimenez, a participant, emphasized the importance of community involvement, saying, “When you’re a part of something like this, it helps out only yourself, but it helps out the community as well.”<\/p>\n

Lupe Jimenez, attending for the first time, shared her personal loss. <\/p>\n

“We have lost my nephew last year to an overdose of fentanyl, and we’re out here lighting candles for all those that have lost a family member to an overdose of some kind of substance,” she said. <\/p>\n

Her husband, Rico Jimenez, added, “We just want to, like, do our, do our part to, uh, support our brother and sister-in-law in this time of their grief, and to help our community bring awareness.”<\/p>\n

The event also featured local resources such as the Mission at Kern, Kern Family Health Care, Team Challenge, and Bakersfield Recovery Services, offering support to those in need.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe eighth annual “Light a Candle for a Loved One” event brought the community together for a night of community support. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n

For those struggling with addiction, Be Finally Free provides resources and assistance through their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 In a poignant display of community support, families gathered at Riverwalk Park for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-146659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}