To the Editor:
As the founder of Steve’s Wing for Humanity, my name is Melissa Schoonover. I wanted to give a public and proper thank you to all of those that have helped with the rally and the candlelight vigil and for helping this organization become what it is in the process of becoming for now and in the future.
We would like to start off by thanking Conner Construction for their donation in helping Steve’s Wings get off the ground and become established and for the use of their generator, as well as being one of the few that checked in on my husband and I during our time of loss of our son; OK Nellz and Robin Roberts of Hudson Brothers Deli for their donation of door prizes for the rally; and OK Nellz also helped in paying for our Overdose Awareness banner for our third year running; Sandhills Knockerball company for donating their time and equipment in making sure that we had a nice video presentation for those families that came to honor and remember their lost angels; Sandhills Best Care for coming out and speaking and setting up a booth as a resource as well as also calling my husband and I to check on us during our loss of our son; C&J Automotive for allowing us to use their grill to cook the food that was sold at the rally; Colt West for filling up our dunking booth and for displaying and demonstrating proper CPR which is vital during recovery of an overdose; Ricky Blakely (individual) for the use of his trailer for which we used as our stage; Backyard Bouncers for allowing us to use one of their bouncy houses; Myrna Troxler (Webay store in Ellerbe) for several donations of merchandise to Steve’s Wings; Heather Rodriguez with Rodriguez Insurance Solutions for her donation of candles and advertisements; Pastor Dean Dixon for his sound equipment and for also helping to guide me in the proper direction of building Steve’s Wings; The Church of God of Prophecy in Hamlet for the lending of their dunking booth for the second year in a row.
I also want to thank my husband, Richard Schoonover, for pushing to recover and for trying his hardest ever to live a recovery life and for making sure that everything got set up for the rally and helped keep everything going.
I also want to thank Richard Blakely for helping my husband to get everything set up. Beth Taylor, thank you for coming in at (the) last minute to fill in as our stage announcer and for sharing your story.
To all of those that spoke at the rally as well as threw in an extra hand when you all seen necessary, you all know who you are and it did not go unnoticed.
We will continue to do our outreach in our community and other communities and we want everyone to know that they are all deeply appreciated.
I have a very personal understanding to all of these issues that we are trying to help with in our community and it has been laid on my heart very strong and clear as to different ways that we can help and that is why we are trying to do what we are doing.
All that we ask from the community is to just back us up in the community and take a second look at those in need and pay it forward.
Thank you again to EVERYONE and we will see you all again at our next events and our fourth annual Overdose Awareness Rally and candlelight vigil next year.
Melissa Schoonover, Rockingham
EDITOR’S NOTE: Click here to read about and see photos from the 2023 Overdose Awareness Rally.
