For years, the Arnold community has been facing issues involving drug-related deaths and acts of violence.

Arnold resident Cheryl Banks hopes to provide a solution.

Banks, 65, is spearheading a drug march led by Voices of Westmoreland, an organization dedicated to advocating for those living in Westmoreland County.

The march, set for Aug. 24, is planned to include a mock funeral procession — which Banks hopes will invoke realizations in those who are circulating the drugs.

The march, beginning at the 18th Street Baseball Field and ending at Roosevelt Park, will include stations with rehabilitation resources, speakers who have been affected by the drug scene and photos of those who have lost their lives.

“It’s getting deadly now, you know. My neighbors are dying. Friends of mine are dying, and it’s totally out of control,” Banks said.

One of those impacted neighbors is friend and fellow committee member Roxx White. White lost her son to an unexpected drug overdose May 12, Mother’s Day.

“I don’t want any other mom to have to go through the suffering that I have endured the past month and a half,” White said.

White shared that she found her son, Glendon Starr, unresponsive on her kitchen floor while she cared for his 8-month-old daughter. He was 37.

She shared that Starr struggled with drug use in the past but had been sober for the past 2½ years. White conveyed shock and confusion as she reflected on her sudden loss, noting Starr had been completely fine “a half-hour before that.”

“He had been good. He had just had his baby girl. … He spent Mother’s Day with me.”

Shedding light on Arnold’s drug problem, Banks said, has been a harrowing but necessary journey.

“I’ve been confronted with the guns and stuff like that because of what I’m trying to accomplish, but I’m looking at it like, ‘I’m not trying to save my life, I’m trying to save yours.’ ”

Drugs are a consistent problem in the Arnold area. According to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office, there have been 27 overdoses since Jan. 1 and 22 possible overdoses.

“In my age bracket, most of the people are gone, so they’re leaving the ones that are a step below them, but 90% of them are either selling drugs or killing other people so the younger kids have nothing to look up to,” Banks said. “This means their kids will not have a chance if it doesn’t stop.”

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