Waltham’s 10th annual Recovery Fest offers hope, resources in fight against addiction

Expressing hope and encouragement, many attendees at Waltham’s recent Recovery Fest openly discussed their past struggles with addiction and current goals of supporting others fighting the same battle.

“We’re all in recovery and we wanted to do something to give back,” said Kimberly Gee, the Greater Waltham Recovery Solutions (GWRS) secretary and annual festival coordinator.

“We’ve been there,” said Julie Bunch, who founded GWRS with fellow Waltham resident Debbie Cosgrove-Moore.

Marking its 10th anniversary, the Recovery Fest took place on Waltham Common and featured several local organizations with information tables offering help to those seeking support. The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office also had a table to provide information about its MATADOR (Medication-assisted Treatment and Directed Opioid Recovery) program.

Each year a person is memorialized at the event, and this year the fest honored Waltham resident Julie Politis, who died in June 2025.

“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” said Richard Evans, GWRS’s director of operations. The organization initially was called Waltham Overcoming Addiction, later becoming Greater Waltham Recovery Solutions. It became an official nonprofit in 2018.

GWRS’ “mission is to bring awareness to the disease of addiction and make treatment more accessible,” according to the nonprofit. “We offer support in terms of directly connecting people in need of treatment at all levels and providing support to family members and loved ones.”

Volunteer recovery coaches offer free help to those in need, including assistance in coming up with a plan of action to improve their lives. This also includes offering scholarships for sober living.

For those seeking help, the coaches “are your best friend in recovery,” said Gee. They help people find resources and act as a support system – in fact, coaches have sometimes gone to court with clients if needed.

Those supportive relationships are key to continuing success in recovery.

“Connection is the opposite of addiction,” said Scotty McAlarney, a treatment advocate at Weston’s Charles River Recovery, which participated in the festival.

Standing next to his organization’s table, which was filled with informational resources, McAlarney discussed how addiction is a disease with a stigma attached to it.

“The stigma keeps them [people with addictions] from reaching out for help,” he said. 

McAlarney said like him, many staff members at the organizations at the festival know what it means to fear being judged, as they are also in recovery.

He said by working at Charles River Recovery, he is “paying it forward,” by helping others, which in turn helps him in his sobriety.

Many staff members from the organizations at the event knew and were supportive of each other’s missions and being out in the community to provide help.

Another impact of addiction is the effect it has on families and other loved ones. Several organizations in attendance offered tools to help people begin to rebuild their relationships.

“We’re suffering the same as the person [with the addiction] is,” said Waltham resident Charlie Frost, a facilitator with Learn to Cope, a peer-led support network for families.

Frost said sometimes relatives feel guilty about their loved one’s struggles and wonder, “What did we do wrong?”

Learn to Cope and other organizations at the festival offer services to help families of those with addictions.

“They’re not alone,” said Waltham resident Sandra Anderson, another facilitator. 

As music played, old friends greeted each other with supportive hugs while others picked up information on addiction services. 

With words of encouragement and empathy, GWRS founder Bunch said, “Recovery is possible.”

To learn more about Greater Waltham Recovery Solutions, visit greaterwalthamrecovery.com.