Save a Life Day is a fun, effective way to distribute a lot of naloxone, educate neighbors, challenge stigma, & bring your community together to save lives.
Below are 10 steps for organizing a successful day of action in your county!
Every place is different, so this part can involve some relationship building and time. It’s important to start talking with host sites several months before Save A Life Day.
So far, for each naloxone day, most county organizers partner with 1-10+ host sites throughout their county to reach deeply within the community. Think about where naloxone is needed most… Are there certain neighborhoods where local data or experts point to as higher-risk? Are there certain areas where people who are at risk hang out? Do you have an existing partnership in a busy location? OR would an outreach team better serve some areas in your community?
Some previous Save A Life Day locations have included churches, health clinics, libraries, colleges, recovery homes, fire departments, grocery stores, busy intersections, local parks, shelters, dollar stores, city halls, gas stations, and more.
Your county may also choose to implement outreach teams. Mobile outreach teams distribute naloxone directly into the hands of local businesses, neighbors, and other places such as motels or encampments. Including people who use drugs on your outreach teams is a great idea!
Consider having at least 3 people staffing your distribution sites at a time. It might be useful to schedule a couple extra folks in case of unexpected cancellations. You can have your volunteers take shifts of several hours or, pending availability, have all-day or half-day volunteers.
We’ve found A LOT of people want to help with these days of action- reaching out to local health professionals, recovery networks, treatment providers, community agencies/organizations, harm reduction programs, colleges + nursing/social work students is a great start for finding volunteers. Including people with lived experience is ideal.
To keep track of your volunteers, it’s useful to create a sign-up form! Here is an example of a volunteer sign-up form for the first pilot event in 2020 in Kanawha/Putnam Counties. Here is another example of a sign-up form from the Eastern Panhandle.
It is essential to have one person at each site who is a confident naloxone trainer. You may also choose to have recovery coaches at your sites or include employees or members of the host organization.
Note: Everyone and anyone can be trained to be a naloxone trainer. Here is a link to a Training for Trainers from Aug 2024.
Sourcing enough naloxone can be a logistical hurdle, but the Save A Life Day team is here to help in any way possible. Let’s start with a few ideas:
1. Connect with other organizations that distribute naloxone. Partner with these organizations for Save A Life Day. It is likely that these organizations will want to participate as host sites and/or volunteers and can supply their own naloxone to their sites, and possibly additional distro sites.
2. In WV, the Office of Drug Control Policy (through WV Dept. of Human Services) supplies naloxone to all 55 counties annually for this event. Many states have a governmental office or program that connects people with naloxone. It may be worth choosing a couple of leaders from your state to facilitate a conversation with your state’s respective agency.
3. Other sources of free and low-cost naloxone are available. Direct Relief sometimes carries intramuscular naloxone and even nasal naloxone which they ship to partners for free. There is also an exceptional Buyers Club called Remedy Alliance where you can order free or discounted intramuscular naloxone in addition to Rivive nasal naloxone. Harbor Path also may have naloxone available. The company that produces the brand name Narcan also has a special web page for direct orders. Padagis also has generic naloxone.
*2026 represents the 55th year that the FDA approved intramuscular (IM) naloxone, the original formulation of this medicine. In September 2019, the FDA published a statement clarifying that IM naloxone is supported for community distribution.
Handing someone naloxone can save a life, but Save A Life Day also aims to change hearts and minds through challenging stigma. One way to do this is by sharing anti-stigma materials with your event attendees.
County organizers have brought to life bumper stickers (“I Carry Naloxone”), stickers, pins, wristbands, tote bags, t-shirts, yard signs, banners, and more. You are welcome to use all the designs from earlier days (these designs are by the brilliant and talented folks at 84 Agency & Base Camp Printing) at your local print shop! You can also see a swag budget breakdown here. Also, many events distribute brochures and flyers for local harm reduction, recovery, and other resources. Everybody can leave your event equipped like a naloxone rock star!
We understand that not all counties have financial resources for swag! At minimum, it’s helpful to have each site equipped with naloxone, resources, a table, chairs, canopy tent, and some kind of sign (even a homemade one!).
*Each county who requests one before the deadline (TBA) will also receive a deluxe care package of anti-stigma materials and resources from SOAR WV! (Thanks to Save a Life Day’s amazing sponsors!)
This part is two-fold. First, consider a social media plan. Our friends at 84 Agency developed a Free Naloxone Day-specific social media guide you are welcome to use. On the actual day of action, people will be posting photos everywhere, from facebook to instagram to videos on TikTok. The forever hashtag is #SaveaLifeDay, which can help collect photos in one place for long-haul storytelling.
You can also utilize various customizable graphics and templates for graphics to help you promote Save A Life Day: save the date graphic, join the movement graphic, facebook event cover shot, general event graphics, anti-stigma graphics, event flyers, overdose info flyers, training certificates, and some state graphics (more to come!).
Make sure to share your event locations far and wide well ahead of Sept. 26! In the weeks leading up to Save A Life Day, the website will have a shareable map of events across the country.
Secondly, you can use the 2026 press release template to connect with local media (coming around August 2026). You can use the customizable press release to connect local newspapers, radio stations and TV news channels!
One way to organize your volunteers is through a SignUpGenius, although there are other volunteer management platforms. This is an easy way to have folks sign up for the site and shifts that are most accessible for them. Make sure to remind your volunteers about the day of action a couple of times before it arrives!
Some counties have chosen to implement various volunteer roles (naloxone trainer, recovery coach, etc.), while other counties organize with a Site Leader (experienced Narcan trainer- also in charge of supplies, set up, tear down) and volunteers. You can see a write up of some of these roles here.
Every year, West Virginia’s own Dr. Lindsay Acree offers naloxone training for trainers to all Save A Life Day volunteers. These will be offered virtually and recorded for all the folks who could not patch in live. You can see the 2024 training recording here.
About a month before Save a Life Day, you ought to receive your deluxe care package from SOAR WV with a bundle of anti-stigma and educational materials. Your group may also be ordering a bunch of swag and materials as well. All you need now is to throw a packing party with a handful or more of your volunteers! Packing parties are a fun way to make sure that every site in your county gets the materials it needs. It’s helpful to have a designated person in charge of picking up/ setting up materials for each site.
It’s September 24th! The planning is over and now you can have a fun day of engaging your community to save lives! Consider taking LOTS of photos and encourage event attendees to post their photos online with the hashtag #SaveALifeDay.
Congratulations- you’ve had a successful Save A Life Day! Make sure you share your success with the coordinating crew using the Naloxone Tally Form (this will be sent out in September) so we can all find out the total naloxone doses distributed.
Next, thank your host sites and volunteers with an email or card.
Don’t forget to upload your photos to the 2026 Flickr album (you’ll be able to do this via a follow-up google doc survey).
Lastly, get reading to join us the October debrief call for an event recap, chance to share lessons learned, and a discussion for next year.
Got more questions or ideas? Please get in touch! Drop an email to freenaloxoneday@gmail.com.
Take the lead as a State or County Organizer in your community.
