SIDNEY — Debra Roesser got tired of drug addicts’ overdosing in her Sidney neighborhood.

“Last week, there were 11 in five days and two of them died,” she said. So she decided to do something about it. She decided to help.

Her first efforts will culminate in a program Friday, March 24, at 5 p.m., in the Mount Zion Church, 324 Grove St. A balloon launch will begin the event. Several people will speak about their association with drugs, and area social service agencies will distribute information. The program is free and open to the public.

Roesser had never organized such a project before. She had no money to use and no experience in fundraising. She wasn’t even sure of what she wanted to do. But it had to be something. The status quo wasn’t OK. So she went to the Internet to see what others had done.

“On Facebook, I’d seen a story about Billy, from Boston. I found a Google story about a young man searching to help others,” she said.

Billy Pfaff is known as the Opioid Warrior. For four years, he has been on a single-minded mission to support people trying to shake addiction and to remove the stigma they live under. Pfaff, who survived homelessness and depression, has built what he calls street teams in every state in the country. The teams then help local people overcome addiction.

Roesser sent him emails. Then she tracked down his phone number and left voice messages.

“Two days later, he called back. He asked how bad the town was,” Roesser said. She didn’t mince words in telling him about the Shelby County drug problem. Pfaff agreed to come to Sidney at his own expense. He’ll be the keynote speaker Friday night. It will not be his first visit to Ohio.

“I did a program in Akron last year and 2,400 people showed up,” he said by phone, Tuesday.

When Roesser posted information about him on Facebook, more than 180 local people responded, urging her to move forward with her plans for a program. Several agreed to help her manage the event and have become a committee. They include Roesser’s husband, Gary, a recovered addict, himself; Kathy Gross, of Russia; Debbie Grazioso, of Anna; Cody Odom, of Troy; and John Ward, Amber Day and Trina Freasure, all of Sidney.

The next step was to find a venue.

“We thought about doing it at a school, but they needed a $1 million insurance policy. I didn’t have any funds. So I started calling churches,” Roesser said. Mt. Zion said, “Yes.”

“We’ve got to light this town up,” Roesser said. “We have to give them more knowledge than what they know. People think heroin addicts are awful people. They’re not. They’re just people who got caught up in something. We have to stop the stigma.”

Planning the event has helped Roesser work through the grief of losing her mother and sister within 11 days of each other last fall.

“They come to me in my dream and say, ‘Do this.’ I’m trying to make them proud,” she said.

On Friday night, Gary will talk about hope and recovery. Ward will discuss outreach. Sidney Police Officer Mike McRill will speak and members of the Sidney Rescue Unit will talk about Narcan use. Narcan is the brand name of a drug that counteracts the effects of an opioid overdose. And Pfaff will recount his efforts as an opioid warrior.

This week’s program is not the only thing Roesser and her committee have in the works.

“We want to do a march downtown next month and participate in the heroin-awareness event at the fairgrounds,” Roesser said. She and the committee have been asking for donations of clothing and toiletries to give to addicts in recovery and for donations of items to sell at a charity garage sale this summer.

Roesser is not in the best of health. She has undergone 40 surgeries for various physical problems and has put off needed knee surgery until Friday’s program is over. But despite her own limitations, she is demonstrating that one person can, indeed, make a difference. To her way of thinking, she has no choice.

“There’s too many people dying, and it’s senseless,” she said.