CUDAHY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- While the X-Ray Arcade in Cudahy is normally a venue for live music and games, on Saturday, Oct. 4, it was packed full inside, with dozens of people working to create personal art.

The "Remember Love" event was held by the Cudahy Health Department, as a way to celebrate recovery, connection, and hope, while destigmatizing substance abuse and addiction disorders.

“It’s not just addiction, there’s depression, there’s anxiety and so you build these kind of brain synapses and pathways and you don’t think that maybe you can live the kind of life that you want to live," said Ben Wells, a community health worker for the department. 

Wells himself is nine years in recovery and said he wanted to make local events that would foster that sense of community.

“It’s really hard to think that maybe you don’t deserve the kind of life that you see other people have, you get stuck in a rut," Wells said.

That's why he invited Patty Bode to come help out during the event.

Bode is the founder of nonprofit Remember Love Recovery Project, which was formed after her son, Ryan, died of an accidental heroin overdose.

“Because my son was a t-shirt designer and he designed this logo that says remember love, we felt like this was a message Ryan left us with, what are we going to do with it?” Bode recalled.

Now the project's mission is to destigmatize addiction disorder through art, education, and human connection, which is why Bode had attendees use markers, fabrics, pencils, paint, and other art supplies to design what she calls "recovery flags."

“So that people can see visual art as a possibility not to become a professional artist but as a space where they can put their own hopes and concerns and worries and anger and forgiveness and questions," Bode said.

Attendees could either keep their flags or donate them to the thousands in the nonprofit's collection, which Bode wants to put on a large display in Washington D.C.

“We call it the smorgasbord of compassionate creativity by providing that kind of buffet of welcome and take what is interesting to you," Bode said. "It’s a space where people can feel that safety to try something out.”

While this was the first event of its kind from the Cudahy Health Dept., organizers said in the future they hope to hold similar ones to continue fostering that sense of community.