By Kevin Hendricks and Julian Paras, The Paper.
Rio Rancho families who’ve lost someone to fentanyl get a chance to walk, grieve and organize together this Saturday, as the second annual Walk for Lives comes to Haynes Community Center and Park.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Field Division and the Rio Rancho chapter of United Against Fentanyl will host the free event from 4 to 6 p.m. July 11, gathering under the BBQ Pavilion at Haynes Park. Walkers will head down the path along 528 before looping back to the pavilion, part of a coordinated day of roughly 200 similar walks happening in cities and small towns across the country.
Rio Rancho mom Kelly Opp organizes the local walk in memory of her son, William Austin Burnett, who died of fentanyl poisoning in 2021 just weeks before his 26th birthday. She held the inaugural walk last year in Bernalillo — the town where she grew up — and said it drew friends, family and strangers who’d lost their own children.
“I was just overwhelmed with the support,” Opp said, recalling how the first walk stretched past a mile in the heat but left participants understanding the mission.
This year’s registration list looks different, Opp said — fewer names she recognizes from her own circle, more from families she’s never met. She called that both heartbreaking and encouraging: proof the community is stepping up.
DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole framed the national effort as a response to what he called the deadliest drug threat the country has faced, saying awareness events like Saturday’s demonstrate that prevention is everyone’s job. Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Putnam, who oversees the DEA’s New Mexico operations, said families who’ve lost loved ones have turned their pain into activism the agency is proud to stand behind.
Opp said the agency has been a steady presence for her personally, including through family liaisons and national summits where the DEA asks grieving parents what they need. She said DEA staff will run a resource table at Saturday’s walk alongside recovery, prevention and grief-counseling providers.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 200+ Walk for Lives events nationwide on July 11
- 1 mile approximate length of the walk
- 9 U.S. high school students who die weekly, on average, from a drug-related death, per the DEA
- 1 million+ American parents who have lost a child to a drug-related death, per the DEA
MORE DETAILS
- Families who’ve lost someone are invited to bring a pair of shoes and a photo for “The Shoes They Left Behind,” a memorial installation honoring lives lost to fentanyl poisoning, substance use and addiction. Shoes can represent a child, parent, sibling, friend or spouse, and participants may attach names, notes or memories to their items.
- The event is open to anyone — grieving family members, prevention and recovery workers, first responders, or community members who simply want to stand with affected families.
Walk for Lives — Sandoval County/Rio Rancho 2026
- When: Saturday, July 11, 2026, 4-6 p.m.
- Where: BBQ Pavilion, Haynes Community Center and Park, corner of 21st Street and NM 528, Rio Rancho
- Cost: Free
- To get involved: Register to walk, volunteer, become a vendor, host a resource table or donate supplies at walkforlives.org
- Prevention resources: dea.gov/fentanylfree