Friends and family of overdose victims paid tribute to their loved ones as part of an emotional evening at Smith Point County Park Monday.

On National Overdose Awareness Day, messages of love and loss were written on leaves and tossed into the water.

Among those being remembered was 28-year-old Lexy Bonasera, who died just seven weeks ago. The heartache is still very fresh for her mother.

"She was beautiful. She was a ray of sunshine. She was an amazing singer. She was helpful and loving and caring a mom the best mom. And gone a little too soon," says Jacquelyn Bonasera, of Oyster Bay.

Barbara Wersan has suffered unbearable pain -- losing three daughters at three different times, each from a drug overdose.

"When these things happen people shy away from you. So you lose family and you lose friends. This is a great group of people," says Wersan.

Family members says it's more than honoring a life that was lost, it's about knowing that you can help someone else. And as they share grief, they find strength in each other.

"It feels like we don't have to speak, like our hearts already know the language," says Linda Nuszen. "Our eyes are already met. It's like we understand from a deeper place now what it is to survive the loss."

And as the day wound down, another sign of hope -- one parent pointed to the sun and said, "You see that sunset? Those are our babies."