By Prudence Brighton, Sun Correspondent

UPDATED:   04/04/2016 08:17:25 AM EDT

LOWELL -- The stories of addiction challenge us because "it is a problem we all have to face," U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas said Saturday night.

The stories of three women, in particular, were what helped Tsongas "begin to understand the depths of human suffering" caused by addiction.

The women who told those stories, Louise Griffin, Joanne Peterson and Melissa Weiksnar, were recognized Saturday night at the Living in the Light gala celebration marking the 45th anniversary of Lowell House.

The three were honored for their work as mother advocates in finding solutions to the scourge of addiction, while Tsongas received the Lowell House Lifetime Achievement award.

"This is the greatest trio of women I've ever seen," said Bill Garr, the executive director of Lowell House, which provides addiction support programs and services to Greater Lowell.

Peterson, of Raynham, is the mother of a son in long-term recovery and is the founder of Learn to Cope, a peer-support group for family members of those struggling with addictions. Peterson saw addiction as a young girl with siblings who struggled with substance abuse. Then as a mother, she saw her son experimenting with drugs and developing an opioid addiction.

"It's in my genetics," she said.

She founded Learn to Cope in 2004 in Randolph. It now has 23 chapters, mostly in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

A chapter recently opened in Idaho and soon one will open in Alaska.

In the beginning, members rotated meetings at their homes, often sitting on the porch of one of their houses. "We called ourselves the porch girls, and we still have those porch get-togethers," Peterson said.

Unfortunately, the numbers attending the meetings have grown. "We lost more people in the last year than I have ever seen," Peterson said.

Weiksnar, of Carlisle, compiled her daughter's journal entries into "Heroin's Puppet: The Rehab Journals of Amelia F. W. Caruso." Weiksnar gives frequent talks at schools and organizations about her daughter's ordeal and the perils of drug use.

Weiksnar has learned that students want science and real-life stories. She remembered a letter a student wrote after one of her talks: "What happened to you made me sad, but it opened my eyes." The writer went on to promise to stay away from drugs.

Louise Griffin, of Lowell, founded the Zack's Team Foundation after her son, Zachary Gys, died of an opiate overdose in 2013.

Griffin recounted the scarcity of beds in detox units across the state. "As the mother of an addict, your days are spent trying to find that one available detox bed. So we call and we call."

Saturday night's Living the Light Live Auction and Silent Auction were raised for Zack's Team. The foundation provides scholarships to help people with addictions afford long-term treatment. It is also partnering with Lowell House to open a sober-living home for men in the city.

Also on Saturday night, Sean Daniels, artistic director of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, reprised his monologue in "The White Chip," a play he wrote about his own history of alcoholism. The play had its world premiere at MRT and will go on tour before it opens off Broadway in New York.

Daniels is also featured in a new video, "Everyone Knows Someone," which underscores the scope of the addiction epidemic. The video debuted at the event.

Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_29722687/stories-strength-mark-lowell-house-celebration#ixzz44xpuaxrD