TAMPA, Fla. — The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was lit up with purple lights for National Overdose Awareness Week after hundreds signed a petition for the cause. 

Kellie Sipos, whose daughter died of an overdose, launched the petition to highlight the impact of fenatanyl deaths and drug overdoses on the community. Sipos, who is also a Moms Againt Drugs Coordinator, said her daughter's death inspired her to advocate for other grieving families. 

"This effects everyone now, not just low income (families)," she said. "We lose 600 (people) a month right now in the Tampa Bay area to drug overdose." 

Sipos says two of her daughters struggled with addiction — one is in recovery, but her daughter Emilie Sipos died of an overdose in 2018. 

"Because of that, I have gotten involved in so many organizations and do a podcast for grieving mothers now," she said. 

Sipos said she is constantly looking for ways to lift the spirits of grieving families. 

Her latest idea came as she drove along the sunshine skyway bridge, thinking it could be used as a visual recognition of overdose awareness.

She said her husband encouraged her to petition for the bridge to be lit purple for International Overdose Awareness Day.

"It's in remembrance of my daughter as well as other children," she said. 

"This isn't a place that any mother should come and visit their child," she said while walking through the memorial garden where her daughter is buried. 

Sipos has found herself in the process of helping another family with funeral arrangements at the same location.  

"This is not where my daughter is supposed to be at 24 years old," she said.

Sipos, though, said she decided to turn her own pain into purpose. 

"I'm doing my best right now to stop others from overdosing and dying and trying to help other addicts in recovery," she said.

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a 30% increase in overdose deaths across the country. 

Dozens of families who have been impacted by addiction gathered at a nearby fishing pier and waited till sunset Wednesday to see the Florida Department of Transportation light the bridge purple. 

"Two thirds of the families here are new families that have not been hooked into an organization or be able to get the support and be able to participate in events like this," said Sipos. "I'm excited that we've got some new families that we are going to be able to welcome into our family."

So far in 2022, there have been nearly 2,000 overdose deaths in Florida.