Isaiah Gayle, Business Development Specialist, Renascent, shares why he participates in Renascent’s Road to Recovery Walkathon/Run
It will perhaps sound a little or a lot like a cliché, but I participate in Renascent’s Road to Recovery Walkathon/Run each year because I believe in the cause. I feel every individual and their loved ones who are trying to cope with a substance use disorder deserve access to rehabilitation services regardless of their ability to pay for these services, and anything I can do to help provide this access is imperative. I know the funds raised through the Walkathon/Run activities are used to provide addiction treatment services at no cost to individuals, families, and children who require these services.
I lived with active substance addiction for many years, and I truly believe I would not be alive today if I was not provided the opportunity to enter an addiction treatment program ten years ago. From the moment I acknowledged my illness and asked for help, a network of compassionate organizations and individuals stepped in to lead me on the road to recovery from my addiction(s).
I, like a lot of individuals trying to cope with the illness of addiction, did not have the financial resources to pay for addiction rehabilitation services offered by private, for-profit, addiction treatment centres. Instead, a rehabilitation program offered by a publicly funded not-for-profit charity is what saved me. I am truly indebted to the many individuals who support these programs by their financial contributions, ensuring the life-saving services offered by these programs are available to individuals like myself.
Volunteering my time to help raise funds and to help sustain the mission of the Renascent Foundation is literally the very least I can do. Similar to the “Starfish Story” The_Starfish_Story.pdf (learningtogive.org) that we are so fond of telling at Renascent, if my efforts, and the combined efforts of contributors to Renascent’s Road to Recovery Walkathon/Run can help just one individual or family, then it’s well worth it in my view.
