Our Someone 2 Know this week is a fifth generation Nevadan and speaks openly about the years he spent living in deep addiction - hurting society and himself.
Now more than five years into recovery, Grant Denton’s mission is to get as many people as possible off drugs and off the streets.
From fun motivational events, fundraisers and speeches, to very personal face to face engagements with men and women living on the street - are all the sorts of activities that Denton now devotes himself to.
"The idea is to build enough of a rapport to where there's trust so we can kinda convince somebody that they're worth having a better life".
That better life alluded Denton for many, many years. Growing up in what he calls an abusive situation, in Las Vegas, and dealing with unspeakable pain - Grant turned to drugs and says he spent a huge portion of his life addicted.
"The last, about nine years on heroin and meth, I was an IV user and then the last three years I was homeless".
In the midst of addiction and homelessness, Grant fathered two kids. And the memories from those days are still palpable;
"I would…” Grant pauses to take a deep breath, as his eyes well up, “I would forget my sons’ birthdays”
He says his Nana was his “net”, saving him time and time again – and even signing his name to birthday cards for his boys. Eventually, she told him she could no longer stand by his choices.
Denton credits his grandma for helping him take the steps toward recovery.
"I had a little paradigm shift where I understood the impact that I had on the world and once you understand that you can get to work”.
And Grant has been working ever since; In the gym, teaching the discipline of fitness - with the Rise And Grind program, to the Ambassador Program on the streets of Reno, even a trip to Washington DC to advocate for opioid-free pain treatments -to the popular Karma Boxes found throughout Washoe County.
And at long last, a fully present, sober and loving dad to his two sons;
"They also get to learn from dad's mistakes, right, - and they um - and they also have a sense of pride - 'my dad did something".
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Grant is always doing something - recently Denton helped his sons start their own yard work company and is about to launch a new outreach program through the Karma Box Project.
Links to those, here –
Karma Box Project –
https://www.facebook.com/karmaboxproject/?epa=SEARCH_BOX
Denton Brothers Maintenance
