This 11th grade “passion project” wouldn’t be over… FTGF is more than bracelets.
I was finalizing things and knew…
The Battle in Our Backyard.
Substance use has always been part of my story — as a family member’s drug use caused great separation. I grew up believing they chose drugs over us. All addicts were a pile of poor decisions and a lack of self-control. I rolled my eyes at those who partook in drugs or alcohol.
Until high school, where my best friend began to struggle with substance abuse. I watched them and others that I held close fight to be sober. I saw first-hand the cycle of dependence, shame, and isolation of adolescent substance use.
My eyes were open to my indifference. Addiction was no thing to be scoffed at. Or mocked. Or mad about. It was a crushing weight to be under, and an impossible battle to fight alone.
At 17 years old, after having a conversation with a classmate who I’d learned had been using opioids, my heart burned for substance use. I had no idea. I looked up the statistic at the time, and read “1 in 8 students in school face a dependent use of drugs and alcohol.” I cried at my own indifference to the battle that existed in our backyard. No one deserves to face this alone.
That night, I decided to do something. “Fight the Good Fight” was born as a bracelet project to spread awareness and compassion for addiction.
For the duration of FTGF in high school, I was able to raise $619. I didn’t want to keep the money. After praying about it, I was led to donate to my local treatment center.
I’d learned that it was for-profit, but I could still donate towards specific projects or supplies for residents. Following the voice of the Lord and nudges in my heart, I was able to buy 48 Bibles for the center. I thought they’d be coffee-table, hotel-drawer books. But the Lord knew something I didn’t.
I called to tell the center that I was ready to drop off the Bible’s. The person I’d been in contact with told me,
Kimmy, you’ll never believe it. We sat in a meeting 2 weeks ago discussing a need for these. A resident was asking to start a Bible study, but we didn’t have Bibles.
At the rehab center that week, treatment leaders and I wept over God’s compassion for substance use. He knows the desires of our hearts and sends us to meet each other’s prayers.
I followed the Lord’s voice and was shown the way He loves. FTGF is no different — an opportunity to be obedient to His voice, and a chance to see Him move.
Little impact, great depth.
I fight the good fight to see communities freed from generational substance use.
All deserve to feel seen and known and find that they are loved. That will make the difference.
In the Exodus narrative God says about the Israelites, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering” (Exodus 3:7). — and He sends Moses to show them. For even “the battle in our backyard,” this compassion remains today, and He sends us.