by Miranda Buell
Kenny Elliot bought a fifth of vodka on the day he took his
last sip of alcohol.
As he was drinking on his couch he began talking to the
empty room, planning out his recovery, telling himself he was going to get up
and leave, and finally passed out. When he came to, he packed a bag full of
dirty clothes and walked to the Guest House at Room In The Inn. He was ready to
make a change, but things weren’t easy at first. “When I first came to this
place, I thought I had died and went to hell,” Kenny says of his first days. He
was hesitant to participate: “I was just there for a bed every night, but I
heard something in the meetings that got me listening.” One of the teachers was
discussing recovery and Kenny realized he was desperate for whatever that man
had. So he started helping out around the Guest House and cleaning, doing
whatever he could to keep moving. Working kept him away from the temptation to
leave. “As I went on I just got stronger,” he says.
That’s when he met the Riddles. Ann Riddle is Room In The
Inn founder Charlie Strobel’s first cousin, and those close familial ties have
kept her and her husband, Charles, at the heart of Room In The Inn for many
years. Kenny met Ann while she was teaching a computer class and Kenny, in dire
need of recovering his drivers’ license after having it revoked after a DUI
several years prior, asked Ann for her help. She obliged, and they began
studying from the Driver’s Education book together every Tuesday for about a
year. But when Kenny went to take the test for the first time it was on a
computer; he wasn’t familiar with the format and he failed. So Ann and Kenny
began again, this time practicing online. Kenny passed his second attempt with
flying colors – he only missed one question. “It was just jubilation,” says Ann
of Kenny getting his license.
The Riddles say everything went uphill from there. Kenny became
employed at Room In The Inn, took some additional cleaning jobs around town,
and continued his journey through recovery. Of his position on campus, he says,
“The reason I try to keep this place clean is because I’m clean. Sometimes I’ll
see a piece of trash and walk by it, and then think about it and turn right
back around and pick it up.” He doesn’t take anything for granted.
And Ann and Charles haven’t just been around to encourage
Kenny in his growth; they’ve been there for the challenges as well. Two years
ago Kenny had a series of heart attacks and underwent four bypass surgeries. At
first, Ann says, he didn’t want to go through with the procedures. But the
Riddles told him, “Hey Kenny. It’s just like your truck. If a pipe bursts on
your truck you get it fixed.” After he was out of the hospital, the Riddles
helped him get settled back into his apartment. They recall him walking through
the doorway and looking up at the ceiling: A lightbulb was out. Without
hesitation, he walked downstairs to the basement, grabbed what he needed, and
came back upstairs to change the lightbulb, all in his first moments home from
the hospital.
It is that fierceness, that will to move forward, that sense
of pride in his work, which the Riddles find so incredible about Kenny. Ann
says, “It’s been [an adventure] in that he keeps going and keeps fighting, and
I mean the tenacity is just amazing. He’s very amazing to me. I mean, truly
amazing man. If everybody could be like Kenny, we wouldn’t have so much sadness
going around.” What could have been a one-off opportunity to help a man in need
of a license has turned into a life-long friendship between Kenny and the
Riddles. Through his friendship with Ann and Charles, Kenny has come to realize
how much people care about him, and how important the small things in life are.
“As a kid I wanted everything, but today I just want to live.”
On May 17th Kenny will be teaching a class at
Room In The Inn to honor the day that will mark his 6 years of sobriety. And
you can bet Ann and Charles Riddle will be sitting front-row, beaming with joy.
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| From left to right: Charles Riddle, Kenny Elliot, & Ann Riddle |
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