Kenny K Participant Review Outreach 419 Day 2025

🎥 Kenny K. Gets Real About Recovery and the 419 Community

Kenny K has been part of Outreach 419 from the beginning, and he sat down with me to talk about what this place really means to him.

“This is a nonjudgmental place,” Kenny said. “I can take a nap, have something to eat, ask questions, and I’ll get help finding the answers. 419 is a stress-free environment. If you don’t know your next step—this place will help you figure it out.”

He opened up about life after incarceration, relapse, the pain of losing five family members to overdose, and what finally made things click this time around. “I’ve had it all and lost it all—multiple times. I’m not losing it no more.”

What makes 419 different? Kenny puts it best: “It’s not just you and Heidi—it’s all of us. A lot of warm hearts here. A lot of caring hearts. If you don’t have the answer, somebody in this community does.”

🎧 Tune in to hear his story of resilience, real recovery, and the power of community support: outreach419.com 

#Outreach419 #SetFree247 #KennyK #RealRecovery #SoberNotBoring #FromPrisonToPurpose #YouBelongHere

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So, Kenny, yes.

(00:02):
Thank you for being here for 419 day.
You've been like, thankyou for having me, man.
You've been like, part ofthis from the very beginning.
what does 419, mean to you?
Like, what's something so 419and me, to me, is coming to
a place that's nonjudgmental.
I can be who I want.
I can take a nap, I can have somethingto eat, I can ask any question.

(00:23):
And I will get an answerto what I'm seeking for.
That's what, if we don't have theanswer, we'll just, we'll help you.
You'll help me find the answer.
Get on the path to find it.
Yes, you will.
Yeah.
So 419 is a comfortable place to be.
Mm-hmm.
No judgemental.
It's just be who you are.
And if you come with a empty stomach,you're gonna leave with a full stomach.

(00:43):
And we're not from this area.
You are.
So, I mean, you talk to alot more people than we do.
When somebody asks about 419, likewhat's, you know, if they're like
considering or maybe they just gotoutta jail or prison, maybe they're.
First day in sober living, like whatwould you tell somebody in that situation?
I would tell 'em that it's a stress-freeenvironment and if you don't have any

(01:04):
material or you're trying to figure outwhere to make your next step, um, I would
say that 419 could point you in the rightdirection or it'd be somebody there.
And the community of 419, that couldpoint you into the right direction.
Sure.
You're gonna find outwhat you're looking for.
That's one of the things that I loveseeing the most is like people of

(01:25):
the community just kind of steppingup, like when there's a need,
like, Hey, I can help with this.
Hey, I know somebody, Hey, I gota connection, or whatever it is.
Yeah.
There's always somebody herethat's willing to, from car
problems, to computers, towhatever issue you got going on.
Or looking for something, there'ssomebody here that knows the answer
to somebody that knows somebody.

(01:46):
And you came on the other days thatwe've had stuff going on, like getting
your hair cut and stuff like that.
Like we got some fun pictures of you.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
In the chair and all that.
So it's just those services, it's likesomething you don't see at a normal,
let's say, club or organization.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, there's alwayssomething like freer haircuts.
I'm sure there's always something herethat is provided for the community

(02:07):
that if we need something regardlessof food or somebody that needs a bed or
furniture, kid stuff, there's diapers.
I'm, yeah, there's something herefor anybody that needed something.
You guys actually do provide it for us.
I think the last question isthere a part of your story
that you would like to share?
Maybe share a little.
, strength, hope, experience.

(02:29):
, yeah.
A little bit of my story is, is that, youknow, I've been locked up in prison a lot.
Um, I came out, uh, I got, Drugcase and I was kinda lost, uh, going
from, uh, housing placement to, youknow, going to meetings and still
trying to figure out where I fit in.
And, uh, I was at a place called HaveMercy, where they actually have, there

(02:55):
was somebody said, Hey there, there'sthis event called Sober Not Boring.
And I was like.
What's sober, not boring.
So I went to my first event over there inBelding and it was just, uh, eyeopener.
I saw so many people there.
Um, I could vent healthly, getthings off my chest to people, and
it was just an all right place to be.
I mean, I'm still learning.

(03:16):
I'm still in my, on my growing period.
Um, I. I still struggle with things.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, I'm still learning how to cope.
Um, but it's a place where that Ican still learn and learn healthy.
I'm not out there on the streetstrying to cloud my mind and
think I'm doing anything Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know.
How long are you sober now?
Oh, I've been sober 18.

(03:37):
18 months.
19 months now.
How about that?
So year and a half?
Yeah, a year and a half.
Okay.
So, um, I had five years in, atone point in time I relapsed.
Okay.
Um, I'm doing things differently thistime by getting a sponsor, um, by,
um, if I feel any thought of using,I, I've been taught to, to admit it

(03:57):
and I'm just really trying to dig inmore material and to learn and just.
You know, enjoy this, enjoy the process.
My, I feel like somewherealong the journey, like mm-hmm.
Uh, because there was a drastic shiftwith you, like at, at one point,
after you got outta jail, it was like,all right, something's gotta change.

(04:18):
Yeah.
You keep doing this.
Well, you know, I, yeah.
You know, I, I got blessed to be putin drug court, you know, and I just
got sick and tired of, you know.
Waking up and not having anything.
You know, I've had it all and lost itall and had it all, lost it all multiple
times and I'm not losing it no more.
So, you know, that was one of the reasons.

(04:39):
Uh, and just, I'm too old.
I hear you.
I heard you say last night.
Last night we did a, acandle lighting ceremony.
And I heard you say last night,you know, like, uh, I think there
was like five Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
I've had five family members od.
Um, I've carried five caskets.
I don't really talk abouta whole lot about that.

(05:00):
Yeah.
Um, but I, I've told my family I willnever carry another casket again.
It's, it, it got hard on me seeingsome of my family members od on
heroin and all that other stuff.
And, uh, heroin was not my drug of choice.
Um, I was a meth and cocaine user.
Sure.
But it's all the same.
And I just, there's multiple times thatI could be in prison for my whole life,

(05:23):
for all the meth that I had on me.
Thank God he was up there, you know?
But yes, it is.
Addiction runs reallyheavily in my family.
My dad was an alcoholic.
Uh, I don't think he knew reallyabout AA or how to, you know.
Sure.
You know, but, uh, the stigma and is,you know, is it's, I don't believe it's

(05:44):
really harsh like it used to be back, youknow, but, Part of what you said resonated
with me though about, you know, I'm notcarrying another casket, because that's
part of the drive that brings us here.
Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
We, we don't want that either.
I know anybody, uh, and so.
Whether it's meeting people wherethey're at or just a quick conversation

(06:06):
or maybe a meal or, uh, yeah.
You know, whatever it is, we tryto meet people on that journey
somewhere so that that doesn't happen.
Yes, it's our motivating factors.
A lot of warm hearts here, a lot of caringhearts, and, uh, if you guys don't have
the answer, there's somebody in thiscommunity that does have the answer.
And that's what I like about,it's not just you and Heidi.
It's all of us.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
And we're all here to, to guide,to check up on each other.

(06:31):
'cause um, all we have is each other.
Sure.
You know, if I don't hear from you intwo days, I call you, how's Rob doing?
Because I don't know What's Rob going?
You're just like me.
You're no different.
Yeah.
I get it.
You know, so you call me up, youknow, and I call everybody up.
We all have.
You know, I, it's kind of weird 'causelike I didn't have that with, you know,
when I was selling drugs and doing drugs,I thought I was the shit, you know?

(06:51):
Mm-hmm.
Everybody, but you know, whenyou go to prison and you do your
jail time, they don't call you.
Yeah.
Here, people actually checkup on me and my phone's going
off, Hey, Kenny, how you doing?
Blah, blah, blah.
And it's, it's just, how's your day?
That's all it is.
Yeah.
Just start.
How, how's your day going?
Yeah.
You know, just checking in.
Just checking in.
And that's cool.
Yeah, I've, uh, I've tried to findand go through like my phone list and

(07:14):
like intentionally just send out somemessages, just positive, encouraging,
Hey, send in good vibes your way, period.
Yep.
You know what I mean?
And just let that sit there, becausea lot of times just that alone will.
Start the conversation and thenthat's all, you know, and just that
little good conver that little goodmeme or whatever you wanna call it.
Sure, sure.
That just could be brightening, somebody'sday up and just making 'em thinking,

(07:35):
Hey, you know, you're, we're not alone.
It's a lot, I, I alwaysthought I was alone.
I'm fighting this battleand you know, I'm not alone.
There's other people with methat are fighting the same
battle, just different demons.
Yep.
You know.
Cool.
That's what we do at Outreach 419.
This is a 419 day.
Yeah.
Thank you, Kenny.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.