Meet Kari

Written by Tiffany Tucker Lopez

Kari started working in the warehouse at Wear Gloves in 2023. About a year ago, she was presented with an opportunity to help with the Client Advocate role. Her main responsibilities include client check-ins, support, and assisting clients in setting and meeting their short- and long-term goals. Her success in this role stems from her compassion and drive to meet people where they are. As Kari describes, one of the keys to success here at Wear Gloves is "Being able to meet people where they're at and giving them empathy and encouragement." This is one of the things she loves most about her role.

Kari was born with a disability that required many surgeries throughout her childhood. She didn't have the ability to walk on her own until she was 17. At a young age, she recalls recognizing a dependency on the medications given to help her through the multiple surgeries and their recoveries. Even though the surgeries eventually allowed her to walk on her own, by adulthood she could not live independently of the drugs that once aided her through all those surgeries. Drugs mostly took over her adult life until 4½ years ago, when she became sober. She had experienced sobriety in the past for about a year and a half but relapsed. During her relapse, she overdosed three different times. She had a come-to-God moment in which she knew if she didn’t get sober she was going to die. She went to detox and moved into sober living to begin rebuilding her life. She remembers God meeting her right where she was and stated, "Anybody can make it out of anything." Since that time, Kari has been rewriting her story by surrendering her will and her life. She credits God and working the 12 steps for lighting a different path for her. "None of this is me, it's God." she said confidently.

Kari is grateful for a God willing to meet her where she was. She told me, "God saved my life, so I could help as many people as possible." She was sober for a little over a year when she found Wear Gloves. A few of her friends in recovery worked on campus and shared with her about it. She had been out of the workforce for almost 17 years when she came here and knew immediately this was where she belonged. Kari credits Wear Gloves and the warehouse for not just employing her, but for giving her a community to thrive in. "The warehouse is a community." she stated. "I found people I could identify with." Carlos has been a great mentor to her, as well as the full community, including the resources at Wear Gloves. She continued, "This is a place that offers you resources and the chances, the ability to change your life.... Ken and Wendy don't give up on anyone, and that's the beauty of it." She recognized that even though the chapter of life she was in when arriving at Wear Gloves was fairly stable, the campus offered her a much-needed community that would help her thrive. This is a common thread with all the clients I meet with on campus: the sense of community and belonging.

She credits everything she has in her life now to "God, Wear Gloves, and the 12 steps." She carries a piece of her mother within her and acknowledges that inner voice of encouragement for pushing her through tough times, just as her mother did when she was a child. Though her mother did not get to see her break the cycle of dependency, she recognizes how proud she knows her mother would be of her at this stage in life. Her dad is still here and able to celebrate her wins with her, of which there are and will continue to be many. Kari is currently enrolled in school, working toward her Bachelor's in Drug and Alcohol Counseling. She was recently inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She plans to use this education to continue helping others along their journey to recovery. She is already using her experience and knowledge to support those in need on campus. She stands out as a humble leader pointing others toward hope with a strong faith that has been tried by fire to speak of His grace and reflect His glory.

Kari ended our time together by sharing with me a song she holds dear, "Proof" by Seth Addison.

The opening lines of the song read:

If you've never seen the dead rise from the grave, you have now.

If you've never seen addiction conquered by grace, you have now.

If you've never seen mercy make depression fade, you have now.

Oh, if you've never looked a miracle in the face, you have now....

It's hard for me to pass the Wear Gloves campus now without hearing an echo of changed lives singing out, "you have now."