Three mornings a week, at 5 a.m., Abel met his teammates to run. It was a long way from where he started: the Denver Rescue Mission says he spent 24 years in addiction.
The Mission shared his story on Oct. 1 under the headline “Dignity Restored.” Abel traveled from El Paso, Texas, to Denver to enter the Mission’s New Life Program, and stayed in its shelters while he waited for a spot. In the four years before that, the Mission says, he had survived a stroke, sepsis and an overdose.
A relay team and a trade
At The Crossing, the Mission’s program campus, he joined a Colfax Marathon relay team through Back on My Feet, a nonprofit partner there. By race day he completed his four-mile leg at a 10-minute-mile pace.
The running came with work. Abel did the work readiness part of the program at the Mission’s Ministry Outreach Center, then built career skills through partner organization CrossPurpose, where he earned an electrician certification. The Mission says he has since graduated, returned to Texas and reunited with his family, including a 25-year-old son and a 2-year-old granddaughter.
By the numbers
- 24: years the Mission says Abel spent in addiction
- 3 mornings a week at 5 a.m.: his training schedule
- 4 miles at a 10-minute-mile pace: his Colfax relay leg
- 574: households the Mission says it helped find more stable housing last year
What to know
- Who told it: The Denver Rescue Mission, which identifies Abel by first name only. The story does not say which year he ran the relay.
- How to help: The Mission says its annual Radiothon airs on 97.3 KBCO on Nov. 12. Details are on its Radiothon page.
- Read the story: “Dignity Restored”
More like this: Find the Good, Denver, A postcard led a 27-year-old to a Habitat home in Aurora, Adults can finish a high school diploma for $75 a course, Clothes To Kids of Denver’s 10,303 school wardrobes
