For Sonny, those things ran deep. Growing up in an abusive home, he was exposed to violence at a young age and missed out on the simple joys of childhood. He didn’t know what birthdays or Christmas were until he was eight years old. Those early experiences shaped how he saw himself and how he coped with pain for years to come.
But at the Hope Center, Sonny began to confront that past instead of running from it.
Through recovery, mentorship, and the structure of the program, something began to shift. He found clarity, understanding, and perhaps most importantly, forgiveness.
“I had to learn to forgive myself,” he says. “And to love myself. Because if I can’t do that, I can’t love anybody else.”
That realization is at the heart of Sonny’s transformation and at the heart of the Hope Center’s More Than campaign.
Because Sonny is more than his past.
For much of his life, he says he was seen and saw himself as “just a junkie.” But today, he sees something entirely different.
“I’m more than my past,” he says. “That’s what I would say.”
Now, instead of being defined by addiction, Sonny is defined by purpose.
After graduating from the program, he stepped into a role as a peer mentor, working directly with men who are just beginning their recovery journeys. He meets them where they are, offering honesty, encouragement, and a perspective shaped by lived experience.
“If you want something different, you’ve got to do something different,” he tells them. “You’ve got to be around positive people. Otherwise, you’re going to miss all the good that’s right in front of you.”
For Sonny, this work is more than a job, it’s calling.
“With what I’ve been through, if I can overcome it, anybody can,” he says. “That’s what I want people to see.”
But perhaps the most powerful motivation behind Sonny’s transformation is his family.
A father of three, he speaks openly about the kind of legacy he wants to leave behind.
“I don’t want my kids to remember me as someone who didn’t care or didn’t try,” he says. “I want them to remember their dad as someone who got sober, who helped people, who was trying to do better.”
Today, he’s rebuilding those relationships. One conversation, one moment, one step at a time.
And for the first time, he understands that healing doesn’t happen all at once.
“You can’t get everything back overnight,” he says. “But I understand that now.”
That perspective; grounded in patience, humility, and growth, is what makes Sonny’s story so powerful.
Because the More Than campaign is about more than changing perception. It’s about revealing truth.
That the men and women at the Hope Center are more than their charges.
More than their mistakes.
More than the labels placed on them by the world.
They are fathers, mentors, leaders, and individuals with the capacity to change not just their own lives, but the lives of others.
Sonny is living proof of that.
And now, through his work and his story, he’s helping others believe it too.