Parker residents Paul and Kim Reed aren't your average business owners. They both have their own successful businesses: Paul, a commercial roofing company and Kim, a commercial roofing academy. But they also have a passion for giving back—by helping people in the construction industry who struggle with addiction get the help they need. Here's their story.
Tell us a little bit about why you’ve devoted your time and resources to help people struggling with addiction get into rehab.
Kim: Paul and I have been in the construction industry our entire lives. Paul owns Northwest Roofing, a commercial roofing company and I own a roofing school, Commercial Roofing Academy.
Paul has been sober for 15 years; 15 years ago, he was in a rehab center and other people helped pay for that and gave him a second chance. He was able to turn his life around and be very, very successful.
We decided to start a nonprofit called Roofers in Recovery (roofersinrecovery.org) a couple of years ago. We've been able to send over 40 people to rehab facilities throughout the United States, and we pay for everything through fundraising in our industry. So if somebody in your family or in your business within the construction industry needs help, we're here for them.
So you focus your efforts on people in the construction industry?
Kim: Yes, this industry has been very good to us. We care about blue-collar America. These are the people building everything for us, right? A lot of them struggle with addiction and they don’t have insurance. They need help, and so we're here for that—you know, helping them on the road to sobriety.
And now you’re going to open your own rehab facility in the San Luis Valley?
Paul: Yes. I’m originally from the San Luis Valley, from Alamosa. I came to Denver 15 years ago to get help with my own addiction because there was nowhere in the entire valley that offered any type of services for anybody with a drug or alcohol issue.
When I left the rehab, my intention was to go back home to the San Luis Valley and start my life over again. Go back home to my family and everything I had there.
But once I got out of rehab, I realized one of the biggest things you need to stay sober is a community that supports you and holds you accountable—a sober community. And that was one thing that the San Luis Valley lacks. Everyone just kind of looks the other way.
So you stayed in Denver. How did you come to settle in Parker?
Paul: Yes, I stayed here and I was able to get my feet back on the ground and became a successful business owner. We do a lot of roofing all over the state, and we did a lot of jobs in Parker after the hailstorm in 2012. I was doing a lot of roofs in the neighborhood we currently live in. These were some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. We live here because these people are some of the best people I've ever met in my whole roofing career working with tens of thousands of different homeowners all over the state.
Back to the rehab facility project. Why did you choose to open it in the San Luis Valley?
Kim: Paul is from a small town called Sanford, Colorado, there's like, I don't know, 600 people in the town. But throughout the whole San Luis Valley, addiction is everywhere, because there's nothing down there. It's kind of a forgotten area. There are six different counties, there's no rehab facility, no nothing.
A few months ago, we were down there and we happened to stumble upon a building that was owned by the state. I made an offer they accepted.
Paul: It was really important for us to start to give back to the community because so many people helped me along the way. Our intention at one point was to open “sober living” houses. At first, opening an actual rehab facility never crossed either one of our minds—we didn’t really think it was possible. But when we were able to buy the building, I was like, how great would this be to be able to come back to the San Luis Valley, build a rehab center, and build a community where people can get long-term sobriety? Because going into rehab and getting sober for 30 days is kind of the easy part. The second part is having that community—the AA or NA meetings or whatever that is, but building that community where people can get the support they need for long-term sobriety.
That’s amazing. Tell us about your vision for this facility.
KIM: It’s called Hope in the Valley, and it will be a nonprofit. If you look at most rehab facilities around the U.S., they are for-profit, which makes me sick. These places can charge up to $50,000, when we will be able to get people in for less than $10,000, or free, depending on what their needs are and where our funds are. If people have insurance, then sure, we'll work with the insurance. But that's not the purpose of doing this. We need a facility where people know they can go and get the quality care they need at no charge. Because people shy away from going because they think, how am I going to afford that? So we're trying to build that awareness that, hey, we have a place you can go, no matter your financial situation, because we actually care.
And how will you provide that follow-up care? That community that is so important for long-term sobriety?
Kim: Once someone has been through rehab, they will live in our temporary housing, and they’ll be required to take classes at a local college. Then they will have the opportunity to come back and work at the facility, to sponsor somebody, or clean, or help however they can because then we're giving back to the community, we're creating jobs, we're making a difference—not just by putting people through rehab, but literally embedding them in the society they’re a part of.
The entire community is very excited. We’ll be offering jobs and support and just a whole new way of life. So it's going to be a long road. It's a huge undertaking. But we have the ability, we have the funds, and we have the backing to be able to do this. Our vision is to really give back to society and to Paul's hometown.