'I don't want to keep living like this' | Greensboro man overcomes addiction and homelessness
Dana Daughtry, founder of Gate City 180, shares his story of how he overcame addiction and homelessness in the Triad. Now, he's paying it forward.
Dana Daughtry Jr. said homelessness in Greensboro started for him when he began sleeping inside a utility closet.
"I remember vividly the first time I actually knew I was at a low point. I was sleeping in a utility closet in Smith Homes and I remember saying, ‘Wow, this is what your life has come to.'”
He said he would tuck himself into his shirt on those nights and breathe in and out to keep himself warm.
Addict Turned Homeless Daughtry said his battle with addiction led to homelessness.
"Due to my crack addiction, I experienced homelessness and of course when you’re on drugs or any type of substance, that causes you to do some things like steal from your loved ones, take out of the house - [you] can’t be trusted. Then, you have nowhere to go because you burned a lot of bridges," he said.
He lost his apartment at the age of 23 and began living with his mother. He said around that time, his addiction took a downward spiral. He began to steal from his mother and the stealing escalated to a point where he took something, left one day, and never came back.
"I was doing things. You know, taking money from her purse, her account, taking things out the house that I had no business—to the point she just like, you know, I’m fed up with it. I remember vividly I had taken some money I wasn’t supposed to and I was scared to come back and I wound up living in Virginia for about two or three years."
Daughtry said during this time, he did things in his life that he wasn't proud of.
"My addiction took a turn for the worse because I went from one substance to another and up there I really hit a lot of rock bottoms. Taking from people. I remember a mother crying because I took her children’s Christmas money to get high, so you know, of course, I was getting kicked out, but I always had another place to go because I would always make myself known ‘Hey, I know where the drugs at’ - when you make yourself valuable to people, you’ll have a place to stay for a night or two. But that finally wore off to the point where I came back to Greensboro and my only option was to go to the Malachi House and then when I didn’t succeed there and they took me to Urban Ministry."
Daughtry said when he arrived at Greensboro Urban Ministry, he immediately went to use drugs.
"I had all my belongings. I didn’t even check in at the desk before I hit the door ready to go get high. I was like in my mind, oh, I’ll go get high a little bit come back and check in. It was probably two months later before I thought about going back and getting my stuff.”
After that day, he spent his first night in a utility closet at the age of 30.
On A Downward Spiral "I indulged in drugs to fill that void"
This experience was far from the life Daughtry was accustomed to in his early 20s.
At that time, money was not an issue.
Around the age of 20, Daughtry began selling drugs. He said the money he made during that time allowed him to do anything he wanted.
"It was nothing for me to take a trip out of town, buy certain clothes, sneakers when I wanted, cars, motorcycle. I had no right direction. It was like I could be bad as I want to be and pay to get out of it."
That lifestyle quickly took a turn for the worse when he had an encounter with the Guilford County Sheriff's Department.
"What led to me actually using drugs was when the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department kicked in my door and took all that [away] and my plug cut me off and so that lifeline of money that was coming was no longer. So of course when the money goes, your friend goes, the girls go, the car - all that lifestyle that you were able to afford - you can’t afford anymore. So, I had a void and I indulged in drugs to fill that void."
This began Daughtry's battle with addiction for more than a decade.
He described his addiction as a mindset — a state of being.
"My addiction really began-it’s your way of thinking. In my younger years, my way of thinking is like ‘Oh, I can do one more’ or ‘I can get away with this’ - your way of thinking catches up with you. Then, you get a hold of a substance that you become addicted to like that and you know you’re thinking 'Oh I’ll be alright' and you keep lying to yourself even as you're losing clothes, losing cars, losing money, losing employment, losing friends, losing loved ones, you’re still in denial."
He said his journey with addiction led to him being in and out of prison, and to several violent encounters.
"Between those times in and out of prison multiple times, [I] dealt with the consequences of my choices on the street which were violent. I remember being stripped down butt naked and beaten in the shower stall of a hotel due to some things missing. I remember being driven out because of my choices to a vacant area in a rural area - where nobody could hear anything and beaten because of my choices."
Daughtry said these hardships were not a breaking point for him.
"You know you would think these would be your breaking points to get anybody clean. Being in and out of prison-no. Losing family, friends, people who don’t want to be around you-no that wasn’t. I was one of those addicts who wore the same clothes for 90 days straight. I smelled so bad dope dealers used to pay me to take a shower."
Psychological Affects "God, I don’t want to die"
While these moments weren't the breaking point for Daughtry, he said the experience affected him psychologically.
"I just remember how I felt then. I just had no hope. I wasn’t even good at getting high. I just thought I wasn’t good at anything in life so this gon' be what my life is going to be."
He said ultimately these feelings of worthlessness led to his eventual breaking point — a moment he calls a significant emotional event.
"I was behind a store on Gate City called E Z Way and I remember I had everything an addict would want. All the substances from cigarettes, to drugs, to money in my pocket; I just remember looking at everything I had and I was like once this is gone, I’ll have to go back through that vicious cycle of finding ways and means to get more. I remember just saying God I don’t want to die, I don’t want to go to jail, but I don’t want to keep living like this," Daughtry expressed.
He said this was a turning point in his addiction.
"At that point in time, I wasn’t really getting high off the drugs no more. I know this for sure because normally when I would go do what I do to get high—like to go to a store and boost. I’d be ready to call the dope man soon as I’m in the car. I wasn’t doing that this time. It was just like alright I got the money and I wasn’t rushing."
"Something’s really not the same anymore."
Daughtry called this moment a paradigm shift.
"It’s like, no man, you’re better than this," he said.
Daughtry said he began to think of all the things he would miss if he continued down this path.
"I think I was like probably 37 years old and I just remember telling myself you’re not even going to see your niece graduate high school because I never showed up to any birthday parties, any dinners, family events, or anything and that would be a shame," he said.
Then, he thought of all the consequences he would experience if he didn't change his life around.
"I couldn’t picture myself being one of those guys who had so much potential but now walking around here maybe disabled mentally or physically because I’ve seen that happen or doing a life sentence," he said.
Daughtry said two weeks later, he went to a store at the mall with these thoughts in his head and had planned on stealing but instead, he pretended to be exchanging clothes for a different size.
This action had a heavier consequence than stealing and when security came he was arrested. Instead of the misdemeanor stealing charge he was expecting, he was charged with felony obtaining property by false pretenses.
"That charge actually led to me getting on the habitual felons list so I wasn’t looking at just months I’m looking at years. I remember the prayer I had and I remember my lawyer coming to talk to me after he got the habitual felon [charge] dropped. I would plead 9 to 11 months and he said ‘Look I suggest you never come back in here again’ and I remember looking at him with a serious face like ‘I’m not’," Daughtry said.
A New Direction "He needs help."
Daughtry said when he went to court, his girlfriend spoke on his behalf about his behavior due to his addiction.
"My lady spoke to the judge and said ‘Judge if you look at his record when he’s clean, he's not in trouble but when he’s getting high, he gets in trouble. He needs help.’ "
With this sentiment in mind, Daughtry said after he received his sentence, he requested he go to New Direction—a treatment program in prison.
At first, he was turned away. Daughtry said this frustrated him because when he had been in prison before, he had been accepted into the program but refused to go because he didn't want to get sober.
But this time, he was ready for a change.
Two weeks later, he was accepted into New Direction.
A program he said helped him learn about his behaviors, his thinking, and his actions while also helping him get clean.
However, Daughtry said it was more than the program that saved him.
"It was not just the program it was actually the instructor Ms. Moore."
"I remember one day we were not participating not doing what we’re supposed to do and I remember she came in there stood in the middle of the class and just slammed her folder on the ground and said ‘Look I get paid to sit here regardless if y’all going to interact or not it’s up to y’all but I’m not in prison. I get to leave when my shift is over y’all have to stay here and by the way y’all acting y’all gonna be back.’ "
He said this moment made him re-examine his behavior.
"I remember me having that moment with myself just like this is what you wanted why aren’t you participating? Now that you got this class you’re not interacting like you’re supposed to..and by the time that class was over I was the teacher’s pet," he said.
Daughtry said being a teacher's pet wasn't the highlight of his experience.
"It wasn’t so much as being the teacher's pet it was just like-what let me really get involved with this. Let me understand some things that I can take with me and that’s what I did."
After graduating from the program he was released from prison on August 4, 2014, and he marks the day he got clean as November 8, 2013.
He has not used drugs since that date or returned to prison since he was released.
Daughtry now works as a crew leader for the City of Greensboro- a twist of fate he still finds joy in.
"The same city that used to pay to lock me up — I use to joke with people about,” he chuckled.
After 15 years of struggling with addiction, Daughtry said the experience led to a new perspective which he likened to a scene from the classic movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’
"There’s a part where he’s swimming for his freedom through a sewer filled with human feces and he swims through that to escape this prison to get a new lease on life and I always say that my addiction was that sewer you know and I had to go through it to get this new lease on life because I’m not gonna lie the person I was before the drugs was just as destructive," he said.
Gate City 180 Paying It Forward
This new lease on life he said led to a greater step in his journey: Giving back.
"I would never choose to do drugs again, but I am so grateful for that transformation because today I now have an organization called Gate City 180 that we give back to those experiencing homelessness and I am able to really identify and relate to the people that we serve because I don’t mind sharing my story with them so they know hey he’s been down our path he’s just not one of those who’s going to show up and say hey everything’s gonna be better. No, I’m going to actually take time to walk with you through it, go through it with you, argue with you if I got to, walk away from you, and come back but I will go through it with you especially if you're saying look I’m willing to do the work."
As founder of Gate City 180, Daughtry is able to help people in various ways from toiletry drives to housing.
"What Gate City primarily does [is] we bring together multiple organizations that serve different purposes to come together to serve one purpose so not only the toiletry giveaways we have -it’s not just us there- we have other organizations that provide different resources such as housing, such as recovery, food, or even health," he said.
His own experience with homelessness and giving back with Gate City 180 has taught him something he believes everyone should know.
"I want society to know is it’s not about every time you pull up to a stop light somebody wants money sometimes people just want a conversation and that conversation can change a person’s life," Daughtry said.
This act of kindness Daughtry believes is what helped him on his journey.
"I’m forever grateful to have people who’ve been down that path but now chose to give back now that they're successful and overcome things," he said.
A state of mind he believes could change society as a whole.
"I think the world doing that could be the greatest service to each other."
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