Akron Life December 2022

Lambert’s part in Kenmore hasn’t always been so uplifting. Kenmore is where he hit rock bottom — homeless and struggling with addiction in spring 2018. “Sleeping in the car, eat ing fudge rounds for like a month straight because that’s all I could afford,” he says, “I didn’t see how twisted I was.” Growing up in Kenmore, he was the only one of his friends who had a dad, he recalls, and one of the only kids in the neighborhood who lived with both of his parents — things he took for granted at the time. At first, he was unaware of the drugs that were prevalent in Kenmore, as his dad, who worked three or four jobs at a time, was strict, and his mom cautioned Lambert to stay away from marijuana. And drugs weren’t common at Springfield Junior High School, where he went until eighth grade. When he switched to Kenmore High School in ninth grade, the pressure was immediate.

“Kids in Kenmore smoked cigarettes. I know a lot of kids that drank, smoked weed, all that stuff, at like 9 years old,” Lambert says. “No one could believe that I never smoked weed or drank. That’s how I got drunk the first time. It was like, Mission: Get Kenny drunk on Friday. ” Later that school year, he smoked marijuana for the first time, and when he was 16, he started running the streets with friends, skateboarding around and hanging out without parental supervision. He continued drinking and smoking marijuana, and then he began doing harder drugs. His first run-in with the law was for driving under the influence in 2009, but he was in addiction for over 10 years — a period full of alcohol, drugs, criminal charges, DUIs, jail time and homelessness. He went to jail about 20 times between 2009 and 2018 and was con victed of aggravated possession of drugs, pos session of heroin and driving under suspension. During his stints in jail, which ranged from a weekend to seven months, he kept vowing to change his life, but he wasn’t fully com mitting, often relapsing during the sickness that accompanies getting sober. He went to court-ordered rehab in 2016 but was sober on and off between then and Amelia’s birth in October 2017. “I was so selfish,” Lambert says. “Everyone that called and told me, Congratulations. Can we come meet your daughter? My response was, Not unless you have drugs. ” By spring 2018, people in his life cut him off, with his parents no longer allowing him to stay at their house and his ex not letting him be around then-10-month-old Amelia any more — his rock bottom. “I became so miserable. … My family, friends and loved ones — I had burned every bridge. And I wasn’t able to see my daughter,” he says. “I remember praying like, God, if I have a pur pose, put me in jail. ” He began going to Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and sober support

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