Former heroin addict finds purpose in bringing hope to others

EVERETT — You’ve got to have faith to come back from where she’s been.

At 26, Lindsey Greinke said she has survived heroin addiction, rape, abuse, heartbreak, homelessness, suicide, depression, self-harm and the death of the love of her life.

The Everett woman credits her faith in God for guiding her out of the darkness that once was her life, hanging out in drug dens, popping pills and smoking heroin.

“For some reason, I’ve always known everything was going to be OK and God would protect me,” she said. “However, I did not always know I had a purpose and I could help people by sharing my struggles.”

Now, Greinke is a light at the end of the tunnel for other addicts. She runs her own nonprofit, Hope Soldiers, which has provided support and help finding treatment for people struggling with addiction and their families since 2013.

She’s a single mother, raising her son, Jackson, 6, and working full time as an executive assistant for a Seattle technology company that has a reputation for demanding a lot of its employees.

Greinke sees it as her calling to do something about the heroin epidemic affecting young people in the area.

In Snohomish County, 5.7 percent of 12th-graders responding to a Healthy Youth Survey last October reported having tried heroin. That’s compared to the survey’s average of 3.2 percent statewide.

About 2.8 percent of the county’s eighth-graders who took the survey and 3.6 percent of 10th-graders reported that they had also tried the drug.

Greinke said she lost her best friend to a heroin overdose earlier this year. Nick Mirante, 19, of Mill Creek, died Feb. 16.

“I promised him no matter what I’d continue to fight addiction,” she said. “It’s been a very difficult experience for me grieving and missing him but I do know he’s in heaven, just as I know I’m breathing.”

Now, Greinke has expanded Hope Solders to not only help people who struggle with substance abuse but also those with mental health issues, including depression and thoughts of suicide.

Greinke has also been helping with parenting plans and other support to help families reunite after being ripped apart by addiction. She helps guide parents with substance abuse issues through drug court and in dealings with Child Protective Services.

She has started a support group at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at Mukilteo Foursquare Church, 4424 Chennault Beach Road.

It is open to anyone affected by addiction, depression and suicide, including those who care about people with these problems but aren’t struggling with such issues themselves. Unlike traditional 12-step groups, people are able to have an open dialogue and respond to one another.

Greinke has partnered with The HandUp Project, which passes out food and supplies to people living on the streets and works to ensure homeless alcoholics and drug addicts can get the services they need.

She has held well-attended events at high schools in the area with Trent Shelton, a former NFL wide receiver and motivational speaker and Cmdr. Pat Slack of the Snohomish Regional Drug &Gang Task Force. She’s planning another event in May.

Greinke’s own road to recovery wasn’t smooth. At age 16, she was using every day.

Despite her fairly affluent, middle-class upbringing, her drug use soon led to her couch surfing and bouncing between homeless youth facilities and juvenile detention centers.

“The only thing I refused to do was pray,” she said. “I felt like God had forsaken me.”

One day the cable went out in the place she was staying while she was high. She tried to fix it with an antenna but was only able to get a few channels, including a Christian network.

She first saw an addict talking about recovery. Then two songs were played that were particularly meaningful to her.

“I felt my heart getting softer and I was loaded so I shouldn’t have been able to feel anything,” Greinke said. “I felt God wrap his arms around me and tell me ‘You’re going to get through this.’ ”

That’s when she decided get treatment. But when Greinke sought help, she had no health insurance or money. Without resources, she almost gave up in the month it took her to find help.

She checked into rehab in April 2011. Greinke said she felt God with her throughout her recovery.

“I got a fire in my heart to bring awareness about addiction,” she said. “Hope Soldiers is all the work of God. There’s no other explanation for it.”

Greinke said she is not particularly good at time management. She isn’t sure how she manages to run her nonprofit, work, raise her child and help all of the people she does. She gives credit to God for making it possible to fit it all in.

“Throughout the time I’ve been clean, I have know that God is here and I am loved by him,” she said. “My mission now is to show other people that they are loved too.”

For more information on Hope Soldiers, call 425-341-3572 or go to facebook.com/hopesoldiersofwa.

Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.