Meet Robert Banghart

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Banghart.

Hi Robert, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a person who has lived in active addiction for most of my life. The last five years of my journey I was homeless and living underground in the tunnels of Las Vegas. On August 9, 2018, I was attacked by 3 other homeless people I knew with an Axe, a knife and a pipe. They essentially murdered me and left me on the train tracks nearby and left. Thankfully, there was a person working nearby that I knew that saw it all happen and called the authorities who arrived shortly afterward. When they arrived, they pulled me off the tracks just in time, as the train came my way- and resuscitated me. I immediately thought I was still fighting for my life. I had a knife sticking out of my leg and severe head trauma from the axe and pipe. I was acting wild so they gave me morphine for the pain, which caused me to go under again at which point they had to revive me a second time. I woke up in the hospital three days later on life support and still thought I was fighting for my life and scared the nurse that was trying to help me. This was followed by the overwhelming feeling of the presence of something massive in the room. Something I choose to call my higher power and a hand touching my forehead with the voice of “calm down”.

I spent the next month in a recuperative hospital learning how to talk and walk again. The attack left me with a broken Jaw, Swollen Brain, a three-month-long headache that sounded like the train running through my head, stitches and staples all over, and an equilibrium that wouldn’t allow me to stand up straight on my own for weeks. The injury also caused memory loss and my motor skills and cognitive abilities were slowed for a long while. While in the hospital, friends showed up and connected me with Shine A Light as a resource to get off the streets and to obtain the help I needed with my addiction. I accepted what they suggested and once done at the hospital transitioned to a treatment facility under a scholarship with Shine. While there, I received the help I needed to finally recover from my addiction and witnessed Shine A Light up close as they would come in every weekend and gather supplies to head underground. When I completed treatment, I transitioned to sober living with Shine and began volunteering each weekend to help those that are in the same place that I once was. In the beginning, there were only 6-10 of us going out throughout the month but through our connections in the recovery community, we began to build a network of volunteers that helped us grow this thing we do each weekend into the Foundation we are today.

In the first year, I began volunteering we pulled 12 people out and I was number two on that list. This year just five years later, we have pulled 306 people as of July, so the impact has grown beyond anything we could have imagined. We have always focused on the primary purpose of helping people and meeting them where they are at. Every person is an individual and has individual needs, so with that in mind, we do not accept grant funding or any funding that would change that parameter. I am the Outreach Director overseeing all of the teams that go out each week and all social media while also the Program Manager at Crossroads of Southern Nevada the largest treatment facility in Las Vegas that works primarily with the homeless population and uninsured and an advocate for recovery in our city.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Recovery as a whole is a journey and like all journeys, there have been challenges. Early on, it was trusting the process and unpacking years of guilt and shame while addressing the underlying issues and things I had experienced. My life is really beautiful today, but it came at a cost. That cost was the inside work on myself to be the best version of myself. As far as the organization Shine A Light, it has been mostly learning as we go and cultivating the foundation into what we wanted it to always represent our “why”. We’ve experienced a lot of growth in the past few years so the learning curve has been equally as large, but we have embraced it and the amazing people who both show up and support us in a multitude of ways.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the Outreach Director for Shine A Light and the Programs Manager for Crossroads of Southern Nevada. My work for Shine is to be a face/representative in the community to help raise awareness while coordinating the outreach teams throughout the week to ensure we have enough people and supplies. At Crossroads I oversee all specialty courts, programs for the clients and again a face/representative in the community to include all outreach events. I specialize in bringing people together and finding answers to better help both staff and clients to achieve the final goal of helping anyone in need. I am blessed to have very supportive mentors, friends and co-workers with similar goals that allow me to help. I am most proud of the tribe of people that we have helped, built up and achieve their goals and in turn, this family has helped us all grow together to help more people. What sets us apart is our willingness to do the uncomfortable and sometimes unpopular things to help anyone that comes to us and our dogged persistence to stay true to our primary purpose regardless of outside influences. We have always stayed true to that.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
That regardless of what I may feel or think, everyone needs to have their own journey and may not be ready for the help we offer, that we might just be a stepping stone on their journey and that is ok as long as we are willing to help and show up. Despite the end results because very rarely do they end up the way I think they should.

Contact Info:

• Website: Shinealightlv.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shine_a_lightlv/?hl=en#
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shinealightLV