(melancholic music) - [Lori] This is the book that I gave to Cody when he graduated from high school.

- [Dara] As Lori Hawes flips through a scrapbook of her son Cody Mogensen.

- These are birthday parties.

- She's still dealing with the heartbreak of losing him at just 32 years old.

- Cody was sweet, kind, smart, very talented.

He could fix anything.

- [Dara] She finds comfort helping others get to know her son who died more than a year ago.

A terrifying incident during high school changed Cody forever.

- He was delivering pizza and was attacked by what the cops believe, a gang, it was a group of guys.

He was beaten with a hammer.

It was horrific.

- [Dara] Little did she know at the time, this was only the beginning of a long road of pain.

- First thing I asked before the surgery is what about brain damage?

And they said, we just have to go in.

And he recovered.

He recovered, but he didn't recover because he got addicted.

And then when he couldn't get any more pain meds from the doctor, he went to heroin.

- [Dara] Hawes says this contributed to her son making other poor decisions that landed him in trouble with the law.

- We found out with a call from the jail, we were thinking, oh, he's got pot.

We pulled it up on the website and it was horrible.

I literally fell on the floor because it said heroin.

- [Dara] And after the cycle continued for a while, Hawes says it was time for an intervention.

- We brought him to a two-year rehab.

He was not happy.

I didn't get a hug goodbye, he was furious.

But he stayed there for two years and it did help him.

(peaceful music) - [Dara] It helped him so much that Cody even picked up a new hobby, one that captured the beauty of life.

- He bought a really nice used camera and just started taking pictures, amazing pictures with no training.

- [Dara] But this newfound passion wasn't enough to keep dark days away.

And like many who are recovering from drug addiction, he relapsed.

- He was left alone in the house they had lived in for years.

His dog died a week later.

It was just the whole summer, he got evicted.

- [Dara] As life got harder, so did the ability for Cody to stay away from drugs.

This time he wasn't eating properly and was rapidly losing weight.

- That's when I tried to get him committed up in Asheville, which didn't work.

I tried what I could try.

And it's just hard because you see him at that point, it was bad.

- [Dara] After 14 years of this heartbreaking cycle, which at times included homelessness, Hawes says her worst nightmare came true in spring of 2021 when Cody died of an accidental drug overdose.

- For a year, I went to work and then I came home and sat on my couch.

I didn't walk my dog, I didn't do my yoga, I literally just went to work and came home.

Grieving is very lonely and it's exhausting.

- [Dara] But after that, Hawes asked her support group the life-changing question, how do I survive this?

And volunteering was one of the top answers.

- I called Charlotte Rescue Mission and I started Cody's Kitchen Crew.

Cody was a chef and we started volunteering in the kitchen.

- I lift him up to you.

- [Dara] One of those volunteers is Hawes's coworker Teri Perna.

- She was starting this to deal with the passing of her son.

I was dealing with the recovery of my daughter's addiction.

My daughter was, is a recovering meth addict.

We both were in this at the same time.

- [Dara] Perna tells me she understands firsthand many of the struggles Hawes faced and that encourages her to continue volunteering.

- I felt like this was a honor to go in and work with these men who were passionate about their own recovery.

- They don't just come and serve.

They serve and they interact, sit down, and their presence is felt and known.

And some of the guys knew her son Cody, so it's special for her to hear some of those stories from guys that were here with her son.

- [Dara] Every month, Charles Hite, who works at the Charlotte Rescue Mission, gets to witness just how impactful Hawes and her crew are to the men recovering from drug addiction.

- I've been in their shoes, been to eight rehabs, in and outta jail, psych wards, suicide attempts.

- [Dara] But spring 2021 also delivered a wake-up call for Hite.

- [Charles] I was found on Selwin and Queens Road West by a firetruck.

And woke up a couple days later off life support.

I didn't know what had happened, 'cause blacked out, but my dad was on my left and said, you overdosed and died.

And that was one thing I said would never happen.

- [Dara] And as these men learn to navigate recovery, Hawes says she's committed to their success and will continue to honor the life of her son through helping them.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Dara Khaalid.