Alumni of FFS Join Students and Staff for Sunday Night Meeting
By Erika C.
The bleachers were filled with Family Foundation School students for the usual Sunday night meeting. Alex D. and his daughter Maria surprised both staff and students as the guest speakers for the night. Both are alumni of The Family School and came back to share their experience, strength, and hope.
Alex met Tony and Betty Argiros at an AA meeting in nearby Walton, N.Y. when he was 17. Prior to their meeting, Alex was a reckless, depressed teenager.
He started drinking and using drugs when he was 15 and he can remember “loving the feeling.” His father, who had recently gotten sober, would take him to AA meetings. Alex became the first student at The Family, and when he went to live with the Argirios’ his priorities in life changed quickly. He got a sponsor from East Ridge named Bob, began to develop conscious contact with a higher power, and was grateful for The Family for holding him accountable. He began to see the 12 Steps as a way to excel internally.
When Alex left The Family he was 18; he really began to recognize that his old thinking was still strong and that, for him, working a program was essential for living a successful life.
He has been sober ever since he arrived on Tony and Betty’s doorstep and still depends on his sponsor and God to guide him along a right path.
Maria arrived at The Family School on October 23, 1999. Her father sent her to the school for behavior problems, ending up in jail, and being very depressed.
Maria was welcomed into Family One and stayed at the school for 32 months. She struggled with being honest and dealing with her resentments, but through her time at the school she learned integrity and real friendship. She transferred back to high school in June 2002 and said that her biggest struggle was getting back into relationships too quickly.
Today Maria is in the Coast Guard and married to a man who respects her principles and her way of living. She plans to attend college in six months and is excited about opening a new chapter in her life.
In addition to supporting her father while he spoke to FFS students at the meeting, Maria also spoke to both graduates and transfer students during their exit letter workshop earlier that day. She spoke of what life was like for her at the school and her struggles, and how she got through them after leaving.
