Ray C.
Attended in 1993
Ray C. visited The Family Foundation School on a weekday and caught up with some staff that helped him out when he was a student. “This school has changed a lot. The school building used to be on farm land,” said Ray, reminiscing.
Ray was a troublemaker at home. He always caused problems and was a pain to the people around him. “I would’ve ended up in jail if I hadn’t come here.”
He was enrolled at The Family in 1993, and quickly resented it. The Family, at the time, was a farm and had a house where everything happened, including table topics with Tony and Betty Argiros as well as school. Ray still struggled here, but got help from his sponsor, Paul Geer, staff and his peers.
After some time, things didn’t work out for Ray. He wasn’t going to graduate here, so Bob Runge put him on a bus and sent him home. At first, he was very angry that he left, and pushed everything away. It wasn’t too long when Ray realized how important The Family was to him. “Life on my own was really hard,” he said.
With help, Ray continued to do what he had to do. He joined the Navy as an corpesman and went to Iraq. He is now married and has a seven-year-old girl. He still follows the principles he learned here and teaches them to his daughter as well. For fun, he paintballs and plays videogames. “Don’t leave what you learned here behind. AA program or no program, hold onto principles,” Ray says to the June grads.
