Last month we hosted our first annual holiday fundraiser, a major milestone for The Alexander House’s mission. Rebecca Felsch, President of the Board, shared a powerful message with those in attendance but we felt that in effort of “being” the impact she speaks to, everyone deserves a chance to hear her words. Here’s what she had to say:

Like many of the slogans you become familiar with in anonymous meetings, The Alexander House has coined a couple of our own. “Laying the foundation for your recovery, one brick at a time,” was the first, and perhaps the most important when it comes to understanding our mission. Building anything requires a foundation, but as many of us know, wear-and-tear, natural disasters, and even negligence can corrupt the stability of a foundational layer that once upheld the entirety of the structure above it.

When I first chose sobriety, I tied my worth into being a poster girl for recovery; when I fell short of that, I fast-tracked to relapse. I equated my recovery’s success with the amount of time I had acquired proclaiming sobriety rather than focusing inward on the foundation I’d soon come to realize had been neglected. “Rebecca,” I recall hearing my brother’s voice as he furthered, “you are not holier than thou.” I was struck by his perspective in immediate reflection of the truth it held. As a man who had been down the road of addiction, recovery, relapse, repeat - he was right. I was humbled, gratefully, by that conversation with my brother. It emphasized the control I had been allowing my ego to have in dictating the efficacy of my recovery. Simply put, I wanted to be seen for the pristinely built structure I was able to display outwardly, while on the inside, my foundation was faltering.

The misconception that someone with “more time” or chips makes them different, let alone superior, to others in recovery perpetuates the very stigma that we aim to “Be the Impact,” against and has since become another slogan we reiterate in emphasizing The Alexander House’s mission. You may have heard the phrase alternatively worded to “make” an impact; “making” implies creation, something that has yet to exist. Being, on the other hand, is existing. Being requires survival, it desires action, and sustains itself on values and principles. Making sees an endpoint, an arrival; being is the journey of work it takes to go beyond that.

We need to be reminded that addiction is a disease without a cure. It does not care if you’ve been sober for thirty minutes or thirty years, it does not prioritize status or wealth, and it could care less how young or old you are. What it does offer is perspective; a chance to step outside of yourself and be humbled, much like I felt in recalling the interaction my brother and I had. It’s an opportunity to alter your disposition on addiction and recovery in a manner that may completely change your life in the process. At the very least, it’s the subtlety in acknowledging we are all in this together, and despite how you may feel, you are not alone.

Alexander’s loss came with as much purpose as his life did. He sought a foundation that, no matter how desperately I wanted to provide for him at the time, I was far from understanding how to. So many of us are occupying unsafe spaces, living on the streets, and waiting for a door to open or someone to call us home. Our mission lies in being that impact. We, as an organization, offer sanctuary that you can belong to just as you are.

There is no single person, business or institution that is capable of fighting the war on substance abuse alone. Which gives this industry a unique advantage to see each other as allies rather than competitors. When we began our market research, we quickly discovered the lack of accessible, widespread data pertaining to the availability or demand for sober living facilities.

In 2022, the Recovery Housing Study Report identified a mere 13% of patients seeking a sober living home were able to locate a space using the internet - a resource that the majority claimed was their only means of taking action. Many of these organizations do not operate as nonprofits, have conflicting styles of management and/or treatment, and unfortunately do not have availability at the demand they are sought. The approximate number of facilities that qualify as sober living homes in the state of Texas are less than a thousand, with applications increasingly going unfulfilled for individuals desperately seeking a way out.

If I could have given Alex anything, it would have been this home. A space to heal, a place to get off of the streets, and a place that saw who he was at his core and chose to invest in his journey. Myself and the board members have helped countless individuals in seeking these spaces, typically met with little regard for the patient’s mental state or inquiry as to what they needed in support to sustain their recovery. From the outside, The Alexander House is just another recovery home. But by looking closer, you can see that our foundation is solid and led by principles that allow new growth even between the cracks from our past.

Each and every dollar we receive is directly impacting the final steps we need to take, financially speaking, to offer provisions adequately and, with faith, continue to expand our mission in the future. All of our donors are offered a periodic “Impact Report” defining the progress of our project development and the highlights of those lives you are directly impacting. If you find yourself in alignment with our vision, we sincerely care to keep you informed and involved, as all of our organization’s success are a result of those of you in this very room and those that continue to contribute their support beyond today.

On behalf of myself and the rest of the board, we sincerely appreciate your commitment in being a part of our first public fundraising event. We acknowledge the priority you placed in our mission as it aligns with your own experiences and I feel hopeful standing on the frontlines with those that aim to “Be The Impact.” in the war against substance abuse.

We deeply appreciate you all.

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The Impact: Being vs. Making

If I’m a Junkie, So is your Grandma.