This story is about a number of different Hidden Heroes. First there is the small group of anonymous recovering alcoholics who, in the early 1980s, decided to purchase a building and offer housing and support to other men who wanted to break their addiction to alcohol. They called their facility Surfside. Then there are the hundreds who have taken advantage of the 42 or 84-day supportive recovery program that has evolved there.

As I walked toward the main entrance at Surfside, I passed two men who I can only describe as exuding a strong, positive aura or energy. They looked like the kind of men I would like to have as friends and I assumed, correctly, that they were “graduates” of the program. I’ll call them “Tom” and “Bill”.

Diagnosed as being bi polar while also fighting drug and alcohol addiction since his youth, Tom has spent a total of two of the last eight years in and out of 13 different psych wards in 6 cities and 4 provinces.

When he left his home town on the East Coast several years ago, his life looked great on the outside -- He had a successful bistro restaurant and art studio -- but inside it was a much different story. As a result of the inside struggle, he walked away from his old life in the middle of the night leaving everything behind including bank accounts and pay cheques. No one heard from him for the next six months. Years later, after hitchhiking across the country, he found his way to the Surfside Recover Centre where he spent the next 84 days.

“When I arrived in Surfside,” he told me, “I was a broken man but when I left, for the first time in years, I had the will to live again.”

Now eight months after “graduating” and with a number of different support systems in place, he is studying full time to become a drug and alcohol councillor and he has started to paint again. He also keeps himself busy volunteering both at Surfside and in the community and maintaining consistent contact with his various new friends and support systems.

Bill’s story is equally inspiring. Having been homeless and having gone through another recovery centre three different times, it’s been three years since he “graduated” from Surfside, three drug and alcohol free years. Now he has his job and children back (They visited him at Christmas) and a number of new friends.

Bill says he loved dope and booze more than his kids when he was addicted but he couldn’t see it that way at the time. He and his family ended up living in 14 different homes over the years because, when he had cash in his hands, dope and booze seemed more important than paying the rent. Even though his addictions led to several strokes and seizures, he couldn’t kick the habit. In fact he couldn’t get to sleep without them.

Today his kids and ex wife (who is also his friend) have been in the same house for three and a half years and he has had his own home for the past two and a half. He also has his job and children back in his life, a phone, friends, and each night he gets to sleep easily without any need for booze or drugs of any kind. Life is good and it’s getting better.

Surfside is an affordable (check them out) charitable not-for-profit society. Therefore it must raise a high percentage of its expenses through various fundraising programs. If this is an organization that appeals to you, I’d encourage you to give them a call and find out either what you could do to help or to sign up for the program. They do great work.