William's Story

William talks about his life before he was clean and sober and says "it was a cold, bitter and hard time." When he was 13 he started to drink. He wanted to be part of the crowd, test the high, and thought drinking with the guys was real macho.

Some nights he would go downtown with his drinking buddies and wouldn't go home and even ran away from home a few times. He had a home and a family that cared for him and says "my father always told me not to drink". When William started coming home drunk his father finally kicked him out.

But one day he got tired of living in the streets and giving his family a bad name. He learned he was fooling himself. When he would come down from his high he would realize that drinking was only an escape from reality.

When he was a kid he had a family to turn to and go to for help, but instead he chose alcohol.

While he was living in Woodlyn Heights, a peer counselor from The Friends Connection came to him and asked him to come out with him. Together, they went to baseball games, went bowling. They also went to AA and NA meetings. John Moore, his Friends Connection pal, helped William to turn his life around.

When William started on his journey to sobriety he had a slip. Each time he slipped he would get back up and try again. Jeanie Whitecraft from Friends Connection brought William a calendar one day and he started crossing off the days that he was "clean and sober". Each week he worked to add another clean and sober day to the calendar. Through that calendar William could see his success which gave him the courage to continue on the path to sobriety.

He is proud to say "I still keep a calendar and cross off each 'clean and sober' day".

He has been clean and sober for five years and has a job he loves.

Williams tells us "If I can do it, I know you all can do it" and asks that we spread the message to help others before it is too late.