When he launches his “Wall Builders Recovery Ministries” at Saginaw’s Bethel AME Church, Felix Alexander Jr. will compare a rock of crack cocaine with a slice of creamy cheesecake.
Of course, the temporary ecstasy from his illicit drug of choice, which he kicked 18 years ago, is far more destructive than the excessive calories from a sweet-tooth dessert pie.
His layman’s message is that temptation always will exist. Self-discipline, and self-respect, are cornerstones in all aspects of a faith-based honorable life.
Alexander, age 64, makes his official debut at Bethel from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 25. He will review his personal background in advance on Joyce Harvin’s “Community Connections,” KISS-107 FM, airing at 5 o’clock on Sunday, April 21.
“Any addiction has changing faces,” he says. “It can be drugs, clothes, eating, sex, the casino, anything.”
Stories of individuals who engage in misbegotten behaviors often are rooted in negative childhoods, but Felix grew up in a solid Philadelphia family, with a father and several elders among clergy in the City of Brotherly Love.
As an adolescent, his experiments with recreational drugs — any and all, he recalls — seemed innocent enough. He was what therapists would describe as a “functional” addict. But his conduct bottomed out with stealing from his closest kin and eventually cost him a pair of marriages, although he remains close with a son and a daughter, now in their 40s.
“I would be at the (counseling) table, go into rehab, come out and start all over,” he says.
Family, friends and social workers decided he needed new settings, which led to his move to the Midwest, starting with Indianapolis in 2006, Detroit ’09 (“three blocks from Comerica Park”), Flint ‘2012, and finally Saginaw seven years ago.
He never became an SSI case, gaining income from jack-of-all-trades skills he gleaned from helping at his father’s junkyard. This continues in Saginaw with his “All In One Enterprise,” finding work through word-of-mouth that includes his Facebook page.
“I’m a handyman and a mechanic,” he notes. “I can do landscaping, painting, drywall, hardwood floors, I buy and sell cars.” Indeed, he squeezed our interview in between a busy schedule of spring grass-cutting chores. This means his addiction ministry is self-funded and free of charge at this point, with hopes of attaining a state certification at some point.
Even amid the worst throes of his struggles, Alexander was “functional” to the point where he would imagine himself as a motivational addiction counselor. In effect, some of the “curriculum” he will offer took root while he was high on crack and whatever other substances he added to the mix. Sometimes he will opt for a “tough love” approach, other occasions a shoulder to cry upon, even with the same individual.
“Everybody needs something different,” he explains.
Felix Alexander may be contacted via Wallbuildersrec24@gmail.com or through the Detroit-based telephone number he has maintained, (313) 318-2798. To view his initial sermon at Bethel AME, click here.
