As we welcome the New Year, I wish to extend warm and sincere greetings in the hope that this year brings with it much joy and celebration. With 2013 upon us, we also think of those who are struggling with addiction, a devastating disease that touches every race, gender and socio-economic status.

The next time you’re in a crowd, look around you: four out of ten people you see will abuse alcohol or drugs at some time in their life, and 15% will develop an addiction. Substance abuse is the number one public health issue facing our nation. National research indicates more than half of young people high school or college age have abused alcohol or some illicit drug. Alcohol and drugs kill tens of thousands of people each year –many of them innocent victims of another’s addiction.

Perhaps you or someone you love is living these statistics. Addiction is a disease: not a weakness, or a moral failure, but a medical condition that can be successfully treated. The healing process of recovery can begin today. At ACCA, we are committed to help more people sustain life-long recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.

But we need your help. As a non-profit organization, ACCA relies on private support so that we can continue to provide residential, outpatient and extended care services. With your help, we can create a world filled with many more grateful mothers, fathers, daughters and sons—whose lives were changed and saved because we cared. If you would like to make a charitable contribution, please visit www.theacca.net and click the donate button or call 518-465-5829.

On behalf of all those who will benefit from your contribution, thank you.

WINTER 2012

A MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KEITH STACK

Every morning, Ephraim Dove wakes up with a smile on his face. He gets ready for the day, sends his daughter, Aaliyah, off to school, and heads to work at the Addictions Care Center of Albany (ACCA)—thankful for the opportunity to do so. Even his most basic daily rituals inspire a sense of profound pride and gratitude. Ephraim is a former ACCA client. “I was born an addict,” Ephraim says. “My mom passed away when I was 15 years old. After that, I was full of hurt and anger and needed something to make me feel good.” For Ephraim, that “something” was crack cocaine. Ephraim spent years on the streets using drugs to numb his pain, but there was no drug potent enough and no high powerful enough to fill the empty space where his soul once was. “I kept seeing parents with their kids, and I knew I had to get back to being a father for my daughter.” In 2008, Ephraim turned to the ACCA for help. “They told me that I wasn’t alone, that I didn’t have to run anymore,” Ephraim said when explaining his treatment experience. “They told me I could open my heart and people would listen.” With the support from ACCA staff, Ephraim was able to open his heart and free himself from the chains of addiction. He now spends his time being a loving and responsible father to his ten year old daughter and working as a Program Assistant at ACCA, helping people like himself walk the road to recovery. “I see me in you,” he says to our clients. “If I can do this, you can too.”

“IF I CAN DO THIS, YOU CAN TOO”

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ACCA EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

County Executive Dan McCoy presents a poster contest award.to Rayan Essoulaimani, a 5th grade student at Harmony Hill Elementary School.

Selecting books at ACCA’s book giveaway table.

On Saturday, September 29th, ACCA welcomed the community to its main campus at 90 McCarty Avenue for the 4th Annual Start Smart Field Day. The popular community event celebrates the beginning of ACCA’s prevention programming year in Albany County schools.

The event honors the winners of ACCA’s Annual Prevention Poster Contest. Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy and Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple were on hand to present trophies to all the winners!

A grateful thank you to our sponsors BlueShield of Northeastern New York, Energy Insurance Brokers, Chartis, National Grid, Star Roofing & Restoration, TD Bank, Berkshire Bank, Sano-Rubin Construction Services, Stewart’s Shops, Fly 92.3 FM, LMG International, Omni Development Company, Spiral Design Studio, Stulmaker, Kohn, & Richardson, Camelot Print & Copy Center, DeCrescente Distributing Company, Hannaford Supermarkets, Panera Bread, Price Chopper, More Than Memories Photography, and NYSUT.

We hope you will join us next September to kick off another great year!

Mark presents to 150 members of the NYS Bar Assn. Staff of Comfortex Window Fashions enjoys dinner at Taste prior to “Laughter Is No Luxury”

Telling his story to an audience of over one hundred Siena students.

ACCA invited renowned recovery comedian and motivational speaker, Mark Lundholm, to present his very personal experience with addiction and recovery to the area in September. During his stay, Mark presented to members of the NYS Bar Association, Siena College, Veterans, substance abuse treatment providers, and addictions professionals. Over 100 guests attended dinner and a comedy show, entitled “Laughter Is No Luxury” as the culmination to Mark’s 3-day visit.

Lundholm does over 300 speaking engagements a year, often to treatment centers. “These are broken boys and girls in adult bodies,” says Lundholm about the clients. “I’m going to tell clients the same thing that I would tell myself when I came into recovery at age 28, and the things that I still tell myself to this day. If I have to keep it a secret, I am not going to do it. It’s not a bad thing having what you have. It’s a horribly dysfunctional thing to keep doing what have been doing. You want to be less depressed, help someone else. Freedom starts at forgiveness. Trust is never misplaced, it’s only misused. It’s not going to be my problem; I am going to get into the solution because I can do something about that.”

ACCA is excited to welcome Mark Lundholm back to the Capital Region in September 2013. If you are interested obtaining more information about his visit, please contact Francine Sinkoff at (518) 465-5829 or fsinkoff@theacca.net.

PRESENTING MARK LUNDHOLM...

Winter 2012

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Special thanks to the following community supporters: Presidential Honors Society at SUNYA collected 30 umbrellas for ACCA clients Cohoes Music Hall donated tickets for our clients to enjoy the CR Productions Holiday Special Feld Entertainment & Times Union Center donated tickets for Vista House clients to see Disney on Ice Albany Devils gifted tickets to future hockey games Hannaford generously offered gift cards to clients

ACCA GRATITUDE

REMEMBER THE ACCA...

ACCA is pleased to announce that we are participating as a charitable organization in the 2012 NY State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA). SEFA is the annual charitable solicitation of state employees. It is a federated campaign, which means that a number of health, human services, environmental and advocacy federations and agencies participate. State employees may give through payroll deduction or make a direct cash or check gift. If you are a State employee, please choose ACCA as your designated beneficiary for this campaign. Thank you in advance for your support!

A THANKSGIVING REFLECTION

BY KELLY MCCALL

I had been volunteering at the ACCA for a few short weeks when I was invited to join their annual Thanksgiving gathering. Not being a member of staff or a client, I was nervous I’d feel like an outsider but decided to go anyway. It was the best decision I could have made.

I walked into a room full of people and took a seat with my family and a few staff members at a large round table. We enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade macaroni, roasted veggies, and a few too many pieces of pie. The food was delicious, but the best came after dinner. It was an ACCA tradition called “Sharing and Caring,” where clients were encouraged to stand up in front of the group and share what they are most thankful for in life. One after another people stood and spoke. They shared their struggles, their darkest, most rock-bottom moments, and the range of emotions that are experienced on the journey to sobriety. Though each story was different, they were all fundamentally the same. Each person had experienced the true suffering that comes with addiction and each person summoned the strength and bravery it takes to ask for help. In no way did they make their experiences in recovery sound easy, but all of them made it clear: the pain was worth the gain.

I had chills the entire time. These people were so strong, so sincere, so inspiring. They had an immense amount of gratitude for simply being alive and sober, something many people take for granted all the time. The entire night was an honest reflection on what is truly important, and the experience restored my faith in the virtues of life, especially love. I had never before been in a room of strangers and felt the amount of love I felt at the ACCA Thanksgiving dinner. It was a special night.

Kelly (far right) and her family at ACCA’s dinner.

The Addictions Care Center of Albany, Inc.

90 McCarty Avenue Albany, NY 12202

The Addictions Care Center of Albany, Inc.

www.theacca.net

“Healing the hearts of everyone touched by addiction”

Chrysalis

PROGRAMS & SERVICES

Administration (518) 465-5470 Outpatient Programs (518) 434-2367 Community Residences (518) 434-8083 Community Education (518) 465-5829

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS Karen Akers Albany Broadcasting Albany Devils Albany County Sherriff Craig Apple BankDirect Capital Finance Berkshire Bank Foundation BJ’s Charitable Foundation BlueShield of Northeastern New York Theone Bob Angela Britt Christopher Burns James Burns Business Partners Forms & Systems Camelot Print & Copy Center Richard Canuteson F. Lee Castleman CDPHP Celerity, Inc. Chartis, Inc. Chem Rx Justin Clancy Nancy Colton Comfortex Window Fashions Crisafulli Brothers Daniel DeBlois Ted DeConno DeCrescente Distributing Company Michael Dignum Adam DiMarino

Katherine Doherty Carol Dowell Dreyer Boyajian Paul Ehmann Emma Willard Phila Group Energy Insurance Brokers Wynn Englisbe Express Mart Joyce Favicchio Julia Fesko Stanley Gertzman Gleason, Dunn, Walsh & O’Shea Granite Premium Funding Hannaford Debbie Harrison Francis Hawkins Matthew Hosford Quay Houchen IPFS Corporation Anthony Izzo Andrea Jaffe Mayor Gerald Jennings Keeler Motor Car Company KJA Reilly Family Foundation Michael LaFrank LMG International Mary Anne Klein Lew Krupka Paul Landers

Dr. Eiunju Lee Sarah Loveland Julianne Malin Claude Manna Kara Matthews Martin, Harding & Mazzotti Kelly McCall Kimberly McCall County Executive Daniel McCoy Meridian Capital Partners Dr. Darroch Moores More Than Memories Photography Robert Muncil National Grid New York Recovery Foundation New York State Bar Association Northway Motor Car Corporation NYSUT Joe O’Connor Omni Development Company Panera Bread Pearl Carroll & Associates Sue Peer Price Chopper Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation Joe Quinlan Kenneth Raymond Mary Reith Torre Rivers

Robinson’s Ace Hardware James Runko Drue Sanders Sano-Rubin Construction Services Tom Schreck Siena College George Sinkoff Dr. Carolyn Smith Soldier On, Inc. Spiral Design Studio Star Roofing & Restoration Stewart’s Shops Stulmaker, Kohn & Richardson Sue Sulzman SUNY Presidential Honors Society TD Bank Congressman Paul Tonko Curtis Ulrich Salvatore Villa April Volk Mikki Ward-Harper Dr. Lynn Warner Westminster Presbyterian Church Wilborn Temple First COGIC James Wood, Esq. Nancy Wood Stephen Wood Yoswein New York Caryn Zeh Appraisals, LLC