Actor, President Ford’s son offers hope

Ford visited patients at the facility to share his testimony.

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic provides hope for the community, a place for people addicted to alcohol and drugs to go and get their lives back, said Steve Ford, son of former President Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford.

Ford, an actor and motivational speaker, knows whereof he speaks, from both family and personal perspectives.

Interviewed at Tuesday’s annual Neil Kennedy Hope Has a Home celebration, Ford talked about the alcohol addiction that afflicted his mother while his father was in the White House, and then his own spiral into alcohol addiction beginning in his college years.

Ford said he does not think many people can defeat alcoholism without help, such as the Alcoholics Anonymous program that helped him get sober, or the family intervention and a treatment center that helped his mother.

“I had to learn how to surrender to something bigger than myself ... surrender to God,” Ford said.

Earlier in the day, Ford visited with patients at the Neil Kennedy facility to “share his testimony and give them hope.”

“I got more out of it than they did. Giving them hope is part of my sobriety,” he said.

Award recipients

This year’s recipients of the Neil Kennedy Hope Has A Home Award, presented by Jerry Carter, Neil Kennedy executive director, are: Columbiana County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, the Mahoning County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, and Trumbull LifeLines.

The event, held each year in September, National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Awareness Month, was sponsored in large part by Tony and Mary Lariccia.

“The Lariccias are what Neil Kennedy is all about: Family, community, love and hope,” said Neil Kennedy board chairwoman Cynthia Anderson. “Without them, this event would not have been possible.”

Ford, who was a teenager when his father became president, at age 18 went out West to pursue a dream of being a cowboy.

He later became a successful actor, appearing in some 30 movies, including “Contact,” “Armageddon,” “Starship Troopers,” “Black Hawk Down,” and “When Harry Met Sally,” playing the boyfriend of Meg Ryan, who he said is as attractive in person as she is on film.

Ford also appeared for six years on television’s daytime drama “The Young and the Restless,” was host of the NBC show “Secret Service,” and has had many guest roles on television shows such as “JAG,” “Dr. Quinn,” and “Suddenly Susan.”

alcorn@vindy.com