As part of their Black History Month coverage, PIX11’s James Ford profiled Andre Matthews, Director of Recreational Services, and our Odyssey House running program.
By James Ford
PIX11
He was a homeless drug addict who’s not only been clean and sober for nearly a quarter-century, but he’s also been one of the directors of one of the country’s top-ranked recovery centers for more than a decade.
The journey that André Matthews of Odyssey House has taken has been exemplary and inspirational for thousands of people he’s served over the last two-and-a-half decades. While his drive, self-determination, and faith have been integral to his recovery, a major aspect of his transformation has been long-distance running.
Matthews recently spoke about his incredible story of hope as part of Black History Month coverage by PIX11 News, but his journey serves as an example for anyone seeking to better themselves, in any way.
Matthews described the extent to which he abused drugs in the 1980s and 1990s, and the list of substances is long.
“I’ve experimented with everything from marijuana to crack cocaine, just snorting cocaine,” he began, “[then] advanced and moved on to, you know, like, heroin.”
“Next thing you know,” he continued, “you’re doing anything and just about everything to get the drug, and then I found myself on the street, homeless.”
Matthews went from that level of deprivation to becoming a director at Odyssey House, a program that houses people while they work on recovering from addiction.
He said that investing in physical activity, and a healthy lifestyle that supports it, have been vital in his recovery.
It started with Odyssey House’s now-chief operating officer, John Tavolacci, talking with Matthews about physical fitness in the early 2000s when Matthews was himself a resident in Odyssey House’s recovery program.
“John said, ‘Hey, what do you think about running a marathon?’” Matthews said. “I had no idea what a marathon was.”
He looked it up and found that it was a 26.2-mile road course. It was a daunting prospect for him, at a time when he’d only been running relatively short distances at any given time.
Still, he said that he felt capable of rising to the challenge that was presented to him during his year-and-a-half living in Odyssey House’s recovery residence on Randall’s Island.
“If I can stay here and do this for the 18 months,” Matthews said at the time, “then I can certainly run a marathon.”
He succeeded, by completing his first marathon in 2002, and he did not stop there, by any means. After graduating from the Odyssey House program, he said that he asked its leaders, “Would it be all right if I come back and volunteer, maybe take some folks out and do some running?”
“And they said, ‘Sure,’” Matthews recounted.
A few months after that, Odyssey House hired Matthews to help counsel people in the recovery program, by using his personal story to bolster the training he’d received in counseling.
Through it all, he kept running, and he also led other people from Odyssey House in road races. He specifically cites New York Marathon legend Sidney Howard for supporting his efforts and helping him to train runners.
The effort helped Matthews and Odyssey House grow its running program, as well as other recreational activities at the recovery center. That hard work also grew Matthews’s career. He went from being a volunteer to a counselor, then on to being a coordinator of recreational programs. He later became the deputy director of recreation, and then was promoted to director of recreation, the position he now holds.
As director, he’s in charge of a whole staff who help hundreds of people in recovery, yearly.
“I tell them, ‘Hey, I was in the same place you’re in right now,’” Matthews said. “‘I was in the same seats that you’re in right now.’”
One of the people in those seats is Albert Rufino. He said that Matthews’s example has been a guiding light for him in his own recovery journey.
“He told me his story, and it helps me,” Rufino said in an interview. “It makes me feel that I’m not alone.”
Rufino’s own story of overcoming addiction is one of thousands that Matthews has helped to influence over the last 24 years.
Long-distance running has been a major theme in the recovery journeys of many of the people Matthews has assisted over the many years he’s been at Odyssey House. Rufino explained how that theme has positively impacted him.
“I couldn’t even run half of a mile without running out of breath,” he said, describing his physical condition a year-and-a-half ago. “And thanks to [Matthews’s] coaching through time,” he continued, “he told [me] ‘Listen, this is like recovery, one step at a time.’”
By relying on his own will and drive, as well as looking to the leadership of Matthews, Rufino has now run his first marathon, and he runs multiple miles every day. He’s also lost more than 30 pounds and started pursuing an associate’s degree at Hostos Community College.
Rufino credits André Matthews’s help.
Meanwhile, for his part, Matthews says that his life is about always going forward, from a past from which others can learn.
“It’s like looking into the mirror, you know,” the Odyssey House director said. “I don’t just have to tell you [about recovery]. I’m just going to be that example.”