Portsmouth Rotary - Using Chess
The Rotary Club of Portsmouth
USING CHESS TO HELP FIGHT DRUG ABUSE
Portsmouth Past President John Hebert squares off with 4th Graders
What could drug abuse and the game of chess possibly have in common? The Portsmouth Rotary Club had made a connection between the two and the result is changing kids’ lives.
Jeremy Alex was a bright kid who loved the game of chess. Unfortunately, Jeremy had a lot of demons in his head that he tried to control with drugs. Ultimately the drugs became the demons and on April 24, 2004, the drugs won. Jeremy, just 28, lost his battle when he disappeared in the woods of Northport, Maine.
While Jeremy lost his personal battle, the war was not over. In 2005, Jeremy’s father and former president of the Portsmouth Rotary Club, Ted Alex, decided to fight back. He, along with the Portsmouth Rotary Club, established the Jeremy Alex Fund. The initiative uses Jeremy’s favorite game, chess, as a foot in the door. As they learn chess, kids learn about the dangers of drugs and making good choices. Jeremy’s passing from a drug overdose would not be the end of the story.
According to the Jeremyalex.com website, “The Jeremy Alex Fund, “Helping Kids at Risk Find the Right Road," has been created as a permanent fund with the Piscataqua Charitable Foundation, Piscataqua Region. Funds are designated with the Portsmouth Rotary Club to help kids at risk.”
The Jeremy Alex Fund has tapped into the generosity of the New Hampshire seacoast community. It has now helped dozens of organizations and individuals targeting at-risk students. And, despite his ordeal, Ted Alex hopes the Fund can positively affect our community and at-risk individuals for years to come.
According to the Jeremy Alex Fund Facebook page: “For over 10 years now, Jeremy's legacy has lived on through the Fund. The club performs outreach activities such as teaching 4th graders the strategy behind the game of chess and how it relates to real life, decision making and consequences of those decisions. The connection being, had Jeremy made different decisions, he may still be with us today. Ted wanted to turn something horrific into something positive. Now more than ever with the drug epidemic in our society, the fund aims to try and teach kids early on about the dangers of doing drugs by teaching them something positive and something that provides so many lessons. If you can reach one kid, we've done our job.”
Since its inception, the Fund has given out hundreds of sets of chess to seacoast area 4th graders. As they learn the game, students are compelled to also learn about the dangers of drugs. They can plainly see the importance of thinking critically about their choices. The idea of the Fund is not to talk at kids, but to engage them in discussion. And all this while they are having fun. Further, when they go home with their new chess sets, maybe the discussion goes home too.
But the Fund does more than bring the strategic game of chess to area schools. It also gives grants to organizations that help people of all ages who struggle with drug addictions.
April 24, 2004 could have been the end of a story. Instead, it is just the beginning. Visit Jeremyalex.com to learn more.