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‘That’s just kind of what we do’

AHS?helps kids after dad has heart attack and mom is out of the country

ALPENA — The D’Argella family moved from Georgia to Alpena in January so children Nickoli and Natasha can participate in Shipwreck Alley. Last month, father Delmer suffered a heart attack and had to be rushed to MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland, so the kids were left home by themselves because their mom, Marina, was in Korea flying for Delta.

Since the kids were home by themselves, Alpena High School Principal Thomas Berriman and Assistant Principals Romeo Bourdage and Stephanie Hitchcock stepped in and helped the family by taking food to Nickoli and Natasha so they could have a warm meal for dinner.

When Delmer was in the hospital, his health wasn’t getting better so the school figured out a way to take Nickoli and Natasha to Midland to see their father. Friends Together helped and School Success Worker Lisa Siegert drove the kids to see Delmar.

Bourdage said Delmer was amazed with what the school did.

“We step up and we help people out,” Bourdage said.

Delmer said Alpena is a great town with great people. He said they didn’t have friends before since they were new to the community, but now they do.

“I want the community to know from an outsider looking in with no family and friends, what a great community they have and maybe they haven’t experienced it like the way I did, but what great people,” Delmer said. “These aren’t people just to educate our children, they’re there to help us and it’s fantastic.”

Delmer said Alpena is a small town with people who care and he said he didn’t expect the help from the school.

“I didn’t expect the principals from the school to bring dinner over for the kids,” he said. “I don’t know where you’ll hear about something like that. These people care about their job, but it’s not just a job for them, they care about the students and they care about the students’ families and it’s amazing.”

Berriman said they took care of the D’Argella like family and they would do that for anybody.

“That’s just kind of what we do, especially with a family that’s new to the community and doesn’t have other family and doesn’t have that type of support system around,” Berriman said. “We just try to take care of everybody as best as we can.”

“We invest in people and that’s one of our most admirable traits, Bourdage said.

Delmer said he has some health issues with his neck from being in the military, but said he’s doing better after the heart attack. He said the biggest challenge was getting used to the medications, but said that the best medicine is his family.

Julie Goldberg can be reached via email at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.

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