(Tribune News Service) — Alexe Pappageorge Jr.’s girlfriend took the purple blindfold off his face Wednesday night and teased him a bit in the process.

“Are you ready ?” Mariah Tapia asked.

“Ready for what ?” Pappageorge responded with agitation.

He looked up to see his face on a banner, and then the moment hit him.

Pappageorge, after years of struggles and homelessness, now has a future in the military as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.

The banner is at the corner of Main Street and Utica Avenue in Huntington Beach, adjacent to Huntington Beach High School. Installed Wednesday, it proclaims Pappageorge, 19, a “hometown hero.” It was his surprise Christmas gift from the Costelloe family, which considers him one of their own after years of helping the teenager out.

Advertisement “It ‘s pretty cool, “ said Pappageorge, often called “Lex “ by his friends, who completed Marine boot camp in November as an honor graduate. “I dig it. It ‘s dope. Now everyone knows me.”

Laura Costelloe laughed at her newest son, as they admired the banner together.

“This is why you can ‘t do anything bad, “ she told him.

Pappageorge, who graduated from Newport Harbor High School last spring, is definitely on the right path after being homeless for six years growing up. Laura Costelloe said she learned of the situation when he was in eighth grade at Sowers Middle School. Her daughter, Ella, was one of his classmates.

“I just assumed that the school or someone would get involved, “ Laura Costelloe said. “He and Ella started working together downtown at [the restaurant ] 2nd Floor, and there was a night where he needed a ride home. That ‘s when I found out that he was [living ] in a motel in Costa Mesa. I was devastated. I texted him and said, ‘Please let me help you.’”

Pappageorge, whose mother gave him up as a young child, had been living with his father in their car or hotels for years, with people sometimes interceding to help out.

He played football, and he also worked part time. Schoolwork often took a back seat.

“I was just doing what I had to do to survive, “ Pappageorge said. “At one point, I started having to not just provide for myself but also provide for my dad because he wasn ‘t working.”

In spite of it all, Pappageorge thrived at football. He transferred from Edison to Newport Harbor after his sophomore season. As a junior, he was a starter on the defensive line and helped the Sailors win the CIF Southern Section Division 6 title.

“It doesn ‘t surprise me that he ‘s doing very well and thriving in that [military ] environment, “ Newport Harbor head coach Peter Lofthouse said. “He does his best when he ‘s in a disciplined, very structured environment. When it came to football, he was always great. He always was where he was supposed to be, did everything you asked, ‘Yes, sir, no, sir.’ So it doesn ‘t surprise me one bit that he ‘d be doing very well in that situation with the military.”

More challenges arose later in his junior year. Pappageorge ‘s father had unpaid debts and was jailed in April 2022. Costelloe took the teen in but searched for a more tenable solution. She reached out to Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Natalie Moser, who connected her with Planning Commissioner Oscar Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is an asset manager for the Orange County Community Housing Corp. He helped Pappageorge pay off his father ‘s debt before a Section 8 voucher could be accepted, and the teenager was then able to move into a one- bedroom apartment in Garden Grove.

“I think it speaks to a bigger picture of second chances and the ability to get a network of people to help out, “ Rodriguez said. “Not everybody that ‘s going through an issue like this has the resources.”

Indeed, others also shone light onto the situation. Costelloe said Pattie Rodriguez with the nonprofit Illumination Foundation helped Pappageorge put together his first month ‘s rent, while Mike Glenn with Costa Mesa- based Share Our Selves helped him with the deposit. But he continued to struggle in other ways, battling depression, loneliness and the challenges of living alone as a teenager.

That ‘s when the idea of signing up with the Marines started to make a lot of sense. Pappageorge said Newport Harbor football assistant coach Marc Denoon told him it might be a good fit, and Costelloe agreed.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to set aside his struggles and worries about where he was going to live and how he would pay for food, “ she said. “They would provide that for him, and he could finally take a break. You can just see the weight that ‘s been lifted off of him since he ‘s gone into the Marines.”

Pappageorge leaves for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton on Tuesday to continue with infantry training. He went through boot camp with former Edison football teammate Hunter Venham and has lost nearly 60 pounds on his journey.

Venham and other supporters — the Fore family of Huntington Beach, his Marine sergeant, Moser and more — gathered Wednesday night to surprise Pappageorge. Costelloe said she worked with city administrative assistant Sandie Frakes to get the hometown hero banner put up.

Tapia, a senior at Huntington Beach High School, is happy she can see her boyfriend ‘s face every day — even while he ‘s away — as she pulls into the parking lot.

“He didn ‘t tell me he was homeless until after he started dating me, “ Tapia said. “I was like, ‘OK, well that doesn ‘t change the way that I feel about you.’ I ‘ve been with him ever since.”

As for his father, Pappageorge said he ‘s out of jail currently but homeless in Huntington Beach. They saw each other a few days after Christmas when the son took some some food and a couple of gift cards to his dad.

“I always try to find the positive in everything, “ Alexe Pappageorge Jr. said. “My whole life, I just go with the flow, try to find the positive and do what I ‘ve got to do to stay afloat. I ‘ve been working my [behind ] off.”

People have noticed.

“He is the happiest human and always smiling, “ Laura Costelloe said with pride. “The worst thing could happen, and he would be like, ‘It ‘s going to be OK.’ He ‘s just the best kid. He really is.”

(c)2024 the Daily Pilot (Costa Mesa, Calif.)

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