Mike Sisco washed ashore on the Vineyard over 16 years ago in the midst of a life-threatening battle with drug and alcohol addiction.
“When I first came here, it was either jail or death for me,” Mr. Sisco said. “There was no doubt about it.”
Today, Mr. Sisco, 54, who owns Sisco Family Services and jokingly refers to himself as the Island’s go-to fixer, is still an imposing figure. He’s bald, has a white goatee and has two large earrings hanging from either ear. Both of his forearms are decorated with large tattoos honoring the Red Sox and the Bruins.
“I grew up very poor in a rough, rough neighborhood in Taunton,” he said. “A single mother, a father that left when we were five. Some serious things happened to my family.”
But over the years, since coming to the Vineyard, Mr. Sisco decided that his life would be better spent helping others who have experienced similar struggles. His Boom Sisco trucks can be seen all over the Island, taking jobs big, small and everywhere in between.
Clearing snow from the Oak Bluffs School roof? Not a problem. Relocating gym equipment? Too easy. Dropping food off at the food pantry? All in a day’s work.
“We work with every single organization on Martha’s Vineyard, no matter what it is,” said Mr. Sisco. “We get to look like the good guys and all that stuff, and it’s fun actually saving people from pretty [awful] situations.”
He has 15 people working with him, many of whom are undergoing some form of recovery, including his wife whom he met and fell in love with during a recovery meeting.
“He is the most persistent man I have ever met and he will help you until you want to help yourself,” said Emily Sisco, who works the business alongside her husband. “He’ll give the shirt off his back to help somebody who he sees needs it.”
His nephew Marcus was also an important figure in Mr. Sisco’s journey to recovery.
“This kid was the good and I was the bad,” said Mr. Sisco. “The only good thing in my life was him looking up to me, so I put myself in a position for the rest of my life for him to look up to me.”
But the shift didn’t come easy.
Recovery can be an arduous process, one that takes time and serious individual effort.
“A lot of people don’t want to participate in their own recovery,” said Mr. Sisco. “If you’re willing to go to a meeting and get help and talk to somebody about it, you’re halfway there.”
When Mr. Sisco first arrived on the Vineyard in 2008, he was still drinking heavily and using drugs. He was angry and, by his own account, had been placed in protective custody by police 28 times in just six months.
It wasn’t until West Tisbury police chief Bradley Cortez, then a sergeant in the department, showed up at Mr. Sisco’s front door one day that things began to change for the better.
“I was the one that knocked on the door,” said Chief Cortez. “But what Mike does not know is that on the side of the back deck in the shadows were three other police officers, and in the road there were other officers. We were prepared for the worst case scenario.”
At the time, Mr. Sisco was living in a house with his mother. Before the police arrived, he was in the midst of a bender. His mother, seeing her son deteriorating before her eyes, decided she needed to help him find help. So, she went down to the police station and spoke with Mr. Cortez to begin facilitating a motion to remove Mr. Sisco from his home to get professional aid.
Chief Cortez isn’t exactly sure what clicked that day in Mr. Sisco’s mind, but something did.
“We all knew what he was battling, but there was a decision that he made to listen to me,” said Chief Cortez. “When I pulled him back out on that deck, I think he saw the determination in my voice and my willingness to help. I don’t know what clicked, but he adhered to what I had to say and he came with me willingly and did not put up any sort of resistance.”
From there, Mr. Sisco was transported to the Falmouth where a judge made the decision to send him to the state substance abuse center in Bridgewater.
“Let’s just say that it wasn’t a glorious place to be,” said Mr. Sisco. “It was an epiphany time in my life, it was a God-wink moment. It was the moment that I realized I didn’t want to live like this anymore.”
Seared in Mr. Sisco’s mind is the shame he felt as kids watched him sitting in the back of the police car during the ferry ride to the mainland, the time he spent interned in a Falmouth jail cell with an alleged murderer while awaiting his turn to stand before the judge and the terrible nature of life in Bridgewater, an incarceration site that houses Massachusetts’ most violent offenders.
So, when Mr. Sisco was released from Bridgewater and came back to the Vineyard, he was eager to turn his life around, but he understood that it would be a hard road, one that he would have to take one step at a time.
“When you’re sober, you need to keep yourself busy because we all know that idle time is the devil’s playground, and I’m no different,” he said. “I’m not a saint. I’m not trying to act like I am. I’m just trying to be a guy that’s bettering himself every day by the work that I put into the community every single day.”
When Mr. Sisco returned to the Island, he started a business, began attending substance addiction meetings and made a decision to dedicate the rest of his life to helping others.
“It doesn’t matter what pain people carry, everybody is the same,” said Mr. Sisco. “Just because it’s not important to me, what’s hurting you is important.”
Mr. Sisco’s business is hard to define. In short, he has created a labor force that, by his own admission, just does it all. When he first started, Mr. Sisco would stand on State Road with a ladder, a bucket of paint and a paint brush looking for work. Day in and day out Mr. Sisco and his team would hustle for every opportunity they could find.
Often, he would spend his time handing out fliers or placing signs at Five Corners hoping to generate more work for himself and his employees.
“This isn’t like we did anything special,” said Mr. Sisco. “We just worked hard and did what we said we were going to do, and meant it when we said we’ll do anything.”
As Mr. Sisco worked to rebuild his life, his wife, nephew and Chief Cortez encouraged him from the same front row seats from which they watched him nearly slip into oblivion.
“It’s not easy,” said Chief Cortez. “It’s a long road to get to where Mike Sisco is currently in his life, with his family and the community. I am so incredibly proud of that man.”
Over time, Mr. Sisco’s business expanded, affording him more opportunities to give back to the community he credits with saving his life.
In addition to starting his own business, Mr. Sisco often works to raise money for various organizations across the Island.
“He’s already helped out countless organizations within the town,” said Chief Cortez. “Whether it’s a dump removal or elderly services, the man goes above and beyond for his community. He’s your example of achieving the impossible.”
This past summer, Mr. Sisco worked with Jesse Steere, owner of Shirley’s Hardware and Steere the Course Mini Golf and Grille, to create the first annual Jabberwocky Golf Invitational. The event brought together more than 50 local business sponsors and helped raise more than $35,000 for Camp Jabberwocky.
“Fundraising is what allows us to remain tuition-free for campers and their families,” said Hilary Dreyer, executive director at Camp Jabberwocky, in a statement provided to the Gazette. “It allows us to keep our facilities safe and functional, and quite literally keep the [stage] lights on.”
Inspired by the work his mother did for organizations that focus on disability services, Mr. Sisco plans to raise more funds for Camp Jabberwocky and on Feb. 5, 2027 he will host a comedy show at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. The show will feature performances by comedians Pete Costello, Dan Crohn and Christine Hurley.
Mr. Sisco said his journey has taught him a lot about what it means to be a man, both the good and the bad. But mostly he’s proud of what he has created and that he can now give back to the Island he calls home.
“The reason why I do what I do is because I know for a fact that Martha’s Vineyard saved my life,” Mr. Sisco said. “So, I’m going to give everything I got to help in any way I can because I’m very, very passionate about it.”
BOOM!!
It’s amazing that alcoholism seems to be considered a crime – it’s a disease!! No different than cancer. It will kill you and probably others
Cudos to Mike and his help with employees. I spent 4 years, 365 days per year, in the same room with him and he was always so positive. A big presence. Ha ha.
Astonishing that liquor stores remained open during Covid – many people would have died if they didn’t get their “fix”. That’s how bad the problem is.