Rides for Recovery Scholarship

My name is Kaitlyn Smith and I’m raising funds to make treatment more accessible for people addicted to drugs and alcohol. A year ago, I believed getting addicted to anything was a choice, and I couldn’t empathize with homeless drug addicts asking for money on the street. But on June 15, 2017, a 36-year-old homeless man found my stolen purse in a Baltimore alley where he was using heroin and instead of selling it for drug money, he decided to walk several miles and return it to me. To thank him, I gave him a sleeping bag and paid for a one-way flight for him to go to addiction treatment at Medicare facility in Florida.

When Aeric admitted, I knew very little about Addiction or what a good treatment plan looked like. He called and said his counselor suggested he attend 90 meetings in his first 90 days of sobriety, so when Aeric was scheduled to discharge after 37 days, I started a GoFundMe campaign to help him pay 2 months’ rent at a halfway house and cover incidentals until he came back to Baltimore. The very day he discharged, we dipped into the fund to cover $1,000 for his prescriptions because his Part D had lapsed, and in the first week we spent more that $200 on uber rides to get him settled. To date, "Aeric's Fund" raised nearly $15,000 and supported Aeric through the expected and unexpected challenges of early recovery. He is now working for my contractor learning valuable skills like carpentry, demolition and tile milling but still struggles with limited transportation so he can only work part-time.

Helping Aeric navigate over the past year brought my attention to major road blocks in the three major categories that make recovery especially difficult for people without resources. I became passionate about finding ways to bridge the gaps by addressing needs in transportation, housing and employment during early recovery, and in April, my passion inspired a career change from medical device sales to the field of Behavioral Health. I now understand Addiction better as a complex and progressive disease, and often an addict will lose everything before seeking treatment. In this new role I get to help addicts in crisis connect with Addiction treatment, and a lack of transportation is often an immediate obstacle.

The good news is, there are still treatment options available for people with limited resources, but only if they can get there. For example, two weeks ago, I got a call from a case manager about a patient who needed a direct transfer to from the hospital to residential treatment program for Alcoholism. I connected her with a treatment provider only 130 miles away, and all he would need to cover was a $38 bus ticket to get there. He didn’t have the money, but fortunately I did, so he admitted to treatment the next day. But there are hundreds of others in similar situations who miss out what might be their last opportunity to get clean.

September is Overdose Awareness Month and to help kick it off, I am officially launching Rides for Recovery to start a movement to get more people into treatment. Donations to the campaign will go to cover round-trip scholarship transportation for people seeking addiction treatment and cover emergency incidentals when needed. I will also use the platform to raise awareness and reduce stigmas that prevent people from getting the help sooner. You can join the movement today by donating to Rides for Recovery, and by sharing the campaign to your social network. Please stay tuned for immediate updates on the scholarship recipients… Our first 2 recipients need our help TODAY.

Thanks in advance!

Kaitlyn Smith