Kian C. Kelsch Memorial Scholarship

Kian was a beloved friend and counselor who touched the lives of thousands of fellow travelers in the recovery community. He was taken from us by the disease of addiction after a sudden relapse last summer. Kian's family has decided to honor his legacy by creating a scholarship in his name, which will be given to individuals who have completed addiction treatment and are ready to move into a sober living environment (SLE) but need financial support to do so. We are partnering with Pura Vida Recovery Services/Sober Living Homes, an organization that played a crucial role in Kian's own recovery journey.

Kian was a strong advocate for sober living homes. He believed that SLEs can help people maintain sobriety after leaving treatment and losing all of the support that is provided there (medical supervision, counseling sessions, medication management, and peer support, to name a few). Kian once said "Rehab helped me get sober, but Pura Vida helped me stay sober. It helped me learn how to live without drugs or alcohol." Sadly, Kian was making plans to return to a sober living home at the time of his death in July 2022.

The most vulnerable time for a person in recovery is immediately after completing rehab treatment; often they have lost their jobs, financial stability, and/or support network. Many are forced to return to their former living environments, where there is a high risk of returning to old behavior patterns. With the money from Kian's scholarship, we hope to help cover SLE expenses for 3 months, providing a life-saving safety net for the recipient. This will give motivated individuals adequate time to find a job and begin a new life while keeping recovery and sobriety the top priority.

Pura Vida Recovery Services has offered to match our funds at 100%. The more money that we can give, the more people we can help. We would like to allow Kian's friends and family to contribute to the scholarship by creating this GoFundMe site, which is safe and easy to use. If we raise more money than our stated goal, we plan to use the funds to continue giving the scholarship out on an ongoing basis. We hope to reach as many people in need as possible, for as long as possible.

Kian often encouraged others along by passionately exclaiming, "C'mon! Who's gonna carry the boats with me?!" This scholarship is our way of demonstrating that together, motivated by Kian's courage and love for others, we will help carry those boats and carry his gift forward.