Bridging The Gap To Recovery   

In Memoriam of Mr. Duke Collins 

Our mission is to honor a musician’s life lost to addiction by assisting others struggling to live in recovery.  By providing financial support for vital living expenses to those in treatment and new in recovery, we hope to bridge the gap between going to treatment and having a life to come home to. 

Charter

Our goal is to encourage persons into rehab for a drug free existence by addressing one of the greatest fears of going into a drug rehabilitation program. “I will lose everything”, “I will lose my job”, “I will lose my home”,” I will lose my car” “My children won’t have food”…etc...”  By taking part of the fear of rehab away, it is our hope that people suffering with addiction will be more likely to successfully engage in addressing their disease.  

We believe that by providing assistance with essential living expenses that we can positively influence their recovery. We provide scholarship funding, upon successful participation/completion of treatment, for basic expenses such as rent, utilities, food. Other assistance may include assistance for dependent family members, such as children.

Financial support will be provided per the following guidelines:

1. We will honor the integrity of the addict/alcoholic by holding them accountable for their recovery.
2. We will provide vital living expenses (documented housing/car payment/utilities/food) to those in treatment or new to recovery for a maximum of 60 days.
3. A maximum of 70% of documentable and essential living expenses will be eligible for funding, not to exceed $2000.00.
4. The recovering person must be engaged in their treatment program/recovery and be willing to provide documentation to that effect in order to be eligible for funding. Funding will be provided on a first come, first serve basis. 

How we became…………

My name is Sharon….I am the Mother of Duke Collins. Duke was a vibrant, smiling, loving, giving person. He always had “time” for someone else. He always had an ear to listen, and a hand to help.  His smile was contagious, his charm unforgettable. He was a very talented musician, with a future.  He had dreams, he had hopes, and he had a future he wanted. To those who knew him, he was a joy to be around. He had a Mother, a Father, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, and hundreds of friends, who all loved him. He was also an addict.

We lost Duke, March 21, 2015 to an overdose of Heroin. Duke and I had discussed rehab more than once, and each time, he would say,” I will be all right Mom, I can lick this, it’s just if I go, I won’t have anything to come back to. I will lose my work, my home, my car”…In such an insecure state of being, the things we take for granted offer the most security to someone living on the edge. Their bare existence is sometimes all they have to cling to.

Our goal is to save lives. To save families from experiencing the pain, we and many others have endured.  To take a one precious life at a time, and help to restore it, free from the grip of addiction.

 The Duke Collins Bridging the Gap not-for-profit organization is currently under development. 

The mission will be to assist alcoholics and addicts with essential living expenses while participating in a treatment program.  Applications for assistance will be completed in conjunction with a treatment provider.  Please watch for our web-site as we move further along in the development process.   We do not provide any clinical services, ie. Clinical referrals, treatment or counseling.

If you or someone you know is suffering with addiction, please contact your local Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous chapters.  In addition, your local health department, hospitals and/or treatment facilities should be able to assist you in identifying an appropriate course of treatment and a provider in your area.  

Our hopes and prayers are with you in your recovery.