11/08/2023
Hi everyone! It is hard to believe it has been 5 years since Frank passed away. While our hearts still mourn the loss of a beloved mentor and friend, we strive to keep his memory and legacy alive through the Frank D. Allison Foundation ( FDAF).
What is the Frank D. Allison Foundation?
It’s a non-profit organization created by Katie Welsh-Elliott to help students in long term recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.
What classifies someone in long term recovery?
At the FDAF we define some with long term recovery as someone who has struggled with addiction from drug and or alcohol and has not taken any addictive substances for over 1 year and continues to work on their recovery on a daily basis.
Why should I give any money to a former addict?
Addiction is slowly growing to be recognized as a disease but there is a lot of work to be done to raise awareness. The scholarship is designed to help raise this awareness. Most people visualize an addict as someone homeless or a beggar on the street, but actually, most addicts get up and go to work every morning.
Why would someone in recovery need a scholarship ? What sets them apart from their peers?
We define a self-supporting students in recovery as someone who is working to pay their bills, going to school full time and attending support groups to help maintain their sobriety. As many people know, stress is one of the biggest triggers for relapse and sadly enough, relapse often times leads to death.
With that being said, working students in recovery face financial, time management and emotional stressors that others may not face. Students in recovery are asked to attend anywhere between 2-7 recovery meetings a week, maintain a decent GPA to stay in school, and work to pay for food, rent, gas, parking, and school supplies etc... All of these pressures create extra stress and little time. The goal of this scholarship is to help students with the financial stress. Donating can reduce the the likelihood of a potential relapse and maybe even save a life.
Where is the money actually going?
We have a competitive application process for students. In the past, students were anonmously selected by employees from UNC-Chapel Hill that knew Frank. Each student was given two essay prompts. Then, Katie would read each essay to sensor any information that might give someone’s identification away (to maintain anonymity and avoid bias). From there each employee would read all of the students essays and decide together which set of essays they thought should win the award. 100% of the money donated goes directly to the students via check, venmo, cash app etc…
If you know anyone who might be interested in applying for the scholarship please have them email 📧 frankdallisonfoundation@gmail.com or message Kathryn Elliott directly through Facebook.
If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to Katie Welsh-Elliott via phone, text, email. Messag her directly through Facebook for her phone number.
If you can please donate through the GoFund me link below or send a check to Katie made out for the “Frank Allison Scholarship”. We are still working on getting a bank account set up.
Thanks so much!
Katie Welsh-Elliott
Last year I had health issues and didn’t have the energy to work on the non profit! BUT … Kathryn Welsh needs your support for The Frank D. Allison Foundation
