Campaign

Dominick R. Scalera Scholarship Endowment Fund

A man and women in shorts and tshirts standing next to the ocean.

Dominick was our beautiful boy. His smile infectious. His generosity great. His empathy for other children, the elderly and people in general, was evident throughout his childhood.

Then something happened and we didn’t know what to do or how to fix it. Suddenly there was chaos in our lives like nothing we’d ever experienced, a whirlwind of disasters and resulting consequences. Living with fear and pain became our norm. Addiction took Dominick quick, his progression in the disease lightning speed. It also took us, his family, with it.

Dominick struggled with addiction from the time he was 14 to the time he died from an overdose in 2016, shy of his 21st birthday. He had been in-and-out of treatment from the age of 16. The only time he was able to have and to celebrate one year clean and sober was following a 30 day stay at the Caron Treatment Center in 2013, when he was 18 years old.

A seed of hope was planted in Dominick while he was at Caron. That seed enabled Dominick to choose to continue his recovery in an extended care home in CA where he worked the 12 steps with a sponsor. The love, respect and nurturing he received at Caron, I believe, helped him mature, regain a glimpse of his former self and live life differently.

During that year of sobriety, Dominick worked hard to regain our trust and to heal his relationships. Though he suffered multiple relapses afterward, he always remembered that year, often saying he wanted to get that feeling back. He tried and he struggled, and even though, in the end, the disease won, I will be forever grateful for that year and the impact that small seed had on Dominick and on us.

This endowment was created to offer financial assistance to young adult males or females struggling with the disease of addiction, enabling them to receive the same love and support Dominick received from Caron. To give others the opportunity for treatment, to help plant that seed, would make Dominick, our beautiful boy, smile.

Your Gift Can Make a Difference

Caron also leads the industry in scholarship care providing more aid to families who cannot afford treatment than three of the recognized treatment centers combined. Caron not only dedicates a percentage of patient revenue to scholarship care, we are also fortunate to be able to partner with family, friends and corporate leaders to raise scholarship dollars that go directly to helping patients and their families recover from this devastating disease. Unfortunately, there are still families who cannot afford treatment. Your gift, regardless of the size, will help us begin to bridge this financial gap.

All donations to Aaron’s Story are tax deductible to the full extent of the law, as no goods or services were provided in consideration of your gift. Please note that if you received an auction item or service, these items are not tax deductible because you are getting something in return for your money. Only donations above the value of the goods or services received are tax deductible.

If you wish to donate by mail, please make checks payable to Caron, noting your donation is for the Dominick R. Scalera Scholarship Endowment Fund and send to:

Caron Treatment Centers
Attention: Kelsey Moore
P.O. Box 150
Wernersville, PA 19565

When you provide a check as payment, you authorize us either to use the information from your check to make a one-time electronic fund transfer from your account or to process the payment as a check transaction.

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