ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
THE A.E.D. FOUNDATION FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
The A.E.D. Foundation, Inc. provides assistance to people in an effort to remove barriers to long-term recovery.
While the A.E.D. Foundation reserves the right to fund or deny requests for any reason, we offer the following as guidelines for the giving preferences of our Foundation:
We do not pay for Detox, Inpatient Treatment or for Health Insurance Deductibles. We will consider requests for assistance with entry into sober/supportive housing post treatment, transportation requests for outpatient treatment, items related to obtaining or maintaining employment for people in recovery, emergency assistance for people affected by a substance abuse crisis of a loved one and other requests that remove barriers to recovery and healthy living.
Preference will be given to requests made by residents of North Central Massachusetts and also to requests that will utilize vendors located in Massachusetts. Under no circumstances do we provide monies directly to a requester, instead we will pay vendors or providers directly on behalf of the requester.
THE ANDREW W. ROSS SCHOLARSHIP FUND
"Putting aside for a moment that he was my son, Andrew Ross was one of the most amazing people I ever met. Tragically, I only found this out after his passing. He was the oldest of three children. Evan, born in 1990 and Taylor, born in 1989 all fought like cats and dogs as children but grew closer as they became adults. Evan and Andrew each considered the other to be his best friend as they progressed into adulthood. Growing up in Grafton, MA, all three kids were involved in sports, soccer in particular, and it was an integral part of family life.
Andrew was an inveterate braggart. If you met Andrew, he would somehow work into the conversation that he had scored the winning goal in the 2003 State Championship soccer match. It would drive me crazy and I would have conversations with him about how a person’s character and stature is based on one’s actions, not their words. I would tell him that people don’t want to hear about one’s successes and that it’s not an attractive characteristic in a human being. Andrew would nod knowingly and continue to brag about his exploits. We had this conversation numerous times over the years and I would find it to be a frustrating character flaw in what was an otherwise charming and charismatic personality.
You couldn’t help but like the guy. He came on kind of strong with that bravado of his but once you got to know him and you peeled away that bluster, there was a kind and gentle soul.
His family and friends were the most important things in his life and he always kept in touch with people who were important to him. Whether it was a text or phone call, he made it a point to keep those people in his life.
As I said at the opening, Andrew would regale you for hours about his personal exploits but it was only when he was in the hospital before his passing, did I begin to hear the stories about the REAL Andrew Ross and those stories continued, throughout the morning, at his funeral. People…strangers whom I had never met came up to me, some of them hugging me, and telling me about how Andrew had saved their life, or if it wasn’t for Andrew, that person wouldn’t be here now. Obviously, I didn’t count, but there must have been hundreds of people who told the same story. Those were the most enigmatic days of my life. Here I was, grieving for the loss of my son, a feeling I would not wish on my worst enemy, yet having an incredible feeling of pride for what was an amazing human being. And for all the bravado about his soccer prowess, or how far he could hit a ball, not a single word was ever spoken about the people he had helped. He went about that part of his life, clearly the most important aspect of his young life, with a quiet dignity that defied the person who you thought you knew.
We are so proud of our son and moved that his name will live on through the Andrew W. Ross Memorial Scholarship that will be awarded to a deserving individual who has a sincere desire to fight the disease of addiction." - Steve Ross