Alison Another Chance

March 18, 2017

Dear Friend,

We are writing to thank you for supporting our family these last four years.  As we celebrate Alison on her birthday today, we reflect more than ever on her life and the deep loss we feel every day.

We are grateful that you have honored her with donations to the Alison Another Chance fund [via the Hayes Family Foundation].  We thought that sharing the gift of Another Chance to someone else would be healing – a straightforward way to feel something positive in the wake of such a tragic hole in our lives.  Instead, in the year following her death, Clare had multiple hospitalizations, my grandmother, Elona, passed away, and my grandfather, Mike, days later.  In his passing, the small family foundation he started grew and has allowed more resources and required more time to honor and reflect on our family’s history.

With your generous gift to the Alison Another Chance Fund, we have thought of supporting the medical providers in Los Angeles who worked so hard to give Alison another chance, but they are retiring or have moved on and our family has no real connection to LA.  We thought of starting a sober-living house – a place we all agree might have helped Alison if she’d moved into one after leaving rehab.  Not because it would have guaranteed a sober life, but because it may have given her another chance.  We have started some preliminary outreach in the Denver community to see if we can find a sober-living house that could give someone with Alison’s story another chance.   We have worked with grassroots mental health initiatives and have supported organizations related to mental health, healthcare, housing, education, and children – all of which directly or indirectly honor Alison and our family.

But we have not yet specifically donated your contribution in her honor.  We wanted to share that as we continue to grieve and reflect on her short life and the impact it had on us, we welcome your ideas and experiences on how we can best reach out to young women like Alison – who come from a loving family and are so loved – yet alcohol takes over their lives.  If Alison’s body had given her another chance once her addicted brain was ready to beat alcohol, she might have been here to share her story.  Her strength in the end - after so many years of denial – is the hope of another chance we hang onto for our family’s future - and so many families suffering from the devastation of alcoholism. 

Please know that we are so grateful for your support and continue to honor Alison’s memory every day.   Please go to www.TheHayesFamilyFoundation.org and share any ideas or stories you may have about how to honor Alison.

On behalf of my sister’s memory, my mom and dad, the board of the Hayes Family Foundation, and my family, these words are mine alone.

With appreciation and love,

Lindsey Hayes Daly