Hazelden Betty Ford receives $10 million for center for families impacted by substance abuse

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation on Friday announced a record $10 million donation to help establish the Hazelden Betty Ford National Center for Families and Children, which aims to bolster support for the families of individuals receiving treatment for addiction.

The donation, which came from Diana Davis Spencer Foundation CEO and President Abby Moffat, kick starts a $100 million fundraising campaign for the new center that will focus on programs and services for children as young as 7, as well as other family members of any age impacted by a loved one’s substance use disorder. Funding will also help train clinicians in evidence-based family treatments and scale up family programs to be incorporated at the National Center for Families and Children.

The new center will not provide treatment out of just one place, instead it will host initiatives online and at facilities in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon and Washington, where Hazelden Betty Ford operates.

During a presentation at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Moffat explained that the contribution to Hazelden Betty Ford is an effort to break stigmas and enable access to resources for families.

The donation is also a personal one, Moffat told The Desert Sun, sharing her father's struggle with alcoholism. "I would've benefited from the family programs that the Hazelden Foundation offers. Addicted persons and their families need support in many areas and what the foundation does is phenomenal," she said.

According to the CDC, an estimated 40 million Americans experience substance use disorders annually, affecting tens of millions of children, spouses, partners, parents and siblings who experience the negative effects of addiction, including emotional and mental distress, trauma, and sometimes financial and legal challenges, too.

Susan Ford Bales, who is the only daughter of former U.S. President Gerald Ford and former First Lady Betty Ford, said in a speech that her mother "would be so proud" of what the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and Betty Ford Center have accomplished since she died in 2011. Ford Bales agreed that the National Center for Families and Children will help remove the stigma surrounding people who are dealing with "a very real" illness.

The Bethesda, Maryland-based Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, which donates to other foundations throughout the U.S., focuses on different "pillars of philanthropy," Moffat said, with the idea that "If we help families, then we help children, we help the community and we help the nation." Though health is a relatively new philanthropic area for the organization, Moffat said it's something she and the foundation want to be more involved with.

Following her presentation, several locals who have participated in the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation's programs greeted and thanked Moffat for her contributions.

Moffat said she was able to tour the Betty Ford Center yesterday and observe different work. "I even learned about med-student training," she said. On Friday, she continued her tour of the facility and learned more about the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

Eliana Perez covers the eastern Coachella Valley, including the cities of Indio and Coachella. Reach her at eliana.perez@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ElianaPress.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Hazelden Betty Ford receives $10 million for new center for families