A ‘historic’ gift. Billionaire philanthropist picks Lexington recovery center.

Voices of Hope, a Lexington nonprofit that helps people through all stages of drug addiction and recovery, has received a $2 million gift from MacKenzie Scott and her foundation Yield Giving.

“This is a really big deal for us,” said Alex Elswick, the co-founder of Voices of Hope, whose journey from homelessness and addiction to college professor led him to found the group. “We submitted the proposal for $1 million because that was the maximum, and MacKenzie Scott liked so many of the proposals that they gave us $2 million instead.”

Scott is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. She is estimated to be worth about $36 billion and has already given away $12 billion to various groups and institutions.

Voices of Hope was one of 361 groups to receive about $640 million in Scott’s latest round of funding. It competed against 6,000 applications.

They have a unique approach to substance use disorder that she clearly appreciated.

Elswick describes it as filling a “specific and crucial gap in the continuum of care.” What that means is filling all the holes around addiction because the vast majority of people with substance use disorder are simply not ready to go to treatment.

At Voices of Hope, people can come in and talk or help get connected with social services, or possibly go to treatment. If they are ready.

Most of the staff are themselves in recovery, and so they understand the vast array of needs before and after any recovery.

Elswick’s favorite story is about a woman who was homeless who walked up and down North Broadway in front the the Voices of Hope facility every day. The Voice of Hope sign says “a Recovery Community Center,” which to her meant total abstinence.

“She said, that’s not for me and would keep pushing,” Elswick said. “Then she heard she could do her laundry for free if she just met with a coach. So she started bringing her laundry, and now she’s spending two hours a week hanging out in a community of belonging.

“In the third week, she turned to the coach and said, ‘If I wanted to go to treatment today, could you help me?’”

She’s now a year abstinent, thanks to a lack of focus of abstinence.

Voices of Hope was part of the first HEAL grant given to UK, and so was able to expand to some counties. They have a mobile unit that travels around to those communities.

The Scott grant is unrestricted, and Elswick said it will be used to improve benefits for staff members and look ahead to the center’s future sustainability. His mother, Shelley, is the current CEO, and she may retire soon.

Elswick himself is an assistant professor extension specialist for substance use prevention and recovery.