Housing scholarships
A safe, structured sober home in the first weeks, before the first paycheck.
The Stabilization Fund · formerly the Scholarship Fund
Give someone time to breathe.
Most people arrive at Blue Waters with almost nothing. Your gift covers the first weeks, so they can focus on recovery instead of next week's rent.
The first night
Someone walks through our door with a bag, maybe two. No job yet. No money for groceries. Sometimes they haven't eaten all day.
I never want someone to walk through the doors of Blue Waters hungry. So that first night, there's a bowl of soup or some mac and cheese waiting. Nothing fancy. Just a warm meal and a bed.
There's a saying I've always believed: "People don't care what you know until they know that you care." Before we can tell someone how to rebuild their life, sometimes we need to make sure they've eaten.
— Tiffany Skuraton, Founder
What the fund covers
Our scholarships taught us that housing is only the first barrier. The Stabilization Fund surrounds a bed with what someone needs to actually get on their feet.
Bus passes
Transportation for the first weeks: to meetings, doctors and job interviews.
Food and groceries
Basics like meat, bread, fruit and cereal, so no one goes hungry while they look for work.
Hygiene and clothing
Toiletries, new socks and underwear, and our donation closet.
Bridge meds and copays
When appropriate, help filling a prescription so no one goes without it.
Help with benefits
Connections to food assistance, insurance, medical and mental health care, and peer support.
The goal is not dependency. The goal is independence.
It works
32
recovery scholarships awarded in our first scholarship initiative.
26 of 32
stabilized, about 81%. They found work, began paying their own rent and stayed active in their recovery.
Up to 100
people is our next goal, as funding allows. We're walking in faith toward it.
A scholarship gives people time: to go to meetings, find a sponsor and start step work, see a doctor, get an ID, look for a job and start repairing things with their families.
What your gift does
- $210 covers one week of housing
- $400 covers intake costs to get someone in the door
- $1,000 covers about a month, enough time to find work and get stable
Every gift is really about one person:
- It is someone filling a prescription instead of going without it.
- It is someone getting on a bus to a job interview.
- It is someone eating dinner on the night they arrive.
- It is someone discovering that people they have never met still believe their life is worth investing in.
Rescued together
Through our partnership with Blue Waters Dog Rescue, residents can help care for a rescue dog during early recovery. Learning to look after another living being, while you're still learning to look after yourself, changes people.
They believed they were helping rescue dogs. The dogs were helping rescue them too.
As seen on: Local 10 News · CBS Miami · "Against All Odds" (YouTube)
Open the door for the next person
Thank you for helping us open that door. Whatever you give, it becomes someone's first meal, first bus ride or first week in a safe home.
Tax-deductible: Blue Waters Recovery Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 87-1534608. Gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Keep your receipt for your records.