Foundations to Freedom, the Volusia County nonprofit that has grown from a single recovery home in 2022 into 11 homes and more than 100 beds across Volusia and Flagler counties, will serve as the primary partner of NASCAR driver Carson Ware in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Winn-Dixie 250 on Friday, Aug. 28, at Daytona International Speedway.
Foundations to Freedom will appear on Ware’s No. 47 Chevrolet in front of a national television audience on The CW. The partnership, however, was built around something a paint scheme cannot do on its own.
Two days before the green flag, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, Ware will spend the day in Daytona Beach working directly with the people Foundations to Freedom serves. His morning begins at the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center, where he will speak with young people about the decisions that shaped his own life. At midday, he will sit down with men and women currently in recovery at Foundations to Freedom. He will finish the afternoon at the organization’s newest recovery home in Daytona Beach, touring the property, meeting staff and capturing content that will carry the story well past race weekend.
Ware’s own history is the reason the program works. He has publicly discussed his experience with substance use disorder, overdose and recovery, and he is the son of Rick Ware, longtime owner of NASCAR Cup Series organization Rick Ware Racing. That combination gives him something rare: the ability to stand in a room full of people in recovery and speak from lived experience while also having a national platform to carry that message to others.
“I’ve been in recovery for more than five years now, and I know firsthand how hard addiction can be and how much it can take from you,” Ware said. “I’m incredibly grateful to Foundations to Freedom for everything they’re doing in this community and for believing in what we’re trying to do with this partnership. They’re helping people every single day, and to have the opportunity to work alongside them and use the platform NASCAR gives us to bring more attention to recovery means a lot to me.”
“We recover out loud, so no one ever has to die in silence,” said Katherine Russell, Founder and CEO of Foundations to Freedom. “Foundations to Freedom believes in just that, giving people the foundation, support and freedom they need to build a life in recovery. Recovery is never something we do alone. It takes people standing beside you, believing in you and sometimes believing for you until you can believe in yourself. Addiction doesn’t only affect the person struggling. It impacts mothers, fathers, children, spouses, brothers, sisters and entire families.”
“That’s why having Carson willing to recover out loud and share his story on a national stage is so important,” Russell added. “Someone watching may see themselves or someone they love in his story and realize there is still hope. I know that anyone who truly wants healing and is willing to work for it can build a life free from drugs and alcohol. Recovery is possible. Families can heal. Lives can be rebuilt. At Foundations to Freedom, we believe we never have to do this alone.”