Pubdate: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 Source: The Herald-Sun (NC) Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Sun Contact: http://www.herald-sun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428 TROSA DIRECTOR EARNS $130,000 FORD GRANT DURHAM -- Kevin McDonald, director of the TROSA drug rehabilitation program, was named a winner of a $130,000 grant from the Ford Foundation Thursday. The Herald-Sun reported on Sept. 11 that McDonald was among the 20 winners of the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World awards. The terrorist attacks that day in New York, where the foundation's offices are located, postponed the official announcement originally planned for Thursday last week. An award ceremony in New York scheduled for last Saturday has been postponed indefinitely. "I'm thrilled," McDonald said Thursday. "I just didn't think I had a chance in the world." More than 3,000 people were nominated for the award, which includes $100,000 to aid each recipient's work and $30,000 for supporting activities. McDonald said the money would go "to help with the infrastructure of TROSA" and for staff training. TROSA stands for Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abuse. Since McDonald founded it eight years ago, the organization has grown to 270 recovering drug and alcohol addicts living and working in 20 pieces of real estate it owns in Durham. Participants receive training in a variety of TROSA-owned local businesses by which the program supports itself. District Court Judge Craig Brown, TROSA's founding board chairman and a member of its board of directors, called McDonald "a ball of fire with a deep personal goal in mind: to bring recovery to as many addicted people as he possibly can." "When he comes into a room, he lights up the room with his energy and purpose," Brown said. "He knows what he's doing, how to get it done, and how to make people who might not care, to help him." Award winners will meet periodically for two years to share ideas. "It opens up a lot of doors to us," McDonald said. Both McDonald and Brown thanked the program's support from the city and county governments, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and other organizations and agencies. "Durham should be extremely proud," Brown said. McDonald, a former heroin addict, in 1979 entered a similar program in San Francisco known as Delancey Street and worked in it for 12 years. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens