Our History

Our family has experienced addiction and the loss of life to this disease firsthand. On January 16, 2023, my husband and I abruptly lost our 27-year-old son to addiction. Our son was a brother, grandchild, nephew, and an uncle, and boyfriend who cared deeply for all his family and friends. Harlan Christopher Squier was an intelligent, handsome, and kind young man who had 6 years of sobriety before addiction took his life. Wilderness treatment saved him and taught him how to live happy and sober. It brought out all his positive traits and gave him the opportunity to share his generous goodness with this world. Without wilderness treatment he never would have had those years of peace and serenity that he lived and would not have made the impact that he did. Addiction: cunning, baffling, and powerful, snuck up on him and in a short 3 months yanked him out of this world.

This foundation serves to offer scholarships to other young people spiraling with addiction so that they too may have the opportunity to experience life at its fullest and contribute their goodness and positive traits to society.

Our son began middle school searching for a place to fit in. When he began high school, he seemed to have found his people. Then the reality of his situation set in, he was spiraling into addiction with any kind of drugs or alcohol he came across. Our family swept him up and sent him to his first wilderness program. This wilderness program took him out of his comfort zone and into a place where all the technologies of the world were not available. Wilderness gave him an opportunity to just “be” with himself in nature and with others who were experiencing similar feelings of hopelessness. He learned to trust himself and to know who he was: he found out what he liked, what he didn’t like, and how to feel and sit with his own feelings. On his last trip to a wilderness program, he completed a 3 day “solo” where he found such solace in the battle of being alone, with himself. Chris donated financially to wilderness programs and worked in wilderness programs such as SUWS of the Carolinas. Chris supported the success of this special type of treatment in every way he could. He was grateful for the opportunity wilderness gave him to live life to its fullest and share it with others.