INTERVIEW 3 H ardship doesn’t begin to describe Edward Dolison’s life. But it hasn’t held him back either. “I grew up in a family where I witnessed a lot of things that a child shouldn't be exposed to - violence, drug addictions,” Dolison says. Dolison’s brother was only 11 years old when he was rst shot, and he was murdered at the age of 36. His sister was shot while still in her 20s, and while she survived her injuries, she too was murdered when she was 39. His mother became a shooting victim when she was 30, and remained blind until her passing in 2010. Dolison says all of that tragedy led, in part, to a life of addiction and imprisonment. “I took the wrong path, I took the wrong turn,” Dolison says. “e last time I came home from incarceration, I was actually in a coma as a result of substance abuse.” Dolison says a family member came to visit him while he was recovering and urged him to seek treatment and break the vicious cycle that had plagued his family. “She was being used by God to get the message to me, and that was the start of it,” Dolison says. “I understood the concept, but I didn’t know how I was going to accomplish it.” Making the change Hard work pays off Dolison has now dedicated his life to helping others.
ankfully, Dolison was able to get clean and has maintained his sobriety for more than two and a half years.rough a connection with Martin Boyd, Surge Recovery’s founder and executive director, Dolison began working for Surge before it even opened, saying he knew the power the organization could have. “When Mr. Boyd had the vision, I knew this was going to be something that was useful and helpful in the recovery community,” Dolison says. “I wanted to be on board immediately.” Dolison says he jumped at the chance to work with Surge because he knows how important such organiza- tions can be in transforming people’s lives. But he says a program can’t do it all for you, and it still takes a person being fully committed to themselves to achieve a full and lasting recovery. “I know that we all have issues, and I believe that if you don’t deal with your issues, your issues will deal with you,” Dolison says, adding that through treatment, “I got a better perspective on life itself.”
Although technically Surge’s food service manager, Dolison is really more of a jack-of-all-trades, saying he does “pretty much everything in the building.” From holding groups to administrative work, Dolison has dedicated himself to furthering Surge’s mission of bringing hope and recovery to those who need it. “I believe that the human heart’s greatest aspiration should be to help somebody,” Dolison says. “You have to have a heart, you have to have empathy and compassion, and you have to be extra understanding.” Dolison is currently working toward a degree and hopes to one day run his own program to help those in need. He says seeing success in others is rewarding and keeps him motivated to help as many people as possible. “I can’t put words on it, but it does something to the spirit,” Dolison says. “I just get joy out of it.”
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