Tyler Childers’ Healing Appalachia Partners With The Matthew Perry Foundation

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Healing Appalachia, the nonprofit festival created by Tyler Childers and his manager to raise money to fight opioid addiction, has partnered with The Matthew Perry Foundation. This year’s festival will be held Sept. 19–20 in Ashland, Kentucky, with Childers and Chris Stapleton headlining.

The Matthew Perry Foundation will provide housing and amenities for more than 400 volunteers camping on-site, alongside 500 additional day volunteers drawn from recovery facilities across Appalachia. Over the course of the weekend, volunteers serve in every role including security, hospitality, green team and stage crew.

“We believe magic blossoms when we are all welcomed at the table together to foster recovery as a community,” says Dave Lavender, Board President of Hope in the Hills. “As Matthew Perry said, ‘Addiction is too powerful for anyone to defeat alone. But together, and one day at a time, we can beat it down. Which is why at Healing Appalachia, we will come together and one day at a time work to be our best selves and help our brothers and sisters beat down addiction and celebrate recovery.”’

“The Matthew Perry Foundation exists to ensure that no one is denied care or healing because of stigma,” share Doug Chapin, Board President of MPF and Lisa Kasteler-Calio, Executive Director of MPF. “By supporting grassroots organizations like Healing Appalachia, we are standing with the recovery community, lifting up the work being done every day, and helping create a future where compassion leads the way.”

The partnership will extend past the festival with initiatives including National Expansion Partners for SOAR WV’s Save A Life Day, supporting a stagehands workforce training pilot program and other regional grants, strengthening recovery and reentry pathways across Appalachia and more.

Lauryn Sink
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