VC’s mom donate $1.6M for treatment center

DAYTONA BEACH – Standing side by side, NBA star Vince Carter and his mom spoke passionately about donating more than a million dollars to the community for something that has affected their family and friends.

Carter, 30, and his mother, Michelle Carter-Scott, gave $1.6 million Tuesday to a new 100-bed substance abuse treatment facility planned to open next year in Bunnell.

Because of the donation to the Steward-Marchman Center and its foundation, the facility, which starts construction in the fall, will be called The Vince Carter Sanctuary and a multipurpose building will be named after Carter’s mother.

The donation brings the agency about 70 percent closer to its $8 million goal for the project, which will include two 50-bed, two-story dormitories and a research center in partnership with the University of Florida.

Both Carter, a Mainland High School graduate who plays for the New Jersey Nets, and his mom, who lives in Daytona Beach, said they’ve seen not only in their own family, but with friends, celebrities and athletes how substance abuse “negatively affects their lives and the people around them.”

“If there’s something we can do to help them get their lives back on track, that would be wonderful,” Carter-Scott said.

Vince Carter’s brother, Christopher Allen Carter, 27, has struggled with arrests for possession of marijuana and cocaine and most recently with the intent to distribute, court records show.

While not specifically addressing his brother, Carter said at a press conference that substance abuse is “something near and dear to me.”

“We all have family that go through tough times,” he said.

Through his travels, he said he’s not seen a street anywhere that didn’t have addicts on the corner.  If he can help just one person, he said, who will then go and tell another person, it will become a “chain reaction.”

His mother said substance abuse is something that impacts everyone regardless of income or education level.

“I’ve seen a lot of skilled and educated young people throw it all away,” she said.

She’s hoping the research part of the center can help find the answer to why people who are successful and have a bright future continue to go back to drugs.

“I hope we can find (the answer) in this lifetime,” Carter-Scott said.

Ernest Cantley, president of the Stewart-Marchman Center, said the agency is grateful to the Carters, whom he called “two special people. We’re extremely proud of what he’s accomplished and that he’s still a part of the Daytona Beach community,” Cantley said.

Carter, who lives in Orlando, said it’s important to give back to Volusia-Flagler because “this is where I started.”  Carter and his mom gave $2.5 million toward Mainland High School’s athletic center that bears his name.  His foundation, the Embassy of Hope, of which his mom is the executive director, also helps area agencies.

The two spoke after the news conference about advice for people struggling with substance abuse.

Carter said a person has to be ready to say “enough is enough.”

“Self-motivate yourself,” he added.  “Nobody can help you unless you help yourself first.”

By Deborah Circelli, Staff Writer
Daytona Beach News-Journal