Dear friends & family,

Sadly, this month marks the 10th anniversary of Dan’s passing. Our family has been honored to have had so much support in sharing Dan’s battle with addiction to opioids. One of the biggest lessons we learned throughout his battle is that addiction affects not just the person struggling, but the entire family and all who love that individual.

God placed Dan in our hands 35 years ago and we are forever grateful. We did our best keeping up with him as he grew into the beautiful man we knew and loved dearly. Dan had a heart like no other and was nothing but tender and loving to everyone he knew. We knew Dan had little patience for those who were negative or judgmental which is why ten years ago we decided to honor his memory in an attempt to help anyone else who might find themselves in the same difficult situation.

Our community of friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, and even those we may have never met, stepped up and helped to carry forward with The Dan Baker Foundation. Through the annual golf tournament events, the countless donations, volunteerism and the actions of so many, we can say we have done something really truly great. We've seen that by simply acknowledging and recognizing the disease of addiction, we've been able to make a difference. We couldn't have done it without all of you.

So, we are sunsetting The Dan Baker Foundation with a final gift of $10,000 that will help open a brand new Project Turnabout Women's residential treatment center in Willmar, located next to Sheri’s Place (Women’s recovery home).

If you would like to donate for this critical need, the link is here and any donations would be greatly appreciated. https://www.projectturnabout.org/donate-willmar-campus

We've worked hard to be honest and open in hopes of helping others. Through education, awareness, recovery programs and mostly prevention, there is hope. Dave has been and will remain a fierce advocate as a Minnesota State House Representative to do all he can to educate and prevent this from happening to other families. We promise to continue helping others, and most importantly, we'll continue to love and be there for those who have experienced the loss of a child, for any reason.

Thank you all so much for the amazing support, generosity and love this past decade. We miss Dan so much, especially the little things like his attempt to make jokes which usually landed flat only to make us laugh even harder. We miss hearing his heavy footsteps lumbering up and down the steps. His voice, and his precious, sweet smile.

As a family, we have one final ask: We ask that you continue to support others by giving what you can and educating yourselves on important issues like Mental Health and Addiction through pathways to recovery.

And remember most of all, love well today and always try to find the good especially when it’s the hardest. Life has no guarantees.

We pray God blesses you and your families as He has ours. Love always,

Dave, Mary, Liv and Al

"Dan's Room" in the Willmar women's sober home

"Dan's Room" in the Willmar women's sober home

In January 2015, we visited the beautifully renovated women's sober home in Willmar, MN. We were honored to have a room named in Dan's memory.