ORGANIZATION HISTORY
The non-profit organization was incorporated in September of 1993 and originally housed in the old Arid Club on West Yellowstone. In 1998, the City of Casper selected the 12-24 Club as its new tenant for the former senior center located in the City Park blocks at 8th & Center Streets. Initially, the Club hosted only Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), but after moving to the larger leased facility, the Club was able to open its doors to any 12-Step group seeking to offer its members recovery from issues causing problems in their lives. The Club moved again in March 2010, to its current location at 500 S Wolcott St. The new facility is large enough for added growth and is available for other agencies geared toward helping the youth and recovery in this community. The Club now operates as a hub for recovery in the community.
THE CLUB’S MISSION
It is our mission, at this club, to provide a self supporting operation using the resources of our membership to create a place for fellowship with an attitude of recovery. At this Club we will strive to provide to its members and guests, good food at reasonable prices. Our intentions will always be not for profit. Any and all events at this Club will be for the benefit of its members and shall never be for anyone's personal gain. Any and all decisions made by the Board of Directors will always be made with the power of a loving God working through its group conscience.
ACTIVITIES AT THE CLUB
There are more than 40 scheduled recovery related meetings a week. To see a complete calendar, please visit our "Meetings" page.On many of the major holidays, the Club provides a large “family” dinner for those who might not have family to visit for the holidays.
On a day-to-day basis, our purpose is to keep our doors open so the suffering addict or alcoholic (or suffering loved one) has a safe haven of support every day of the year. Depending on the time of year, we have 3,000 to 3,500 patron visits per month. Our small restaurant feeds people’s bellies while the meetings feed their souls. The availability of delicious, reasonably-priced, home-cooked meals enables folks in recovery to come to the popular noon meetings and get a bite to eat before returning to work. There are dinner-time meetings, as well as other scheduled meetings throughout the weekend.
PROGRAMS
The first
program opportunity the 12-24 Club has would be called The Recovery Resource
Center. This Center will be located in
the Club in what is currently called the Board Office. There is ample room to stock books, DVDs,
CDs, tapes and other types of resource information on all types of recovery.
These would include Rational Recovery, SMART Recovery, 12 Steps, etc. This room will eventually house 3 computer
stations, and 1 printer. The purpose of
The Recovery Resource Room is to provide the community with an atmosphere of
anonymity and confidentiality to do research on substance abuse and addiction. While the negative stigma of the disease has
somewhat diminished, there are still those that pass undue judgment. When marketed
correctly, this program could help those looking for answers and provide those
just coming out of treatment a connection to the recovery community of
Casper.
The second
opportunity for the 12-24 Club is a Community Outreach program. This program would provide numerous occasions
for us to collaborate with other Government, private and not for profit
organizations. There are a couple of ways this can be done. Firstly, I propose
that we partner with the Substance Abuse Treatment Providers group and the
Casper Police Department to offer monthly or quarterly presentations on
different topics relating to substance abuse and addiction. These presentations would be open to the
public for those that are interested in gaining more knowledge on the
topic. In collaboration with
probation/parole, Casper Police Department, and Drug Court, first time
offenders could be mandated to attend these presentations as part of their rehabilitation. It may be possible to catch those first and
second time offenders early and prevent them from getting involved in substance
abuse and addiction any deeper. These
presentations would have to be held at a time when the Club does not have 12
Step meetings scheduled in order to maintain those attendees anonymity. Secondly, I propose the 12-24 Club serve as a
Community Liaison to groups, schools, and other entities to those in
Recovery. As we that have been involved
in the Recovery community know, it takes one alcoholic to speak to, and reach
out to, another alcoholic before anything can be changed. Through our relationship with this recovery
community, we can build a base of volunteers, called the 12-24 Corp. Service In Action,
that are interested in sharing their story and would be willing to go out and
speak to groups of people. Examples of
groups that would be interested include REACH High, DARE programs, and the
Transitions learning Center.
The final program
opportunity for the 12-24 Club is a Job Training Program. We currently have a shadow of a job training
program in place. We hope to expand on
this tremendously. We have positions in
the club that are being filled by Recoverees.
We see this as an opportunity to help them get back on their feet by
providing them an environment they can regain their self-esteem, learn job
skills to take out into the community, and to move on with their lives. To further enhance this program we would offer
monthly trainings that would include resume writing, online job searching, and
other professional development opportunities. As there are many organizations that offer
these programs already operating in Natrona County, we will look to create
partnerships with them, rather than re-create the wheel.
All three of these programs are in the planning stages of development. We hope to begin rolling the programs out by the first of the year, 2012.
BOARD MEMBERS, STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS
The Board of Directors (consisting of four officer positions and eleven, at most, at-large board members) meets on the third Tuesday of every month. The board represents many facets of our community.
Staff -- The Club employs one full-time position of Executive Director; one full-time staff & kitchen manager; one part-time bookkeeper; six part-time kitchen personnel and three part-time “caretakers” who handle cleaning and maintenance tasks. (At present, several employees work as few as 6-10 hours per week to accommodate their school schedules, family responsibilities or health limitations.)
The Club helps people rebuild their lives, including its employees and volunteers. The kitchen staff is comprised primarily of folks in early recovery who need a safe, supportive work environment where they can learn skills, build successful relationships with co-workers and develop a work history. The goal is for the employees to “graduate” to better job opportunities.
Volunteers -- The 12-24 Club is blessed with a broad slate of individuals who volunteer their time and talents to the facility. Their efforts range from various light cleaning tasks to other complex professional type tasks. Some folks work one hour or one day; others come back month after month. In a year’s time there are easily 100 people who come through the doors as volunteers. Many of the Club’s volunteers are homeless and/or unemployed. They come to meetings hungry and it is Club practice to feed anyone who wishes to do some meaningful work around the building. We don’t hand out anything for free, but we generously allow people to earn what they need.
Also, many individuals who are on probation and/or court-ordered to 12-Step meetings choose to fulfill their community service obligation at the Club. It’s an ideal opportunity for them to make connections with clean and sober folks who are in recovery and are a positive influence on them.
To continue the 12-24 Club’s important work, we need assistance from those in the community who value and benefit from the critical service we provide. For more information, or to donate please contact Heidi Foy, the Executive Director, at director@1224club.org.
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