The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Cramped Quarters: Members of the Alano Club West want to expand their Minnesota Avenue facility to accommodate the club's increasing use.

Alano Club West wants to expand its facilities

Upcoming theatrical fundraiser to be held at West Valley College

By Cecily Barnes

Every month since 1970, up to 5,000 recovering alcoholics have found a safe haven at Willow Glen's Alano Club West. This high use rate has cramped the club's Minnesota Avenue quarters, and the board of directors is mapping out plans for a new facility.

"The AA meetings are overcrowded, and we're having to turn people away," said Jessica Morton, manager of the Alano Club. "The meeting space just isn't big enough."

The Alano Club has only 200 members, but thousands more attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the facility. Club members often stay after the meetings to watch television, play chess or order food from the lunch counter.

"When people are first getting sober, they need somewhere to go to fill up their time and to be safe," Morton said. "One of the key elements of recovering from alcoholism or drug abuse is building a foundation of clean and sober friends, learning how to rebuild your life and live without drugs and alcohol. When you're early in recovery and your head is still foggy, you can come here and there's always going to be an AA meeting."

The Alano Club also holds special events, such as a casino night and alcohol-free New Year's Eve parties. But the numbers who attend these events are growing, and the club is still the same size. Board members of the nonprofit club have been brainstorming ways to build a larger facility, one that could accommodate up to 200 people as opposed to the current meeting room, which holds only 88. They are hoping to build a larger facility with 95 parking spaces.

"It's basically going to be the same thing as we have now, only bigger and not falling apart," Morton said. "And my office will be an office, not a space in the middle of a storeroom."

According to Morton, the Alano Club must first purchase the property on which the club sits. Since two people co-own the spot and only one wants to sell, the Alano Club will likely become half-interest owners. And to make the changes they want, board members will have to get the other owner's approval, as well as a thumbs up from the planning department.

"We have strongly advised them not to purchase anything until they come into the planning department and confirm their plans," said Joe Guerra, chief aide to District 6 City Councilmember Frank Fiscalini. "We understand they do good work, but there's going to be your standard neighborhood issues about parking and how tall the building is. And the general plan for that site is for residential."

But Alano Club members are not deterred. Fundraisers over the last six years have brought in almost $100,000, and an upcoming fundraiser promises to rake in thousands more. The upcoming fundraiser, a theatrical production which will be held at West Valley College, is a series of adult plays based on "sex, money and spirituality." Producer Dennis Sakamoto hopes to raise thousands of dollars for the Alano Club West.

"Rather than just doing a production, we try to give back to the community and do a fundraiser," Sakamoto said. "It's part of what we do [at Stage One], and it gives the people in the classes a chance to participate in something that does some good for a nonprofit charity."

The plays are seven fast-paced comedies, each just 10 minutes long and dealing with modern relationships between men and women.

"The plays deal with work, home, marriage, fears in relationships and death," Sakamoto said. "They deal with what's happening to people."

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