Self-help group to close its door

A small Carson City club that provided a home for recovering alcoholics and addicts for years is shutting its doors.

The patchwork of encouraging messages painted by members on the brick hallway - one reads "Love One Another" - will be nearly all that is left of the Alano Club after financial troubles forced it to disband this week.

"It's really sad to see," said manager Shirley M., a recovering alcoholic. "This was my life. I enjoyed seeing people come in and giving them hope."

Nine years ago, member Natasha Gonzales, 20, was angry, and she blamed everyone else. She was violent and what some might call a bully, she said.

She knows now that her behavior was how she dealt with an alcoholic father. By joining a group of other youths at the Alano Club when she was 11, Gonzales was able to share her stories with people living the same life.

"It's a place where you can have people with like minds," Gonzales said. "You realize you are not alone, and your parents are not the only ones who have problems like that."

She is now proud of her father, who has been sober for three years after joining the club himself. He became so involved he joined the board.

"It's kind of like a second home," she said.

The small club moved into a gravel lot behind a strip mall near Kragen Auto Parts on North Carson Street. Members can hang out there during the day to get away from the temptations of bars, casinos and temptations. The club offered a social haven for members during the important first few months of their recovery.

"It's like learning to walk like a baby again," said Gonzales' father, Ron. "Our lives went so far down the tube, we don't know how to deal with people outside of that closet we were drinking in. It was a very big anchor in the first part of my getting sober."

Members and the public attended Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous and many group meetings held at the club in the 1980s. But, with attendance down and little money to keep running, the club became $9,000 short of rent this year. Instead of continuing to go deeper in debt, the club's board decided to disband.

The club approached local casinos, which chipped in a total of $200 this year, and went to the city for funding, But the support it relied on mainly was dwindling membership donations.

"Right now, it's the only way we can stop the debt from continuing and spiraling upwards," said Ron Gonzales.

He said he will look for a way to reorganize in the future. For now, the landlord may allow meetings to continue, charging a fee for each meeting.

A final determination will be made Monday.

Contact Jill Lufrano at jlufrano@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.