1907 Club
1907 Club is the oldest and largest recovery clubhouse in Sheboygan, founded in 1957. In 1989 it moved to its current location on N. 21st St. into a new, 4000 sq. ft. building built with support from the community, especially the Brotz Family Foundation. With a strong leadership team at the time, it became a vibrant recovery clubhouse with AA, NA, Al Anon, etc. meetings helping hundreds of people per week. With the passage of time, however, that momentum fell off and over the last several years, 1907 almost went under and lost its 501 c 3 status. Thanks to the single-handed efforts of the Board president, Jody I., it kept going and was able to secure a donation from the same Brotz foundation to survive into 2015. But it was running a deficit each month and without some large changes in direction, was headed to extinction.
I began to attend Al Anon meetings at 1907 Club several years ago; I have a family member with a drug addiction. Earlier this year, I wanted to start a Nar Anon meeting and contacted the clubhouse president, and then met Jody. It turned out we had a lot in common and both were convinced that 1907 was vastly underutilized and could serve far more people, especially on the drug side. Jody had an idea of organizing an event she wanted to call Recovery Rocks; I joined the Board of Directors, and together we began to strategize on how to improve the club. Being convinced that the club had great potential with its space, including a meeting hall with a capacity of 320 people, a kitchen, a large lounge, classrooms, recreation rooms, and large grounds, I arranged a visit of the facility for MaryAdele Revoy, who is the Sheboygan County Drug-Free Community Coordinator. She immediately saw the potential of 1907, just like I had. I then happened to watch the movie Anonymous People, loved it, went to the www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org website, and saw in the Recovery Community Organization model, a template for where we could take 1907 Club. I brought the concept to the Board and there was broad agreement about adopting this organization and philosophy which we felt was consistent with what we were thinking.
We have started to move on the pathway towards becoming an RCO through discussions with a faith-based recovery group which wants to rent out some of our rooms and use our large hall for a church service on Sundays. The concept of introducing a formal church service into our location is causing some consternation among some of our members, but most of us are convinced that we need to be a “big umbrella”, embracing recovery of all kinds, to really best serve the community.
We’re focusing hard on pulling off our Recovery Rocks event on September 26th, believing that its success will enhance our visibility. We then need to continue to work on our mission and look at bringing in other recovery concepts into 1907 until we are at our capacity.
Our current success and momentum is a team effort. I’d say without the many hours and inspiring ideas from Jody, MaryAdele, and other Board members, plus what I have contributed on the organizational side, we would not be where we are today. We have organized our projects using Google Docs, have set up a website: www.1907club.org and are considering working with an ad agency to increase our use of social media and other marketing programs. We definitely need to raise awareness among the 18 – 30 demographic about our club and what we can offer. We have a long ways to go but we feel we have a direction.
Written by Stanley Kaymen, Wisconsin Voices for Recovery Member