Helping Hands
Silverton Coffee Club By Melissa Wagoner Not many people have heard of the Silverton Coffee Club and that’s because it was part of the original design. Established in 1998 by a female-owned insurance company known as the Royal Neighbors, the club has been meeting in the upper level of a converted school house on the corner of Third Street and High Street in Silverton for 23 years. “It was called Silverton Coffee Club because we always had coffee but that was before the coffee craze,” club treasurer Susan Kershner, said of a name which has, in recent years given rise to the assumption that the location houses a coffee shop. But it was not a coffee shop – not even a retail location. Instead, its purpose, since the beginning has been to provide a safe, welcoming environment for the area’s numerous 12-step recovery programs – Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous and others – to meet on a regular basis. “What I like about the community piece
12-step recovery programs seek new home
of it is; this is our space and we can put up our stuff and put brochures out,” secretary Scott Meyers said of the unique opportunity the space afforded the groups. Unfortunately, though the facility has played a key role in the recovery of hundreds of members of the community over the years, the building itself was swiftly sinking into costly disrepair.
Silverton Coffee Club The nonprofit facility manager for the 12-step programs in Silverton is looking for a new meeting space. For information contact: silvertonrecovery@gmail. com or P.O. Box 1053, Silverton.
“Any donation of a space would be tax deductible,” club president Jenny Ohren confirmed.
space would need to be adequately sized and ventilated with bathroom access, and ideally a kitchen space as well.
“It’d been neglected for so long,” Kershner noted. “It was an old wooden building and we couldn’t come up with the repair and maintenance costs.” And so, in June 2020, the Coffee Club made the difficult decision to sell the building with the hopes of reinvesting the money in a lower maintenance structure. “Our issue is, we had a building and to get another facility… that’s the big nut,” Meyers said of the difficulty the group faces in finding a site to fit their specific needs. Because, with an average of eight different groups, some with over 40 members, meeting on a weekly basis, the
the group can offer some reciprocation of their own, in the form of tax credits, to those who offer support.
“We’ve got enough money to do something,” Meyers said, “but not what we want.” Which is why the group is looking to the public for help, hopeful that finally spreading the word about the Coffee Club, an important pillar of the Silverton community for over two decades, will elicit the support they desperately need. “Rents and prices in Silverton are so high right now,” Kershner said. “And that’s a stumbling block.” Fortunately, as a registered nonprofit,
They hope to find something soon – ideally by the time in-person meetings are allowed to finally resume. “I think the projection is at the end of July enough people will be vaccinated we could start meeting,” she said. “So, in the next three months I’d like us to have at least a temporary space.” And having a space, one where groups can have ownership – displaying posters and brochures and welcoming drop-in members when they’ve had a rough day – is going to be more important than ever before. “To have a space where it’s known you can go there and talk to somebody,” Kershner said, “that’s appropriately visible – I think that is an important service that we can provide for the community.”
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