By Brian Boyce
TERRE HAUTE — Sometimes, helping other people helps the people helping them.
Sunday afternoon, members of Club Soda, their families and friends gathered in a meeting room at the 609 S. Fourth St. facility, passing cans of food into crates, preparing food baskets for Thanksgiving.
Rich Gartzke, event coordinator for the club’s food basket program, said they originally planned to provide baskets to 66 homes, but ended up raising enough funds and donations to provide 73 baskets to about 436 people.
“It’s somewhat of a recovery program,” he said, explaining that part of the recovery process is helping others.
Club Soda is a local, not-for-profit organization which provides a drug- and alcohol-free environment for recovering addicts and their families. Established in 1989, the club features pool tables, bingo tournaments and sports parties in what members described as a family-friendly “safe haven” of support.
Club manager Jeff Weisheit said the group offers peer-to-peer counseling and 12-step meetings, as well as drug screening and residential programs. “We’re open 365 days a year,” he said.
The club has a number of activities planned for the holiday season, from the food basket program to a free Thanksgiving Day dinner there on-site, “if anyone doesn’t have a place to go with family and friends,” he said.
The group will also host a Wii bowling tournament Sunday, Nov. 29, from 1 to 5 p.m., and will be open 24 hours a day between Dec. 23 and Jan. 1.
Organizer Lisa Sammann said the holidays represent a “high risk” period for those recovering from drugs and alcohol. The club on South Fourth Street offers everything from card games to Internet access to help people pass away the time, fill out job applications or just play solitaire, she said.
Gartzke, who owns Traxx Produce at 25th Street and Fort Harrison Road, said several area businesses stepped up to help with the food basket program. Family Video donated 40 turkeys while Catholic Charities and Baesler’s Market also contributed materials and goods, he said.
In the back room of the building, an assembly line of volunteers passed along cans of food, dropping them into baskets prepared for delivery tomorrow. Gartzke said recipient families were referred by local churches, friends and family.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
