Casco group is trying to raise $40,000 to purchase the Route 302 building it now leases.

By Ben Bragdon

bbragdon@keepmecurrent.com

It was more than 20 years ago when John C. of Windham first entered recovery, when he first looked across the table at someone who had lost everything and was fighting back, when he first saw the person he wanted to be.

At that meeting, John C. met his sponsor. A person he could relate to. A person who could help him.

“He did all the amoral, cheating things I did,” said John C., who adheres to the Alcoholics Anonymous tradition of anonymity. “I said, that’s my guy.”

Two decades later, John C. is a leader at the Clyde Bailey Drop-In Center in South Casco. The Center, named after a man who helped many Lake Region residents in recovery before his death 13 years ago, hosts 13 AA meetings and one Narcotics Anonymous meeting a week, providing a place of comfort and understanding for alcoholics and addicts of all stripes out of a leased building off Route 302.

The Center’s all-volunteer board is now trying to raise $40,000 as a down payment on the building and give those who use it a permanent place to share their outsized struggles and small victories. Though it is a tough time to raise money, board members said the purchase is critical to their effort to bring stability to an organization that provides an important service to the Lakes Region.

“If we disappeared, the morning meeting would disappear,” said John, adding that 10 to 40 people attend each meeting, with mornings the most popular. “There would be a gap for quite a while. They’d have to search for meetings.”

Just as he needed to find a like-minded friend 20 years ago, other alcoholics too need someone who can appreciate what they have done and what they are trying to do in order to get better, John said. It is places like the Bailey Center that bring those people together in the best way possible.

“Each major city has one of these facilities,” said John. “Portland has one, Lewiston has one.”

At a meeting there Tuesday morning, one man, a biker, talks about repairing old wounds. He talks about how he went about seeking forgiveness from the family members he hurt while drinking, and about how to move on if that forgiveness is not found. Near him, a young woman and an elderly man both nod.

“Anybody who has time in a program realizes the gift that has been given to us. Unless they are an alcoholic, they don’t fully understand,” said Wil C., president of the Center’s board of directors.

The group began 13 years ago in Clyde Bailey’s old house, about one mile north from where the meetings are now held. The idea was to simply provide a spot where different AA groups could hold their meetings, giving them an alternative to church basements.

“The board doesn’t tell the groups what they can do,” said Wil, now on his 19th year of sobriety. “We just control the times. The groups like to maintain their independence.”

The meetings became so popular that three years ago the group had to find another spot, and they settled on the building on Route 302, a good location with plenty of parking.

“We really couldn’t expand because we were basically on the porch,” said Wil. “We outgrew the facility.”

Since then, the meetings have continued to grow. The Bailey Center serves a large area, from Raymond and Casco, up through Bridgton, with people also coming from Windham, Westbrook and other surrounding areas. They get a lot of summer residents and visitors from the Lakes Region as well.

“You look out in the parking lot, and you’ll see a lot of Florida license plates,” said John.

The popularity is based largely on the common purpose held by each AA meeting group. Rather than sharing a meeting space with other civic and religious groups at a church, with the danger of a meeting getting canceled due to scheduling conflicts, the Bailey Center exists solely to house recovery meetings. The large number of meetings means that people are in the building a lot, giving an alcoholic in crisis a place to go as soon as things turn bad.

That also means the participants enjoy greater anonymity, and the requisite books on recovery and all-important coffee are always on hand.

“A group can walk in here and everything is set up for you,” said John.

The board over the last couple of years has toyed with raising money to buy the building, but grants have gotten more competitive recently, and the group’s yard sales and other small fundraisers are only a “small drop in the bucket,” John said.

So they are now looking to spread the word about their mission and their worth to the area, hoping residents and organizations will be moved to help. After all, the people the Center helps come from all reaches of society and all age groups. Not only the down-and-out guy on the corner, they are our neighbors, friends and coworkers, John and Wil said. And they are simply looking for someone who knows their world.

“Alcohol effects people differently, but we end up with the same results,” said Wil.

The Clyde Bailey Drop-In Center in South Casco hosts 13 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and one Narcotics Anonymous meeting a week. The center’s board of directors is trying to raise $40,000 as a down payment on the building, with the goal of providing a permanent home for the meetings.