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Sunlight Club hoping for bluer skies

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Its future up in the air, the Sunlight Club will, appropriately, host a fundraising balloon release today.

The nonprofit, which provides a safe environment for self-help groups, has scheduled a Never Forgotten Balloon Launching event from 2 to 6 p.m. It will take place in the parking lot across from the club’s facility, at 234 E. Maiden St., Washington. There will be a dunking tank, face painting and other activities, and meals for purchase, in the lot on the Washington & Jefferson College campus. Tribute balloons will cost $3 for one, $5 for two.

“You can write the name of someone who died of addiction on them,” said Alicia Carter, president of the club. “Because they died of drug use doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be remembered. They were somebody when they passed.”

Balloons, she added, will be released about 4:30.

The Sunlight Club, in its 32nd year, is battling to survive. It is a 501c3 nonprofit whose property went up for sheriff’s sale in November and, according to Carter, needs $18,000 to “burn the mortgage.” She hopes to raise that amount by this November.

“We’re doing everything in our power to come up with the funds to pay off the balance of this building,” she said. “We will continue to plug along and do any type of fundraiser.”

A city staple since 1985, the Sunlight Club operated on North Main Street until 2006, when it moved to its current location. Carter claims it is “the oldest standing club of its kind in Pennsylvania.”

Her organization gets no grants and relies largely on fundraisers and donations. “It’s just the love of people,” she said.

The club has expenses beyond the mortgage, including paying for recovery meetings, some of which draw 80 to 100 people. Legacy Recovery Church also operates there on Sundays.

The balloon launch is the club’s latest fundraiser.

“We want to remind the community we are still here,” Carter said. “We need every dime to keep ahead. If we pay the mortgage, that’s one less bill we have to pay.”

She said donations will be accepted at Sunlight Inc., P.O. Box 4082, Washington, PA 15301. Checks should be made to First Commonwealth Bank.

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