Why did we change back to The Dry Dock?

We changed back to The Dry Dock to get back to the core values and traditions that 12-Step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous are based on: acceptance, honesty and openness. We believe that the facility located at 2118 Greenwich St belongs to the people who attend meetings there and those people deserve to be treated fairly and with respect.

What is The Dry Dock?

The Dry Dock is a clean, safe, comfortable facility which hosts 12-Step meetings. It is open to everyone who sincerely wants to improve themselves and be of service to others. It is a non-professional facility meaning that its staff serves only to maintain and protect The Dry Dock itself; they do not give treatment or advice to anyone. The only advice The Dry Dock gives is: “go to a meeting, raise your hand, get a sponsor.”

How does The Dry Dock operate?

The Dry Dock is open from 6am to 12 midnight every day of the week. There is a meeting almost every hour of every day with coffee, food & beverage service. In order to keep The Dry Dock clean, safe and comfortable it is staffed continuously while it is open.

Why does The Dry Dock need to raise money?

The Dry Dock receives rents paid by each of the 12-Step group meetings that are hosted there throughout the day. The donations that people give during their meetings help to support the meeting that they are in. The Dry Dock also receives donations that people give in exchange for coffee and refreshments. Most people who have frequented 2118 Greenwich St over the years know that the place is crowded weekday mornings and afternoons, much less so in the evenings and on the weekends. If The Dry Dock were open only 5 days a week from 6AM to 6PM, we would not need to raise any money beyond the room rents and food donations but that is not our goal. In order to keep The Dry Dock open 18 hours per day, 365 days per year we need additional contributions from our friends.

How much money does The Dry Dock need to raise?

Our goal for 2009 is to raise $32,000. The Dry Dock costs approximately $60 per hour to operate so our contributors will be helping to keep the doors open an additional 800 hours per year. This may not seem like much, barely 2 hours per day, but it makes all the difference in the world! Our fundraising goal is to raise enough money to run The Dry Dock and also to eventually build a “prudent reserve” of 2 months operating expenses or around $36,000. Once this prudent reserve is reached (probably not this year!) any additional contributions will be used to improve our facility and possibly celebrations. We would like to reconfigure our meeting rooms, for example, and also to enlarge at least one of the bathrooms in order to make it more accessible.

What do I get for donating?

We at The Dry Dock have thought about offering “memberships” or similar programs to our supporters and providing certain benefits like free coffee or snacks for members or donors. The more we thought about this, however, the more we realized that doing this would create different classes of people at The Dry Dock. Some people might be made to feel like they belong at The Dry Dock less than other people and this goes against what we stand for, and in keeping with the 3rd tradition that states “the only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking”. We ask for your donation for no other reason than to help keep our doors open every day to anyone who wants to visit. We will provide each person who donates with a receipt, of course, and a year end statement for tax purposes. We will also (be able to provide) <> each donor, every 6 months, a comprehensive statement of The Dry Dock’s finances so that they can see for themselves how their contribution is being used.

How do I donate?

You can donate to The Dry Dock by clicking on the button below and going to our partner Network For Good's Web site. You can make a one-time donation of any amount or sign up to support The Dry Dock with a recurring monthly donation. No donation is too small but we would like you to consider donating either $200, $480 or even $1200 per year in order to really make a difference!

The Dry Dock is a 501(c)3 non-profit. All donations to the Dry Dock are tax-deductible under Federal and California State tax laws.