A long standing 12-step recovery program facility could be sunk by its sink.
The Live and Let Live Alano Club opened its doors in 1993 at its current University Heights location and helps tens of thousands of people every year with addiction. However, it may be forced to close because it doesn’t have enough sinks.
“I was dumbfounded,” said club operations supervisor Rodney Morris. “24 years in business and no one has said anything until recently.”
A San Diego County spokesperson told 10News the Department of Environmental Health got “a complaint about an unpermitted food facility” operating inside the club.
Morris said the food facility is a small kitchen that made and sold coffee for its members. Morris said the profits covered more than a third of their monthly rent.
However, a county health inspector discovered the café only has two sinks. It needs at least five according to Morris. The café was immediately shut down.
Morris is worried about the club’s ability to pay rent without its ability to make money from coffee sales.
“It would be terrifying to lose all this,” he said.
The Live and Let Live Alano Club is the oldest center of its kind in California and the fourth oldest catering to the LGBT community in the country.
“About a thousand people a week come through this building for the meetings,” said Morris. “We’re here to help people with their addictions of all sorts.”
The county spokesperson said, “We are totally empathetic to their situation, however, it is our responsibility to make sure food-servers adhere to public health guidelines.”
Bringing the café up to code will cost the club upwards of $30,000. They’ve set up a GoFundMe page to solicit donations.
Otherwise, they don’t know how they’ll pay their rent once they’ve burned through their savings.
