LAHAINA – A grant challenge launched Tuesday to help raise funds to renovate The Alano Club of Lahaina.

Help Holly Help, a charity that supports non-profits, has agreed to donate $1 for every dollar The Alano Club raises from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, 2016.

Holly and Peter Francis Geraci will donate up to $10,000, to match dollar for dollar the first $10,000 in donations made to the Help Holly Help Challenge to support the Lahaina club that focuses on providing a safe and clean environment for people suffering with substance abuse problems.

To make a contribution, go online to HelpHollyHelp.com, then click on Alano Club. That will take you to The Alano Club Grant Challenge page.

Grant challenge contributions may also be made by check. Make checks payable to The Alano Club of Lahaina Inc. and write “HelpHollyHelp” in the check’s reference line.

With the Federal Tax Exempt ID number 99-0271794, the club is eligible to accept tax-deductible donations from any source.

The Alano Club of Lahaina Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation established in 1989. The Lahaina club is the only facility of its kind in Hawaii, according to Board Member KC Liederman.

The nonprofit owns a converted home at 562 Front St. built in 1925 in which The Alano Club hosts more than 24 12-Step recovery meetings a week.

Participation at these meetings averages 2,200 attendees per month and more than 26,000 attendees per year.

Meals are provided for recovering addicts, and the club maintains literature, books and other tools for education on recovery.

The organization acts as a liaison to communicate with other addiction resource centers, and staff coordinates with Maui County Community Services and the Court Referral Program to assist recovering addicts.

It actively intervenes with practicing addicts to bring them into recovery. A primary purpose of the organization is to help other addicts achieve and maintain recovery.

According to the non-profit’s fact sheet, “The Alano Club is the safe and clean Westside Maui sanctuary for recovering addicts and a significant resource location.

“The numerous daily 12-Step Recovery meetings and meals greatly increase the odds against an addiction relapse that may result in incarceration, homelessness and disruption to or the destruction of individuals and families.”

The Alano Club is sure that it has saved lives and saved the County of Maui and State of Hawaii significant sums of money by bringing homeless addicts off the streets and into recovery.

Fundraising goals include restoring and repairing The Alano Club kitchen, roof, restrooms and the rest of the facility at a cost of over $100,000, and paying off the remaining mortgage to increase recovery services and outreach for addicts in the community.

“Substance abuse is a serious problem affecting millions of people worldwide. Locally, the problem is acute within the Lahaina homeless population,” said Jasper Hempel, Alano Club president. “Because of the services The Alano Club provides, we have seen great success in sobriety achieved, lives restored and a return to work and family.

“For those addicts still suffering as well as for the Lahaina community at-large, The Alano Club can and must do much more. It will greatly help to have generous community support,” Hempel concluded.

For more information, contact Liederman at (808) 268-3582 or kcdreampower@aol.com.