The Evening, Weekend and Holiday Program at Friends in Action Clubhouse

In our ongoing journey to become an accredited clubhouse the evening, weekend and holiday program is one of the most exciting and challenging aspects. This transition, as with most change, has been a struggle for both staff and members. The premise behind this program is that the daytime, during “normal working hours” is for the work ordered day. We spend this time doing things that need to be done to keep the clubhouse running. Not only do we keep the clubhouse clean and organized, there are many other tasks that we complete during the day. These tasks include, but are not limited to: ongoing fundraising efforts, scrapbooking, the floral shop, the catering crew, gardening, administrative tasks and cooking.


We feel that it is important to offer these evening, weekend and holiday activities to our members. It is important for our members that are working out in the community, to have the opportunity to attend the clubhouse. These activities are their chance to stay connected with their friends at the clubhouse. We offer the ‘fun” activities outside of the work ordered day because that is when you would be able to engage in social activities when employed outside of the clubhouse. This is also a time that we can attempt to re engage members that have stopped attending the clubhouse regularly.

Here at Friends In Action we offer an evening social activity about once a week. We attend the local NAMI meeting every month. Members enjoy attending this monthly meeting as a time to connect with others outside of the clubhouse and learn about advocacy and mental illness. We also offer activities such as personal shopping, movies at the clubhouse and parties. The members also decided to attend a Gateway Grizzlies baseball game once this summer.

Weekend activities can vary, but most of the ones that we have offered so far are tied to our fundraising program. We offered our members the opportunity to attend the Friends In Action Art exhibit earlier this year. This fundraiser is our biggest of the year. We also offered our members the chance to be involved in and attend the 2nd Annual St. Francois County Mental Health Walk. This fundraiser is a collaboration with other agencies and the funds raised go to our local NAMI chapter. Members are encouraged to become involved in these fundraisers. They have the opportunity to assist in every aspect of the fundraiser from the planning, to the jobs that have to be done the day of the event.

We have jumped into the evening and weekend activities with both feet, but the Holiday activity program at Friends In Action has been a slower transition. According to this standard, holiday celebrations are observed on the day of the holiday. We offered a Thanksgiving dinner last year. We had several staff volunteer to come in and make a Thanksgiving lunch and members were invited to attend. The attendance was not as high as we had hoped, but everyone in attendance had a good time. We attended a Fourth of July Celebration in one of the local towns this summer. We had the opportunity to watch the parade and visit the booths at the celebration. Members shared that they had a wonderful time and were thankful that they had the opportunity to attend. It is important to offer these activities; because a lot of our members do not have family that live in the local area nor do they have the opportunity to attend social events. They consider the clubhouse their “family” and without these opportunities they would spend the holidays home alone or at their RCF. I think that we are going to stick with our two holidays this year, but I am sure that we will expand to include other celebrations.

The evening, weekend and holiday program at the clubhouse has hit its bumps along the way, but is working out well. The members tell me that they like the social events that are offered as part of this program. Members and staff collaborate to determine the activities that will be offered each month. We are always looking forward to the next event. Who Knows? Maybe we will see you at the next one. If you are interested in volunteering to help with any of our evening, weekend or holiday events, contact us at 573-431-9620.