MOUNT VERNON — Chelsea Hensley called the Triangle Alano Social Club a second home.

But by Friday morning, the support center that houses multiple support groups every day will go up for auction as the building goes into foreclosure.

Hensley said she comes to the club for the various support groups for people recovering from some kind of chemical addiction, but the 17-year-old Mount Vernon resident keeps coming back because the place is open all day.

Hensley said she can find other support groups, but the Triangle Club offered the opportunity between meetings to be around other people recovering from addiction.

“There’s meetings (elsewhere), but there’s no place to go and be safe,” she said.

Cecil Dauphinee, the manager of the club, said the organization’s membership dues and pass-the-hat donations can no longer support the center that holds 23 12-step meetings every week. Dauphinee said people like Hensley make it hard to see the club end just four years after opening up.

“The young people coming here, it’s a real joy,” Dauphinee said. “It gives them a safe place to be. No doubt they will find another place for meetings, but it won’t be as nice as here.”

Dauphinee, 79, of Mount Vernon, and his late wife, Ruby, bought the property and opened up the newly constructed building in 2005 to house support groups and any other group looking for a meeting hall. They hoped that a steady membership of 175 to 200 people could sustain the organization.

Dauphinee said he had about 175 people committed back then to supporting the club through membership fees. He said that many people donating $15 each month would cover the mortgage and other costs associated with the club.

But many of his clients could never afford the $15 membership, and others who promised support never came through. At any moment in the club’s four years, Dauphinee said he only had about 25 to 40 dues-paying members.

Dauphinee even sold a four-plex residential building to support the club. But eventually the resources dried up.

Dauphinee defaulted on his mortgage payments, and the club now owes more than $10,000. The building will be auctioned off on the front steps of the Skagit County Superior Court at 10 a.m. Friday.

One week prior to the foreclosure, Dauphinee was waiting for a miracle. He even offered up ownership of the building if 175 people would each donate $300 and commit to the $15-per-month membership.

He and friend Robert O’Hara, who came to the club for support just a few years ago, hoped the proposal would galvanize attendants at the meeting to action.

O’Hara thought it looked like a perfect deal — ownership, a vote on how to handle the building and its equity, all for a relatively small amount of money. He said a small number of people could even purchase the building and turn around and sell it pretty quickly.

But Dauphinee said the community is filled with young people trying to work off court sentences and get off their feet.

“They don’t have that kind of money,” he said. “I think there’s dozens of them that are sadder than I am.”

Dauphinee said one person offered to donate $20,000 personally, but then never showed up again.

“I’ve tried everything under the sun,” Dauphinee said. “I’m resigned to it now that it’s going to close on the seventh (of August).”

O’Hara said the community is losing a valuable resource.

“People who are trying to recover from an addiction, they have meetings all over the place,” O’Hara said. “A club is unique in that it’s a recovery place 24 hours a day.”

Aaron Burkhalter can be reached at 360-416-2141 or .