Naperville Man Hopes To Help Via New Addiction Meeting Platform

NAPERVILLE, IL — Antonio Sanders just marked his 10th year of sobriety and he's celebrating by giving back to others who are struggling with addiction issues. Sanders, of Naperville, is working on a creating new addiction online video meeting platform that allows people around the globe to find online meetings at any time of the day.

Sanders's idea for the Meeting Makers Club also sprouted from the current new coronavirus shutdown, which has prevented people with substance use disorder from gathering in person. Sanders told Patch that this will continue to be an issue even as the state enters Phase three of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Restore Illinois Plan and gatherings of up to 10 people are permitted.

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Sanders said, "Going forward there will still be a need for online recovery meetings." For instance, he said, "What do you do when you have 30 people" who want to attend a meeting? He hopes the site will help with the idea of "hybrid meetings," in which some people meet in person, but others are able to dial in remotely.

For Sanders, the scope of the platform is intended to be worldwide. He's hoping it will get to the point in which people can host and find online meetings in any language at any time. He also said Meeting Makers Club will help with underserved communities and first responders and other people who work nights or those who are ill or cannot drive to make it to a meeting in person.

"Another benefit to this platform is if you’re working nights you can attend a meeting in another time zone," Sanders told Patch, adding that Meeting Makers Club can help people "continue to get the help that they need virtually.”

Sanders stressed the importance of the connections people make during addiction meetings, emphasizing that online meetings can be crucial to helping maintain this connection. He said, "Those connections that people make in those meetings, those friendships start to develop and it will be nice to still see these people."

The platform will run on user-created meetings and users will each have a personal profile.

For now, Meeting Makers Club is still in its nascent stages. Sanders, whose background is in art and design, is talking to developers and recently launched a fundraiser to help with the efforts.

Sanders is eager to use his personal experience to help others. He said, "The people were there when I needed the help, so I feel like it’s my job to help the next person to get sober."