Recovery and Service Sponsorship – Sponsorship Workshop at Central – Part 1 of 2 – Steve A.

We'll go ahead and start. Hello everyone, my name is Jim and I'm an alcoholic. Welcome to the Central Orlando Group Sponsorship Seminar. And we're glad you all are here. Please check your cell phones and make sure they're off or in silent mode at this time. And please try to refrain from moving around while one of our speakers is sharing. We will have a break about halfway through and we're going to have some snacks up at the coffee bar for anybody that would like some. If you would, help me open this meeting with a moment of silent meditation to be as easy as you see fit. We'll follow it with a serenity prayer. Serenity Prayer God, I pray for your serenety to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things that I can and this is why we're all here Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking there are no dues or fees for AA membership we are self-supporting through our own contributions AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics organization or institution does not wish to engage in any controversy and neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. And at this time, I'm just going to turn the meeting over to our North Florida delegate, Cecilia, and she'll introduce the panelists and what we're going to do. Cecilia? Cecilia. Good afternoon. I'm an alcoholic. My name is Cecilia and I currently serve you as your panel 61 delegate for the North Florida area and I sit and chair on the policy admissions committee for the conference and I'm having a great time everybody in this room wants to be delegates it is the best job what we're going to do this afternoon is break this into two sections Steve R. our archivist is going to talk about the history of sponsorship then Annette D who is our current finance chair is going to talk about service sponsorship then we're going to take a break and then Mary P is going to discuss steps as far as getting a step sponsor and I'm going to end it with the spiritual side of getting a spiritual sponsor now everybody who came in got a ticket that's because we're going to give things away every time you ask a question you get a ticket so after you ask the question Katie's going to my nice volunteer here is going to give you a ticket as well also if you're a little shy about asking questions about sponsorship we have a basket here with pens and some note cards in it if you want to write a question on sponsorship you can put it on there, we'll just pass that around and we'll talk about that after we get done with the break I also brought not a big archives display but I brought some things that you could see if you'd like unless you have gloves please don't pick up what's up on this chair because this is your first edition second edition big book It's also a first edition of the AA Comes of Age. The group pamphlet, which originally there were no GSRs. The group secretary was the voice of the group, and that was the book that they were given. And then I also brought the Czechoslovakian big book. For those who have not seen big books in other languages, it's a little bit different, but the third chapter is the third chapter, and if you can read Czechoslavakian, you know where the Serenity Prayer is. and for those who don't know hot off the press the brand new service manual is in and you can get this in your intergroup office what is significant about this one is it now has language on inactive service workers both for your group, your district and your area so if you had some problems the conference was asked to put in language that is now in here and if you want to know when they change something on the side there will be a there's a big one here there's line here on the side that tells you that there's been a change on that page of the service manual so that's how you can tell from the old to the new also on this chair are lots of giveaways there are flyers and pamphlets we have what GSO offers there's the group history form there's the bookmark for you to put in your books also next year October 4th through 7th the North Florida area is hosting the 16th annual National Archives Workshop in Cocoa Beach and we're real excited about that because this is the first time that North Florida has hosted this and we're looking for great participation the young people are coming to do the history of young people, we're having the diversity groups come and give their history, the Hispanics are going to come and get their history. Tommy D who was with Bill Wilson at Evie Thatcher's funeral will be one of our speakers plus we're going to tie in conservation and a lot of the history of North Florida and AA as well so there's flyers here as well. The coffee mugs if you'd like one come see me we'll tell you how you get one of those there's buttons and magnets for save the date for that as well. So at this point, I'm going to turn it over to Steve. You can't have that. It's not signed by my delegate. Good afternoon everyone, my name is Steve I'm an alcoholic and I'm privileged to be on this panel today and I am privileged to be serving as your current North Florida area archivist just re-elected at the last election for another two years so thank you very much when Cecilia asked me about this doing this I said yeah whatever you need me to do she said what topic would you like and I said whatever you give me so she just naturally gave me the history of sponsorship and I will tell you as my wife told me this morning she said you've probably really just overdone this quite too much I had prepared a couple of different things and I was reading through it and I wasn't boring myself and so I didn't really want to bore you guys with it today so first thing I'm going to do is I'm just going to qualify a little bit you know, and then I'm gonna tell you the history of AA as I found it, and we're gonna try to do that through some pictures and maybe a little interactive I'mma let you guys tell me what you know and I'll try to help you fill in the blanks and when I can, I'm sure there's some people in the room that can My sobriety date is September 10th, 1985. And I've been sponsored by a handful of people over the years, primarily due to moving to different locations throughout the state. I got sober down in Boca Raton. I had two sponsors down there in my beginnings of the program, which were really probably the two primary people that I really did a lot of work with. I moved to Gainesville and lived there for five and a half years and found it necessary to get a sponsor over there, and I grabbed the guy that had 30 years of sobriety that was washing dishes at the Gratitude Dinner, and I figured he's in the middle of AA, so I asked him to sponsor me, and then when I moved to Brooksville I've had two sponsors in Brooksville most recent one died a while back so I'm a little in between right now and I am interviewing it's funny as coming up here doing this I was like I called somebody this week but he didn't call me back so we'll see as I said the first two gentlemen that I was sponsored by in this program the first guy I was new in the program and he was he had about a year and a half or so in the programme and he would start to sponsor a bunch of buddies of mine and for no other reason other than I just didn't want to get left behind I asked him to sponsor me and to start taking me through the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous I've often said I knew what AA was all about when I got here but I had no idea what AA was all about and you know what I found out through going through the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous what basically was is that I wasn't alone I wasnít unique and you know and I found out who I was and what it was all about and the second guy I just wanted to tell you about real quick I had a hiatus that's what my wife calls it I had a few years of well I was just dry that I stopped going to meetings and when I came back to going to meetings there was a guy that I had known before he was a guy that didn't do God didn't do the steps you know he was one of these rebel kind of guys and then something monumental happened in his life and he got a sponsor and started going through the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and I remember seeing the change that happened through him and when I came back there he was and it was like no coincidences all I can tell you is I had a lot of things going on in my life at that point and he said something real he said something to me that was really spot on he said you know what it doesn't matter what all that stuff is going on with you he says I guarantee you that if you and I go through the steps together that all that stuff will take care of itself and I found that to be true because when you're an alcoholic like I was and you've been throughout the program of Alcoholics Anonymous and then you stop going to the program of Alcoholic Anonymous it's like working the steps in reverse order and so I needed a quick 101 on the steps get back in the middle of AA and I've stayed in the Middle of Alcoholix Anonymous ever since when I moved out of the South Florida area the first thing I did was I got involved and I got active. And it's been a great journey ever since. And, you know, I started out in Gainesville in intergroup and got into district. And just before I left, I just got into the area and I moved to Brooksville and I've been serving in the area ever since and, you now, we'll see. There's more to come, you kno? And so I'm truly grateful. So I had an opportunity to become a North Florida Area Archivist and my qualifications for that is I've always loved history that's what I excelled in in school, I loved the history of the Civil War I'm a great big sports fan I love the history of baseball, I lovethe history of football I can tell you anything you want to know about the Miami Dolphins I could give you a whole thing on them but we're here to talk about the history of the sponsorship we're so sorry yeah I know you guys are feeling bad for me I appreciate that in doing, we have a pamphlet here, questions and answers on sponsorship the history of sponsorship in Alcoholics Anonymous is outlined in our book Living So and it basically says that the book Living Sober describes how the sponsorship program in AA came about In the early days of AA there were no sponsors A few hospitals in the Akron, Ohio and New York started accepting alcoholics as sick inpatients only if another alcoholic would sponsor them The term sponsor became an accepted part of the AA program and in 1944 the first AA sponsor pamphlet was produced defining sponsorship duties and we'll talk more about that. But it's outlined right here. I've seen this book a hundred times and until I was down looking for this, I had no idea it was even in here. So, excuse me. I think a lot of us probably know how AA got its start. We got started through the Oxford group what I did like I said I had a lot of stuff that I had researched and I had written out and I started preparing and I was boring myself reading it and I didn't want to bore you so what I do is I brought some of our archival pictures and I yeah I'll be your banner thank you so much I'm going to need couple banners well I should have put these in order But here we go. We'll start with these two gentlemen. Does anybody know who this gentleman is right here? Can't see him? This is Dr. Carl Young. Okay, you got that now? He's a well-known American psychiatrist, okay? he was someone that this gentleman right here who knows who this guy is? who? okay and do you know why Roland what him and Dr. Young have to do with each other? anybody yes yes Roland was a a hopeless alcoholic who went to see Dr. Young and after Dr. Young working with him for I believe it was two years he told him that he was hopeless and that the only thing he could recommend was that he would find maybe find religion that might help him to get sober so Roland ended up in the Oxford group Oxford group was a Christian sectarian group and he learned about the principles of the Oxford group the four absolutes and he was able to stay, stop drinking probably I think it was about 1934 he ran into this guy now the guy on the right there is Bill Wilson Does anybody know who the guy in the white suit is? That's right. That's Eddie Thatcher. Eddie was a lifelong friend of Bill's, and Eddie was getting ready to get thrown into jail because he was a drunkard and he was causing commotion. And so Roland and two other gentlemen from the Oxford group went to see Eddie. and Roland ended up this is kind of a prelude to our sponsorship Roland went and told Ebi of his story and Ebi could relate to that and he ended up taking Ebi into the Oxford group and Evi started to learn and practice the principles of the Oxford Group Ebi had been sober a very short time when he went to call on Bill Wilson and Bill was still drinking in his kitchen and they had that very famous meeting and Ebby explained to Bill about the Oxford Group. Now, Bill didn't really want to have anything to do with that at the time and Bill ended up drinking but shortly after that it was his last he had a last visit to Towns Hospital where he had his white light experience and where he had been under the treatment and care of Dr. William Silkworth Dr. William Silkwood Dr. Williams Silkworth I was hoping there was going to be a table here there's Claire there's Bill Dr. William Silkworth he told Bill he didn't know what had happened to him but he ought to hold on to what he's got and Bill went and he started to attend Oxford groups meetings and he actually ended up with Evian as his sponsor again we wouldn't use that term back in those days but he ended up really going through some of the Oxford principles they were kind of like six steps it would have been like our fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth step in any event he ended up going through the steps with Abby at that time even though Abby didn't stay sober Bill always said that Abby was his sponsor until the day he died so Bill was able to stay sober and Bill realized that for him to stay sober, he had to continue to try to work with other alcoholics. So along comes that fateful time when Bill goes to Akron for a business trip and it's a bad business trip and things don't go real well and he's sitting in the Mayflower Hotel and he is watching everybody come and go and everything going on in the bar and he's feeling sorry for himself and he is thinking am I going to drink or am I gonna stay sober am I gong to drink or am i going to stay sober and I think this is where that term going to any lengths comes from because Bill went over to the church directory and he started calling different churches around and he found a priest who knew an Oxford group member Henrietta Seiberling and Henrietta knew of a Oxford drunkard by the name of Dr. Bob Smith and they had that faithful meeting at the gatehouse Bill and Bob I'm going to need Bill and Sister Ignatia so that's Clarence okay anybody know who these people are? it will be this right here this is T. Henry and his wife ClarenCE they hold the Oxford group meetings in in Akron that Dr. Bob and Bill attended, because Bill ended up staying with Dr. Rob after they had their meeting at the gatehouse and started attending Oxford group meetings together They also realized that they had to if they wanted to keep it, they had to give it away So they started going out and going to the hospitals and they met AA number 3 A number three anybody know who he is that's right Bill Dotson and what's so famous about Bill Datson he's the man on the bed man on thebed he was AA number three does anybody know who his sponsor was it was Dr. Bob I don't think you like Bill too much from what I read but it was Doctor Bob I heard that Bill called him a name that he didn't like he wasn't too thrilled with Bill alright so we got three alcoholics right now and Bill hangs around for a while at Dr. Bobs and they start working with alcoholics and they've got this little niche going in with the Oxford group and everything and they're trying to sober up some alcoholics and Bill goes back to New York and Dr. Bob gets privileges at St. Thomas Hospital where he meets Sister Ignatia. That's right. And Sister Ignatia, she was kind of a fiery little nurse. She had a soft spot, it said, for alcoholics. And prior to even her working with Dr. Bob and Bill, that she used to bring alcoholics in and put them in the flower shop to sober them up. she had something worked out with one of the administrators there and they tried to sober up alcoholics and then Dr. Bob came and that was when Dr. Bob came to St. Thomas' Hop Hill and started to work with Sister Ignatia is when the program started to kind of take off a little bit Sister Ignacia would get him in there and sober him up and Dr. Bob would bring and Bill they would bring in other alcoholics that they were working with to work with to work with the new drunks and that's where this living sober thing started that's when they started talking about sponsors because the hospital wanted these sponsors to take they wanted to take responsibility for these drunks both as well as financially and so the sponsors would come and they would meet the sponsees at the hospital and then they would take them out and take them to meetings and introduce them to the program and other alcoholics Sister Ignatia had a custom that she would do with the alcoholics that came in when they would leave she would give them a sacred heart medallion and the Sacred Heart Medallion she told them when she gave it to them if you drink you have to come back and you have to give it back to me and it said that only one person ever did and that's what kind of like what one would look like right here that's mine I will pass it around if anybody would like to take a look at it but I'd like to get it back okay how am I doing? that's my five minute warning okay I got to speed it up alright so so let's see the guy I want to talk about is I think I need to talk about these two guys does anybody know who this guy is? there's a picture of him, this is older this is younger if you can see it alright Anybody? Clarence Snyder. Okay. I mentioned in the Living Sober here that a pamphlet was produced in 1944. That was primarily written by this gentleman, ClarenCE Snyder . ClarenCe was sponsored by Dr. Bob. He came from the Akron Group. He was one of the first 40, I think. Our history tells us a little bit that Clarence was a little bit of a renegade. He didn't always agree with New York, didn't Always Agree with Bill, didn't even Always AgREE with his sponsor Bob, but ClarenCE went and started the movement in Cleveland and that's where AA exploded. They went from one group to 30 groups inside of a year. ClarenCe was one of these guys that was going out and pulling people out of the bushes and getting them sober. He was taking people through the steps as quickly as he met them and Bill's back in New York and he's not having hardly any success at all. Bob's in Akron, he's got his small little group there together and Clarence has moved up to Cleveland and he has AA exploding. And there was a need, he saw a need for a pamphlet and the internet is a great thing. I went online and found a copy of the 1944 AA pamphlet that was produced Clarence wrote it and it was produced by the Akron Intergroup I've got about 30 copies here so I'm just going to pass them around if anybody would like one, please take one pass it on uh what I want to tell you is this of course this was produced before the conference before 1951 it's no longer produced it's not conference approved literature this one is okay this one I believe was produced in 1976 or 78 76 real quick I just want to tell you that I did I looked in the advisory actions to see what the history was on this I could see back as early as 1952 the groups were asking for this so things in AA move at glacial speed 1952 the groups were asking for a pamphlet 1976 they got a pam philt last thing I want to talk about is this gentleman right here anybody know who he is father Dowling does anybody know why he's important in our history yes he was often referred to as Bill's spiritual sponsor I believe Bill did a fifth step with this gentleman he's actually the guy that helped Bill kind of define kind of take the religious part out of AA and guide him towards a higher power the night that they met this guy, it tells us in our book Father Dowling shows up at Bill's door knocks on the door and the guy answers the door and tells Bill there is some bum out there and until he came in and shook off his coat Bill didn't see the caller didn't know what he was getting himself into but apparently they had quite a significant relationship and he was very instrumental in the start of Alcoholics Anonymous and in sponsoring Bill spiritually there is one other gentleman before I end I just want to mention real quick because our delegate put it in my head and I wanted to give him fair notice and fair warning Bernard Smith his nickname was Bernie he was an international lawyer and he was a non-alcoholic chairman of the Alcoholic Foundation He was a trustee from 1944 to 1956, and he served as the chairman of the General Service Board from 1951 to 1956. He was instrumental in helping Bill set up the service structure as we know it today. He was very instrumental in AA coming of age. and so in my interpretation that's a portion of sponsorship and passing it on as well that's it that's my presentation I want to thank you all for listening thanks Okay, apparently there's time for questions. So anybody have any questions? Is Clarence Snyder then responsible for the card-carrying members of AA where that started? Is that what came out of the original pamphlet? Is that basically the paperwork that preceded it and any history on that? Based on what I've read about ClarenCE, my answer would be probably, but I don't want to say yes because I don' t know that for sure there are a few other people in the room that may know the answer to that so I'd be happy if they want to chime in yes was Pirate Slater the youngest of the original 40 or were we skeptical when he first came to the universe to my knowledge he was the youngest yes yes for those of us that don't always remember the four absolutes and the six beginning steps do you remember what they are at the top of your head the top of my head love purity unselfishness and honesty The sixth original Let's see I know I have it here So I'd be happy to pass that along to you If I'm permitting here okay that would have been you could become steps four, five, six, seven, and eight. Yeah, I know it's in here. I'm just having trouble finding it. Yeah. 1. We admitted we were licked that we were powerless over alcohol 2. We made a moral inventory of our defects and sins 3. We confessed or shared our shortcomings with another person in confidence number four we made restitution to all those we had harmed by our drinking number five we tried to help other alcoholics with no thought or reward in money or prestige and number six we prayed to whatever God we thought there was for a power to practice these precepts you can find that in A.A. Comes of Age this is our history book thank you I just wondered what you said Father Gowling took the religious out and wanted to put the higher power in yeah I probably went through that a little quick it was more or less coming from the Oxford group it was primarily a Christian based religious fellowship and there was a lot of people that had a problem with the Christian-based background and everything. So Father Dowling helped Bill kind of like, I don't know what a good word is, but we kind of try to tone things down in AA maybe sometimes. We got the God as we understood him instead of maybe to Jesus Christ or to God Almighty or whatever they may have been using at that time. So his purpose was just so that others would get in the air? Yeah, because Clarence took... It was basically the Catholics he took because it was, you know, he took the Catholics up to Cleveland or whatever, you now. You like that, Vivian? There was at one point where they tried to do away with any religious aspect of the program in the first place wasn't there a certain person I believe he was of the Jewish persuasion that wanted anything and everything to do with religions and what not you know taken out Christian agnostic in New York right exactly in Newark I forget I forget what his name was but then he turned around he turned his his ideals and what now around when he joined the fellowship. I was just wondering if you could remember what his name was. He's in the big book in the We Agnostics chapter. His name is? In the big books in the Agnosticks chapter. I have a copy of Letters Exchange between Jung and Bill. Between who? Jung and bill. Okay. Oh, great. With you? No. I went home. Curry is my name. Okay. Curry is not my name at all. And we can email you at? No. Just call me. Okay. At 407-767-9967. For those of you that are taking notes, those of us who see her afterwards and get the number. But, you know, it's a note. just a small book that came out and I think Amos had gotten onto it because it went from $15 to $105 there's a lot of books out there there's still learning among the early age were they sponsoring people before they completed the steps is it written anywhere that they first completed these steps? Well, they were sponsoring them right out of the hospital. Okay? And actually there was an Akron manual that was put together that... I don't know this for a fact but what I was told was probably Sister Ignatia and Dr. Bob gave their blessing on it. It was something that was produced right around the same time or just before the AA Big Book came out and it spelled out the program and working with the alcoholic and had the do's and the don'ts and so forth and so on. How new is the system of temporary sponsorship? When did that come up? Temporary sponsorship. If that's practiced everywhere. I don't want to share my opinion on that. I hear it a lot. here's what I can tell you this is my experience sponsorship works thank you sponsorship works as long as two people want it to I had a sponsor tell me one time that if a person was willing a monkey could sponsor I just wanted to piggyback on what Teresa asked I'm not sure I understood so in the app writing manual it was designed to help people who were in the process themselves sponsor others or was there kind of a protocol that first you went through the steps before you helped someone else do the steps those people that were coming in and they were sponsoring were people that had worked had worked was working the program of Alcoholics Anonymous the way it was outlined at that point in time if you google you can go online, you can google Akron manual, download it and most of this stuff you can just go online Google, you can find Clarence Snyder, you could find the original 1944 pamphlet there was a lot of pamphlets and stuff that were put out by local intergroups and districts prior to conference approved literature and the service structure yes ma'am Five more minutes, and then we've got to go to the next section. Okay. I guess piggybacking on everybody here, so the reason there were no formal steps yet at this point, so that's why the acronym manual was important. So we can't say that they had worked all the steps because the steps hadn't been formulated yet. Actually, it was just this manual of sort of what to do first. Is that correct, sir? that's technically correct yes yeah I just wanted to comment Wally Patton the archivist a lot of information about sponsorship in the Becca Basics book Wally P authored one of his seminars speaks about the four one hour beginners meetings people went through the steps in the four one hour sessions before they were able to attend meetings with the general members of AA I would just recommend there's a ton of history in there and it kind of explains in detail a little more about that but I think you can get it at the intergroup office what I have to tell you is just personally myself, I have never attended a Wally P back to basics I was a person who was brought in and taken through the steps as they're laid out in the big book I cannot speak on that because I haven't been through that I know that there was a lot of different ways of being taken through The Book I just meant the history and information I attended it a couple years or so where we got a lot of information and a lot of history out of it even from the card carrying yes sir I'm Brian I'm an alcoholic hey Brian thank you for coming up and sharing your experience with this question I have where did it start from with me being 22 years sober my sponsor Jesse Nelson from Kentucky 28 years sober Jim McCarthy 51 years sober out of Kentucky they've always stated men work with men and women work with women where where's I mean all the way from when he was back It's been men with men, women with women. I see a lot of times now it's not that way. Is it anywhere in the literature? Yes. Where does it start at? It's suggested in the pamphlet. In the questions and answers, it's suggested in here. Again, this is alcoholics. There's no steadfast rules. A lot of them are suggestions, but it does state that in this pamphet right here. Now, I can tell you in reading about Clarence. Clarence sponsored the first woman in AA. But I mean, after that was there a point where they said, hey, is it when the steps were done or a certain point where we know we're more successful with men than women? I'm just curious. I can answer that one. Okay. That'd be great. It happened the first time a woman came into AA and started having an affair with a guy and then they did their fifth step in the living room with the guy's wife. So that's when it became apparent. And Dr. Bob did not want women in AA because he saw us as being a deterrent to sobriety. And that's because drunk men and drunk women do the same thing sober, but they do drunk until they learn how to not act that way. And at that point, women were still relegated to the kitchen. I'm still pro-men with the men, women with women, and I get a lot of my guys asking this, and they're like, well, where's it at? Pass it on to Dr. Bobby. In the old times, it talks about the early problems they had with women and men, And it wasn't until Ethel Macy and Marty Mann started showing that women could stay sober successfully and not have affairs with everybody in the living room that it started to become prevalent in both ways. It went both ways, you know. But until we started showing you could successfully stay sober and have mixed company in the room, you know. I'm surprised nobody asked them where the word pigeon came from. Well, so that's the front page saying back when it's the men work for the men and women work for us. Right, but, you know, and having said that, you know, Ann, Dr. Bob's wife, she assisted and worked a lot with the women. You know, Bob would work with them, but he'd shovel them off to Ann. We've got to cut this off so we can get the next one down. If you have another question, when we get back to the end, we have time, we'll answer some more questions as well, but we want to get this going otherwise we are not going to get through this presentation by 5 o'clock. if I ask you a question do I get a ticket is that what's going on for the door price every time you ask a question I have a question I just asked a question that's got to be a legitimate question am I done here thank you And if you'd like to come to the archives workshop in January, that's also a good place to get information. We also are working on making an archive site on our website to also give you some more history and information as well. This time I'm going to bring Annette Dee up. She is the finance chair for the North Florida area, and she just celebrated her 30th anniversary. Good afternoon, everybody. my name is Annette and I am an alcoholic it is my privilege as Cecilia mentioned to serve as the finance committee chairperson for your area 14 panel 61 my sobriety date is November 9th of 1981 and yes as Cecilia also mentioned I am celebrating my 30th anniversary this month very full of gratitude I love it, my anniversary is in gratitude month my home group is the early birds group in Melbourne Florida we meet six days a week and each of our meetings is a literature meeting we meet at Driftwood if you by any chance know where that's at and we'd love to have you come and visit us I'd like to first thank all of you for inviting us here today and especially for my opportunity to be a part of this it's very exciting to be able to share with you I'd love to qualify a little bit first and I guess I would say I know I'm an alcoholic because when I pick up a drink I can't stop I was raised in a world of alcoholism and I did not know that there were other people who didn't live that way I never really saw anybody take a drink or knew about alcohol that I remember until I was 9 years old and I was placed in a different living environment and I've always said I guess i went to alcohol school because that's what the rest of my life until I grew up was like. I was born in Brevard County and have a lot of history in that area, but I didn't really do my drinking there. I was an adult and was mostly in Ohio when I started drinking. I didn' t learn there was a different way to live until I was 35 years old and was brought to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. And I came to AA thinking you would teach me how not to drink and what you did is teach me how to live without drinking. And if you'd have told me years ago that I'd be in this place today, I would not have believed you that I would have gone through the work and pain and the growth and joy that I've experienced to be here today. And I want to say, if you're new or struggling here, I do believe this. If you will come here long enough and do what we do here long genug, your life will change. and don't leave, as we say, before the miracle happens because I've certainly seen some of them in my life and I'd be happy to tell you about that some other time. Okay. My sponsor experience, I've been blessed. I've had the same sponsor for 30 years. We knew each other about a year and a half before I came to Alcoholics Anonymous and I knew she was in the program and basically some things occurred in my life that made me wonder. And one day I looked at her and said, gosh, could I be an alcoholic? And I suppose she was probably just waiting for that question. You know, we always know before they do that they need to be here. And so she sent me in her quiet way to a meeting and left me to figure that out for myself. I knew at my first meeting I was home and at my second meeting I picked up a white chip. She's given me a lot of experiences and opportunities to grow. When I first came in the program, I probably wanted it so bad I would have walked in the room on my elbows if that's what she told me I needed to do. That lasted about five years, and then I became a little more resistant and complacent sometimes to following her direction, but she got me through that time. I came back to the helm, but I was a whiner. I remember one night I called her I was in the throes of a divorce right after I got sober and I called and I was in tears about 11 o'clock at night and she just said well maybe you need to go to a meeting and I just bawled and said but I've already been to two today and she said well maybe you need a third one so that was the kind of guidance and direction that she gave me one of the greatest things she has given me along with her husband is a continuity of someone in my life many of us come in the program with abandonment issues and that feeling that nobody ever stuck by us there was never anybody we could count on to be there so I believe that we get what we need in this program and having had that continuity of them in my life for this entire time has been a real blessing for me I love the service work of AA and that's what we're going to be talking about now is service sponsors and I've been involved at some level most of the time since I was about two years sober. It was my sponsor who guided me to service work because she knew it was a place I needed to be. When I was drinking, I was involved in an organization doing activities similar to what we do in service work here and I had to make a decision at some point to walk away because I knew that environment was not a good place for me and so she knew I needed to be in service work and I'm glad that she sent me there. I'm glad service work was there because it filled for me a great void of activity that was left by having had to walk away from that organization. So as I was serving in my group as secretary coffee maker, all those things we do I was drawn to my first district meeting by archives. Yay! I had been sober just long enough to begin to understand that history that Steve talked about, about the story of Dr. Bob and Bill coming together and our area archivist in South Florida which is where I was at the time Steve's counterpart was bringing the area display to our district meeting and so with some encouragement from my sponsor I attended that district meeting and I was sent there and told to take advantage of any opportunity that was offered to me so I almost immediately was put to work at the district level I served as traditions chairperson and then treasurer and was pretty quickly after that taken to the area and drug along to see what was going on and that's how we got to get people there got to drag them along Cecilia said earlier today get them in the truck and get them there so I then became involved at my area level for several years And then because of work responsibilities, I had to sort of step away for a while. And now I've been involved back in the North Florida area for about five years. And I'm tremendously enjoying the responsibility I have as your finance chairperson. And I would be remiss not to thank you for the opportunity to serve because it's been an amazing experience. So we're supposed to talk about sponsoring into service. and I know that there's not much in the history certainly about service sponsorship Steve told us a lot about that history and in the beginning I think everybody just did everything and it wasn't a formal sponsoring but they just sort of sponsored each other without a doubt sponsorship plays the most influential role in getting members involved in service especially beyond the group level in an unscientific study I conducted that means I asked a few folks 100% of the people I talked to said that it was their sponsor who got them to service work and I think one of the most important thing is even if you feel like service isn't for you even if your service is not for you even if did your service and now you're back at the district and area level and now you're back supporting your group and not working at that level now i believe that my sponsee deserves an opportunity to be exposed to those areas and make a decision for themselves if they're of a good fit for them and i hope that's a message you can carry is the importance of us offering our sponsees the opportunity to see what's out there that they could do for themselves um I feel like I may need to talk a little bit about service just to sort of get us to the point of why we need to have a service sponsor. I got the idea early on that we must carry the message to the still suffering alcoholic and I don't think that ends with huddling with the big book and a cup of coffee. There's a lot of other ways. We have tasks that support our group. We know that. We make coffee. We set up chairs. We wash chairs. I came here for a panel meeting one Saturday and all the chairs were out back being hosed down to be washed. So we even have to watch the stairs sometimes. As a sponsee, those tasks were important to me because they were what made me feel like I was a part of the group and not apart from the group. When I helped to carry my group and keep it going and do those things to make the newcomer welcome, I started to begin to identify myself as a member of the fellowship and service work is what drew me into the middle of it and these were all things my sponsor told me to do and directed me and led me because I certainly didn't know to do them on my own however, I discovered that there was much more there is a part of our fellowship which reaches beyond the rooms of AA to carry the message There is a part of service which keeps AA functioning in our cities, our state, our country, and worldwide. We know that GSO does a lot to support AA and when there's a tragedy somewhere in the world, they help those groups to get started again. Or if there'sa tragedy here like Katrina, for instance, then when those groups are ready to start back up, they're provided with the books and the literature and what they need to get starting. So I began to see a broader picture of service work as I continued to work as a GSR traditions chair and in my other responsibilities. I began zu associate with you and with other AAs who understood the bigger picture about service work and the truth of it. Now, sobriety and service are so intimately interconnected for me on a day-to-day basis, it's hard for me to imagine my life without them. Every day there is something I'm doing that in some way involves the service work of AA. And, of course, sobriety had to come first, or I couldn't do that. So we have to keep our priorities, and in sponsoring into service, we should be making that assessment whether our sponsee is quite ready to do it yet or not. But there comes for each person a time when it's time to switch on that light bulb and just see where it will go for them. I learned through the steps how to have a relationship with myself and I think one of the things I got through my service work is a greater understanding of the traditions and they helped me to have a better relationship with you but I know when I plug up into service and I suit up and show up I learn many lessons and there are a couple of quotes I'd like to read you that reflect this truth Steve mentioned Bernard Smith and Bernard Smith wrote something and he really wrote it in reference to why we need a conference but if you read it he was really referring to service work quote we may not need service work to ensure our recovery we do need it to ensure the recovery of the alcoholic who still stumbles in the darkness one short block from this room we need to ensure the recovery of a child born tonight destined for alcoholism we need it to provide in keeping with our 12th step a permanent haven for all alcoholics who, in ages ahead, can find in AA that rebirth that brought us back to life. And then Bill W. says in his AA's Legacy of Service, our 12th step carrying the message is the basic service that the AA fellowship gives. This is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. Therefore, AA is more than a set of principles. It is a society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither and those who haven't been given the truth may die. The sum total of these services is our third legacy of service. And not to be forgotten, they need voluntary money contributions from the fellowship. See, I got that money in there. Even talking about service sponsorship, I can get that money in there, so first I want to talk a little bit next about what a service sponsor is and like Steve I'm using this pamphlet and basically I want to say first everyone I have sponsored has gone into service on some level for some period of time it's not mandatory I tell them but it's more than a suggestion I also tell them that the 12 steps are just one third of our legacy there are the 12 traditions and 12 concepts of world service it's a 36 point program and I know my involvement in service work has been an integral part of my recovery and I don't just send them I take them even though I may not at this time have a position of responsibility at the district level I have gone to district meetings simply to take a sponsee and let them see what it was like when I felt they were ready to begin to understand the service structure my sponsor has always been of a like mind she strongly suggested I get involved in service work and again sent me to my first district meeting and encouraged me to make myself available for any opportunity that came my way and thus was born this chain of service work for me so we have first the definition sponsorship in AA is basically the same it can be defined as one alcoholic who has made some progress in recovery are performance and service, sharing this experience with another alcoholic. Both types of service spring from the spiritual aspects of the program. So even in this pamphlet it talks specifically in a whole separate section about service sponsorship. So hopefully by now you're sort of wondering, well what does one do? Well, these are some of the things that I gained from my service sponsor and I was directed by my sponsor pretty quickly after I got into service that I needed a separate service sponsor. Even though she knew the service structure, had been involved as a GSR in another position, she was not currently serving at the district level when I went there so her message to me was You need somebody who is currently involved in the work that you're doing, who knows things like the bylaws or structures and guidelines, who knows what positions are available, who can see you do your work and decide whether you're ready or not for the next position. And so I very quickly got a service sponsor. And one of the things that a service sponsored can do is first to explain the structure, to explain the upside-down triangle and to explain the role of each of the positions such as GSR and DCM our delegate, know what our delegate does and knows about the conference and then to learn the language all those acronyms I just spouted off that a newcomer has no idea what they mean. That kind of language needs to be explained so that the sponsee who's working in service feels comfortable and again becomes a part of. Hopefully once they're involved at the district level we'll get them on to an area assembly. Even when I attended my first area assembly and I was not a voting GSR it was something that became inspirational to me and just showed me a more exciting level of service work and gave me something to aspire to. I think I was about two and a half or three years sober when I decided I wanted to be a delegate someday. Now I'm not sure I'm going to live long enough but that's okay One of the other important things that a service sponsor can do is to help and guide the individual through business meetings How do you make a motion? What do you say when you go to the mic? And what on earth does minority opinion mean? These are all things that are unique in the way that we do business and they're things that we need to learn and be able to function if we're going to be, again, a part of at the service level. And obviously always to give encouragement and advice when needed. And, you know, we all have sometimes our own doubts and insecurities about whether we can do things or not. And, of course, one of the things about service work in AA is rotation. And the rule of rotation is as soon as you learn how to do the job, you rotate out and get a new job that you don't know anything about and you've got two years to figure that one out. so I don't know about you but I needed a lot of encouragement along the way so I wanted to say the last part of that is the other thing that talks about why we do service Dr. Bob said and I'm reading this from this pamphlet but it's also in one of the books that was held up here oh it's in his story in the big book he said I spend a great deal of time passing on what I learn to others who want and need it badly I do it for four reasons a sense of duty it is a pleasure because in doing it I am repaying my debt to the man who took time to pass it on to me because every time I do it I take out a little more insurance for myself against a possible slip end quote the basis of all sponsorship is to lead by example service sponsors can impart to their sponsees the pleasure of involvement in the work of Alcoholics Anonymous this is best done by stressing the spiritual nature of service work and by pointing out the usefulness of simple footwork and faith but most of all watching someone who becomes a GSR or a committee member at district are sharing their first assembly with them and seeing that light bulb go on and seeing that excitement that comes to them as they then make that commitment and know this is something they want to be a part of. I just don't think there's anything like that feeling, and it's an amazing thing to experience. So I encourage each of you to consider your sponsees right now and where they're at with service work. Are they ready? And if you think they are, offer them the opportunity to be exposed to service in the wider world of AA outside their group. And if they or you are offered the opportunity to be of service, just say yes. It may be marvelous experiences your way. Thanks. Do you have any questions or comments? You said talk about a traditions chair at district level. I've never heard of that at all. Is that like a parliamentarian? No. I was actually in South Florida at that time, and I don't even know what made – this is a long time ago. It may have been unique to my district, but we actually had a traditions chairperson who did something at each meeting to explain the tradition of the month. We did things like – I don' t know how many of you may have seen the tradition skit, but we went out and there was a skit about the traditions, and it' s sort of humorous. Actually, it' S a lot humorous, and we put together that skit and we went out and went to groups and they would announce for several weeks that their meeting was going to be the tradition skit instead of a regular meeting and then we would go into their meeting and put that skid on and did other things to carry the traditions out into the groups and that was basically how the position was defined but it may have been something unique we had there's certainly no reason that you couldn't have something like that if you wanted to yes sir I understand the idea of a service sponsor what's the point or what can I tell someone new that is questioning me about who they should ask to be their service sponsor what's wrong with having someone that maybe is like the whole package that's very possible because of my involvement in service work most of my sponsees I am the whole packet for I also have two other people that I am only their service sponsor and that basically depends on the level of service experience that each individual has to make that decision whether it might be wise to connect them with a service person and the best way to identify somebody is to go to a couple of district meetings look around see who's involved or even to the area and you know it's just like picking your regular sponsor who's got something you want and then ask them if they'll be your service sponsor but sometimes it can be the whole package yes sir service funding is it ok to have a female service sponsor ask your sponsor yeah ask your sponsor I like that answer thank you like everything else we have suggestions only but I do know a few people that do that simply because it is a different relationship but I like the idea ask your sponsor and see what they think ok yes Frances how long has this term service sponsorship been out and is it throughout the US because I came from Arizona I've never heard of it until here and only in the last few years so I'm just wondering has it been out there for a long time the word service sponsor and having someone separate for that role? I know that it's in here, and I think that's the only place it talks about us. Steve, do you know of any history of when we might have started that? I would think the best place to look for it is in the advisory action book, but there were... 1952, I found something, and then they're in the early 70s as it was being put out. I think in 94 there was an update so they may have incorporated what we might find in the advisory actions is at least a proposal where they modified this pamphlet and put it in there but beyond that we don't really know just like sponsorship even though we know that's what it was in the early days they didn't really call it that sponsors have always been in that role never heard of it being a separate person Okay. Well, again, sometimes that's recommended based on the background of your sponsor. I mean, there are sponsors who aren't into service at all. And so if you went into service, you would certainly want somebody who could explain the language and the structure and guide you in your progress. Questions? Yes, ma'am. In 1962, the contracts were published. And they are a group of principals, 12, just like the other ones. And to answer your question, in 1962, the ninth concept is completely about leadership in AA and ever-vital need. Bill published it in 1959 in the issue of the AA Grapevine. It gives you the qualities of a sponsor, and it talks about what a sponsor is and also that every sponsor is a leader. The last paragraph of the ninth concert is probably the most important part of it. This is particularly true in the area of 12-step work in which nearly all of us are actively engaged. Every sponsor is necessarily a leader. The stakes are about as big as they could be. A human life and usually the happiness of a whole family hang in balance. What the sponsor does and says, how well he estimates the reaction of his prospects, how well she acts, how well her time and makes this presentation, how well you handle criticisms and how well we lead this prospect on by personal spiritual example. These qualities of leadership can make all the difference, often the difference between life and death. we thank God that Alcoholics Nones is blessed with so much leadership in all its affairs before you pick a sponsor read the ninth concept and ask yourself if that's what you're looking for and who has those qualities so 62 would be the first time we really have anything written but it also talks about service put it in parenthesis it doesn't talk about service sponsorship as a parenthesis type of name but it talks about services in sponsorship as well where the term came from there's no history specifically someone putting it in parenthesis but it's talking about sponsorship as well as service and sponsorship so there's not a term specifically stated that we can find the history of when they called that service sponsorship, that name is what the question is there's nothing in our history it's a separate person from your sponsor I know but it talks about how you find the qualities of both I think one of the things that's important when you get you know, you guys are the future coming into service behind certainly me. And sometimes what I've seen happen is somebody shows up at a district meeting to visit or maybe they just got elected GSR in their group or they show up at an area assembly and they're so lost and confused we lose them to service. They say, oh, I didn't know what was going on there. And that's the part, whether it is your program sponsor or a separate person, that's the role they play and sponsoring into service is to help the person know what's going on and feel comfortable and become a part of instead of feeling like they're apart from because they don't know what's gone on yes sir I found in my experience if you have an active home group called regular business meetings that's usually a good start at the service because if you miss the business meeting you find out you got a job there you go that does happen to some of us, no question. Any other questions? No? Yes, I'm sorry. As far as someone just concerned with working the steps and maybe is stubborn how would you relate possibly step work or recovery through service work to someone who says a little more stubborn and thinks that service is just one of the sides of the triangle and has nothing to do with his or her recovery? Well hopefully they're going to have a sponsor who understands and believes so that they can make a believer out of them. Make a believer, I like that. See, and I can only share from my own experience. I know that when I became involved in service work outside my group, I began to understand the big world of Alcoholics Anonymous out there and that there were other parts to the entity and other parts of our service work and other kinds of 12-step work. And as I did that, it brought me more into the traditions and into the concepts which both then strengthened my program. Again, this is a 36-point program. And I know sometimes it's described as a three-legged stool. And if you've only got one stool, you're really cheating yourself. And I'm cheating my sponsees if I don't give them the opportunity to have all three aspects of recovery in the program. Yes, sir? I don't know if you just asked that, but are you supposed to go through your steps first before you do the service work? Yes. Normally you would want to have finished your steps, but basically that's something that's between you and your sponsor. There may be something that goes on that they think that you're ready to get involved in some opportunity that comes along. And as you know, we sure don't wait until we've finished our steps to do coffee and treasurer and arrange the room and things like that. So there's plenty of service work we can be doing. And then it's sort of up to our sponsor to decide when we're ready to, hey, maybe it's time for you to stand for GSR for your group or something. I see hands over here, Scott. Yeah, just a comment on that. Service sponsorship in regard to service work, you've got to go through the steps. The first job in service that most groups have this group has one is a greeter. that doesn't require going through any steps there you go that's the first part of it that's a great point I'm a little confused on where it says they're not supposed to promote but attraction not promotion and if you're a sponsor with your sponsee they're ready to do service work they're willing to do the service work and that's between you and them yes it's a program of attraction rather than promotion but they can never be attracted if you don't at least expose them to it and use the aspect you need to at least understand the service structure give it a try, see if it's fit for you get them to at last try it you take the horse to water but you can't make him drink but at least take him to the water is sort of the message I'm saying the best that you can if you have a sponsor who's not taking your suggestion to check out service work they're probably not taking some other suggestions too you mentioned the upside down triangle is that to do with service work well understanding the upside Down Triangle is a part of how service work works because you have oh here we have a picture I love pictures don't you I was thinking of the AA symbol oh no, I'm talking about this and one of the things that you learn in service work and in your group business meeting is how this works and that the groups run the show thank you Cecilia anything else? no, i think we did it ok, i want to thank you for your time and attention and i'll give you back to Cecilia enthusiasm is contagious and if you like your job they're going to want to do your job too we're going go ahead and take a break we'll come back around 3.35