Pat Moore Foundation - A.A. Historical Data, Page 3
The Pat Moore Foundation offers its residents access to on-site and off-site meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Programs. Following is additional information on these programs, courtesy of Alcoholics Anonymous. For more detailed information please contact Alcoholics Anonymous directly.
Click here to return to the first part in the series, "Introduction to the A.A. Recovery Program".
A.A. Historical Data, Page 3
The following year witnessed still another
significant event. The New York office
had greatly expanded its activities, and these
now consisted of public relations, advice to
new groups, services to hospitals, prisons,
Loners, and Internationalists, and cooperation
with other agencies in the alcoholism
field. The headquarters was also publishing
“standard” A.A. books and pamphlets, and
it supervised their translation into other
tongues. Our international magazine, the
A.A. Grapevine, had achieved a large circulation.
These and many other activities had
become indispensable for A.A. as a whole.
Nevertheless, these vital services were
still in the hands of an isolated board of
trustees, whose only link to the Fellowship
had been Bill and Dr. Bob. As the cofounders
had foreseen years earlier, it became
absolutely necessary to link A.A.’s
world trusteeship (now the General
Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous)
with the Fellowship that it served.
Delegates from all states and provinces of
the U.S. and Canada were forthwith called
in. Thus composed, this body for world service
first met in 1951. Despite earlier misgivings,
the gathering was a great success.
For the first time, the remote trusteeship
became directly accountable to A.A. as a
whole. The A.A. General Service
Conference had been created, and A.A.’s
overall functioning was thereby assured
for the future.
A second International Convention
was held in St. Louis in 1955 to celebrate
the Fellowship’s 20th anniversary. The
General Service Conference had by then
completely proved its worth. Here, on behalf
of A.A.’s oldtimers,
Bill turned the
future care and custody of A.A. over to the
Conference and its trustees. At this moment,
the Fellowship went on its own;
A.A. had come of age.
Had it not been for A.A.’s early friends,
Alcoholics Anonymous might never have
come into being. And without its host of
wellwishers
who have since given of their
time and effort — particularly those friends
of medicine, religion, and world communications
— A.A. could never have grown
and prospered. The Fellowship here records
its constant gratitude.
It was on January 24, 1971, that Bill, a
victim of pneumonia, died in Miami Beach,
Florida, where — seven months earlier —
he had delivered at the 35th Anniversary
International Convention what proved to
be his last words to fellow A.A.s: “God bless
you and Alcoholics Anonymous forever.”
Since then, A.A. has become truly
global, and this has revealed that A.A.’s
way of life can today transcend most barriers
of race, creed and language. A World
Service Meeting, started in 1969, has been
held biennially since 1972. Its locations alternate
between New York and overseas.
It has met in London, England; Helsinki,
Finland; San Juan del Rio, Mexico;
Guatemala City, Guatemala; Munich,
Germany; Cartagena, Colombia;
Auckland, New Zealand; and Oviedo,
Spain.
Click here to return to the first part in the series, "Introduction to the A.A. Recovery Program".
The above information is from "A.A. Fact File", prepared by General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous. This information is also available on G.S.O.'s A.A. Website: www.aa.org.
If you have any questions about Alcoholics Anonymous or alcohol treatment, please call us 24-hours at (888) 426-6086 or if you'd like us to contact you, send us a confidential e-mail by filling out our online form. |
