AA still helping alcoholics after 60 years

By Laura Johnson | Alex City Outlook

Published Thursday, July 16, 2009

Alcoholics Anonymous has been drawing people away from despair to hope since 1935.

The organization began in Akron, Ohio, when two alcoholic men, a doctor and a stock broker met, developed a common bond based on their problem and then supported each other on their journeys toward sobriety. Based on their own success, the pair began to reach out to others struggling with alcoholism and AA was begun.

Eleven years later an Alexander City judge and alcoholic was introduced to the organization during a hospital stay in Birmingham when AA members visited him there. When he came home to Tallapoosa County, he turned to help a neighbor and fellow alcoholic from his addiction and the Alexander City chapter of AA began.

Sixty years have passed since that time, but the local chapter remains strong. Today the organization meets twice daily at the Pelham House in Alexander City.

“The best way to stay sober is to attend meetings and to work the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous,” one long-time member said. “It has saved the lives of many, many people.”

This member, who has been with the organization for more than 40 years and been involved in AA chapters around the world, asked to remain anonymous in keeping with AA policy.

The person was introduced to alcohol as a teenager in the post World War II era. It was a timeless scenario that played out at a party in a friend’s home after a local football game when they sneaked liquor from their parents’ collection while they were out of town.

“I just felt such warmth and self-acceptance, that was really a good feeling and that I liked,” the member said. “That feeling disappeared and I kept searching for it and when I got in AA I felt the same sense of warmth.”

After high school, this member went on to college and then on to work. While the person was making progress in a career, alcohol was taking over his personal life and eventually led him to despair.

“Over a period of time my drinking got out of control and I began to have problems,” the member said. “I tried by myself to stop drinking or to slow down, but I could not.”

By the time the member entered his first meeting in the 1960s, he faced a string of drunken driving charges, lost his driver’s license and became wrapped in a cycle of self doubt and dishonesty.

“I knew what AA could do,” he said. “In desperation I went for help in and, since that time I have never had another drink.”

He said the friendship and the freedom he found in AA not only helped him to stop drinking but also helped him to have a more complete life experience.

“It adds an extra dimension to your life,” he said. “I came in just to learn how to stay sober, but hen after I got in, I learned many other things.”

Alcoholics Anonymous meets every Monday through Saturday from noon until 1 p.m.; Tuesday from 7 until 8 p.m. and Thursday from 7:30 until 8:30 p.m. at Pelham House, 229 Pelham Street.

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