Dave F.

On my recent trip to Bill Wilson’s house in East Dorset, Vermont, I had the opportunity to share experiences with AA’s from around the country. Over the last ten years I have believed that the tendency in South Florida for some meetings to resemble group therapy more than meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, was due to the large number of treatment centers and newcomers in our area. It appears however, that this is a general phenomenon. I have always felt that we cannot blame treatment or the newcomers for this. It is the responsibility of those of us with time to educate the novices in our program. Unfortunately it seems that many old timers are getting angry and leaving the program or starting private meetings in their homes. These options do nothing to preserve the program as it was given to us. Drop-ping out or splitting off from AA deprive the newcomer of the basic message of AA. Also working our program consists of giving it away. This cannot be done if we leave or re-group in our homes and give the message to only those who we “invite” to join us.

Those who are left can chose to go along with the “anything goes” attitude or speak up at meetings and become accused of being an “AA Nazi” or a “Big Book Thumper” or even worse of hurting people’s feelings and running them out of AA. At what point does “Live and Let Live” become apathy? An apathy which allows the message that only God can relieve our alcoholism to become obscured by the self-centered attitude that one’s own personal problems du  jour become more important than a discussion of the solution as expressed in The Big Book, the 12 and 12 and other AA literature.

I am not opposed in any way shape or form to good treatment and therapy. I myself am a product of good therapy and have worked in a variety of treatment modalities over the years. My ability to avail myself of good therapy was due to a large extent to my recovery in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. It always suprises me that with the unusually large selection of inpatient and out-patient  treatment programs and excellent therapists in South Florida people insist on using Twelve Step meetings for this purpose.

Let us leave therapy to the therapists and keep our meetings focused on the language of the heart, the solution, recovery through finding God, cleaning house and helping others. Let us continue to teach the newcomers the basics of our program and gently lead them to the difference between meetings and group therapy. This can be accomplished in a kind  way. Also we can continue to take the AA program to therapists and administrators in hospitals, detoxes and treatment centers. Not only as groups taking meetings in but as service people working within the Bridging The Gap, Insti-tution and Public Information service structure of our program.

Also in our own program and groups there are some steps that we can take without resorting to leaving the program or starting “invitation only” groups. First we can attend, start groups and support literature based meetings. By this we mean meetings that are specific in format and focus that use AA literature as a jumping off point for discussion. Secondly we can become active in service by joining, be-coming involved with, or starting meetings that take the AA message to jails, missions, mental hospitals, detoxes, treatment centers and halfway houses.

In South Florida I often hear that old fashioned twelve step work has been taken over by the treatment communities and that there is little opportunity to do basic “twelve step calls”. I think however, that this may be for some a convenient excuse not to work with newcomers. Every month I hear pleas for help from groups, meeting halls and Intergroup for people to work the phone, join the speakers list, and be available as temporary sponsors at nearby institutions. The work is there if we look for it. Remember our founders had to approach hospitals and institutions for prospects. In this day and age it is still possible to give our name and number to friends, co-workers, ministers and doctors to serve as a contact for people seeking help.

By doing this we can truly become part of the solution instead part of the problem. In our active addiction we made a career out of running away when things didn’t go our way. By digging in and sticking with our program, teaching new members our history, traditions and meeting formats we can insure that future sick and suffering alcoholics can find the spirit of love and service that we found when we arrived. Preserving our primary purpose to stay sober and help other alcoholics acheive sobriety can be accomplished harmoniously with old timers and newcomers sharing the benefits of this essential two way communication line.

September 8, 2002 is my 25th anniversary in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Unaccustomed to making a big deal about length of sobriety I realized that I have probably earned the right to say at meeting that “I have been around for a few 24 hours”. Also I may be considered among the ranks of “old timers” although a fellow white haired member of my Men’s Group reminded me that the only thing you have to do to become an old timer is to not drink and not die. It has been a wonderful journey and I look forward to another twenty-five, one day at a time.

I am full of recollections, memories and thoughts about people that have helped me along the way. Some of the characters include my two first sponsors who took me on in tandem, realizing that I needed all the help I could get. Frank was a Big Book pounding circuit speaker who made you sit up in your seat and listen when he spoke. He also made you squirm a little as he outlined the “musts” for successful recovery. Tom was a softer and gentler former wino whose sense of humor and quiet spirituality impressed me. Between the two I was carried and tough loved thought he first crucial year and a half of sobriety.

I think also of Tom, my first AA “buddy”. We did meetings together every night for several years became good friends and spent a lot of time together outside of meetings, his family and mine getting along and having fun together. Tom didn’t stay sober but I wouldn’t be writing this column were it not for him.

There were people whose courage in dealing with life’s problems sober made me feel silly about wanting to drink over small things. There was Jimmy Mac who found his son dead in the woods after the snow left in the spring. His son had died from sniffing gasoline. Jimmy didn’t drink was held together by the love of his group and the power of the program and the power behind the program.

There was a woman in Lowell, Massachusetts who had lost her kids in a fire while she had left them alone to go to a meeting.  She did not drink over it and was supported in love by her group members.

On another occasion I was approached by a friend and asked if I could take a guy in a wheelchair to meetings since I had a van. I agreed and was to meet one of the most powerful people I have ever met. He called himself “4:15 Pete” because he would always identify with the time and date of his last drink. Pete was several years sober when he took in a newly sober young man as a roommate. One night the man came home drunk and beat Pete on the head with a cast iron frying pan while Pete was sleeping. Pete was pronounced dead at the local E.R. but was revived and despite severe brain damage slowly improved. When I wheeled him in to his first meeting back it was a moment I will never forget. Pete never picked up a drink.

I could not talk about my sobriety without mentioning my good friend Fred. About six years ago some friends and I started the Downtown Delray Group with the idea of keeping an AA presence downtown after Central House moved north. We hoped to be there for people without transportation living in the many sober living places downtown. Fred was one of them. He rode a bike to meetings and attended every day. As I got to know Fred I became aware of the fact that he had another terminal illness. This one was not as easy to put in remission as alcoholism and drug addiction. It was hard to tell for he looked like a healthy athlete.

The group had experienced a shaky beginning with two moves in the first year and a half and now the group was faced with the prospect of closing down for good. Fred, myself and two others were discussing this prospect and Fred was adamant about not letting the group dissolve. He said: “this is where I got sober and if I have to sit in the park with a Big Book I will keep the group going”. He did. We found a  new place and the group is thriving today.

Fred died shortly after his one year anniversary. The last weeks of his life he was never without the companionship of one of the group members. On his anniversary twenty-five members of the group took a meeting to him at the Veterans Hospital in West Palm Beach and presented him with a one year medallion necklace. We all went in shifts to be with him and since I was self employed at the time I got nights. On his last night he and I had a meeting although he was not conscious. I read from the Big Book conducted a meeting gave him an opportunity to share and enjoyed the love and peace of his last hours.

He made it through the night as if he knew that the nurse had called his mother to tell her the end was near. His mother arrived and my friend Amy and I went out for a cigarette. Fred died in his mothers arms. Amy and I came in and removed Fred’s medallion and put it around his mom’s neck.

As I look back on these people, their lessons, and my privilege and honor in being included in their lives, I realize that I have been blessed beyond any possibility of repayment. I only hope that by smiling at the newcomer, extending my hand, and providing an encouraging word to fellow sufferers I can in some small way return these blessings.

I have always felt that to relapse would be like spitting in God’s eye and that not doing his work in this life would be the height of ingratitude. The Preamble tells us that we have two jobs to do. The first is to stay sober and the second is to help other alcoholics achieve sobriety. If I have learned only one thing in this fellowship it is that I cannot accomplish the first job without doing the second one.

I often hear from some old timers that AA has changed, that it isn’t like “the good old days”. I strongly take exception to that notion. Every meeting I go to I see an example of the picture of Bill and Bob with the man on the bed. One drunk helping another is still the bottom line. If I am looking for this, the true spirit of our fellowship, I will always see it. If I am trying to judge, criticize or complain I will miss seeing the miracle that God shows me every day. I can’t allow my arrogance to keep me from the sunlight of the spirit. That person sharing in what I might consider an inappropriate way may be the man who saves my life and gives me one more day. Or he may be, like the stranger that shook my hand and welcomed me to Alcoholics Anonymous, the stranger to some yet unknown newcomer whose single act of human kindness provides the connection to God and a life of sobriety.

So like the guy at the Academy Awards I have the unique opportunity to thank the people who have helped me over the years and in so doing will inevitably forget someone but it would be a waste of a once in a lifetime opportunity not to thank my mom and dad for their patience and support over the years. Also I must thank Frank B., Tommy C., Johno H. and Dave D.  for taking on sponsorship of this exasperating recovering drunk. Thanks to God in all his manifestations. Also all my friends acquaintances and strangers in the rooms of AA.

Its the time of year when the weather turns beautiful, temperatures cool down, and the annual influx of tourists and warm weather seekers crowd our already overcrowded roads and recreation areas. This influx combined with the obscene amount of development in our area contribute to a restless feeling which leads me to want to be away from people and into nature. It always amazes me that only a half hour west of West Palm Beach exists wide open spaces, few people and even fewer tourists and developers.

I have found many wilderness areas within two or three hours of Palm Beach County but none that takes you back to the pristine environment that most of south Florida once was. But now I have found Fisheating Creek Campground at the Fisheating Creek State Park in Palmdale, a two hour drive from West Palm Beach,…. a pristine wilderness.

Recently I was looking for a new place to kayak and had a conversation with a friend who is a musician and had written a song about environmental issues in Florida.  The song mentioned Fisheating Creek and the court battle with Lykes Brothers over the rights to the creek. Lykes Brothers had fenced the creek off so that  canoers  and kayakers and others could not use it for recreational purposes. Several environmental groups spearheaded by 78 year old Ellen Peterson demonstrated and filled out petitions bringing  the issue to the attention of the State of Florida. The state joined the groups in a suit against Lykes and the end result was the reopening of the creek and the campground for recreational purposes.

Fisheating Creek is a unique and natural Florida waterway that meanders for 52 miles through cypress swamps, bass filled lakes and extensive marshes. The Creek then flows into Lake Okeechobee, the nation’s second largest lake. The creek runs through an 18,000 acre Wildlife Management Area overseen by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Com-

mission.

The highlight of the campground is the Fisheating Creek Canoe Trail which takes you through areas that have been opened especially for canoers and kayakers on a year round basis. There are one and two day trips. You can leave your automobile at the Campground parking lot and be transported to the starting point. The trail is clearly marked with arrows.

The one day trip is approximately eight miles long and takes about four hours. The two day trip is sixteen miles long and takes about ten hours.  Their are primitive camp sites along the trail.

The trip is a photographers dream. Just about every kind of native plant and wildflower can be seen. If you are into birding you will see over seventy varieties of birds and especially wading birds. The possibility also exists to see alligators, armadillos, bobcats, Florida panther, wild hogs, deer, raccoons,and several varieties of snakes and turtles.

The campground itself is a great get away spot. It offers RV, tent and wilderness sites in a variety of locations including shaded live oak stands,  open areas,  as well as waterfront sites on the creek. All sites have picnic tables and fire rings and are conveniently located near bathrooms and showers.

The fishing is excellent on the creek so bring your rod and reel. You will find  an ample supply of bass, specks and bluegills as well as catfish and a unique armored catfish which is native to Brazil. You can fish from the stream or from the bank and residents of Glades county can fish with cane poles without a license. Many pictures of great catches adorn the walls both inside and outside the camp store.

Biking, hiking, boating and star gazing all provide a level of enjoyment and relaxation second to none. If you are tired of looking in the night sky and seeing a few lonely stars you will be blown away by the night sky in Palmdale.

My favorite thing is the swimming lake. Most streams and lakes in south and central Florida are unsafe for swimming due to alligators but the campground has a swimming lake and beach, a rare treat in this part of the state.

Although the people have won a big battle to keep the creek open the situation requires constant vigilance on the part of environmentalists and concerned citizens. Ellen Petersen runs the campground by herself and exists with the help of many volunteers. Projects include clearing out the creek  to make it accessible to canoes and kayaks, general maintenance and repair around the campground, special projects, conducting activities and just generally helping out with the chores.

Fisheating Creek Campground is located at 7555 North Highway 27 in Palmdale. This is one half mile north of the intersection of Highway 27 and Highway 29.

To contact Ellen for more information call 863-675-7855 or fax 863-675-7845 or email fishe@strato.net. You can also visit the web site at fisheatingcreek.com.

Treat yourself to a great escape this winter. You’ll be glad you did!

A recent article in The Sun-Sentinel took a look at the phenomenon of sober living residences in Broward and Palm Beach County. As part of the research for this article the writer contacted The Solution for background information. After a forty-five minute conversation during which I was as helpful and sincere as I could be the writer culled out a comment that I had made, out of context,  and presented it in a way that appeared that I was critical of the whole sober living concept. He also misrepresented the audience of The Solution. It was no surprise then when I heard from my good friend Dave DeOreo at The Florida House that he and others providing quality sober living had been badly treated in the article.

It is unfortunate that in this day and age of negative journalism, quick and dirty reporting and sensationalism that someone with no experience or understanding of the recovery movement can be put in a position to harm people who are out there in the trenches helping others.

There is an old program quote that says “there is a wrench for every nut in the program” and this concept applies to treatment centers and sober living environments. Where a large facility may be a good fit for some a small facility will work for others. Where a christian based house works for some a twelve step based house will work for others. Where a highly structured environment is good for some a less structured facility will work for others.

Anyone with even a limited knowledge of our program knows that one’s recovery  is contingent on a contact with a higher power. This contact can be found at South County Mental Health, Hanley-Hazelden, DAF or any one of the dozens of treatment centers and  sober living environments in our area. All provide residents a wonderful opportunity  to connect with a higher power and to gain and maintain sobriety.

The Florida House was singled out by the Sun-Sentinal because of a report by a disgruntled active drug addict. All sober living residences have their casualties to the disease of addiction.Wouldn’t it be better to talk to the many men who have benefitted from the program or for that matter talk to the director or go and see the facility for yourself.

Every Friday afternoon Dave DeOreo has a sausage sub cookout at The Florida House. Many recovering people stop in an talk to the guys that live there about recovery. Even someone with no experience in recovery could see,  in one moment,  the spirit of love, support and recovery that exists there. Scenes like this are occurring all over South Florida where sober living and successful recovery go hand in hand. To paint a negative picture of this phenomenon is irresponsible.

On the flip side, Channel Twelve recently ran a feature on Born Anew in West Palm Beach. Born Anew was started because of the deplorable conditions in the ghetto where slum lords were ripping off recovering men. Gary McGarrity and Born Anew as well as all of the other sober residences have lessened this problem. Gary is non-profit and needs funds. The media will help with this coverage. There is a lesson here for the Sun-Sentinel: become a part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

I was recently reminiscing with a friend from Boston. We were talking about “the good old days’ of our recovery  over twenty years ago in the Boston area.  Before I go on let me explain that I believe that the spirit of our program is as strong today as it was twenty, forty or sixty years ago. This piece is not a call for a return to the old ways but is instead a reminder of some very good times.

In the Boston area almost all of the meetings in the late seventies were speakers meetings. They were an hour and a half long and usually consisted of three speakers who shared their experience, strength and hope. Newcomers were told to sit up front and listen. There were few discussion meetings and most were step meetings. Newcomers were not encouraged to share during the meeting but told to discuss questions and problems with their sponsors after the meeting. Some old timers claimed that people who shared in the first year of sobriety “were only spreading the disease”.

We were encouraged to join a home a group and get active. Typically one’s home group had a weekly meeting where groups from other towns would come in and “put on a meeting”. These were called “commitments”  and for every group that came to us we would go to them and put on a return commitment. Sometimes an active group would do two or three commitments a week.

The commitments were where I learned about the fellowship of the program. We would all meet at a central location and car pool to the town where we were to speak. Sometimes we would go out to dinner before the meeting or else stop for coffee and ice cream after the meeting. There was more program discussed in the comings and goings than during most of the meetings. It was here that I developed the “support system” that people talk about today. In the early days it was difficult for me to grasp the steps and the literature and all the deeper aspects of the program but the fellowship kept me coming to meetings.

We had some interesting names for meetings. Some groups would serve donuts and we’d call it the “donut” meeting. Another group always had cookies and was the Friday night “homemade cookie meeting”.  In our area we had the Saturday night “hot dog meeting” where the group cooked hot dogs every week. There was also a “popcorn meeting”.

People had interesting names as well. The use of first names only led to many colorful descriptive adjectives and qualifiers. Bashful Bob, Leo the Baker, Crazy John, Don the Indian, Fred the Barber, Humble Jack, were some that I remember. My favorite all time was Four-Fifteen Pete who used to open his remarks at meetings by saying that he had gotten sober at four-fifteen in the morning of such and such a date. The name “Four-Fifteen” stuck and he still has this nickname today.

We share a rich tradition in our program. Our guidelines and principles are clear but the ways we practice the program vary greatly over the years and geography of our program. If you would like to share some of your program nostalgia write it down and send it in. If there is enough interest we can make this a regular feature.

We would see each other at AA anniversaries and AA parties and Central House’s Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s events. There was always a warm smile a great hug and the inevitable dance if there was dancing going on. I called her my “girlfriend” and once when one of her sponsees was unable to pick her up for the usual Tuesday night Al-Anon meeting I volunteered to get her if she needed a ride. She was sick that week and didn’t need a ride but I always told Helen that she “stood me up”. We joked and laughed a lot sharing the joy of two fellowships together.

It wasn’t always laughter. In fact the beginning of my friendship with Helen occurred at a Central House business meeting. I had just started publishing The Solution Newsletter and was distributing it at Central House. I was always careful to respect the traditions there and put The Solution with non-AA material and I had publicized their events. In spite of this I was asked to come to a business meeting to explain my publication to the officers and get their approval for future distribution.

I did this and after explaining what I was trying to accomplish with The Solution some of the group were skeptical.  Helen raised her hand and explained the traditions to the group. She told me that she loved The Solution and thanked me for   publicizing their  events. That was almost ten years ago and I will never forget her sincere kindness in that moment.

Three years ago I was in a lot of personal pain around relationship issues. Helen and I went over to Cafe David’s and sat outside at a table.  She listened to my problems and then offered yet another solution. She told me about Al Anon and how she had been  attending AL-Anon not because a spouse was actively drinking but because her AA sponsees were making her crazy. She said that she considered herself a double winner and by attending both AA and Al-Anon she received the very best of both wonderful programs.

I had always thought of Al Anon as “the enemy camp” and had much contempt prior to investigation about that program. In spite of this my personal pain and total respect for Helen allowed me to attend my first Al Anon meeting a little over two years ago. I would always see Helen at the 7:00 PM meeting at the Community Center. She held court there for many years sharing her experience, strength and hope with hundreds of Al-Anon newcomers.

It was in Al Anon that I learned that I had no control over anyone but myself. I had thought that Al Anon was about my relationships with active and sober alcoholics but in fact Al Anon taught me about the two most important relationships, my relationship with God and my relationship with myself. Helen taught me and illustrated for me the ”courage to change the things I could” in this area of my life.

Although I am no poster boy for Al Anon I have been able to direct people to that program and into the wisdom of the people like Helen who go there.

Helen died on Wednesday night after a long illness. I went to a noontime meeting today and there was a flyer with her name Helen Harte and a picture of a heart. The flyer announced a Saturday afternoon memorial service at Central House, Helen’s second home. Her friends and loved ones will all attend. We will bring covered dishes and there will be tears and laughter as we all gather together to celebrate the joy that was Helen’s life and the loss which we will all feel and share.

We will eat, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes,  socialize, and talk about Helen. There will be thousands of stories, as many as the many people she affected in a positive way over the years. There will be something missing at this Central House event and all the one’s in the future. Helen will not be there.

Actually Helen will always be there, just as she will always be at the Tuesday night meeting. Just as we all will linger on and on in the hearts and minds of those we have reached out to while on this earthly plane. She will live on in the spirit of love of our program.

A friend at today’s meeting began to cry when I told her that Helen had died. I told her that Helen was dancing with Bill Wilson, Lois, Dr. Bob,  Ron Martin and all those who had passed on in sobriety. I just hope that when it is my turn  that my “girlfriend” Helen Harte  will have saved a dance for me.

If you see me around the AA campus it might not be too good an idea to ask me about my recent vacation. I just might tell you and unless you have several hours to listen you may wish that you had never asked. The over used term “awesome” comes to mind.

I am truly blessed to have been not only restored to sanity but to have been restored to the good graces of my family. I got to start the vacation with three days at the home of my mother and father in Connecticut. They are in their early 80’s and are active and involved in their lives. They continue to do volunteer work for gun control, women’s right to choose and urban reading programs. Both are active volunteers at the Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut.

I had the opportunity to visit their church and found a place alive with the spirit of love. My mother and father are also alive with love for one another and for their friends and family. They are wonderful examples of a life well lived and offer hope to me for many more years of life and activity.

Leaving Connecticut I spent a whole day driving the back roads of Vermont on a beautiful blue sky, seventy degree day. The flowers and trees were all in bloom. I had not seen a New England spring for ten years and had almost forgotten the beauty.

While driving throughout this trip I listened to “speaker” CD’s that my friend Larry had given me. This is a great way to pass time while driving. I became introduced to two speakers from Texas named Chris and Myers R.  They have a passion for AA’s primary purpose and the passion is contagious. They offer a viable prescription for pulling AA back to the basics through love and service, literature based meetings and commitments to institutions. Great stuff!!

I arrived at The Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont  Friday evening to participate in a two day conference hosted by my new friend and Solution contributor Dick B. Dick was sitting on the porch with one of the Wilson House dogs. He has the sparkle in his eyes that I have noticed in some of the most spiritual of my friends and acquaintances in the program.

I was eager to visit Bill and Lois’s graves which I knew to be nearby. On a beautiful early spring evening with the birds singing in the trees I finally got the opportunity to thank Bill for AA and Lois for Al-Anon. Between tears of joy I prayed and thanked Bill for not being selfish with our solution.

The weekend seminar was entitled “Cured or Condemned: The God Factor, The Challenge for This Century”. Dick B. is a thorough re-searcher and Bible student. By tracing the religious and Biblical roots of AA he made a thought provoking case for belief in a cure for alcoholism through God’s power. His Christian message was supported through detailed re-search in AA archives and “Good Book” passages.

I had the opportunity to network and make friends with AA’s from Delaware, the Bronx, upstate New York and Indiana. I attended two AA meetings. The first night I met a friend of mine’s daughte from upstate New York. The second night the women chairing the meeting was from my hometown of Wayland, Massachusetts….no coincidences.

On Sunday I took a leisurely drive through northern Vermont and New Hampshire to a town called Pittsburg, the northern most town in New Hampshire on the Canadian border. Cold 42 degree weather limited the fishing so I spent quiet days alone with God, The Big Book and a pen and paper.

On Thursday the 23 guys started to trickle in for the 20th annual Men’s Spiritual Retreat and occasional fish catching event. I had the privilege of starting this event and dear friends have kept it going for twenty years now. I reconnected with great guys old friends and former “pigeons”. The lunar eclipse from a mountainside cabin overlooking a beautiful lake was almost equalled by our traditional Saturday night dinner and meeting. We ended the night by taking an hour long “moose hunt” drive. We spotted ten moose, six deer and two foxes (of the animal variety).

I have returned refreshed, recharged and jazzed up about the AA program. During my time with my AA friends from twenty years ago I was overwhelmed by the impact this program has had on the lives of others. My friends now have kids in college and children who have never seen their father drunk. Guys who had lived in buses were enjoying the good life homeowners, good jobs and happy marriages. Ex-cons had never been back to court or jails as well as former mental patients who never had to go back to the institutions. The vacation was a gift; my first vacation in many years. A blessing. Just don’t ask me about it if you see me around. You may never get me to shut up. This for those of you who know me is not an uncommon occurrence.

A recent trip to the Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont was such an enjoyable experience that I thought I would share some information for anyone who may be in New Eng-land this summer or at any other time of year. You will find a restful, peaceful and serene place and be able to explore some of the history of the twelve step movement.

The purpose of the Wilson House, which is the birthplace of Bill Wilson, is for it to be a living memorial – a place where people can come to visit and give thanks to God  for their new lives and also to give thanks to God for working through Bill to give them the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and the fellowship of the program. The Wilson House is located about a mile and a half from the cemetery where Bill and his wife, Lois are buried. Many times, people on a pilgrimage looking for the roots of AA will come to the cemetery and stop to visit the House.

The Wilson House, which has always been a hotel, was completed in 1852. It had 28 rooms and 15 bedrooms. The house had been slowly deteriorating for 13 years before rest-oration began in October of 1987. A that time, floors and walls were in danger of collapsing and there was significant water damage in the House. Much initial work had to be completed just to preserve the building. There are now 14 rooms available for overnight guests – including a small apartment with a sitting room, small loft, bedroom and bath with shower.

Local groups hold several A.A. and Al-Anon meetings in the House each week. Edu-cational seminars are held several times a year. Big Book Studies and Step Studies are very popular. The Meeting House, complete with fireplace, and one smaller meeting room, en-sure that two meetings can be held at the same time.

Restoration continues with 95% of the main House being completed. The atmosphere in the house is very similar to the way it was when Bill was born there and that is why there are no radios, telephones or televisions in the bedrooms. The peaceful, quiet spirit of the House is conducive to prayer, meditation, reading or simply enjoying the fellowship among guests and visitors.

Restoration work, maintenance and upkeep of the House are funded by donations. Since the Wilson House is a nonprofit foundation, all contributions are tax deductible. Many people have helped in many ways – from money to install a fire sprinkler system to gifts of candy and coffee; from towels and potholders to tables for the dining room. Some have given money for larger restoration projects and some for the day to day expenses of running the House. It all works to help preserve The Wilson House -  an element of our A.A heritage – for generations to come.

The Griffith House,  is located across the churchyard from the Wilson House. This is where Bill and his sister Dorothy, grew up with their maternal grandparents after their parent’s divorce. The Griffith Library is located there. With the help of many friends of the Wilson House, a collection of books that the founders and early A.A.’s read, and books about the AA Program are being added to the library. If you are interested in contributing materials to the Griffith Library please contact an office staff member. You can also request a list of their current holdings.

All staff members living in the House are volunteers – donating their time without pay to keep the house clean and serving the people who come to visit or stay overnight. People  arrive from many places to work on the volunteer staff for a minimum of two weeks. A large number of people return on a yearly basis and several staff help out more often. To learn more about joining the volunteer staff for a short or long term commitment, please stop in at the office or call for information.

The Wilson House is located at 378 Village Street in East Dorset Vermont. East Dorset is located in West Central Vermont between Bennington and Rutland in the middle of the Green Mountain National Forest. For more information write: Wilson House, P.O. Box 46, East Dorset, Vermont 05253 or call 802-362-5524 or check out the Wilson House website: www.wilsonhouse.org.

Dr. Bob explained the twelve step program in six words: Trust God, Clean House, Help Others. In his wisdom he realized the tremendous transformational power of the act of getting outside of ourselves and helping others. The very nature of our diseases of addiction is rooted in self-centeredness. This self-centeredness can kill us. Volunteerism is an antidote for self-centeredness. While we are working with others we experience a form of self-forgetting . Our own problems and difficulties become meaningless in the face of working with people with serious illness, poverty, pain and hopelessness.  By volunteering we help others and paradoxically help ourselves.

My own personal belief is that the miracle that has occurred in my life is not that  a seemingly hopeless and incurable alcoholic and drug addict no longer drinks or does drugs. The miracle is really that in my addiction I was dying from being self-centered in the extreme. Today I have the capacity to get outside of myself and care about others. This transformation took work like every thing else in our program and started with small acts. This is the true miracle and the one that has saved my life and made it possible for me to heal from this horrible addiction.

I have always felt, that given the time and money I could design a program that combined clinical therapy, a twelve step program, work, spiritual reading and volunteering. These important elements would go along way to satisfy the six words Dr. Bob used to describe our spiritual program.

Recently it has occurred to me that we can become very parochial in our recovery program. We have a tendency to think that our disease is of supreme importance in the universe. We are self-centered in our disease. We hang out with recovering people, talk about recovery, work in recovery, socialize in recovery and basically for those of us in South Florida live in a recovering community. But really we represent a small fraction of people in our society. There are so many others who need help that are not addicts or alcoholics.

I think I would refine my “perfect treatment program” volunteer component to insist that clients volunteer in an area that is not related to addiction. We spend so much time focused on our own disease of addiction that we have a tendency to not see all of the opportunities for helping others with  problems other than alcohol or addiction. Some ideas are working with children, domestic violence, veterans hospitals, nursing homes, literacy programs, feeding the hungry, working  for the rights of the mentally ill, and hospice care. There are so many opportunities to take our wonderful program, as expressed in our new way of life, out into the world. The spiritual awakening that we have found through our twelve step program can

be used to help people outside the program.

This page will be a regular feature and I will try to always have information on places that are looking for volunteer help. I would ask my readers to let me know of any organizations that can use help. Also write and let us know of your experiences working with others, inside and outside of the program. This month we have been doing some “surfing” on the internet for volunteer sites so I will include a list of web sites as well as a list of the names and phone numbers of local places that need help.

In  my third year of sobriety I got together with three guys in my Men’s Group and planned a fishing trip to northern New Hampshire. We went for the weekend. We all drove up together. It was about a three and a half hour drive and when we got to the Canadian border we rented a cabin and spent two days fishing for trout. A couple of the guys were brand new to recovery and it was one of my first experiences away from the security of my local meetings. We had a great time and spent the whole weekend talking about recovery and how great life was without a drink. We were practicing our newly found  freedom fishing with friends and enjoying nature.

As the years went by this trip became a tradition and more and more people became involved. I think that this year was the twentieth anniversary trip and now about thirty guys go. It occurred to us that the fishing had become really an excuse to have a spiritual retreat. We were all too macho to admit this in the earlier years but after a while we all really understood that fishing was just an excuse to get together and celebrate our recovery. It was an occasion to spend time with those you love and enjoy the great gift of sobriety.

When I moved to Florida I met a guy who remembered this kind of fellowship from his early days in recovery. He calls these expeditions “road trips” and over the years we have done several trips. They are usually pretty spontaneous and involve getting a few people together and taking off for a few days to a new and different location. Past trips have included the Keys, the west coast of Florida and a trip to Sarasota. The focus of these trips is usually on some goal unrelated to recovery like picking up furniture, delivering a washing machine to the Keys, going fishing, etc, but by having a bunch of recovering guys together in a car for a long drive and several days together the trips inevitably become retreats.

These trips always include daily meetings at clubhouses and meeting halls. Its fun to go to meetings out of town and it always is fun to raise your hand when they ask if there is anyone from out of town. After the meeting we are always able to learn about  good restaurants, sights to see and good fishing areas in a place we have never been before. It’s these kind of “road trips” that make us realize that we are part of a world wide fellowship.  No matter where you are in the world there is always a meeting nearby and new friends who are willing to share with you.

Road trips are only one form of fellowship available to those of us in recovery. Many members of our fellowship have informal meetings at mealtimes like “breakfast clubs”, “lunch bunch” clubs and dinner meetings. There are recovering golf tournaments, bowling leagues, softball leagues. This time of year there is the Annual Florida  State Convention and many other 12 Step Group get togethers.

My favorite thing remains these  “road trips’ and they don’t even need to be a big deal. Simply throw four or five people in a car and go to a new meeting in a different town. You’ll be surprised at the great time you have just hanging out with friends in recovery!