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(#1718) Sponsorship (GA,OH,IL)
2/11/2000 in Atlanta, GA  EVENT: 36th IAAWC  TYPE: AA, Female, Workshop

36th IAAWC-Sponsorship

A Chair and three members sharing on the topic:

Chair: Mary of Colorado

Helen R, from Atlanta, GA - Sober 31 years. She has managed the Intergroup office in Atlanta for many years. She quotes from Bill W's May, 1947 Grapevine article, Much Aid from Outside. Also she says, "I heard a speaker say one time, you only needed five words to be a sponsor. That was: yes, no really, WOW, whatever."

Deb P from Columbus OH - She shares how she got her sponsor. Having been in jail four times she had a problem following directions from an authority. Very colorful and a delightful contrast to Helen. She has been sponsored by old timers. She was taught to show respect.

Kathy W from Des Plaines, IL - Sober 36 years, sponsored by a male, she recently changed sponsors after 35 years. She believes she is not a very good sponsor. She does not have alot of time but she is willing to give what she's got. She is a better service sponsor than a regular sponsor.

Here is the full excerpt from that 1947 article that was partially quoted:

"Each newcomer is assigned a reasonably stable A. A. member whose ward he becomes during his brief period of introduction to our way of life. The "sponsor" helps make hospital arrangements, takes his man there, visits him frequently and sees that he is visited by other A. A.s whose experience might be specially helpful. Hence a prospect so handled has received a powerful shot of A. A. and a good preview of what our society is like before he ever goes to a meeting. At the hospital he has time to soberly think through his situation, read our literature and exchange impressions with other alcoholics who are going through the same process. Contrast this with the frequent situation in which, for lack of hospitalization, the sponsor has to try to "taper off" his prospect at home or drag him, half dazed, to an A. A. meeting where the new man proceeds to get a lot of confused impressions or unfounded prejudices. While many of us have made our first contact with A. A. under these unfavorable circumstances, and have stuck nevertheless, there are probably many who do not stick on such a poor contact; people who might have remained with us had they been properly hospitalized and sponsored."


(47 min) (10.8 MB) (id#1718)

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