• There is no official recommendation. It always comes down to the group conscience.

• One example might be 50% - GSO, 20% - Intergroup, 20% - District, 10% - VAC Area 71

• You should communicate closely with your GSR and Intergroup rep as they will have financials from District and Intergroup meetings.

• The is a pamphlet about this: https://www.aa.org/self-support-where-money-and-spirituality-mix

AA Meetings are usually scheduled for one hour. Some have a hard stop. Some do not. Some meetings take a break in the middle and are one and a half hours long. There are no rules. You are free to leave whenever you need to. Each group has its own guidelines. Most meetings that you will find last about an hour.

There are two things/places to consider when 'registering' a meeting that will be in Williamsburg. One is locally and the other is with the General Service Office (GSO) in New York.

The first is to submit the meeting info to the WAI Website Committee so it can be added to the meetings page and included in the schedule.

A meeting would then become active in the community by participating in monthly District and Intergroup meetings.

This involves nominating a General Service Rep (GSR) and an Intergroup Rep. Also, there are home group positions such as a Secretary and Treasurer and holding a monthly business meeting.

To get a new meeting listed on the aawilliamsburg.org website send us an email or fill out the form on the website.

The meeting can be virtual, hybrid, phone or in-person.

Use the form

At the bottom of the page: https://www.aawilliamsburg.org/meetings there is a button for 'Enroll New Meeting'. Any Intergroup Rep or GSR should know the password. 

Send an email

You can email as much of the following information as you can to website@aawilliamsburg.org

Meeting Name

Meeting Day

Meeting Time

Meeting Format

Meeting Location Name

Meeting Address

Meeting Contact

Meeting Info

Meeting Dial In Phone

Zoom ID

Zoom Passcode

Zoom Phone

Zoom Link

Your Name*

Your Email*

Your  Phone*

Message

The second thing to consider is to register with the General Service Office (GSO) in New York.

Here are some guidelines from GSO and the form you can use. 

It might be suggested that a new meeting do not register with New York until they have been active for a while and show no signs of folding. This is the difference between a 'meeting' and a 'group'... a group is registered with GSO and has a service number.

A group usually receives a new group packet from GSO when they register.

The important thing is that if your meeting is in a schedule, then someone should be there to open the meeting and if you decide to fold the meeting, make sure to let us know so we can remove it from the schedule.

• No.

• All you need to do is show up.

• Virtual or in person no difference.

• Meetings usually list a format telling you the type of meeting. For example,  O/D (Open Discussion) or C/D/W (Closed Discussion Women ).

• There is no official age aspect/limit/grouping in AA, but some groups do list their format as Young People (Y).

• But young in AA can be defined as anyone with room to grow. And anyone of any age may attend these meetings. It is not a requirement, unless the group conscience votes otherwise.

• Age can be a distraction... look for the similarities not the differences.

• Women only and men only meetings tend to be more strict about enforcing that format.

We update the website whenever a homegroup tells us about a change. We are also in the continuous process of combing through the schedule to see if it needs updating but this is slow.

So the answer is yes and no! So please understand if a meeting (in person or virtual) is on the schedule but is not active. In fact, please let us know about it so we can update the schedule!

Anyone may attend an OPEN meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. You don't need to be shy, you are welcome at any of the OPEN meetings.

CLOSED meetings are reserved for alcoholics only or people with a desire to stop drinking. For example, a friend who is just there for support should go to an OPEN meeting but not a CLOSED one.

There is some AA literature that might be helpful:

https://www.aawilliamsburg.org/about-aa.

For example "A Members Eye View" pamphlet.

Some meetings are still more limited to men only or women only. Just look at the legend for meeting types. O = Open / C = Closed / M = Men only / W  = Women only

• If you don't take the first drink, you can't get drunk.

• Surrender to win.

• Take action - "Move a muscle, change a thought!"

• Go to meetings.

• Call other alcoholics and tell them your plans.

• Get busy in your recovery to distract yourself.

• Stay away from slippery people and places.

• Think the drink through, play the tape forward.

• Pray for help.

• Talk with your sponsor.

• Practice good self-care (sleep, food etc.)

The tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us: first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemened us to go on drinking, and then by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the process. 

          - pg 22 Tweleve Staps and Twelve Traditions 

• AA has no offical medical opinion. 

• Yes, the feeling subsides. It is different for different people:

For some it is non-existent

For some its a few months

For some its years (e.g. Dr Bob)

• The culmination is described on page 85 of the book Alcoholics Anonymous:

"We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition."

• Get busy in your recovery to distract yourself.

• Go to meetings.

• Talk with other alcoholics about it.

• This is personal to you

• When first starting it is suggested to go to 90 meetings in 90 days

• If you like all the meetings you are going to, then you are not going to enough meetings

• You can never go to enough

• If you drink maybe go to more

• When in doubt, go to a meeting

• Every time you feel like drinking, go to a meeting

• Zoom meetings are now available 24/7 to go to meetings around the world: https://aa-intergroup.org/meetings

• Might depend on how long you've been sober

• This is not something that is tracked.

• When first starting there is a suggestion to go to 90 meetings in 90 days.

• Read the book Living Sober - talks about this on page 75.

• One meeting a day getting started as a minimum.

• Bridge the Gap - suggests every day for a week.

• Read the pamphlet: Q&A On Sponsorship.

• The relationship is not for life; you can get another sponsor anytime.

• Don't go without a sponsor.

• Make it your job to get another sponsor.

• Go to other meetings as well.

• Read the pamphlet: Q&A On Sponsorship.

• Go to lots of meetings.

• Ask them what sponsorship means to them and whats involved.

• Tell them what you are looking for in a sponsor.

• Find someone with time, who likes the BigBook, does service work in AA and seems to be enjoying their sobriety.

• Pray that someone be placed in your path.