At a time like this, before thinking about today or tomorrow, old-timers like Lois and me think about the past. I think that a keyword by which you might convey some little part of what has happened might be the word communication, now so much in the forefront of our minds. When you think about it, AA is a unique means of communication: our lives depend on communication, our unity depends on communication; our function depends on communication. Everything has hung on this business of communication. And I can think back on a time where there was virtually none. Lois and I were isolated, drawing further apart, each in retreat, no communication. Dr. Silkworth makes a communication, it takes some hold on us. My sponsor sits across the kitchen table where there was no coffee- in those days it was gin- and then the unique communication starts, one drunk talking with another. So it has been a story of communication.
Service Opportunities in the Tri-Valley
Why Be of Service?
Tradition One says it best! “Our common welfare should come first, personal recovery depends on AA unity.”
Service positions help to spread the message to our other member groups and maintain a sense of “giving away” our spirituality to others who may need it more than we realize.
And we in AA, know that in order to keep our wonderful spiritual base we must give it away. Volunteer to be “of service” today and expand your horizon.
Workshops Help Us Learn More About Alcoholics Anonymous
The most vital, yet least understood, group of services that AA has are those that enable us to function as a whole…our worldwide unity and mch of our growth since early times are directly traceable to this cluster of life-giving activities. [excerpt from AA Service Manual, Appendix A, Legacies of Service, written by Bill W] We learn these things in workshops in the Valley Service area.
Since Oldtimers Can't Live On Forever, Workshops Help Assist Newer Members With Learning The Foundation
Questions are often asked by newer members and answered by oldtimers who may have slanted their own ideas derived from mistaken notions.
VSC Workshops help us to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the why’s of different AA traditions based on solid information as well as varyied discussions.
Improve Your Ability to Help Carry The Message
The mission of the Valley Service Center is to assist the member AA groups in the TriValley in their primary purpose of carrying the message to the alcoholic ho still suffers. The AA Groups came first and established the Valley Intergroup Service Council to be of service to the groups.