- The views and opinions expressed

during this podcast are

those of our guests.

No one person speaks for A.A. as a whole.

- So in a lot of ways

I think of these stories

as a new doorway that

leads into the same room.

- Provide hope and identification,

making them feel like

they belong here as well.

- Service was just like

delicious. I loved it.

- We need this now, not

later. We need this yesterday.

- The first is my tribal

community, which gave me life.

And then the second

of course is the A.A. fellowship,

which saved my life.

- Even though Alcoholics

Anonymous has been around

for 90 years, we're still

evolving and changing.

When the Fellowship of

Alcoholics Anonymous communicates

that action must be taken for the message

to be more accessible, this

is known as an expressed need.

In this episode, we will be

exploring a few examples of

how expressed needs are

communicated and fulfilled in A.A.

My name is Nathan and I'm an

alcoholic. Welcome to GSO.

While there are no special

alcoholics, there are alcoholics

who experience barriers to

accessing the A.A. message.

When we provide shared

experience from A.A. members from

different walks of life

and facing various

challenges, we give hope

to the newcomer out there who

might feel isolated and alone.

We tell them, you too can recover.

By the spring of 2024, GSO

had been receiving more

and more inquiries from

the fellowship on how

to better communicate the A.A. program

to neurodivergent members.

Neurodivergent is a term

that describes people whose

brains process information

differently than most people.

Neurodivergent people may

have different strengths

and challenges than people

whose brains develop more

typically. The term

neurodivergent can include those

with autism, ADHD,

dyslexia, OCD, Down syndrome,

and Tourette syndrome to name a few.

In response to this

expressed need, the Treatment

and Accessibility Staff

Coordinator made a request

to the fellowship for shared

experience on the subject in

order to help members carry the message.

The response from the fellowship proved

incredibly beneficial.

One email that was received

included an open letter

to Neurotypical Alcoholics.

This was written by Six H.

- Thank you for having me.

- Who at the time was a

District Accessibilities chair.

Here's Six sharing an

excerpt of their letter.

- We're the quiet ones.

We're the loud ones.

We're the ones you wish would be quiet,

the ones you wonder why

they never talk, the ones

who won't stop moving,

the ones who daydream,

the ones with childish

or obsessive interests.

We're the neurodivergents

and we walk among you.

We try to conform to fit

in, but we tend to stand out

or to not be seen.

You've probably met many of us,

but you didn't know what

you were looking at.

You were most likely

frustrated with us or annoyed.

You couldn't understand how

anyone could act like that.

Our personalities

and presentations are across the spectrum,

just like the varied histories

of many an alcoholic,

the same but different.

We can be alcoholics, we

can suffer from alcoholism.

We can recover from a

hopeless state of mind

and body through the 12

steps, the Fellowship

of Alcoholics Anonymous

and a higher power of

our own understanding.

We can be a small part of a

great whole if you make space

for us, please make space for us.

- Thank you so much for sharing

that piece with us, Six.

Would you mind sharing a

bit about what brought you

to the rooms of Alcoholics

Anonymous in the first place?

- Sure. I was introduced

to Alcoholics Anonymous

in a psychiatric hospital.

I was on the psych side.

I wasn't there for rehab or detox,

but a group leader didn't show up

and a guy, one of the techs, got up

and gave his lead instead.

And he talked about his

relationship with alcohol

and it blew my mind

because I had never heard anyone

talk about alcohol the way

that I drank.

And he said that he worked the Fellowship

of Alcoholics Anonymous.

So I decided to come and check out A.A.

and I came in here and the

very first meeting I went to

a lady shared that she

deals with extra issues.

So not only did I find

people who drink the same way

that I do, but also deal with extra issues

and were a part of this fellowship.

- Were you expecting to find

other individuals that dealt

with other issues in

addition to alcoholism?

- I was very surprised by that.

That was the biggest thing.

I've known lots of people who

struggle with lots of stuff,

but not anybody that

had actually been able

to use the 12 steps and

be active in service

and do all the things that

Alcoholics Anonymous offers

and be able to be useful and helpful.

And even though I still deal

with those extra issues,

find ways to manage them so

that I still can be helpful

and useful in my own way.

- Yeah, helpful and useful.

In your letter you, you wrote

about a desire to be useful

and for a lot of us in A.A. I find that

that's a universal

desire to be of service.

And what is being involved

in general service in

A.A. been like for you?

What's the experience been like?

- At first it was utterly terrifying.

I'm very lucky

that my first sponsor was very

thorough in the traditions

as well as the steps,

and they basically put me

to work without me even knowing it.

They took me to area and

they said, stand here

and hand out these flyers.

At the time I rarely talked

and I darn sure did not

talk willingly to people

and I was like, this

isn't something I can do.

And she was like, yeah, it is.

Just hold out your hand with

the flyer in it. That's it.

And that was my introduction into service.

And like you feel it's

such a little thing.

It's such a little thing to

stand there and hand out flyers,

but it makes you a part of

and for somebody that has

never been a part of that

was really helpful.

- Wow. Wow. So you said at

that time you weren't talking very much.

And here we are on a podcast

and all we're doing is talking.

- Well, I've been in the

fellowship of A.A. for 15 years.

I have 10 years sober.

My sobriety date is April 26th, 2015.

It's taken me a long time

to get where I am now,

but when I was seven, they wanted

to put me in an institution

and leave me there.

And now I have my own place.

I draw and illustrate and bright

and am active in A.A.

and also with some autism

services here, I get

to be a big part of this world

and I get to give back

instead of always taking

- Sounds like service was a very positive

experience from the jump

- Service was just like delicious.

I loved it.

My first area, I was

terrified of everything there,

but it was amazing to watch

our like business side

of the fellowship, how

people would go up to the mic

and have strong opinions,

but yet everybody still

stayed like cordial and nice

and genuine with each other.

They weren't just faking stuff

and having these conversations

like- It was amazing

to know more about that's going on

and that's available for us

who do much better in the

service structure than in

the meeting side. Yeah.

- What was the impetus behind

writing the open letter?

- Well, one, there was a call out

for Neurodivergent stories.

- How did that feel to know

that the general service office was asking

for shared experience from

Neurodivergent members?

- Really fricking cool. Like

I got- Yes, it was so cool.

And then somebody responded to

it like that was like, yeah,

that was cool.

But my last sponsor has

been really instrumental in

giving me the confidence

to stand up for things

that I need, like the

hugging and handshakes.

I always used to just go along with that

because that seemed to

be what everybody did.

And so I just went along with it.

Well, hugs feel like fire to

me. I don't like them at all.

I don't find comfort in them,

but he gave me permission to say no.

In fact, he told me, you will say no.

And when I started doing that,

people figured out pretty

quickly that I'm not a hugger.

So I wanted to let other

neurodivergents know

that this fellowship is open to them,

but we have to put our

own boundaries in place

and we have to be willing to enforce them.

But if we do that just for a little bit,

everyone else will figure it out.

Now people don't come up to hug me,

or if they do, they ask politely first.

- What do you think

A.A. as a whole could do

to improve accessibility to the message

for neurodivergent members

and potential members?

- That whole accepting thing, right?

Just being accepting

that we're gonna come in

and be a bit different and that's not bad.

Allowing for weirdness in your

meetings that people get up

and move around and that's okay.

That different communication

methods are needed

sometimes. There's nothing wrong

with somebody playing on their phone

or a lot of meetings are

far too overwhelming,

they're far too loud and chaotic

and I really can't be present for them,

but I can be present if I put

in my headphones and draw.

So I'm still in there with you all.

I just can't be there at the same level

that you guys are at, but

I still wanna be a part of.

- Well, we are really grateful

and fortunate that you're willing

and able to speak with us today.

- Thank you.

- For more information about A.A.

please visit our website at aa.org.

- Let's explore another example of

how expressed need is communicated

to the General Service Office.

A suggestion was made

to have the pamphlet

titled The A.A. Group,

Where it All Begins interpreted

into American Sign Language.

This would mean that an ASL interpreter

or interpreters would be filmed

interpreting the pamphlet

and that video would be

available to the public. In order

to better understand this expressed need

a meeting was held online with Kelley,

the Accessibilities Staff

Coordinator at the time,

and 11 deaf A.A. members

to discuss this very topic.

You'll hear the voice

of a professional ASL interpreter.

When the group was asked

if the pamphlet should be

interpreted into ASL,

the answer was unanimous.

- Yes, absolutely. I love the idea.

In my opinion, the pamphlet needs

to be interpreted into ASL. Yes.

- In order to properly this express need,

we need to know why.

- Because we in the deaf community,

we rely so much on the visual

because it's our primary language.

You know, ASL is our first language

with the facial expressions.

- You know, when you look

at the English sentences,

it's really hard for us deaf folks

to really understand complete concepts.

And that's all I wanna

share. Does anybody else?

- It's five years out of COVID,

we're still seeing

struggles about learning how

to run a healthy meeting.

We need this now, not later.

We need this yesterday.

So we need to get this

passed when it comes to...

- And we are

reminded why it's important

to hear directly from those A.A. members

with the expressed need.

- Oftentimes hearing

people are making decisions

for the deaf community.

And that's something

important to be mindful of,

that if we do go ahead

with making these videos,

it is important to check

with the deaf community,

the deaf members, to make

sure the signs are correct...

- Thank you for coordinating this meeting,

and Kelley, I appreciate you

recognizing your hearing

privilege, and that means a lot.

- We've now heard a couple examples of

how needs are expressed in A.A.

So let's explore how

expressed needs are fulfilled.

When an expressed need is brought

to the General Service Conference

as a proposed agenda item

and is passed, working groups

are established made up

of Appointed Committee

Members (ACMs) with backgrounds

that may best serve the

fulfillment of that expressed need.

I had a chat with two ACMs

as they began the process

of creating new AAWS publications.

I'm sitting down with Manisha G.

and Brian P. who are both

Appointed Committee Members.

Manisha, you're an

Appointed Committee Member

to lead the working group for the pamphlet

for the trans alcoholic.

And Brian, you're an

Appointed Committee Member

to lead the working group for

the pamphlet for the Asian

and Asian American alcoholic.

- Yes.

- Thank you both for joining us today.

- Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

- Could you walk us through

what these working groups are doing?

What is the process for

creating a new A.A. pamphlet?

Manisha, we will start with you.

The idea of creating a resource

for trans alcoholics has come

up for the past five years

or so in proposed agenda items,

and in 2024, the conference

passed an advisory action

to create a pamphlet

for the trans alcoholic.

This brings us to today.

- Yeah. So the main part of

the pamphlet will be stories

from people in the community,

specifically in this case

it's people who identified

as trans, which is a pretty umbrella term,

but it's more basically gender diverse.

It's an umbrella term for

like, you don't identify

with the sex you're born with.

So the working group members

are part of that community.

And the purpose of the pamphlet is

to help the person who's not here. Right?

- Yeah. Brian? - And the deadline

March 31st, 2026.

And up until then, our focus

is really on outreaching

and helping people write their stories

through writing workshops

and solicit as many stories as we can.

- So we've been talking on

the podcast about the service

structure and, and the

upside down triangle.

So in the end, who gets the final, say?

Who gets to press send?

- So everything that the

working group does result in

recommendations from the working group

to the trustees literature committee.

And so the literature committee

makes the final decisions,

but they will be relying

on us to inform them

and provide input from the community.

- Absolutely. The point is

that why the working group is,

is in the community is

because we are connected

to the community and we understand the

barriers and the challenges.

And so our, part of our job is

to actually outreach to them,

people in the community

who have, who have stories

of recovery that can really

help with our primary purpose.

- We're really trying to

choose a group of people

that are very diverse geographically.

And for the Asian

pamphlet, since it covers

so many different ethnicities

and cultures, we wanna have a diversity

of cultures there too, so

that all of us will be able

to reach out to the widest

range of people possible.

- Cool. Yeah.

- What are you looking for in stories?

- First you have to remember what is the

purpose of the pamphlet, right?

It's purpose of the

pamphlet is to provide hope

and identification,

making them feel like they

belong here as well, right?

And so we are looking for

stories that can achieve

that goal, but we also

want the stories that,

that are really grounded

in AA principles, right?

Because I think the, the need

for the pamphlet came about

because the fellowship

identified a lot of barriers

for our community to access the

message of recovery and hope.

So we are looking for stories

which can give members

that hope that you can, you

can overcome those barriers.

- We wanna hear from anyone

with Asian or Asian American

or Asian Canadian heritage

throughout our service structure

in the US and Canada.

Whether you're in a big city

or small city, I think it's

important for us to get

as diverse a range of stories as we can.

I think in many ways,

you know, we're looking

for what's typical in

every good A.A. story.

You know, I think

out of each individual

that might be thinking

about submitting a story,

what we would want is for

them to be just very open

and very honest.

And then ultimately what

we really want is the hope

that comes from recovery.

- I think it's interesting

what you said about looking

for stories that's good

with any A.A. story, right?

Why is it important to create literature

that reflects different

kinds of lived experiences?

- I think having that

identification is so important

because, you know, alcoholism

is what we are here for, right?

That's is, that is the

main identification.

But if you are not feeling

like there's somebody like you

here, then it's really hard to stay.

And so if you have a pamphlet

that's really assuring,

there's also guidance for others.

Like not only just

people in the community,

but also for sponsors,

because there's a lot of there

that people may not be aware

of and may not know how to navigate.

So it's helpful for people

who are trying to help them,

like sponsors or even professionals

to read those pamphlet

and see, look from their stories

and say, what's worked?

What's not worked. Yeah.

- Brian,

- Do you have anything you wanna

- Share?

You know, those of us who have been

around A.A. a long time are

more familiar with it,

know very well that A.A. works

across a lot of cultures

and all types of people.

Anyone who walks through

the door, we can help

and is welcome, but somebody

coming for the first time

when they walk into a room,

it's just a very small

group in their community.

And sometimes people don't

live in diverse communities,

you know, if somebody's an Asian person,

they might be the only one there.

And sometimes there's

cultural misconceptions.

Some people don't think it's a problem

that Chinese people can have.

You know, having the pamphlet

available, you know, on a rack,

you know, through the aa.org website.

Or when somebody searches

for Asian American Alcoholics

Anonymous to see a pamphlet,

then they'll know immediately

that, oh, we're here.

We belong. There's been

Asians in Alcoholics Anonymous

for a very long time.

And that could help overcome some barriers

that people might have coming in.

- That's great. That's really helpful.

What are you really looking

forward to with these projects?

- I'm looking forward to

working with the working group,

with the workshops,

hearing a lot of stories.

And as Brian said, like, you

know, as I'm hearing some

of the stories from even

my working group members

or other people we are gonna

hear, I'm realising, oh my God,

my story is not that unique.

Because I used to always

think, oh my god, you know,

I'm the classic trans person.

Like always kept it secret.

I was lying all the time and,

and that's why I drank, which is true.

You know, I was not living

honestly, so I was drinking a lot

and I was like, that was my unique story.

But then I was like, that's everybody's,

that's a textbook story.

So it's kind of comforting

at the same time to know

that, like that ident.

So I'm also healing in

that process myself,

and I think that's very powerful.

- We, of course, do everything

to assure anonymity is

protected in these stories.

That's incredibly important when sharing

anything from members.

But I imagine there may be some

folks who would be hesitant

to share just because of the

content of their stories.

Maybe they're from a very small community,

they feel like certain aspects

of their story could

compromise their anonymity.

Is there anything we can do

to further ensure it's protected?

- No, that's a very good question. I think

it's a big concern as well.

I think we wanna make it also very clear.

We make sure that any information

that could be identifiable

will be removed.

So we wanna be able to protect people's

anonymity as much as we can. Yeah.

- What if an A.A. member

wants to submit a story,

but they submit it in

a different language?

Would you still accept

the story as a submission?

- Yes. We would be very interested

in those stories as well.

Actually, any stories from any members,

however they can turn them in.

Our conference operates

in English, French,

and Spanish, so we always

accept those stories.

For other ones, you know,

some arrangements might need

to be made, but we encourage them

to email us at the story

submission email address,

which is pamphletstories@aa.org.

That's no spaces or punctuation,

just pamphlet stories

or literature@aa.org.

And we will accept

handwritten stories too.

- That's good to know.

- You know, a lot of times I think

of these pamphlets that

we have, like Black

in AA, we have a pamphlet

for Indigenous People in A.A.,

women, Hispanic women,

people in the armed

services, just to name a few.

You read through those

pamphlets from the cover,

it identifies a certain type of person,

but where the stories

always end up is in A.A.

where we're all together.

So in, in a lot of ways,

I think of these stories

as a new doorway that

leads into the same room.

You know, just like a

welcome mat towards a,

a particular community.

While we are all the same as alcoholics,

we do have different experiences.

Having a resource where people can see

that people struggled in the same way,

but still found a solution

in A.A. can give hope.

- Brian Manisha, thank you

so much for joining us today.

- Thank you so much.

- Yes.

Thank you for having us

- To find a meeting near

you or a meeting online

download the Meeting Guide

app on your mobile device.

- And finally, what's it

like to be on the other side

of fulfilling an expressed need in A.A.?

After the countless hours

of service on a given

project has concluded

after the action is implemented.

For this experience, I spoke

with one more ACM.

We're sitting down with Jerry R.,

an Appointed Committee Member

who led the working group

for updating the pamphlet, now known

as Indigenous People in A.A.

Thank you for joining us, Jerry.

- Thank you, Nathan. It's

wonderful to be here.

- What was the process like

to work on updating the pamphlet?

- As any experience I've had

in service working Alcoholics

Anonymous, certainly a

process of growth for me,

just really an incredible

experience to first of all work

with the Trustees Literature Committee

and be able to reach out

to the indigenous community

within the A.A. fellowship.

And first of all, invite

people to come aboard

and form that working group

and go through the process

of organizing in order

to come up with something

that served the indigenous

community more effectively.

And then the other opportunity

for really spiritual growth

was just putting the call out

for stories and watching

the fellowship step forward.

It took some time, as things

often do in Indian country,

for those stories to come forward.

We had to reissue the

invitation, the, the call

for stories a couple different times.

But once they started

coming in, it was really a,

an interesting process

to see the diversity even

within the indigenous community,

the stories, the experience,

and just the understanding

that people gain about

themselves, about recovery

and even about their

heritage as they recover.

- You said that you had to call

for submissions a few different times?

- Correct.

- Why is that?

- When you think about it, a lot

of the indigenous community are in rural

settings, and they aren't as plugged in

as many people are in,

in more urban settings.

Although there are, you

know, the, the largest part

of the indigenous

population is urban today,

but there are still

so many out there in

those smaller communities

that not only do we need to hear from,

but who need to hear from us as well.

And so that interaction always takes time.

We, we call it Indian time,

and when you, when you combine Indian time

with A.A. time, things slow down.

- Yeah. It takes some time.

- It's a very

spiritual experience.

- And those that were chosen,

- Yes.

- What kind of range of experiences

or locations did it come from?

Could you speak a little bit to that?

- Yeah, we, every single

story represents a different

indigenous community.

Towards the end we recognized

that whether it was someone

who worked on the committee

or someone who submitted a story,

there were 32 different

indigenous nations involved in the

production of this

version of the pamphlet.

- Why did the pamphlet need to be updated?

- What happens to much

of our literature is

that it gets outdated over time.

And some of the stories in

particular in the Indigenous

Peoples or at that time was A.A.

for the Native North American pamphlet.

Just the title alone

was an issue for a lot

of the indigenous community

in Canada, for instance.

And that was one of the

first discussions that we had

as a working group was, okay,

what are we gonna call this?

And the Canadian folks

who were on our committee

were very, very clear

that they didn't consider

themselves to be North Americans,

that they were fine with

indigenous or aboriginal.

So we stuck with

Indigenous People in A.A.,

and that was the first

discussion that we had.

And, and it was an important

one because this is about inclusion,

and we want to start with

that from the get go.

- Why is it important to create literature

that reflects different

kinds of experiences?

- That's a great question there.

So I've been in service

work for some time,

and I have heard a fair

amount of people suggest

that we don't need as many

pamphlets as we have, that

what people need to do when

they get to A.A. is just identify

with the fact that they're an alcoholic

and work toward our common

solution and recover.

But what I've come to see,

and the way I've come to understand it, is

that pamphlets aren't necessarily intended

for the fellowship

currently in the program.

Our pamphlets are a tool for outreach.

And so for instance, I was

going through treatment

and was really not sure

if I was an alcoholic.

I sobered up in 1990

and the A.A.

for the Native North

American pamphlet came out

in the late eighties.

So it was pretty fresh off

the press when I saw it on

that table at the treatment

center, I picked it up

and coming off of the reservation,

there's a lot of fear.

There's a lot of anxiety

having been raised on the

reservation in that culture

with that understanding

that off the reservation,

there's a whole new world

that I don't fit into.

But when I went to recover,

A.A. was part of that

outside world, and it was intimidating.

It was scary. It was,

and people say, well, yeah,

it's scary for all of us.

Yeah, it is. But when

you come from a culture

where there are things

like cultural trauma,

intergenerational trauma,

and everything that tells

you that you are separate,

you are different.

You have been singled out,

it's hard to get over that.

What a lot of people don't understand is

that we have the thresholds

to our rooms that people have

to cross over in order for us

to be able to work with them.

Outside of that threshold

there's this big mound

of fear that they have

to find some way to get over.

And what these pamphlets are

designed for is to help them

to be that guide over that mound

of fear that's in front of 'em.

And that's what that pamphlet did

for me at that treatment center.

I read those stories,

and though they didn't speak

exactly to my situation,

I had enough of an opportunity

to identify with them

that I had just a small

window of hope, enough to say,

maybe this will work for me.

Maybe if this person from this

reservation found recovery

here and this person has a

better life from this tribe.

It opened the door just a

little bit wider for me,

and it reduced the size

of that mound of fear

that I had to get over.

So it brought me to the doors

and threw the door of

Alcoholics Anonymous.

It's a great tool for inside the rooms,

but it's a fantastic tool

for outside of the rooms.

That's why it's so important, I think.

- Excellent. This revision

just came out in 2025.

I'm sure you've gotten a fair amount

of feedback from the fellowship by now.

- Yeah. - Anything about

the impact that it's made?

- Yeah, it's, well, it's

made some people cry. Yeah.

In good ways. Yeah.

Just immediately the feedback

has been very, very positive.

The indigenous fellowship

has it very warmly,

and actually, I can tell you that everyone

that I've heard back from who has read it

and gotten past that beautiful

cover have responded just

so positively about it.

- The cover is beautiful. I

was just talking about that.

- The cover actually

does incorporate a lot

of indigenous traditional elements.

It contains sky, earth, water, plant life,

and living things.

The dragonfly that is on the cover,

pretty much any indigenous culture,

the dragonfly represents

healing and transformation,

and we felt that that

was very appropriate.

Then there were four flowers

on the bottom representing the,

the sacred number four.

And so we, we, we jazzed

it up a little bit.

As a indigenous community,

- Has there been any aspect

of working on the project

that's had a strong impact

on you and your sobriety?

- The impact has been it, it's hard

to find words for it,

but I can tell you that the sense

that I got on a personal

level of being able

to give something back

to really two different communities

that have meant so much to me.

The first is my tribal

community, which gave me life.

And then the second,

of course is the A.A. fellowship,

which saved my life.

And just to know that I've

been given that chance,

however the end result is

received, the opportunity

to give back and to be asked

to step into this has been tremendous.

It was just a tremendous

experience to connect

with Indigenous People from

all over U.S. and Canada,

and to share not only our

love for Alcoholics Anonymous,

but our, our heritage as well,

and just our understanding of

how closely intertwined those can be, that

the entire working group stepped

away from this project at

the end with hearts just

brimming with gratitude.

I know each one of us

walks back into our A.A.

community and our indigenous community

with a lot more desire to

continue to carry this message.

Because of this experience,

- You have an obvious

connection to this piece

of literature, which you've

worked so hard on for so long.

Besides the pamphlet, do

you have a favorite piece

of A.A. literature?

- Mm, A passage on the

fourth step of the 12 and 12.

It's a simple little passage,

but it describes to me what the voice

of my disease sounds like,

and it's that line that says,

pride says you need not pass this way.

Fear says, you dare not look.

And what A.A. tells me is, yes you can.

- Jerry, thank you so much

for sharing your time with us.

- Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you.

- The pamphlets, Indigenous People in A.A.

and Access to A.A.,

where members share on overcoming

barriers, can be found on

aa.org and the A.A. online

bookstore. ASL and LSQ

interpretations of A.A. literature

can be found at aa.org as well

as the Alcoholics Anonymous

World Services YouTube page.

If you would like to submit

a story for consideration

for the pamphlets for the

trans alcoholic, or Asian

and Asian American alcoholic,

please email pamphletstories@aa.org

or literature@aa.org.

Deadline for submissions

is March 31st, 2026.

- Thank you for listening

to Our Primary Purpose,

a podcast produced by the

General Service Office on behalf

of the Fellowship of

Alcoholics Anonymous in the US

and Canada.