Springfield: a heritage of recovery.

[sheclown]

This neighborhood ought to be very proud of the contribution it has made in people's lives for over 50 years. 

AA in the southeast actually started in downtown Jacksonville.  I have information on its history which I will share when I get some time.

But for now, I'll just share this:






This resolution was introduced by Rita Regan's husband when he was in city council back in 1993.  The center is still operational.

The text below is from an article printed in the Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Sunday, February 27, 1966 - Page 11.  Article written by Joe Sigler, Times-Union Staff Writer.

   

It was Christmas season in 1940 and two men sat at a table in an officer's home on the Jacksonville Naval Air Station drinking coffee and deep in talk.

     One was a high-ranking Navy officer, part of the NAS top command.  The other was a gaunt, forlorn looking man names Tom.  They made an unlikely couple for a social evening.

     But they had a common bond -- each was physically and emotionally addicted to alcohol.

     Yet on that night they were sober, and while they didn't realize it then, their meeting was to serve as a means for their continued sobriety and sobriety for thousands like them.

     That meeting served as the springboard for the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous in Florida and South Georgia in 1941.

     Today in the Greater Jacksonville area, AA is a fellowship of 17 groups.  It will celebrate its 25th anniversary at a public banquet in the George Washington Hotel Friday night.

    But on that night late in 1940, there were fewer than 800 members of AA nationwide.  It had been founded five years earlier in Akron, Ohio, by an ex-stock broker from New York City and an Akron surgeon.

     The nearest group to Jacksonville working the AA program then was in Atlanta.  The Navy Officer had joined the movement in California and wanted to continue to work the program with other alcoholics here.

     Soon after his assignment to Jacksonville, the officer contacted a psychiatrist, Dr. Sullivan Bedell, who had worked tirelessly with drunks. Bedell, in turn, contacted a patient, Tom, who seemed unable to stay sober for any length of time, although he apparently had a desire to stop drinking, and he arranged the meeting for the two men at the officer's home.

[sheclown]

The men's wives were there, but they and Bedell left the two alone to talk.  After several hours, during which the Navy man explained the concept of the AA program, Tom, a university graduate said:  "I want to stop and I'd like to try it your way."

     They agreed to keep in constant touch with each other and to form a group in Jacksonville.  The group -- AA's designation for a branch or unit - was formed during the first week on 1941.

     As they explained it, Tom and Junius, the officer, "began rounding up some drunks." They talked to men in jails and flop houses or men just wandering aimlessly around the missions.

     Soon they had interested about six helpless drunks in attending meetings once a week at a house on Riverside Avenue, which was loaned to them by a relative of Tom's.

     None of those six men was able to stay sober; but there never was a lack of candidates so the group kept functioning.

     "Trying to interest other drunks in our fellowship in the early days helped me stay sober." Tom recalled.

     That same year, 1941, a writer named Jack Alexander threw a national spotlight on Alcoholics Anonymous with an article in the Saturday Evening Post, telling of the efforts of the small band of alcoholics who were trying to help other alcoholics, and themselves, stay sober.

     The article triggered national interest and inquiries began to pour into AA headquarters in New York City.

     Soon after that, Lowell Clucas, a reporter for the Jacksonville Journey, localized the national story and told of the activities of Tom and Junius.  Clucas volunteered as a contact man, asking that inquires be sent to him.  He passed them on to Tom.

[sheclown]

There were three responses to his story from Jacksonville, and one from St. Augustine.  One of the men delivered his letter personally because he didn't have the money for a stamp.

     Those four men turned out to be the keystones in the AA movement in Florida.  They are all dead now, but they died sober.  Their periods of sobriety ranged from eight to 19 years.

     The Group met in the homes of members once a week, and in 1942 the management of the Old Windsor Hotel donated a meeting room where AA held on and grew for several years.  As more men and women were attracted to the program, a larger meeting room was needed, so the group began meeting in a building at 300 W. Forsyth St.

     "Our rent was $27 a month then, and I can remember we could always raise $25 but we had to dig down to come up with the other $2." Tom recalled.

[sheclown]

Between 1941 and 1945, the Jacksonville alcoholics began helping to form other groups.  The first was in Daytona Beach.  Soon they had helped establish groups in Fernandina, Waycross, Brunswick, Valdosta, Thomasville, Gainesville, Tallahassee, Orlando and St. Augustine by giving up much of their free time to talk with alcoholics in those areas.

     Although the AA program is one of attraction rather than promotion the early members were possessed with a missionary zeal - they were so happy with their new-found sobriety that they wanted to give their new way of life to everyone, even those who didn't want it or weren't ready for it.

     Tom remembered one incident that furthered the spirit.  "We went to see a man who had called us one night, but he wasn't home when we got there, so we left.   The next day we learned he had committed suicide.  This so affected some of the fellows that they were all for breaking down doors and forcing the program on people.  We have learned, however, that it isn't done that way."

     There are thousands of material success stories in AA.  Tom remembered one man who came to AA barefoot because he had pawned his shoes for a drink.  Today that man is an exceptionally successful businessman.

     By the mid-1940s there was a great upsurge of interest in AA, but it had its growing pains as well.

     "No man or woman can be forced into accepting the AA program." Tom said, "but it was so successful that non-alcoholics thought exposure to the principles would automatically induce sobriety.  I can remember one minister who ordered his entire Sunday school class to meetings.

     "And then there was an avid union official who felt his entire member should join AA.  So one night he brought every member of the union to a meeting."

     The AA fellowship in Florida today is a far cry from those early small group meetings on Riverside Avenue when a Jewish traveling salesman from Baltimore used to help the nay officer and the Jacksonville drunk stay sober when he passed through town.

     It's far removed from the days when the two men in Jacksonville almost ached to have an alcoholic drummer or tourist passing through stop by for a chat and a cup of coffee.

     A quarter of a century after that first meeting between Tom and Junius, there are estimated to be (AA keeps no record) about 1,000 men and women living in Duval County who practice the AA principles.

     The 17 local groups are among about 250 statewide with an estimated total membership of more than 5,000.

     By 1965 estimates, there are more than 7,500 groups in the United States and more than 3,000 groups in Canada and overseas.  Worldwide AA membership is estimated at more than 350,000.

[sheclown]

As of 2012, there are approximately 114,070 AA groups world wide with 2,133,842 members.

http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/smf-53_en.pdf

The Jacksonville AA group that met at the Old Windsor Hotel in 1941, with Tom and Junius, was the first registered AA group in the world.

http://neflaa.org/wiktor/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Early_History_in_Jacksonville.pdf

[ben says]

Interesting. Thanks for posting!

[sheclown]

Bill Wilson's first trip to Jacksonville was early 1942 to visit the Jacksonville group and speak with Bruce H.  Bruce was a national promoter and arranged with Gulf Life Insurance Company to provide ten 4 minute radio spots.  His radio program was a great success, bringing many local people to AA.  Due to the positive response, Bruce decided radio programs should be taken to the national level.  He received backing from Prudential and Metropolitan Life Insurance companies. He wrote to New York for their approval, prompting a visit from Bill W.  Bill W. spoke, the first of many times, to the Jacksonville group.  Twenty-five people gathered at the Seminole Hotel for the meeting and dinner, at a cost of $1.25 per person.

     During the summer of 1942 it was obvious larger meeting space was needed.  The group rented space above Martin's Feed Store, 204 East Bay Street at the corner of East Bay and Newnan Streets.  While these rooms remained open during the day, larger meetings were held across the street in Woodmen's Hall at 123 East Bay Street...

     During 1942-1946 a number of meetings were held in the same 204 E. Bay St. location.  The earliest group, "When and Where" met Sunday, 8:30 pm, the "Riverside Group", Monday 8:30 pm, "Jacksonville Group" Tuesday, 8:30 pm, "Beginner's Class" Wednesday 8:30 pm, "Springfield Group" Thursday 8:00 pm, "Downtown Group" Friday 8:00 pm ...

     Monday, May 22, 1944, the combined groups of Jacksonville held their first official annual dinner at the Windsor Hotel.  Guest speaker was Bill W.

http://neflaa.org/wiktor/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Early_History_in_Jacksonville.pdf