Author: Cushing P

The Strange Camels Group meets Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm for a closed meeting. All meetings are non-smoking.

History:

“They sometimes say all you need is a resentment and a coffeepot to start a new group. Drop the resentment, keep the coffeepot, and you had a new group in town. That group was Strange Camels, which started July 1, 2003 at Immanual Presbyterian Church Annex.” The name derives from Bill W.’s early writings where an alcoholic in A.A. is compared to a “Strange Camel” because they both start the day on their knees, can go 24 hours without a drink, and end the day on their knees.

The group started with six homegroup members who were looking for a smaller, more intimate group. The group’s conscience voted to divide the meeting when there are more than 24 people to afford this intimacy, and to allow each person a chance to share.

They now have a core home group of 22, and emphasize staying in the solution and adhering to the 12 Traditions.

The Tradition Three Group meets Monday through Friday at 11:00 am for an open meeting. All meetings are non-smoking.

History:

The Tradition Three group was first listed with the GSO on June 17, 1992. At that time, Carolyn C. served as the GSR and there were five group members. Open meetings were held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays on Mendel Parkway in Montgomery. The Tradition Three Group first appeared in the 1993-94 A.A. Directory.

G.S.O. Archives

The Sole Purpose Group meets at 7:30 pm, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night. All meetings are closed. The doors open at 7 pm for fellowship. All meetings at the Sole Purpose Group are non-smoking.

History:

The first piece of correspondence that the GSO received from the Sole Purpose Group was a letter dated September 4, 1985. Jeri M., who served as the GSR at the time, wrote the following: “We would like to register with you as an official A.A. Group. We held our first meeting on 21 August 1985. We elected a GSR, Secretary and Steering Committee. Any informational help from headquarters would be most appreciated.”

According to a new group information form from September 6, 1985, regular meetings were held on Sunday – Saturday at 22 N. California Street.  Jeri M. served as the GSR and there were sixteen members.  The Sole Purpose Group first appeared in the 1986 A.A. Directory.

G.S.O. Archives

Visit the Sole Purpose Group at it’s new location. They moved in February of 2024 to Fraser Church at 6000 Atlanta Hwy, Room 3103 Montgomery AL 36117. We meet on Thursday at 6:30pm for Literature study of the Big Book and 12&12. Sunday we meet at 6:30 pm for a Discussion meeting. Both meetings are Closed and Non-Smoking.

The Living Sober Group meets Monday and Wednesday at 6:00 pm for a closed discussion meeting. All meetings are non-smoking.

History:

The Living Sober Group began as an A.A. meeting at the treatment facility inside St. Margaret’s Hospital in downtown Montgomery. The meeting was started in September, 1984, by Pal G., a recovered alcoholic who served as the Public Relations Director for the treatment facility.  At that time, A.A. members from the community were not allowed to attend.

The group registered with GSO in February, 1985.  At that time, the group met at several locations inside the hospital. They moved from St. Margaret’s to the First Alabama Bank building on Adams Street, where they rented the bank’s second-floor office space, which included a waiting room and two smaller meeting rooms. The group met there from November, 1985 until November, 1986, when the bank asked the group to move.

Buddy S., the GSR, contacted Rev. Mark Waldo, the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, and the church welcomed the group at their Clanton Avenue fellowship house. With this move, the group fully ended its relationship with the St. Margaret’s Treatment Unit.

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The Living Sober Group registered with GSO on February 5, 1985. At that time the group met in St. Margaret’s Hospital in Montgomery. Meeting times were Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 pm, and Saturdays at 3 pm.  Pal G. served as the GSR and there were 45 members. In November, 1986, Buddy S. informed GSO that the group would be located at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Montgomery. Group change forms reveal that the group once again changed their meeting location from the church on Clanton Avenue to [their present location] South Hull Street. The Living Sober Group first appeared in the 1985 A.A. Directory.

G.S.O. Archives

The Happy Hour Group meets three times a day Monday through Friday, at 6:30 am, noon, and 6:00 pm. They have a noon meeting on Saturdays, and a noon and a 6 pm meeting on Sundays. They have an open speaker meeting at 8 pm on the first Friday of every month. The Happy Hour Group also houses the District 8 Archives.

History:

In January or February, 2006, a group of about 15 men from the Fellowship Group met on a Wednesday evening at 6 pm at the Oak Grove Community Center because there was no meeting on Wednesday night at the Fellowship Group. They would walk through the twelve steps together using the Big Book. They decided that it would be great if they had their own meeting place. Thus the seed was planted, and Dan K. started to look for a place.

He found the storefront where Happy Hour still meets in the Eastdale Mall area. The founding members of the group were Dennis R., Sean H., Brian W., Richard A., Mike G., Dan K., Paul I., Matt, Randal, and Christy H. The first meeting was held sometime at the end of May, 2006, attended by five or six people. After a host of work fixing the place, a Grand Opening speaker meeting was held during the middle of June, 2006.  The speakers were Don T. and Joe “Hollywood” S. Over 150 people attended, with a closed-circuit television bringing the speakers to the back room.

From that core group of eight to ten members when the group started they have grown to over 100 members on their phone list. They hold up to three meetings a day, 365 days a year.  In the beginning they were lucky if three people came to the noon meetings. Today there are as many as fifty.

The Legacies Group meets every weekday at noon; Wednesday and Friday at 8 pm; Sunday at 9 am. All meetings are non-smoking.

Legacies also hosts the monthly Intergroup meeting at 8:00 am and the District 8 meeting at 9:30 am on the first Saturday of each month.

The Fellowship group has 6 meetings weekly. These include two book studies, a beginners meeting, closed discussion, and an open speaker meeting. There is a women’s only meeting on Sunday night.  All meetings are non-smoking. There is an Al-Anon Family Group that meets in the gymnasium at the same time on Sunday (2 pm), Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  See the meeting schedule for details.

History:

The Fellowship group of Alcoholics Anonymous was formed February 1997 by a few members from another group. These few AA members decided to start a meeting on the East side of town. The Fellowship group met at a treatment center off Atlanta Hwy on Mendel Pkwy. They met there for about two years and in 1998 had to relocate.. A committee found a room available in a church on Bell Road. Once again growth came and after 2 years there was in need of a larger space.

In the year 2000 they moved to 5 Bell Road, Montgomery AL. to a  church annex where they continue to meet. The Fellowship group continues to grow and over the years have added more meetings to their schedule.

The Fellowship group of Alcoholics Anonymous in District 8, Area 1 welcomes all and hope you keep coming back, one day at a time!

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The Fellowship Group was originally known as the Bell Street Group.

G.S.O. Archives