Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) Service

Recovery, Unity, Service — these are the Three Legacies given to the whole membership of Alcoholics Anonymous by its founders and their fellow oldtimers. Our Twelfth Step — carrying the message — is the basic service that the A.A. Fellowship gives; this is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. Therefore, A.A. is more than a set of principles; it is a society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither and those who haven’t been given the truth may die.

Hence, an A.A. service is anything whatever that helps us to reach a fellow sufferer — ranging all the way from the Twelfth Step itself to a ten-cent phone call and a cup of coffee, and to A.A.’s General Service Office for national and international action. The sum total of all these services is our Third Legacy of Service. Services include meeting places, hospital and institutions, and intergroup offices; they mean pamphlets, books, and good publicity of almost every description. They call for committees, delegates, trustees, and conferences. And, not to be forgotten, they need voluntary money contributions from within the Fellowship.

Contact your local AA office to learn about AA Hospitals and Institutions (H&I) Service. Use the links below to access information on AA Service Events, AA Service Literature, and AA Speakers talking about the benefits of doing service in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Tradition Nine of Alcoholics Anonymous states, “A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.” This tradition ensures the AA Fellowship will be able to function under all conditions. The AA Service structure is an inverted pyramid, beginning at the group level, then going to the District level and the Area level, before moving on to the national level at the General Service Conference.

AA General Service

• Each AA group can have a say in worldwide A.A. through its General Service Representative (G.S.R.).
• S.R.’s attend District Committee Meetings, bringing important issues from the group to their respective District Committee Members (D.C.M.’s).
• DCM’s attend the Area Assembly which elects an Area Delegate to the General Service Conference.
• At the General Service Conference, Area Delegates vote on agenda items brought before the General Service Board.
• From the General Service Conference, the shared experiences of all groups goes back through the Delegates......to the Assembly, where each Area Delegate reports on the Conference
• C.M.’s take information back to their committees, and G.S.R.’s report back to their individual groups.

General Services Representative (G.S.R.)

The group General Service Representative (G.S.R.) is the group’s direct link with A.A.’s General Service Conference, through which U.S. and Canadian groups share their experience and express A.A.’s collective conscience. The G.S.R. position is through district and area committees. Experience suggests that a history of group service helps in fulfilling G.S.R. responsibilities. An Alternate G.S.R. can share the function when necessary at the group, district and area levels. The following are suggested duties of the G.S.R. and Alternate G.S.R.:

• Represent the group at district and area general service assemblies.
• Keep the group members informed about A.A. General Service activities in the local area.
• Assist groups with solving problems or answering questions related to A.A.’s Traditions.
• Receive and share with groups all mail received from A.A. Service Structure entities including:

District Committee Member (DCM)

The DCM’s primarily responsibility is that of two-way communication. The DCM gets reports from the group level through GSR.s and through frequent personal contacts with the groups of the District. He/she helps the Conference Delegate cover an area that the Delegate could not otherwise cover (on a group-by-group basis). See, also, pages S31-33 of the Service Manual and the pamphlet Your DCM. The following are suggested duties of the DCM.:

• Regularly attends all district meetings, area quarterlies, and area assemblies.
• Receives reports from the groups through GSR.s and through frequent personal contacts with groups in the district.
• Holds regular meetings for all GSRs and standing committee chairs in the District.
• Helps the Conference delegate cover the area, which would be impossible for the delegate to do on a group-by-group basis.
• Assists the delegate in obtaining group information in time to meet the deadline for A.A. directories.
• Keeps GSR.s informed about Conference activities; this includes setting up opportunities for the delegate’s Conference report, occasionally making the Conference report if the delegate cannot be present, and inviting the delegate to regular District meetings.
• Makes sure that GSR.s are acquainted with The A.A. Service Manual, the Twelve Concepts for World Service, the G.S.O. bulletin Box 4-5-9, workbooks and guidelines from G.S.O., and any other service material.
• Helps GSR.s make interesting reports to groups, and encourages them to bring new A.A.
• Organizes workshops and/or sharing sessions on service activities.
• Regularly keeps in touch with the Alternate DCM and the delegate; sends district minutes to the delegate and alternate, and exchanges them with other districts.
• Makes a regular practice of talking to groups (old and new) on the responsibilities of general service work.

Area Delegate

The delegate represents the Area at the North American General Service Conference, prepares for and serves on a General Service Conference committee, effectively reports back to the area fellowship the issues and actions of the General Service Conference. The Delegate serves on the Area Committee and also attends area and state service meetings, and the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Suggested qualifications for this two-year commitment:

• Several years of active participation in local and area affairs, as a G.S.R. and as a committee member.
• Time available, not only for the week-long Conference meeting, but for all the efforts needed before and after the Conference.
• Five or six years of continuous sobriety.
• The ability to make and take suggestions—and criticism, too.
• Experience in chairing meetings.
• Knowledge of A.A. affairs, and of where to find the correct information when they do not know the answers.
• Thorough familiarity with the Twelve Traditions and the Twelve Concepts and how they apply to local problems.
• The ability to be open-minded, to sit down with A.A.s in the area and with other delegates to discuss and act on matters vital to A.A.

For more information on AA Service, feel free to download the AA Service Manual.

The General Service Conference

The General Service Conference is the practical means by which the Group conscience can express itself in matters that concern the AA Fellowship as a whole. The existence of the General Service Conference is moreover a guarantee that the Fellowship will be able to function under all conditions. It is, in effect, the successor to the founders of AA, ensuring the continuity of the work within the framework of the Twelve Traditions. The General Service Conference means both the service structure of: AA groups, Intergroups, Regions, the General Service Council and the General Service Board; and also the annual meeting of Conference delegates.

Group Level Service

There are many areas you can do service work at the group level. Depending upon the area or your meetings, some might be:

• Making coffee
• Setting up and cleaning up the room
• Literature Person/Grapevine Representative
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Archivist
• Sponsorship coordinator
• Meeting Leader
• Greeter – stand at door to welcome members as they arrive
• Usher – for larger meetings
• Generally - coming early and staying late
• ASL Interpreter
• Helping to find and arrange speakers
• Birthday or Cake person for special occasions
• Speak or serve on a meeting panel
• Recording speakers (at large speaker meetings)
• Zoom moderator for online meetings
• Babysitting, if offered at meeting
• Pick up a newcomer, or someone who needs a ride to a meeting
• Sponsorship or temporary sponsorship
• 12 step calls (ALWAYS accompanied by another member in recovery)
• Answer phones at Central Office (or remotely, if offered in your city)
• Calling/reaching out to newcomers

Open positions are normally announced by the meeting secretary but you may always inquire if you are interested. You can also find out more about being of service at the group level in the pamphlet The AA Group – Where it All Begins.

Hospitals and Institutions (H&I)

Ever since A.A.’s co-founders first stayed sober by carrying the A.A. message into hospitals in 1935, many other alcoholics have discovered the great value to their own sobriety of working with suffering alcoholics in hospitals and other institutions (H&I). Today many A.A. meetings take place in various hospital and institutional settings all over the world, including but not limited to treatment and rehab facilities; jails, prisons and youth camps; hospitals; crisis houses; psych facilities; detox facilities; recovery homes and more.

There are many officers and volunteers doing a variety of H&I tasks: raising money, purchasing and distributing literature and administering and putting on all those H&I panels. H&I didn’t start out this way but has evolved to bring tens of thousands of meetings each year into thousands of treatment and correction facilities each year.

Service to treatment facilities used to be combined with service to corrections facilities under the title Institutions Committee. In 1977 the General Service Conference voted to dissolve its Institutions Committee and form two new committees, one on Correctional Facilities and one on Treatment Facilities.  Feel free to download these pamphlets to learn more about Carrying the Message into Correction Facilities and AA in Treatment Settings.