Service Work

Home	Remember, when anyone, anywhere reaches out for help,                           I want the "Hand of AA" always to be there - for that                                                ....I AM RESPONSIBLE.
	Why is AA volunteer work called "12th Step Work?"         THE 12th STEP:  Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.   *  Maybe if we replaced the word "work" with "rewards", more people would get involved? Service work can be tremendously rewarding!  Just ask someone who takes advantage of it!    *  Consider how many times the word "we" is used throughout our literature.  The reason for this is that we are a fellowship of recovering alcoholics working together to help another person suffering from alcoholism.        The next time you're at an AA meeting or the next time you call your local AA office, ask "what can I do to help?"  Please consider sharing your Experience, Strength & Hope.  There are a number of ways an AA member can help, here  are just a few ways we can give back what was so freely given to us:
	1.  Local Meeting Volunteer - A member can show up early to help make coffee, setup chairs, put out ashtrays etc..., or stay after a meeting to help clean up.  Other opportunities to help include getting speakers and leading meetings.   2.  Correctional Facilities - There are many fellow alcoholics who are in jails & prisons in the United States and do not have the benefit of attending whatever meeting they want.  We can help by: Volunteering to attend a meeting "inside". For some institutions this entails attending a volunteer certification, and once approved, you can attend meetings that are held inside the correctional facility. With their permission, provide local correctional facilities with much needed AA materials, such as AA Speaker Cassette Tapes, "Big Books" and other AA approved literature. Correspond with an AA inmate through the Corrections Correspondence Service. Volunteer to make sure a newly released inmate gets to a local AA meeting the same day he or she is released. Volunteer to serve on the Correctional Facilities Committee. The CFC helps serve as a liaison between the local AA Groups and the local correctional facilities. Coordinate AA speakers for some of their meetings.   3.  AA Trusted servants - General Service Representative (GSR) - represent your "Home Group" at the local district level as a GSR. This elected member attends district meetings that are made up of the AA groups in a particular district and votes his or her group's "group conscious." District Committee Member (DCM) - The DCM, elected by the district GSR's, carries the collective group conscience of the AA groups in a district to the Area Committee. The DCM is the vital link between the local AA district and AA at-large (Regional, State, National & International levels). 4.  Hospitals & Institutions - there are many ways to help those inside mental hospitals, treatment centers and other institutions. Contact your local AA office for more information.
	*NOTE: Certain Volunteer positions require a minimum length of sobriety and/or prior service work experience. Please check with your local AA group or call the Intergroup office for details.  This is not an all inclusive list of ways we can be of service.  It seems those involved in service work in our fellowship enjoy a joyous quality of sobriety.