Around Town


Concordia
The Concordia Group has met at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hummelstown since April 12, 1977.  One of the founding members saw the word Concordia in a church bulletin, looked it up, and thought it an appropriate name for the group.  Concordia means all in harmony for the same purpose, and after visiting this meeting, I feel this group lives up to its namesake. 

A few home group members say they feel right at home when they walk through the doors to the Concordia Group.  Joe L. says “When I was new in recovery, it was where people reached out to me for the first time.”  Pete R. feels the group carries the message well because “we accept all comers and have a frank, bare bones sobriety discussion.  Concordia was my first meeting and has been my home group ever since.
contributed by Matthew L of the Hershey Group, as the first in a series about localgroups.

Survivors
The Middletown Group held meetings at many different locations around town. John and Heidi M had moved here from California in 1979 and opened a shop in the downtown. People would stop in and tell them that there was a meeting at a particular location, at a certain time, but there always seemed to be a conflict that prevented their going. Finally, in the late 80s, they were told that the Middletown meeting was now meeting in Highspire at the police station. They thought that was rather strange to be meeting in a police station, also that the Middletown Group was meeting in another town. They decided to attend, and made the short trip, only to find the building dark. When they were back home, they got to talking about starting their own meeting, after all, the worst that could happen would be that the two of them would be the only ones there, sitting and drinking coffee, just like at that particular moment. They were able to rent space at the St. Peter's Lutheran Church on Union Street, and that was the beginning of the Survivors Group. It was their idea to incorporate into this little group, many of the aspects of groups they were familiar with in California. Many of those things are still characteristics of the Group to this day, which still meets in Middletown on Thursdays at 7:00PM in the Middletown Presbyterian Church, on the corner of North Union and East Water Streets.
contributed by John M from St Petersburg, FL

Hershey Group
    The Hershey Group, one of the oldest active groups in the Harrisburg Area, will be celebrating their 50th anniversary this December (2007). Their first meeting was held December 12, 1957, when a group of 12 recovered alcoholics met at Wally's house in the Village of Ebenezer, Lebanon County. Early in January 1958, meeting on Wednesdays, the Group moved to the All Saints Episcopal Church in Hershey, later moved to the Hershey Medical Center in 1971, and finally in January 1983, moved to their current location in the Derry Presbyterian Church.
Currently, meetings are held four times per week. Wednesday is a closed literature based discussion meeting, where someone reads and shares about a piece of AA literature that had meaning for them in their recovery. On Friday, is a closed Step and Tradition meeting, reading and discussing a Step or Tradition (in sequence) each week. Saturday has a beginners meeting at 7:00PM before the open discussion meeting at 8:00PM. On the first Saturday of the month a speaker is invited to share their message in an open speaker meeting.
    The Hershey Group has been committed to carrying a strong message, thru its commitment to the principles of the Program and the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions. Sponsorship has been a keystone of the Group's message; at the end of each meeting the chairperson invites anyone without a sponsor to see him/her after the meeting to arrange for a temporary sponsor.
    Monthly business meetings, periodic group inventories, active participation with the Harrisburg Area Intergroup, and the Group's Annual holiday dinner keep the Hershey Group a dynamic member of the Harrisburg AA community.
contributed by EJ from the Hershey Group

DILLSBURG
Welcome to the Dillsburg Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, those of you who have the desire to quit drinking.  Let us tell you a little bit about ourselves.  We are a bunch of drunks who meet 3 times a week to share our experience, strength and hope with each other that we may stay sober and learn to live lives that are happy, joyous and free.
   Our meeting started about 35 years ago when our friend (and old-timer) Ed L. sat, many times alone, waiting for drunks to show up so he could carry the AA message and stay sober himself.  Through the years the Dillsburg group has ebbed and flowed, grown at times and limped along at other times.  At present we are growing like gangbusters!
   We currently meet on Monday's at 7:01 pm for a group-generated 3-topic discussion meeting; always interesting and inspirational.  On Wednesday's (7:01 pm) we run a Big Book Study group where we read and discuss passages of our "textbook for living".  Rarely do we finish the book in a year, or even two.  Once a month we tackle a story and wouldn't you know it...we can all relate!  On Friday's at 8:01 pm is our Steps and Traditions meeting where we study the 12&12.  We try to read and discuss one step each week, in 12 Step order, but we will always jump back to the Step 1 when we have newcomers visiting.  Then, to the consternation of some, and to the benefit of us all, we study a Tradition once a month.  We often demonstrate some of our best and most lively discussions on these occasions!
    If you are fortunate enough to be a first time visitor to the Dillsburg group you will receive our rare visitor chip, specially made of Chinese hardwoods and printed in royal purple ink, on both sides.  We all covet the prized Dillsburg wooden chip!  And you too can own one.  Come out for a visit.
   You may be wondering about our interesting starting times.  You are not alone.  AA Folklore has it that, back in the day, as a consolation to some group members who wanted to change the meeting times to later in the evening, a compromise was reached and the meetings were thus changed to reflect the agreed upon later starting time...one minute later!  (Wouldn't you have just loved to have been at that business meeting?!)
The Dillsburg Group hosts an annual AA Pignic (that's right, PIGNIC) each September for alcoholics and their families.  It is always a good time with great food (lots of pig), awesome speakers, excellent fun and fellowship and cool prizes.  Everyone is welcome!
    Feel free to stop in and check us out sometime.  You can find us in the HAI meeting schedule.  We look forward to seeing you at a meeting.  Until then...Keep It Simple, Spiritually!
Contributed by Terri Z

Winding It Up
    Tucked away among the mountains at the northern most part of Dauphin County in the little town of Lykens, the “Winding It Up” meeting continues to lend its hand to those who want to be sober. Many of you know us from the Sobriety Hike which we have each October.
    Our group fluctuates in size just as any group has its ups and downs. We have our core group of old timers and those working on becoming old timers. Most meetings have only six to ten members in attendance. But then we have a burst of new comers and fill our tiny meeting room. The faces may change but the spirit of the meeting continues since its inception. It is hard to hide in our small group.
    We stick to the topic during our discussion meetings. Rarely does any member use the meeting as a therapy session. We keep it fresh by alternating between discussion and study/reading type meetings. When the group is small it allows for multiple shares. This tends to keep us out of our heads and in tune with the flow of the discussion.
    The Winding It Up Group has been the stepping-stone for many people. Many moved on to bigger and better things in their lives. In many ways our “country” AA is being spread around our Country. Many of our drunks got sober here at home but used sobriety to improve their lives and become productive citizens. Their jobs have taken them far and wide. Some of our members even made the big move over the “County Divide” known as Peter’s Mountain and attend meetings in the Harrisburg area.
    One must be willing to go to any lengths to be sober in our group. Acrophobic people avoid the metal fire escape leading to our meeting room, by taking the easier softer way, using the indoor stairs. Besides the usual coffee and tea being available, there is always a selection of candy on the table. We have an open discussion meeting on Thursday. We do Big Book the first Sunday; 12 and 12, the second Sunday; As Bill Sees It on the third week; and Living Sober on the fourth week. If there is a fifth Sunday we have an open discussion. Our meetings are at 7 P.M. Come and visit; we’re a little bit country and a whole lot of AA.
Thanks to Carol B for sharing this about her home-group.

INTO ACTION
    Every year, in the middle of August, the Middletown Groups had to relocate their meetings. Their church, the Presbyterian church of Middletown, was occupied with a week of Vacation Bible School. Fortunately for Middletown AA, the parishioners at the Middletown Evangelical United Methodist Church, a block down the street, graciously volunteered to host these Middletown AA meetings. Their minister became so interested in us that he asked us if we would be willing to start an AA meeting at their church. This idea finally came to fruition, after many years, and the new group was formed in September 2006.
    The founders of this new group agreed on a speaker meeting that would promote an enthusiasm for the AA Program. They decided to adopt the format from the Pacific Group, currently the largest AA meeting in the world. The new format begins with two ten minute speakers, a refreshment break for fellowshipping and then the 45 minute message from the main speaker.
    The group has sought out a variety of speakers, men and women, from local and distant groups, whose stories provide a strong message of hope to the group. These speakers are alcoholics who have attained their sobriety through strong sponsorship ethics and putting the principals of AA into action.
    The group’s membership has continued to grow over the past 17 months since its start. You will find the Into Action group welcoming and enthusiastic about AA. You can check out this speaker meeting every Wednesday night at 7:00PM, a block east of the other Middletown meetings. The location is at the Evangelical United Methodist Church on the corner of Spruce and Water Streets in Middletown.
Thanks to several group members for sharing this about this growing group.

Out of the Dark    
   The Out of the Dark Group was  formed in January of 1999 and continues to meet at 9:00AM. Sunday,  at the Wormleysburg Borough Hall at the corner of Market and 2nd Street. Turn off Front Street onto E Market St (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues), go one block and the Borough Hall is on the right. They have come a long way from their first meeting that was called off because of a blizzard on the first Sunday and the next week's meeting had eighteen people in attendance. It has grown in leaps and bounds to an average attendance of seventy folks. From the beginning this evolving group has put the emphasis on sharing by those who are new to AA or those who have not shared in the last month or so. This makes for a great mix of powerful sharing. The group hosts two yearly events to celebrate recovery. The first Sunday of every new year is to celebrate their anniversary with an open speaker meeting and brunch. And in early July they celebrate their joy in recovery at Negley Park that sits above the meeting house and looks over the Susquehanna river. This event is also an open speaker meeting with a summer brunch that follows. And as of January of 2007, every Sunday is an open speaker meeting but without the brunch.  The group is looking for more home group members to share the joy of spreading the message that our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.
 Contributed by homegroup member Leann H.

Middletown Trudgers
   The Middletown Trudgers  Group  has met 7:00PM Tuesdays at the Middletown Presbyterian Congregation's Fellowship Room, down the steps from the East Water Street entrance, since its founding in 1991. The founding members had been so comfortable with the Group message of Middletown's other group that they wanted to have another meeting in town. They wanted to assure that the message was about how we work the Twelve Steps in our daily lives. They wanted to have a group that tried to instill the Traditions in their daily group actions, and they wanted a group that relied on strong sponsorship to grow the principles of the Program in as many of its members as possible. Although the format of the meetings has changed over the years, all have tried to include all of these aspects. Currently, the meetings are Open Big Book discussion meetings, except the last meeting of the month, which is a closed 90 minute Step and Tradition meeting with a guest speaker, who shares his/her experience with both the Step and the Tradition of the month. (January - Step & Tradition One) They invite all who desire to learn about and/or recover from the disease of alcoholism to join them any Tuesday night.

The 19th Street Group
   Since I moved up here from Florida, one year ago, I've been to a wide variety of meetings. In each meeting I've tried my best to listen to what was being said inside and outside. I heard a lot of things about 19th Street before I ever attended a meeting there; widely varying opinions. So I checked it out to form my own opinion and found it was really the only place up here that I felt I fit in. The sometimes blinding smoky haze blended with the aroma of fresh coffee, which appealed to my peculiar tastes. As did the level of acceptance offered. I immediately was overwhelmed with the message being carried Monday though Friday at 8:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 7:00p.m. It was the message that I heard at my very first A.A. meeting. Although there were some extreme expletives and attitudes used to shoulder that message, it was the message of Alcoholics Anonymous in its purest form! Under any and all conditions, don't pick up a drink!. You never, ever have to feel this way again if you work the Twelve Steps with a sponsor and make contact with the God of your understanding. No wordy, complicated monologues here. No, only the simplicity that touched me and gave me hope my first night without a drink. As 19th Street is truly the front lines for "The Good Fight," I now feel like I have a place here to carry the message exactly as it was given to me.
Contributed by Zach A from the 19th Street Group

40th Street Women
 I’ve been attending the Wednesday Night Women’s meeting of the 40th Street Group since 1994.  I’ve seen many women come and go, but I’ve also seen many women stay and grow.  (I’ve also seen a fair number of men at the meeting too, and I’ve always done my best to make sure that the Third Tradition was honored by welcoming them.)  When I was new to this area and still fairly young in recovery, I found the members of this meeting to be warm and welcoming.  I made the meeting my home group and still attend on a regular basis because I not only still feel connected, but also want to remain available to welcome the new members as I was welcomed.  Many of the recovery houses attend our meeting and I want to be there in order to pass it on because “you’ve got to give it back in order to keep it!”  There is definitely something special about this meeting to me.  While we are all just people trying to help each other recover from alcoholism, women share a unique bond and the women’s meeting facilitates our ability to share and recover on a more intimate level.  God willing, the women’s meeting will remain viable for many years to come – I know I will keep coming back! 7:00PM – 40th Street Women's Group – St. Catherine Church, 40th & Derry Sts (entry 40th St) – "CD,W,NS"
Thanks to Carol M for contributing this.

Some Are Sicker Than Others
If you happened to be traveling on Linglestown Road towards the River from the Square, and you turned right at the Stauffers of Kissel Hill just a little before 6:30PM on a Friday evening, you just might happen upon about a dozen people standing in front of the Bethany Church of the Nazarene, right behind Stauffers, waiting for the new Some Are Sicker Than Others meeting to start.
    Not long ago, a local resident who had recently started attending the Bethany Church was talking to the minister, who said  they had a beautiful new church and he hoped that it would get a lot of use. The idea sprang to life to start an AA meeting handy to those wanting a meeting in the area. So, Dan got permission to start the meeting which had its initial meeting on July 11, 2008, and attendance has been running at about a dozen so far. Several shared that they wanted a meeting where the sharing would be rigorously honest. Drop in on them sometime, I was glad I did. 6:30PM – Some Are Sicker Than Others – Bethany Church of the Nazarene, 1605 Parkway West, Linglestown – "OD,NS"
Thanks to Don S for sharing this.

Mid-City
The Mid City Group claims to be the oldest registered group meeting continuously since its founding in the living room of Chet H in 1953. This was a remedy to there being no downtown meeting for the drifters and panhandlers who dwell there. The significance of this claim, however, may be moot. The Harrisburg Group (later renamed the Second  Street Group), which formed in 1941, was the first registered group in the city; and from that group, meetings moved to the Fellowship House when its construction was completed in 1951. The Fellowship House Group (a name adopted some time later as 2nd Street Group was no longer appropriate for a meeting on 19th Street) chose not to be registered, because they wished to admit persons to meetings who suffered from other addictions. In 1958, members of that group decided they wanted to have a registered meeting and formed a second group to meet at the Fellowship House, 1251 South 19th Street, and so they called that group the 19th Street Group. Therefore, all three groups can claim their origins in the Harrisburg Group.

Regardless of this "hairsplitting", the Mid-City Group continues to meet in the downtown, which was the calling card of the Harrisburg Group. It has met at many different locations, surviving building demolitions, floods, and other disruptions. The group conscience has dictated that meeting sharing be done with "no bullsh__", so that the message of recovery be carried honestly to its inner-city  members and guests. The group currently meets in the church at the corners of Vine and River Streets (enter from corner of Front and Paxton Sts)  7:30 pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Attendance at the weekday meetings is usually light, but Saturday is well attended. Tuesday is a Big Book meeting and the others are Closed Discussion. Mid-City has moved to the Salem United Church of Christ on the corner of Chestnut and Third Sts.
Thanks to Chet H, one of the 14 co-founders, and Dave B a current homegroup member for contributing to this article.

The Big Book Study Group
The BBSG was started by a few sober alcoholics who have a passion for our basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous. At the time there were more than 80 discussion meetings on the weekly schedule with only a dozen or so meetings that were literature-based - coming from the Big Book, 12 & 12, As Bill Sees It, etc...

The first meeting of the Big Book Study Group was held on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003 at 7pm in a small class room at Faith United Church of Christ, 1120 Drexel Hills Blvd, New Cumberland. Attendance began to build slowly to between 20 and 30 per week. In 2007 the church graciously allowed us to move from the intimate class room setting to the Fellowship Hall, without raising our rent. Further proof that God will help you create the fellowship you crave.

Our meeting is open. All are welcome to attend. The format is simple: we start on the Title Page and continue through the first 164 pages plus Dr. Bob's Nightmare. Someone reads a couple of paragraphs, then people share their experience, strength and hope around what has been read. When we get to the end of Dr. Bob's Nightmare, we start over at the Title Page. The last Tuesday of the month we read and share on a selected Tradition for a few minutes before picking up where we left off in the Big Book.

We realize that simply reading/studying/discussing the Big Book does not keep us sober. Still, the Forward to the First Edition states the purpose of the book is to show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered. We need this vital information so that we know what actions to take if we care to get the results the first 100 got. Our own inventions of an easier softer way, almost always lead to disaster. We hope to see you soon! Visit us on the web at www.bbsgpa.org
Thanks to Glenn S for contributing this article.

The Way Out Group  In 1994, a group of recovered alcoholics felt threatened at a meeting they attended, so they started a new meeting at the Epworth United Methodist Church, at 21st and Derry Streets in Harrisburg; they called it Second Chance. The meeting did not last long enough to become registered, but a group of alcoholics from other meetings  decided to give it new life. Perhaps they did that by giving it a new name, Live Free or Die. This meeting was registered, but the service work required to make a meeting seemed to fall on the shoulders of the one person who felt it was important that the meeting be there for other alcoholics. It soon became known as the "That person's name meeting", which was threatening to that person's anonymity (humility). It seemed to imply that one person was more important than the rest. She couldn't make them stop using her name, so she stopped attending in hopes someone else would take the lead in service. They didn't, and it stopped meeting in 1997. 
     In the hope of restarting AA in that part of the city, that person gathered eight friends she felt would do what was necessary to bring the message of the Big Book back to the Epworth location. The new meeting was started on April 24, 2003, which they named for one of the first planned titles for our Big Book, the Way Out Group.  With a hope of being inclusive, rather than exclusive, the meeting was established and continues as a 75 minute Open Discussion with a meeting secretary and a chair-person, and includes the reading of the original versions of the Preamble and How It Works to open the meetings. An added benefit has been someone sharing about one of the 12 Concepts briefly before the chairperson shares to provide the grist for a topic. It is asked that all share only about the disease of alcoholism. Like this meeting changed names, so did the name of the church which is now the Bethany A. M. E. Church, the new owners of the church building. You can join them to help share the message of Alcoholics Anonymous at 21st and Derry, Mondays at 7:00PM. We've learned, it is not the cleverness of what is said, but the consistency of the actions we take that make A A successful.

SALVATION ARMY

Recently after chatting with a friend, the topic came up regarding the Harrisburg Salvation Army. We wondered “what is our purpose there?” And “what does the Salvation Army want us to provide to their facility as AA members?” Well this is what I was told: The Salvation Army commitment started a little over six years ago and in the beginning was an open AA meeting. Through experience, they have found that changing this to an “Institution Commitment” for the Harrisburg area has worked out much better for all those involved. It allows for the opportunity for the residents to hear a message of hope each week from those recovering from alcoholism without any distractions that could pull them away from hearing what they need. This is not a meeting open to the public, so we ask that members don’t treat it as that.

Everyone who has been around AA for at least 10 minutes will hear over and over that we need to give back what was so freely given to us. I remember the gratitude I felt when I was in institutions, and the AA members took the time--rain or shine, holiday or no holiday-- to bring a message of hope to my fellow alcoholics and me. That was just one of the reasons I began to fall in love with this wonderful, life-saving program.

If you are staying sober and practicing the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and would be interested in sharing your experience, strength and hope, please click on the “contact us” link to put in your request. Also, as the current speaker-getter, you can reach Barb directly @ 717-324-3860. We want recovering alcoholics that come from all walks of life and have taken all 12 steps to be able to contribute to this important service position. All that we ask is that you’ve been through the 12 steps and focus on a message of hope. I know that it was important to hear about problems my fellow alcoholics were facing, but it was even more powerful to hear the solution they had, to walk through it sober with their God (or higher power).  Except for the third Monday of each month, the 7:30 Monday evening meeting at 3650 Vartan Way is a closed speaker meeting, restricted to those in service, invited to attend (Turn onto Vartan, just less than one mile North from Interstate 81 on Progress Ave).

As we are directed in Chapter 5: “Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now.” And so, if you are willing to share your
message of hope with other alcoholics in need of hope and direction in their lives, contact us through the link above or by phone.
 Thanks to Barb M for sharing this with us.

RULE 62

A couple decided it would be nice to have a meeting in their neighborhood, one that had the qualities they had learned were important to their recovery. They gathered some friends together and planned how their new meeting would be structured. They wanted to make the meeting both fun, and different from other meetings. They had been to meetings where people shared their upsetting difficulties with life and felt they were already familiar enough with difficulties, what they wanted was to hear the solution to dwelling on our problems. What they ended up with was "the No Sitting in your S--t" group. For fun, they passed out "Pez dispensers" to new visitors, and to control who shared at the discussion meeting, they passed around a rubber chicken. In order to share, you had to hold the rubber chicken, and after all, you couldn't really take yourself too seriously if you were holding a rubber chicken. They soon decided that their group name might offend some people and they came up with a new name that suited their purpose just as well, and thus the Rule 62 Group was born. The group recently celebrated 10 years of carrying its message, and if you don't know what Rule 62 is, go ask them. They welcome all winos, but whining is strictly prohibited. The Rule 62 meeting is located at St Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4200 Londonderry Road in Lower Paxton Township, Harrisburg. (Behind the Union Deposit Road Lowe's and next to Osteopathic Hospital). They meet every Sunday evening at 7:30 PM.

Living Sober Group

    The Living Sober Group started in July 1998 in the building adjacent to St. Andrew in the Valley Episcopal Church, at 4620 Linglestown Rd., Lower Paxton Twp. "My husband, Peter, and I found that there were no AA meetings in that area, and we knew there were plenty of people who could use one. That's the how and why of our beginning;' said Louise M. (The two have moved out of the area, but the meeting continues.)
     The group started out discussing readings from the book Living Sober - thus the group's name. "But that's a relatively little book, and when we ran out of readings the group started to peter out," she said. So they changed it to a Big Book non-smoking meeting, 6:30 p.m. Saturdays, and now it draws anywhere from fifteen to thirty people.
     About five years ago they again changed the format of the meeting to Big Book and Living Sober reading and discussion, alternating every other week, unless someone needs to talk about an issue that jeopardizes their sobriety. The meeting is held in the very comfortable atmosphere of the living room of the church house adjoining the parking lot of the Saint Andrew in the Valley Church. The homey feeling and the frank discussion of the readings make this a comfortable way to share a Saturday evening with other sober alcoholics. The group was recently saddened by the sudden death of Alan who was nearly nine months sober. Alan loved this meeting and without a drivers license, would go to any lengths to get to meetings, using his bicycle when rides weren't available. Members feel that speaks volumes about the message of sobriety their group wishes to make "their" message.

 Fellowship House Group

    The Fellowship House Group traces its roots back to the original Harrisburg Group which was founded in 1941. Members of the Harrisburg Group which then met at 2nd and Chestnut Street formed Alano Inc. (which became Alanon Inc. due to a typo error in preparing the Articles of Incorporation) to secure funding and construct a building to house recovery at 1251 South 19th Street. It is interesting to note that the architectural design of the building was made to allow for a future addition of a second floor for six rooms to be used for detox and alcohol recovery. The group chose not to be registered because they felt that since the collection plate was used to maintain the building, it would be improper to be a registered group, and also there was a desire to admit persons wishing to recover from any addiction to their meetings, although the AA format was used. The number of weekly meetings were very limited over the early years, but since the late seventies the number of meetings grew to  the current 19.

    Weekday mornings at 7 am will find a large group of surprisingly awake and enthusiastic AAs at the Attitude Adjustment Group meeting which is a Closed Discussion (those desiring to recover only) to get members started on the right basis for their day. The weekday Noon meetings also draw a large crowd of AAs who can take advantage of their lunch hour for a little recovery. The afternoon 4:30 pm meetings are also closed discussion and offer a chance for an early meeting for those who may not be able to attend evening meetings. On weekends there is an enthusiastic and intense 10 am meeting, using a chairperson to share briefly to establish the basic topic for discussion, like other Fellowship House meetings. The 2 pm Saturday and Sunday meetings have a varying attendance but do carry a message. All of the Fellowship House Group meetings try to carry the message that the principles of the 12 Steps are the blueprint for a happy, meaningful, and sober life.
The historical information comes to us with appreciation from the memories of several old-timers.