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Our Primary Purpose is: to help the alcoholic who still suffers….
In the last few months I have heard so much about the suffering alcoholics who can’t get into meetings due to passwords that are nowhere to be seen. Our hotline is inundated with calls from alcoholics who are looking for a password.
I am aware that initially there were zoom bombings into meetings so Zoom set password defaults. That pretty much stopped the bombings. My plea is for you groups that keep those passwords to only your group members to remember our primary purpose. It is very easy to have the password posted on both these sites to make it accessible to those trying to find a meeting.
I have an online only First Step meeting that is listed on Eastside AA and also the Token Shops list of online meetings. My password is listed there on both sites so alcoholics can get into the meeting. I have heard countless comments from new members across the country that they have tried 3 sometimes 4 meetings and can’t get in because they don’t have the password. In remembering our primary purpose I just want to remind everyone that there are BRAND new people trying to get sober during the quarantine and are shut out of meetings. This in itself is a tragedy because all of us have been new and remember how hard it was to decide to even go to our first meeting. How would we have felt if we arrived after making that decision only to find the door locked not at just one meeting but at 3 or 4?
I have not had any zoom bombings since the passwords were required, but I have it listed so new people can get into my meeting. They are coming from India, London and the entire US. Please remember our primary purpose. I am happy to help any group if you want to chat or discuss feel free to reach out.
Feel free to submit your experiences and opinion pieces. We’ll do our best to represent here the concerns and opinions about current issues facing A.A. in our area. web@eastsideaa.org
