Alcoholics Anonymous in Sagunto marks 13 years: open meeting on 6 November
The Morvedre group of Alcoholics Anonymous marks its 13th anniversary in Sagunto with an open meeting on 6 November. Any resident can attend without belonging to the association.
The Morvedre group of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA, a worldwide mutual-support fellowship for people who want to stop drinking) turns 13 in Sagunto and is celebrating by opening its doors. On Friday 6 November, at 7:30 pm, it will welcome anyone interested at its premises on Calle Huertos, number 73. There is no need to be a member or to register: entry is free.
The meeting is aimed at several audiences at once. Those who are thinking of quitting drinking or looking for help for someone close to them can come, and so can healthcare professionals, journalists and residents who simply want to see how a mutual-support group works. The group says alcoholism affects many people and families, and that it is worth showing that places to ask for help exist.
The format is simple and based on personal stories. Members will explain what their recovery programme involves and share how they lived with dependence and how they overcame it. According to the organisers, the idea is to introduce themselves clearly: who they are and how they recover.
There is one condition for the media. Anonymity is one of the basic principles of AA, so the group has asked journalists and photographers to avoid images showing faces that could identify its members. Anyone attending with a camera should keep this in mind. At the same time, the organisation acknowledges that the press has helped people who need support to find their way to the group, and the meeting is also aimed at the media.
To ask for more information before the date, the group can be reached on 963 917 160.
The 13th anniversary is also a chance to recall where the fellowship comes from, which has 91 years of history. According to the AA website, it began in 1935 in Akron (Ohio, United States), after a meeting between Bill W., a New York stockbroker, and Dr Bob S., both with an alcoholism that seemed to have no way out.
Early growth was slow: four years to bring together about 100 sober alcoholics in the three founding groups. In 1939 came the basic text, titled Alcoholics Anonymous and known as the Big Book, with the stories of thirty recovered members. By around 1950, the number of recovered people worldwide had risen to 100,000.
Today AA is present in about 180 countries. The most recent tally cited by Wikipedia, from 2018, spoke of 120,300 groups and nearly 2.1 million members. Those are figures from that year, not current ones. For a reader in Sagunto, the useful detail is a different one: the Morvedre group is one of those local units and is based on Calle Huertos.
There is only one requirement to join: the wish to stop drinking, according to Wikipedia. The fellowship is funded solely by contributions from its members, with no public or private aid. It fits that logic that the 6 November meeting does not require belonging to the association.
According to El Periódico de Aquí, with data from aa.org and Wikipedia on the history and reach of Alcoholics Anonymous.