MY THOUGHTS ON TRADITION SEVEN
"Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting,
declining outside contributions."
This
simply means we pay our own way by passing the basket a dollar a meeting is a
lot of money if you go twice a day like I did in the beginning of recovery But
I managed to give whenever I could because I want aa to always be here
You
can't mix program and money we had to separate the spiritual from the material
despite these misgivings we had to recognize the fact we had to function as an
organization
Meeting
cost money for rents coffee supplies books we have to support the structure of
aa from the group to the district to the inter-group to the area and on up to
out general service office
Positions
have to be filled with workers telephones manned and full-time people need to
be hired these things had to be done if they weren’t the man coming in the door couldn't
get help
These
simple services require money we would have to raise to pay for these services
a dollar a year per member was all our founders asked from each member in the
beginning
Today
with the growing numbers of people seeking help one or two dollars a meeting is
needed To keep the fellowship going being ready and willing to reach out and
help the new people
There
is a place in aa where spirituality and money would mix and that was in the
basket give what you can so aa will always be here for the still sick and
suffering
In
the beginning it was a conflict as to just how was the money going to be used a
lot wanted to start up hospitals treatment centers clubhouses etc?
After
seeing all the problems that would come from all these enterprises and how
involved everyone would be they decided it would be best to not have money
When
Bill saw all the mail and questions coming in it became apparent more help
would be need to answer all the mail the service office idea was formed then
and the need to hire works apparent
There
was so much fear about how to do the work and who should be paid why couldn’t
they find outside help to finance the foundation
All
these fears that turned out to be very healthy Today we have the fear’s of
having to much excess money and would we become greedy and use it for
self-centered purposes
This
has been done until the group conscience decided what the money would be used
for and in most groups it’s to support aa as a whole not to pay people for
12-step work that keeps them sober in the first place
Tradition
seven is God’s intervention to keep us humble and stead fast to carry out our
primary purpose of helping the all to find recovery in this program not get
messed up in matters of money and grandiose
The
responsibility of supporting aa is directly upon AA members It is the only way
we could be truly self-supporting each and every individual member is the
person who thru the group conscience tells aa where to spend the collective
money of the program and their individual group
We
need to only concern ourselves with paying the group expenses on a monthly
basis the excess money goes to the District Inter-group area and the general
service office a prudent reserve usually 3 months operating expenses is keep to
be sure to meet the monthly services of the group
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