We have a new GSR Meeting location. Please click here to download map.

The bank we use is requiring that all checks for District 12 Contributions be made payable to: ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, DIST 12. They are threatening not to process if the words Alcoholics Anonymous are not on the check.

Please be sure that any and all treasurers are made aware of this fact and make these corrections to checks sent to District 12. Thank you.

The mailing addresses for District 12 and the South OC Satellite Office address have changed. Please make sure that ALL treasurers in District 12 have this information:

DISTRICT 12
P.O. Box 6054
Laguna Niguel, CA 92607 (the zip code is not a mistake-please make sure they use this zip code)

South Orange County Satellite Office
27281 Las Ramblas, Suite 135
Mission Viejo, CA 92691
(949) 582-2697 (24 hours)
Office Hours: Weekdays 10 am-5 pm
Fax: (949) 582-2611

We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. For them, we hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authentication will be necessary. We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person. And besides, we are sure that our way of living has its advantages for all.

By March 1976, when the 3rd edition went to the printer, the total worldwide membership of Alcoholics Anonymous was conservatively estimated at more than 1,000,000, with almost 28,000 groups meeting in over 90 countries.

Surveys of groups in the United States and Canada indicate that A.A. is reaching out, not only to more and more people, but to a wider and wider range. Women now make up more than one-fourth of the membership; among newer members, the proportion is nearly one-third. Seven percent of the A.A.'s surveyed are less than thirty years of age -- among them, many in their teens.

The basic principles of the A.A. program, it appears, hold good for individuals with many different lifestyles, just as the program has brought recovery to those of many different nationalities. The Twelve Steps that summarize the program may be called los Douze Etapes in another, but they trace exactly the same path to recovery that was blazed by the earliest members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope.