Newsletters:
The VCAAHI Newsletter, ‘H&I Lights’ is generally published twice a year to coincide with the Ventura County AA Round-up – ‘Serenity by the Sea’ and with the Ventura County AA Convention. The purpose of our newsletter is to inform those interested in our Committee, to inspire continued commitment to service and to attract sober alcoholics to become members of the Ventura County AA Hospitals and Institutions Committee. Contributions to the VCAAHI newsletter are always welcome. Please submit your personal H&I experience, some words of inspiration, an H&I anecdote, or information regarding an upcoming A.A. event. Contributions can be emailed from this website.
In-person Orientation Workshops & Committee Meetings:
Orientation Workshops & Committee Meetings are back LIVE & IN-PERSON! Meetings are held on the 1st Sunday of every month. A Hybrid option via Zoom is available. For more information please see the calendar or click: The In-person Relaunch flyer ~ below:
Personal Stories / Experience:
If you would like to share your H&I experience in this section, please email your submission to info@vcaahi.org. We reserve the right to edit as needed in order to respect the anonymity of others and uphold the full 12 Traditions of AA.
I am Truly Grateful Each Day
“Whenever anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help I want the hand of A.A. to be there.”
In all the time I spent in jails and correctional institutions in the ‘50’s and early ‘60’s there was no mention of Alcoholics Anonymous, no hand of A.A. Would it have made a difference? Well, all I can say is that when A.A. and I finally got together it completely changed my experience of life. I was provided with a program perfectly designed for people like me, someone who had lost the ability to control his drinking and who, due to ignorance, and in spite of repeated episodes of pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization, continued to drink, thinking this time it would be different.
Ironically the incident that caused me to ask for help was just a little fender bender, a modest whiskey bump. But I had just bought the car, an older car, but it was in perfect condition with low mileage and now it had a busted headlight and tore up fender. I’d had much worse consequences as a result of drinking; cars completely totaled, hospital stays, months of jail time, many, many months. By comparison this little whiskey bump was nothing, but it devastated me. I was at the end of my rope and in utter despair. I asked whatever powers greater than myself there might be for help, and that very same day I was invited to go to an A.A. meeting and the adventure began.
That was fourty-one years ago, May 23, 1976. And in those forty-one years I have not wrecked a car or gone to jail. Not once. In fact, I managed to have a successful career in the construction industry, built my own company, married a wonderful woman who is also a grateful member of A.A., and we are living a meaningful life, clean and sober. I look back on the person I was during my drinking days with great empathy. He wasn’t a bad person, he was an alcoholic who was completely uninformed of what to do about it.
That’s a nice way of saying, “he was ignorant.” I am truly grateful each day for this life A.A. made possible for me. It’s not without its challenges but I have a program that has served me well for many years, providing guidance and encouragement that helped me weave my way through some very trying times.
This is the program I love to share with those who are still suffering, especially those who are incarcerated and are looking for a better way. I want them to know without a doubt that a better way is just a decision a way, that a fulfilling and meaningful life is available, the life of their dreams. I want the hand of A.A. to be there.
A Scheduled 12-Step Call I Could Put on My Calender
I got sober on August 14, 1986. Before sobriety, I had zero social life.
After sobriety, I found a fellowship I had craved all along, but didn’t know it. I had lots of friends, joined the meetings before and after the meetings, went to social gatherings of all kinds, and learned how to have fun.
Many of my friends would miss our regular AA meeting on the third Thursday of the month and I always wondered where they were. One Thursday, I asked where they were going, and they told me that the San Fernando Valley Hospital & Institutions Committee meeting was that night, and that I could come along if I wanted to. You bet I did!
We met that night in a tiny storage room at the back of one of the large churches. My recollection was that it was almost like a little mountain cabin. But, the next month, we met in the large social hall at the church. The Registrar took attendance; the Director explained that our purpose was to carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous to people in hospitals, jails, and other institutions where they could not get out to meetings. That sounded good to me – a scheduled 12-Step call that I could put on my calendar. I went on my first panel at a hospital, on a Saturday afternoon in February 1987. I have no idea what I shared; I was very nervous. But I left there with a feeling of elation better than any I had ever had before. I was hooked on H & I.
Over the years, I have served in many different capacities of H & I. I very much want the Committee to keep taking panels out to recovering alcoholics. My first job was Registrar. I thought that would be a good way to get to know people. When I raised my hand to do the job, we took attendance on index cards, but when I took over the job they handed me a floppy disc. Good Grief! I knew nothing about computers, but I got to learn. Over the years, H & I has “taught” me lots of computer programs. Thank goodness for that!
I have always had at least one (usually two) committed panels each month. I went to Tehachapi State Prison for 11 years and enjoyed the experience immensely. We had meetings on the 3-hour drive up and the 3-hour drive back. We had a meeting at the prison, and usually shared a meal on the way home at a place in downtown Tehachapi. I have taken panels into detox facilities, work and fire camps, and mental health facilities. I always feel elated when I leave. I feel like they have paid a 12-Step call on me!
H & I is not only organized service, but it is a wonderful fellowship. I belong to two H & I Committees, because I feel the work is very worthwhile. We have a common goal – to carry the message to others. The committee meetings may be difficult for some people to sit through, but they keep the chaos at bay and keep us on track. When a panel fails to show up, it’s called a “dark night”. We used to say that the only reason for a dark night was a death in the family – yours. When we were drinking, we were undisciplined people; now we are responsible citizens of our community. And – it is a life beyond my wildest dreams! Come join us!
Additional Inspiration:
Why H&I?
One of my best friends in AA is a man who took a panel of men to the prison up the coast, to bring in an AA meeting.
I love the way he tells about it. I could see how he felt. Every once in a while, you will hear an ex-prisoner at the podium thanking the group for sending an AA meeting into the prison.
That was it, I felt the calling. After some orientation, I started taking AA panels into the jail, always with a seasoned AA woman. I really like the idea of “attraction rather than promotion. ”We’re here to tell our stories. We’re here to share our similarities. Some were real doozies, always good for a laugh.
Oh, one more thing … I went to a prison conference where, among other things, they shared the results of a poll of released inmates which said; “If you can get yourself to an AA meeting within the first three days after leaving prison or jail, you greatly improve your chances of maintaining your sobriety and never – ever return to jail involuntarily.”
Diane R. – Active VCAAHI Member
~ We maintain our sobriety through adherence to the program embodied in our Twelve Suggested Steps of Recovery and try to practice the principles in all our affairs.
~ Our message is hope and the promise of freedom. When all is said and done, our primary purpose can only be to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers because that is all we have to give.
~ An H&I Committee guarantees continuity of the AA panels. No individual can make this possible – only the coordinating continuity of a committee can do so. Our members come and go, but the Committee continues.
~ Dr. Bob’s Nightmare
“I spend a great deal of time passing on what I have
learned to others who want and need it badly. I do it for
for four reasons:.
1. Sense of duty.
2. It is a pleasure.
3. Because in so doing I am paying my debt to the man
who took time to pass it on to me.
4. Because every time I do it I take out a little more
insurance for myself against a possible slip.”
Alcoholics Anonymous pages 180 – 181
~ Twelfth Step Prayer
Dear God,
My spiritual awakening continues to unfold.
The help I have received I shall pass on & give to others,
Both in & out of the Fellowship.
For this opportunity I am grateful.
I pray most humbly to continue walking day by day
On the road of spiritual progress.
I pray for the inner strength & wisdom
To practice the principles of this way of life in all I do & say.
I need You, my friends, & the program every hour of every day.
This is a better way to live.