A.A.'s Country-wide News Circuit

E. K., a member from Hastings, Nebr., who made the program the hard way out on the lone prairie, conducted the first meeting of the Hastings Group at the Clarke Hotel there recently. Thirty-four attended including many who have pioneered different groups in the Middle West, with speakers from North Platte, Nebr., Jefferson City, Mo., Grand Island, Nebr., Des Moines, Ia., Fremont, Nebr., and Ord, Nebr. A short time ago a North Platte contingent of two members started a series of district visits which called for much travel and long hours, but which paid off with groups now operating in Fremont, North Platte, Grand Island, Hastings, Lincoln and other cities. Seven members and wives of the Danville, Ill., group, organized about seven months ago, visited with Decatur recently. San Mateo, Cal., is introducing its year-old group which is one of the Peninsula Groups, which include Palo Alto, parent group, and Redwood City. The Peninsula Groups held an open house for the general public recently with three A.A. speakers, a clergyman, psychiatrist and a judge on the program. Small groups attend meetings in Agnew State Hospital and in Veterans Hospital, weekly and in San Quentin Prison monthly with good results. The Northeast Nebraska Group got going at Norfolk recently with a dinner at a hotel attended by 30 members including three from Sioux City, Ia., and four from Yankton, S.D. Dr. Charlton of the Norfolk State hospital allowed four patients to attend and has given his permission to hold meetings in the hospital. A doctor from the hospital staff spoke briefly as did Father Robert Byrnes. Portland, Ore., now has three groups with possibility of having to start a fourth as the result of continued growth. Nine A.A.s who have been members in Duluth, Minn., recently started the Superior, Wis., Group which now numbers 19. Meetings are held Thursday evenings at Room 103, 1923 Hammond avenue. A high attendance record with only three slips and a growth from eight to 15 members in a few months is reported by Indianola, Miss., with some members in Greenville. In less than a year the Wichita Falls, Tex., Group has grown to 38, although no women are active as yet. Wives of the members recently started their own meetings. After getting going some time ago as Eau Claire, Wis., Group No. 2, the organization is changing its name to the Chippewa Valley Group of that city. Our reporter says the A.A. transcription is getting good attention under sponsorship of the Eau Claire Group No. 1. A.A. came quietly to Springfield, Mass., about three years ago in the person of a doctor from Boston, who was joined by a few others who fell away, leaving him alone again. However, he held steadfast and the group now numbers 106 in spite of withdrawals that saw the birth of successful and growing groups in Holyoke, Pittsfield and Greenfield. Springfield A.A.s have a regular schedule of talks at the State Hospital in Northampton, the Veterans' Hospital in Leeds, the county jail and before church, civic and educational organizations. To accommodate ever increasing attendance the open meeting on Wednesday night is now held at South End Community Center where over 200 gathered recently to observe the group's third birthday.