More Than a Meeting in Print

In 1944, when the Grapevine began, it was enthusiastically welcomed into the AA world. Very early on, individuals and groups realized that besides being great reading, the magazine was a good way to carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the magazine found its way into prisons and jail cells, hospitals and detoxes. It was used as the basis for discussion meetings, newsletter articles, service workshops, and it was raffled off for newcomers in home groups in the United States and Canada. These activities were all spontaneous and informal, but during the nineteen-fifties, the idea of having official Grapevine representatives was raised both at the Conference and by the magazine itself. In 1959, for example, the Conference heard a suggestion that local Grapevine representatives could work independently of GSRs to present the magazine as a "vital tool of communication within AA."