Alcoholics Anonymous arrived in Minnesota during the Armistice Day Blizzard in November of 1940. Two men, A.A. members visiting from Chicago, made a 12th step call on a man by the name of Pat C. By March of 1941, the Minneapolis A.A. Group began meeting at the Citizens Aid Building, moved to 200 East Franklin Avenue in April and then to a building at 19th Street and Park Avenue in October of that same year. In April of 1942 meetings started at 2218 First Avenue South in Minneapolis. It didn’t take long for those meetings to spawn other meetings at new locations. By the early 60’s Alcoholics Anonymous had grown beyond Minneapolis, with groups meeting in the surrounding suburbs, including Richfield, Robbinsdale, Fridley and Columbia Heights.
Meetings started in earnest in the St. Cloud area in the mid to late 50s. In 1961, the St. Cloud Alano Club was opened and A.A. groups flocked to this new location to host their meetings. Due to an exponential growth of A.A. in the St. Cloud area, the idea of starting an Intergroup was batted around in the late 80s and early 90s. Unfortunately, the idea was before its time and didn’t take hold. In the words of one past Area 35 Delegate from the St. Cloud area, “We tried that once and it didn’t work”.
In 2011 the idea of starting an Intergroup resurfaced during a Dist. 13/Area 35 meeting. An ad-hoc committee was constituted to investigate the idea of opening an Intergroup office. The committee consensus was that the idea had merit, but it would be too expensive to rent space and start paying “special workers”. The idea died in committee.
Five years later the idea surfaced once again, but this time with a new business plan. The St. Cloud Intergroup would be a virtual Intergroup thereby avoiding the cost of renting space and paying “special workers”. The only costs associated with the Intergroup would be the cost of developing and hosting a website and getting a PO Box. Member groups could focus on “Carrying the Message” and wouldn’t have to worry about paying rent.
In December of 2017, the Charter for the St. Cloud Intergroup (SCI) was signed by eight AA members attending that original meeting. The founding groups were: Early Monday Group, The Campus AA Group, The Early Wednesday Night Group, Thursday Night Young People AA Group, Friday Night Solution Group, Serenity Plus Group and the Saturday Night Young People AA Group.
With contributions from these seven original groups and from AA members, a website came online in 2018 and a PO Box was established. The St. Cloud Intergroup registered with GSO NY in the spring of 2018 and received the service number of 723763. SCI opened a checking account and established an EIN with the IRS. In April of 2018, SCI started to publish a monthly newsletter under the title of “The SCI Lift”. Although the title has been changed to “The SCI Report”, the newsletter has been published continuously over the past five years and has an electronic mailing list of over 1,000 names! The original SCI officers were Steve J. – Chair, Sean S. – Vice-Chair, John D. – Secretary, Terry S. – Treasurer. These trusted servants had a vision of a virtual Intergroup Office that would function as an online answering service for 12 step calls, coordinating service work and responding to inquiries from the professional community. Also, in cooperation with Dist.14/Area 36, SCI also brought the first ever Big Book meeting into Lakeside Teen Challenge in Buffalo, MN.
SCI held monthly meetings at the St. Cloud Alano club for over a year. In the spring of 2019, they moved locations to 3400 1st St. N. / Suite 302, St. Cloud, MN 56303. As a result of moving, SCI was able to switch their mailing address to the above location and to drop their PO Box. This was a tremendous cost savings for SCI and this act became a guiding principle for the fledgling organization, i.e., prudent, and wise use of A.A. contributions. Abiding by this philosophy, in 2019 SCI self-produced a tri-fold brochure that detailed the services SCI provided to the AA groups of Central MN. The cost of the tri-fold was $.10 per copy.
In the early winter of 2019, SCI formed a plan to charter a bus to the International AA Convention that was scheduled to be held in Detroit, MI in the summer of 2020. This level of AA coordination had never taken place before in Central MN and AA members both north and south of Central MN were excited about a cost-effective mode of transportation to celebrate AA’s 85th birthday. A bus was chartered, registrations started to flow into the SCI mailbox and then in the spring of 2020 the world was hit with COVID 19 restrictions. The international convention was cancelled, and SCI followed suit by cancelling the bus and returning all the reservation fees
In the spring of 2019, the St. Cloud AA Convention (SCACC) committee approached SCI about the possibility of taking over the running of their annual convention which they started in the fall of 2014 after the original SCAAC committee members felt that Roundups and Conventions were becoming too expensive. They worried that those new to AA wouldn’t be able to afford these indescribably wonderful AA events. The committee had put together a one-day AA convention with the guiding principles that it would be inclusive, affordable, and accessible. The committee didn’t want to see anyone turned away from an AA event simply because the cost was too much.
The SCAAC committee felt that there would be more transparency and accountability to the AA groups of Central MN if SCI became the host of the event. In this way Intergroup representatives could have direct input on the theme, content, and speakers for the convention. The SCAAC committee had only two stipulations for SCI. First – that the cost of the convention would remain at $5. And second – that the convention wouldn’t charge for coffee. SCI wholeheartedly agreed to these stipulations and officially took over the responsibility of hosting the SCAAC every September starting in the fall of 2019.
In 2020, the AA world was rocked by COVID 19 with many meetings closing during the pandemic. However, SCI was able to stay on course due to its virtual nature. SCI members remained in contact with each other telephonically and continued to respond to requests for help that came in over the SCI website and email address. In the summer of 2020 COVID restrictions started to lift and SCI was back in earnest to “carry the message”. Those early SCI members described their work as follows, “We just went where the work took us. We wanted to be the organization that said “yes” when someone asked for help. We took the AA Responsibility Statement as our guiding principle. That’s why we open each of our meetings with it.”
In 2021, The SCI Board shifted. John D. took over as the SCI Chair, Terry S. stayed on as treasurer, and Tony L took the role of speaker coordinator. SCI came up with an innovative idea to help newcomers. SCI started to produce “newcomer chips”. These chips were like the newcomer chip a person receives at their first meeting, but with an important addition – the chip also bore the contact number for SCI. No longer was the chip “drunk junk” that one stuck in their pocket and never looked at again. Now the chip had a powerful contact number on it that a newcomer could utilize to find meetings, or to speak to a member of our fellowship at any time day or night. Made in house the chips cost $.05 to produce. In the first year of availability, SCI gave away over 300 chips to AA groups and newcomers for a total cost of $15.
In 2022, our Board shifted again. Alan S. from Buffalo, MN took over the role of SCI Chair, John D. took over the role of treasurer and newsletter editor, Tony L. took over the role of CPC and Sean P. took over the role of Corrections. 2022 was a banner year for SCI as word was getting out about our enthusiasm for service.
In January of 2022, Alan started making immediate improvements to our technology. Our legacy website was allowed to sunset and a new and improved website took its place that included full integration with the Meeting Guide App. Alan received invaluable feedback and assistance from the standing West Central Region Trustee, Mike L., and his predecessor regarding the proper attribution of copyrighted AAWS and AAGV material that appears on the new SCI website. Alan was also able to establish a no-cost phone line and calls started to trickle and eventually streamed into our hotline. SCI was finding its footing by focusing on 12th Step Calls, conducting a yearly AA Convention, and providing speakers for meetings and institutions.
At the same time, SCI came up with an innovative program for Corrections Correspondence. We submitted the idea to The Grapevine (GV), and they printed an article on the program in their July “22” edition. Moreover, the GV monthly podcast featured information about our Corrections Correspondence program too.
In the spring of 2022, we were approached by the DCM of Dist.27/Area36 about starting a Spanish Speaking meeting in St. Cloud. SCI responded with a resounding “Yes!”. We agreed to supply the group with Spanish AA literature and to pick-up their rent for their first six months until they could become self-supporting. As of this writing, the group is nearly one-year old, has a steady membership and has become self-supporting. We submitted another article on our cooperation with this group to the GV and that article was featured in the December “22” edition of the GV.
In the fall of “22” requests for meetings and speakers started to flood into SCI. SCI now provides AA speakers for The Retreat in Wayzata, MN, Hazelden in Plymouth, MN, Buffalo Community Center, Monticello Alano, Nystrom & Associates in Big Lake, MN, the St. Cloud VA, The Effective Living Center in St. Cloud, Wings in Litchfield, MN, the Alano Club in Little Falls, MN and the breakfast club in St. Paul, MN.
Additionally, in the fall of 2022 SCI was approached by Anna Marie’s House about starting a Women’s Only AA meeting at the center. Staying true to our mantra of being the organization that says “yes”, SCI started the first ever AA meeting at Anna Marie’s in St. Cloud. In addition to this location, SCI has brought AA meetings into Focus 12 in St. Cloud, East Haven Halfway House in St. Cloud, Stand Down in St. Cloud, St. Cloud Alano Club, and the Recovery Community Network in St. Cloud.
Volunteers are the heart of SCI. We have no “special workers”. Our volunteers give back freely that which was given to them. They understand that to keep what we have we must give it away. They understand that… “Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail”.
Across Central MN, A.A. groups stay in touch with SCI by electing an Intergroup Representative. Intergroup Representatives act as a conduit between their group and SCI. The reps attend monthly meetings to hear updates on service activities, get their groups involved in 12-step opportunities, and carry their group’s voice on a variety of Intergroup matters.
SCI is governed by an Executive Committee that consists of the Admin, Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. Committee representatives are elected to two-year terms. Because of the level of commitment involved, it is recommended that elected members have a minimum of two years of continuous sobriety.
SCI is self-supporting. In keeping with this principle of self-support, SCI does not accept contributions from outside the A.A. Fellowship. 7th Tradition Contributions from A.A. groups and individual A.A. members, along with literature sales, provide the funds required to “carry the message” of Alcoholics Anonymous.
SCI’s primary purpose is to assist the AA groups of Central MN in carrying the message of Alcoholics Anonymous to those who still suffer. SCI derives its legitimate authority from and is responsible to the member groups which it serves. In all its activities, policies, and proceedings, SCI observes the practice and spirit of AA’s Twelve Traditions and Twelve concepts for World Service, as well as its three legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service.
The early Board members could not have predicted SCI would play such a large role in carrying the message of AA in Central MN. Our services are in demand more than ever. It’s the spirit of participation that makes this possible. As our founders did in the formative days of SCI, and as we do now, we remain focused on our Responsibility Statement, *“When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.” In that spirit, let us not forget that at this very moment a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous is either standing by to answer our phone, or is now speaking to a member of the community who may have a drinking problem.
*The responsibility statement was written for the 1965 International Convention in Toronto, and it remains a core principle of AA service today.