The following is a brief history of the South Jersey Intergroup.
By Joe T
Alcoholics Anonymous arrived in New Jersey in 1941 and the Intergroup Office for the Entire State was located in Newark. In December, 1941 the Camden Group had 35 members. Two South Jersey groups (Atlantic City & Camden) attended the First Annual Dinner of the A.A. Groups of New Jersey, Sponsored by the Intergroup Committee and held at the Terrace Ballroom, Mosque Theatre Building. The dinner was held on October 16, 1947 and among the guests were Bill W. and Dr. Silkworth, MD. The following year they were joined by groups from Burlington and Ocean City.
In September 1941, the Courier Post reported “Drink Cure Group To Be Formed Here” and stated that the Camden group planned to establish a retreat where persons sincerely desirous of stopping may be taken.
South Jersey Intergroup was first registered with GSO on October 14, 1958 and the office was listed as 1286 Collings Rd. Camden. South Jersey was probably the second New Jersey Intergroup.
In 1965, the paper reported the first Area Convention would be held in the Costello School, Gloucester City and the theme was “A.A. and the Community.” In 1966, the Convention held an open meeting at the same school and presented a film on Bill’s Story. Tickets were $3.50.
The oldest documents SJIG holds are the “Articles of Association” dated March 26, 1964, which refer to a similar document from 1961. The office was then located at 93 Stewart St., Camden. The Intergroup office has moved several times, from Camden to two different locations in Cherry Hill and finally to the present office in Pennsauken. Intergroup meetings were held for a time in St. Bartholomew’s (due to the office being to smoky. – Imagine that!) The articles of association were published in February 1974 and eventually led to our current by-laws.
The Intergroup took a lot of large steps in 1974, but the attendance at IG Meetings was small enough to list each representative by name. The Steering Committee sometimes met in a member’s home (Haddon Heights, June 1974.) An Office Committee was formed and the 12-Step List had 140 names. Public Information had met with WCAU and had Public Service Announcements on the air during three hours of the day.
By 1977, phones were being manned 40 hours a week at the Cherry Hill office, meeting lists sold for five cents and many of the groups were cooperating with the courts in a Countermeasures program. By years end, phones were up to 58 hours a week and donations topped $900.
In 1978, South Jersey Intergroup Association incorporated within the State of New Jersey, becoming a legal entity.
In 1979, the Literature Committee suggested that all groups have A.A. books and pamphlets on hand to sell at meetings.
The meeting schedule took its present form in the early 1980’s.
Originally South Jersey covered all groups from Bordentown to Cape May, but during the early 1980’s the groups south of Millville formed the Cape Atlantic Intergroup.
Today there are over 200 groups listed in South Jersey, most of which have Intergroup representatives. While attendance at the monthly meetings is usually about 80 representatives, the use of email has enabled us to be in contact with about 80% of the groups.
There are currently 12 service committee:
There are five elected officer positions and five Trustees. The officers are elected every two years and the Trustees hold their position for five years.
The South Jersey Intergroup Office is currently located in Pennsauken. Due to the increased use of a call-forwarding system, we are able to have continuous phone coverage by AA volunteers. Literature is sold at the office six days a week and two committees meet there monthly. The monthly IG meeting is held in Audubon, as is the quarterly Booker’s Meeting.