By Anthony Ruiz
It was Thanksgiving Day at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Forest Hills’ Grace Lutheran Church. The room buzzed with chatter as attendees entered, and hugs abounded. Coffee, tea, and cookies were available for all who needed a little boost. Then, the room got quiet, except for an occasional sigh and some abrupt clapping when a member shared their sober anniversary.
Those in the early recovery process, as well as old-timers, found themselves alongside strangers and some newly-acquired friends during the Thanksgiving Day Share-A-Thon, also called Alcathons. These 24-hour meeting marathons are available for those who seek to stay sober during the holiday. From Wednesday, November 27 at 6 pm through Saturday, November 30 at 2 pm, meetings are held every hour, with a new shift leader assigned by Queens Intergroup every 3 hours.
“I could not remember most of the holidays because I would generally blackout,” said Phil H, a 65-year-old father of three who used to work on Wall Street.
He had many doubts when he first started attending meetings in July 2023. For the first few months, he sat and observed. While he stayed clean, the holiday Share-A-Thons convinced him that the program would work. Despite an impending divorce, he stayed clean – and he credits AA and the shareathons.
Emotional conversations at the dinner table or an incompatible family member can trigger a relapse.
Leshaun B, 60, an electrician, married with four kids and a new member of AA, said he avoided the drama this year.
“I did manage to share some family time at Thanksgiving, but as soon as I ate, I immediately removed myself and went to an Alcathon meeting.”
Dwayne J, 44, single, agreed. “I have turned down many family Thanksgiving Day invites due to the commitment to my sobriety and recovery,” he said. Dwayne J has been sober for 12 years and values these sessions for helping him overcome isolation and connect with a “spiritual family” during Thanksgiving.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded in 1935, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supporting sobriety through meetings and The 12 Steps and The 12 Traditions. Though AA’s success rate is between 8 and 12 percent, longer sobriety significantly improves outcomes — 50 percent after one year and 85 percent after five.
AA introduced Alcathons in the 1960s to aid members during the holidays — 24-hour meetings that began in Arizona and spread nationwide.
Stephanie P, chair of the Queens Intergroup, said she was five months sober during her first Thanksgiving Alcathon.
“There was an open-house, everyone’s-invited Thanksgiving dinner at the local church, and AA meetings all day,” she said. “People I had seen at meetings were serving food and arranging tables and leading meetings and welcoming all who entered.”
For AA members, Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude centered on a new way of life and a spirit of fellowship.
The Rosedale/Springfield AA Group had nine members shuttle in and out from 9 pm through midnight on Thanksgiving Day. The trips involve huge family sacrifices, a generous spirit, and, most of all, a love for the fellowship of AA. While members have accumulated years of sobriety, they understand that a newcomer will struggle at this time of year. Giving back the same support they received is the epitome of passing it on.
Overcoming life’s challenges and obstacles is often accompanied and comforted by music — a soundtrack that is a far cry from those chaotic, noisy, and embarrassing histrionics of their past. These days, Phil H meditates on “A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane. For Leshaun B, “Trying to Find My Way” by Freddie Jackson inspires his day. For Dwayne J, the all-time classic “Man in The Mirror” by Michael Jackson gets him going each morning.
Twenty four hours at AA is there to ensure that this holiday will be one that they will, in fact, remember.