Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share their
experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may
solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with
any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution; does
not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor
opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and
help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
Area 48 – Its History & Place in A.A.
A.A. was founded in Akron, Ohio on June 10, 1935; the day Dr. Bob had his last drink. Four years later, in 1939, an A.A. group was started in Glens Falls, N.Y. and Area 48 was born.
The A.A. message was passed on by word of mouth and through public information. The Area began to grow – in 1941 groups where started in Kingston and in Albany. Later in the 1940s groups began in Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga, Utica/Rome and southern Vermont. The growth continued through the 1950s with A.A. groups starting in Plattsburgh, Hudson, Great Barrington, Lake Placid and Cobleskill/Middleburg.
Also, in 1941, Area 48’s public information function began when a copy of the Big Book – “Alcoholics Anonymous” – was placed in the Kingston Public Library. The first meetings in institutions started in 1945, with meetings at Marcy and Utica state hospitals, and in 1953 at the Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora.
By 1974 the Area, to manage its growth, formed 10 geographical districts. It was later expanded to 13 districts and now consists of 19 districts. (District 6 no longer exists, as it became part of the Western Massachusetts Area). Area 48 counts more than 800 groups, with an excess of 1,200 meetings per week.
Area 48, Northeast New York, as its name suggests, covers a wide geographical area, stretching from Beacon in the south to the Canadian border in the North, east to west, the Area goes from the eastern border of New York State to Canasota, Madison County, in central New York.
Today, Area 48 is one of four A.A. service areas in New York State, which in turn is part of A.A.’s Northeast Region, 18 Areas from Maine to the District of Columbia. Each Area had one Delegate, who represents the Area each spring at the General Service Conference in New York City.