By Bobbi Eggers
Every week, quietly and without fanfare, hundreds of people walk through our doors for a meeting, not for a Sunday service, not for a concert or a book talk. Some of them are fighting for their lives. Some of them are fighting for their marriages, their families, their careers. These are 12-step meetings. Alcoholics Anonymous. Narcotics Anonymous. Al-Anon for the families who love someone in the grip of addiction. They are free, they are confidential. They give them hope, belonging, and structure in a room with a group of people who understand, and a path forward.
Greenwich is not immune to addiction. It never was. The faces in these rooms on our campus are your neighbors, your colleagues, the people you see at the school pickup line, grocery store and the fundraiser at the club. Addiction doesn’t check your zip code. But recovery — real, sustained, community-supported recovery — does depend on resources. It depends on people like you deciding that this matters.
The moment someone decides to walk into a room and ask for help is one of the most courageous things a human being can do. Offering a private entrance to walk in with dignity, a clean physical space, and a cup of coffee, matters more than most of us realize.
This Greenwich group, founded in 1939, is the third oldest meeting in the United States Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Right now, at Christ Church Greenwich, those meetings happen in spaces that were never purpose-built for them. We make it work because the need is too great not to. But “making it work” is no longer enough for a community that deserves better.
The goal is a dedicated, thoughtfully designed 12-step meeting facility with a private entrance in the lower level of the Annex Building on the Christ Church Greenwich campus. Private entrance matters. Dignity matters. Walking into a space that says you belong here — that matters more than most of us will ever know.
Please donate to this 501(c)3. It is fully tax-deductible to the greatest extent of the law. Matching gifts are available. Naming (first name?) and anonymous opportunities both exist. Every dollar goes directly toward creating this space for 12-Step programs. Christ Church has opened its doors to these meetings for years because we believe that a church’s calling doesn’t end at the sanctuary walls. But we need your help to do this right.
If you have ever loved someone in recovery, if you have ever been in recovery yourself, if you have ever sat in one of those rooms or wished you had somewhere to turn, you already know why this matters.
And if you haven’t, trust me: you know someone who does.
To donate, visit: https://onrealm.org/ParishChristChu/-/form/give/StepsAhead
Questions? Reach out to owoodruff@christchurchgreenwich.org
