Eastside Intergroup and the Districts we umbrella work hand in hand to carry the message. We've
included here some information that may be useful for local AA members who want to get involved
at the District level or need District contact information.
First, a little history ...
The Eastside has blossomed into a pretty large area, and at one time we were all included in
one district, District 13. However, as the population of the area increased, so did our
members. It was deemed necessary that District 13 split into 5 independant districts, Districts
34, 35, 36, 38, and 39 (District 37 is down in the Kelso/Longview area*). While
this was able to make it easier to concentrate service work in the members' home area, it did present
a difficulty in how the different districts would communicate with each other and purchase
materials essential to support that service work. The Seattle Intergroup could provide the literature
materials, but there was still a problem about not having a central office. It just didn't seem
prudent to have 5 different offices since all the districts were so geographically close to each other,
but it didn't seem right to ask Seattle Intergroup to handle this for us as well. It was then determined
that these 5 new districts would get together and establish an Intergroup of their own. This office would
be the used as the primary phone number for AA on the Eastside, it would coordinate the service
requests with the different districts, make literature available, and keep an up to date meeting schedule.
The cooperation between the Intergroup and the Districts are still evident today.
* District 37 was originally formed by groups in Redmond, but had troubles retaining
its leadership. The thought was to have Redmond merge with a surrounding district, and finally Redmond
voted to merge with the Bellevue District, 34. With the dissolution of District 37, a committeeman from
District 7 in Vancouver requested that "37" be given to a new district being formed out of a part of
District 7. This way both districts in Southwest Washington would end in a "7". The Area Committee
subsequently approved both the District 34/37 merger, and reassignment of District 37 to
Kelso/Longview.