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About Us
 
The Scranton Pa. Chapter of the IAAMC was started in March of 1991 when, Jerry K. went around the area to drum up support to bring the conference to our area. Jerry's way of drumming up support was to ask the men of AA what they were doing for the next 4 years, and then asking them for a commitment to help bring the conference here and make it the best conference to date.
The original group of men to form the Men's National Conference Committee (as it was known then) were Jerry K., Joe McG., Ed W., Joe P., Al K.,Tom F., Mike W., John D., Dick S., and Frank H.
In April, 1991, Jerry K. took a bid to the Detroit conference. There were two other bids placed for the 1993-1994 conference, St. Louis and Chicago. Jerry came home with the news that we were picked as the site of the 1993-1994 National Men's Conference. Soon after his return the committee added members from Wilkes Barre and Pittston and for the first time in Men's Conference history, a Sober Bikers Committee. The conference has grown from 87 men at the first conference to over 500 men at the fifth conference. The 6th National Men's Conference was held at the historic Erie Lackawanna Train Station, which was then the Hotel at Lackawanna Station and is now the Radision Hotel. The theme for the conference was "Where hope becomes Reality" and was tied in with the Train Station and the Steamtown National Park. There was a parade of flags from all states attending the conference and also a flag from our friends from the north, Canada.
The 2008 conference came together when Ed W. told his sponsor that he felt like something was missing from his recovery and his sponsor told him to try and bring the conference back to Scranton again. Ed had no idea of how to contact the main committee in Ohio since the disc with all the conference information was lost. then one day Jerry K's wife called and told Ed that she had found a box of Jerry's things and when Ed went through the box he found the flier from the first conference in Ohio and called Tom N. from Ohio in hopes of renewing connections with the conference. To Ed's surprise Tom N. came to the phone and when he heard that it was someone from Scranton he was trilled and wanted to know where we had disapeared to. Ed related that all of the senior members of the Scranton committee had died. Ed was invited to come to the conference in Chiacgo in 2004, so he drummed up support for the conference and he developed a bid package and submitted it to the International Committee, there were 5 bids placed for the conference (Scranton, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Easton PA, and Omaha) Scranton was given the bid for 2008.
Las Vegas is the site for the 2007 conference and they are expecting 3000 people to attend the conference and bring thier families to enjoy the fellowship. The 2009 conference will be in Omaha NE and the 2010 conference will be in Ohio.
The theme for the 2008 conference is "Fellowship for a Lifetime" because that is what AA is and the friends you make at these conferences are friends for life.
We hope to see all of you in Scranton in 2008 and bring a friend and let the fellowship grow. |
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