preston group
8220 Westchester Dr #220
Dallas, Texas 75225
Phone: 214-368-1107
info@prestongroup.org
Directions

GOD, GRANT ME THE SERENITY
TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE

In-Person Meetings

Preston Group


COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN
AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

Zoom Meetings

Desktop computer? Go to https://zoom.us/join
Phone or tablet? Download the Zoom app
All times are Central Daylight Time.

All the Discussion meetings have Meeting ID: 6180798024 (except for Men's Stag)
All the hybrid meetings have Meeting ID: 9558241261.
Men's Stag Meeting ID: 89338757482
Preston Group

God grant me the serenity

TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE
COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN
AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

Directions

8220 WESTCHESTER DR #220
DALLAS, TX 75225
phone: 214-368-1107
email: info@prestongroup.org
Tap to open in Apple Maps



We are in the Preston Center shopping center between the Dallas North Tollway and Preston Road, in the 3rd block south of Northwest Highway.

From Northwest Highway, turn south on Westchester into Preston Center. Go about 1 block and park in the covered parking (free) across the street from Yolk and Office Depot. From the parking lot, walk southward crossing Luther Lane passing by Susie Cakes and go down the sidewalk to the end of the block.

Our entrance is in the corner of the building across the street from Larry North Fitness Center, next door to Crossfit. Come in the double glass doors and up the stairs to the 2nd floor. Put .50 cents in the kitty, grab a cup of coffee and join us!



WE ARE SELF-SUPPORTING THROUGH OUR OWN CONTRIBUTIONS

Practice the 7th Tradition


Venmo username: @prestongroup
https://tinyurl.com/322eve3r



https://tinyurl.com/5n7a9avc



Or snail mail a check to:
Bobby Boggs
6939 Helsem Way Lane A
Dallas, TX 75230
(make it out to "Preston Group")

Preston Group is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization.

I am responsible...

When anyone, anywhere reaches out for help,
I want the hand of A.A. always to be there.
And for that: I am responsible.

I WANT THE HAND OF AA TO ALWAYS BE THERE

Announcements


  • Chip S. from the Addison Group will be giving the Steps this month on Monday nights at 6:00 PM
  • Are you an official member of Preston Group? Fill out a yellow card in the office so you can get your annual chip on Birthday Night.
  • Birthday Night this month will be Sunday March 31 at 7:30 PM. Come celebrate with us!

Questions?
Call 214-369-1107 or email info@prestongroup.org






TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE

About

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS is a fellowship of men and women 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.

Preston Group

We are like the miner who has found a limitless lode...

and the only way it will pay dividends,
is if I mine it for the rest of my life
and give it all away.

HONESTY, OPEN-MINDEDNESS, WILLINGNESS

Add Your Email

Subscribe to our email list to receive occasional emails about Preston Group business.






HELP AND HOPE FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF ALCOHOLICS

Preston Al-Anon Family Group

8220 Westchester Drive, Suite 220
Dallas, TX 75225-1151
dallasprestonafg@gmail.com

Mailing Address:
Preston AFG
P.O. Box 25151
Dallas, TX 75225

Dallas Al-Anon Information Services
214-363-0461


Preston Group Al-Anon

Preston Group Al-Anon

LINK FOR ALL AL-ANON ZOOM MEETINGS
Meeting ID: 536 100 6392
Password: PrestonAFG

Directions:
We are in Preston Center shopping center. From Highway 75 (Central Expressway), exit Northwest Highway and head west to Preston Road. Westchester is between Preston and Douglas Roads (look for Wells Fargo on your left). Turn left (south), and Preston AFG is two blocks down on the left between Luther and Sherry Lanes. Covered parking is available in the preceding block. Enter glass doors just past CROSSFIT black awning (previously Black-Eyed Pea). Take stairs or elevator to 2nd floor. Enter glass door at far end of open area, and the first door on left is Al-Anon room. (AA, coffee and rest rooms are down the hall.)

CLICK FOR A MAP

(We are in the same building as the AA group, right next door)


I was the black sheep of the family...

Then I came to Alcoholics Anonymous
and found the rest of the herd.

HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT PRESTON GROUP?

Contact Us

preston group
8220 Westchester Dr #220
Dallas, TX 75225
phone: 214-368-1107
info@prestongroup.org



When I stopped living in the problem

And started living in the solution,
the problem went away.

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE

A History of Preston Group

"What does it take to start a new AA group?"
"3 alcoholics, a coffee pot, and a resentment."

In September of 1965, a group of 28 dissatisfied members of the old Suburban Group met and discussed plans for a new group of their own.

The reasons for their dissatisfaction were, and I quote: "A close governing body clique who ramrodded elections to keep their own in power, and ran the group as they saw fit, rather than follow the will of the group.  Also, an interference by this same body on the Al-Anon members, with many restrictions placed upon them."

These members had the following firm ideas in mind, and again I quote: "All decisions were to be made by the group as a whole, and the elected officers would exist to carry out the wishes of the group. There would be no by-laws and rules would be established as the group went along. The Al-Anon group would be autonomous."

The first Preston A.A. and Al-Anon group, known as the Preston Family Group, met on October 18, 1965 in a private residence. A search committee was formed to find a meeting place and the following week, October 25th, 1965, 30 AAs met and voted on a location: the Ventura Building in Preston Center.  As with all good AA meetings, a voluntary collection provided the funding for the operational cost of the new group. A check was made out and signed by Jim A. for $375.00 - our first month's rent.

The first official meeting of the Preston Group was held in the Ventura Building - 6131 Luther Lane, with fifty-seven members in attendance. The Al-Anon group also met in that location, adjacent to the AAs.  Our space was adequate on the second floor, but we were right next to a Fred Astair Dance Studio. You would climb the stairs and pass by the gyrating dancers. I think there was a few problems with newer AA prospects who hadn't quite got their bearings! Dance your way to sobriety!

A few of our earliest members were Jack Lego, Bob D, Don J, George H, Leo and Glenn S. Our very first newcomer was Roger W. who showed up in 1965, then like some of us, went back out for about three months. Fortunately, Roger came back in April of 1966 and has had continuous sobriety ever since.

Preston was organized thirty years after A.A. was founded by Bill W. and Dr. Bob, June 10, 1935. We were six years old at Preston when Bill died, January 26, 1971.

You may not know that the Lone Star Roundup was started by several members of this group. We always had a Hospitality room at the conference. The North Texas Roundup replaced the old Lone Star this year.

There was a conference over in Longview, Texas called the East Texas Roundup. Preston supported that convention for many years, also hosting a Hospitality room. Many good times were spent in April in East Texas, listening to the circuit speakers of the day.

We also had a picnic every summer for a while at Sandy Lake, if my memory is correct. This never went over too well because of the heat.

And who can forget the Christmas parties Howard P. would throw every year? The whole club was invited and scores of happy, sober alcoholics celebrated into the night. When another Preston member bought Howard's house, the tradition went on for several years.

When I sobered up and came to Preston in July of 1974, we had meetings every night at 8:00 pm, except on Thursday at 7:30 pm, mainly to accommodate the Al-Ateens, who had school work and had to be home. Sunday morning was an 11:00 am speaker meeting. Wednesday was Step Speaker and Thursday, beginners meeting. Friday, an open meeting.

In the mid-seventies a noon meeting was added on Wednesday. In the early eighties, a Saturday morning men's Stag came along, followed by a Saturday Women's meeting. This was the first break from night meetings only.

Between October 1985 and October 1990 the noon meeting followed by the 7:00 am meeting were added. The last in the sequence was the 6:00 pm meeting... So no one can complain about not finding a meeting!

The Preston Group has actually occupied four different locations over the years. Originally we were at 6131 Luther Lane, down the street, for about 18 years. Relations with our landlord, Mr. Ventura were always a bit rocky. There was always a disagreement about something. For instance, we wanted to spruce up our space, painting and other improvements but he vetoed that... Said it would raise his tax base. One of our members nearly came to blows with Mr. Sam.

Eventually, we decided to move - and we did move to a tiny location on Sherry Lane. I will never forget the night when all members, Al-Anon included, picked up our chairs, tables and whatever we owned and carried it all across Luther Lane over to Sherry Lane to our new clubhouse. Then the 8 o'clock meeting resumed promptly on time! However, we didn't stay at this location long, as their wasn't enough room for our expanding size.

We then moved across Preston Center to 6115 Berkshire Lane, which was also upstairs. The layout being what it was, the Al-Anons had to walk through the back of our room to get to their meeting. Not an ideal arrangement.  Our beloved Eve E., who suffered from polio, had to be carried up the stairs every night, wheelchair and all, by volunteers, of which there were many.

Eve has passed away, as so many of our early ones. To mention just a few: there was Andy W, (One arm) Howard (Apple dumplin') P, Mickey McB, Big Ben K, Grady T, Jack L, Freda Y, Ott H, Keith (Toby) T, Bedford W, Helen J, Conway P, Bobby E, Jerry B, Manly P, Wade I, Gene G, Pinky S, Gene T, Buddy (Cannon Ball) H, Melvin C, Father John, and of course, David A.  The good news is they are all probably attending "The Big Meeting in the Sky".

Finally, Preston moved to our present location at 6024 Luther Lane in 1990. I know that I am very satisfied with these digs, and hope we stay here.

As evidenced by the sobriety board, Preston has flourished over the past 41 years. We are the fifth oldest group in the Dallas area.  David A. used to say that we were the largest A.A. group in the world and I think he was right. But who can say?

I do know it is the BEST.

Thank you,

Roy T.

Submitted to the Dallas Intergroup Association in October 2006

The original transcript




"WHENEVER A CIVILIZATION OR SOCIETY DECLINES (OR PERISHES), THERE IS ALWAYS ONE CONDITION PRESENT, THEY FORGOT WHERE THEY CAME FROM."
-Carl Sandburg

Some Documents on A.A. History

  1. The Oxford Group
  2. Frank Buchman - Founder of the Oxford Group
  3. History of The Four Absolutes
  4. Dr. Bob on The Four Absolutes
  5. Bill Wilson on the Oxford Group
  6. Saints Run Mad - A Criticism of the "Oxford" Group Movement by Marjorie Harrison, 1934
  7. The Original Six Steps
  8. The Six Steps in A.A. Literature
  9. The Texas Preamble
  10. "Conference-Approved Literature - What it means to you" - a publication of the A.A. General Service Office
  11. The Man on the Bed (the painting "Came to Believe", and the story of AA member #3, Bill Dotson)
  12. An 1878 View of the Washingtonians
  13. We Love Our Nuggets
  14. William Duncan Silkworth, MD
  15. The Susan Cheever interview (author of "My Name is Bill")
  16. Clarence Snyder's interpretation of The 12 Steps - Clarence was a founder of the Cleveland Group, the first group to call itself an A.A. group for alcoholics only.
  17. Bill Wilson's talk at Guest House (a treatment center for alcoholic priests)
  18. The First Roman Catholics in Alcoholics Anonymous, by Glenn F. Chesnut
  19. Bill Wilson regarding "the hippy problem"
  20. Drugs and the Spiritual: Bill W. Takes LSD, by Ernest Kurtz (author of "Not-God" and "The Spirituality of Imperfection")
  21. Bill Wilson's Experience with LSD, by Thomas B.
  22. Interview with Searcy W. - Searcy W. (Whaley) passed away in Dallas, Texas in September 2003 with 53+ years of sobriety. He was Ebby Thacher's "Texas Sponsor" during the eight years Ebby lived here.
  23. Sister Mary Ignatia - Sister Mary ran the alcoholic ward at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio, which was the first religious institution to open it's doors to AA - but only if it were completely non-denominational.
  24. Recollections from Ruth Hock - Ruth Hock was AA's first national secretary. Hired by Bill and Hank P (Parkhurst) in January 1936, she typed the entire Big Book manuscript from Bill Wilson's dictation.
  25. "Three Talks to Medical Societies" - Presentations Bill Wilson made to the AMA and American Psychiatric Association - 1944, 1949 and 1955.
  26. The Earliest Printings of Richmond Walker's "Twenty-Four Hours a Day", by Glenn C. (Southbend, Indiana)
  27. An Excellent Historical presentation of Twenty-Four Hours a Day, by Glenn C. (Southbend, Indiana)
  28. My Drug Experiences - Author unknown
  29. The Liberty Magazine Article, September 1939
    A.A.'s first successful national publicity, the Liberty Magazine article produced over 800 pleas for help. Bill wrote to Dr. Bob, "We are growing at an alarming rate, although I have no further fear of large numbers."
  30. The Elrick B. Davis Articles from The Cleveland Plain Dealer
    October - November 1939
    These articles appeared in the main Cleveland newspaper, the Plain Dealer, just five months after the first A.A. group was formed in Cleveland. The articles resulted in hundreds of calls for help from suffering alcoholics who reached out for the hope that the fledgling Alcoholics Anonymous offered.

        Article 1 - October 21, 1939
        Article 2 - October 23, 1939
        Article 3 - October 24, 1939
        Article 4 - October 25, 1939
        Article 5 - October 26, 1939
        Article 6 - November 2, 1939
  31. The Jack Alexander article - Saturday Evening Post, March 1941
    The New York office received over 6,000 pleas for help from alcoholics and their families all over the world, and A.A. was established as an American institution.
        How It All Came About - an Introduction
        The Jack Alexander Article
  32. Origins of the Serenity Prayer
    For many years, long after the Serenity Prayer became attached to the very fabric of the Fellowship's life and thought, its exact origin and its actual author, have played a tantalizing game of hide and seek with researchers, both in and out of A.A. The facts of how it came to be used by A.A. a half century ago are much easier to pinpoint.
  33. Bill declines an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Yale University, 1954
  34. Suggestions for Leading Beginner's Meetings, from AA General Service Office
  35. Big Book History and Myths -Arthur S., Arlington, TX, July 2010
  36. Big Book Changes - These are the changes that have been made in the program portion of the Big Book (the first 164 pages and the roman numeral pages) since it was first published on April 10, 1939.
  37. A Narrative Timeline of AA History - Arthur S., Arlington, TX
  38. 12 Traditions Study Guide - Arthur S., Arlington, TX
  39. The Sermon on the Mount - Emmett Fox, 1938
  40. "The Vitamin B-3 Therapy", Bill Wilson wrote 3 papers on Niacin therapy for depression and anxiety
         Paper #1
         Paper #2
         Paper #3
  41. Vitamin B-3: Niacin and Its Amide, by A. Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.
  42. Dr. Abram Hoffer talks about Bill Wilson and Niacin Therapy


Ernest Kurtz, Ph.D
"Addiction is this belief that something outside of me can fix something that's wrong within me. I can find a new medicine, I can find a new woman, I can find a new car, I can find a new boat, I can find a new job, I can find a new.... No. The emptiness is still there; the emptiness is still there."
 
Ernest Kurtz has been the outstanding thinker of the A.A. tradition's second generation, the one who played a constant leadership role in pushing the movement towards the highest professional standards of history writing and supplied some of its most influential interpretive concepts. His ideas are vitally important for anyone who wishes to understand A.A. history during the period following Bill Wilson's death in 1971.

As a Ph.D. student at Harvard University in the 1970's, he was the first researcher to be granted full access to the archives of Alcoholics Anonymous. The book that resulted, "Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous" (his doctoral dissertation - published in 1979), is the most scholarly work available on early A.A. history.

Reflections - Ernie Kurtz - The Early History of Alcoholics Anonymous


Ernest Kurtz, The Collected Ernie Kurtz, June 2008
  1. Research on Alcoholics Anonymous: The Historical Context
  2. Alcoholics Anonymous and the Disease Concept of Alcoholism, Ernest Kurtz, Ph.D
  3. Alcoholics Anonymous: A Phenomenon in American Religious History
  4. Drugs and the Spiritual: Bill W. Takes LSD
  5. "Spiritual Rather Than Religious": The Contribution of Alcoholics Anonymous
  6. The Spirituality of William James: A Lesson from Alcoholics Anonymous
  7. Shame in the Nineties
  8. Commentary on "Lay Treatment"
  9. Models of Alcoholism Used in Treatment: Contrasting A.A. and Other Models with Which it is Often Confused
  10. Spirituality and Recovery: the Historical Journey
  11. Whatever Happened to Twelve-Step Programs?
  12. Why A.A. Works: The Intellectual Significance of Alcoholics Anonymous
  13. Here's to Spuds MacKenzie!
Shame & Guilt
©Copyright 2007 by Ernest Kurtz. Second edition, revised and updated. Originally published as Shame and Guilt: Characteristics of the Dependency Cycle (A Historical Perspective for Professionals). Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden; 1981.

Multimedia
  1. Bill Wilson reads "How it Works", recorded in 1963
  2. "Time Out of Mind" - Bill tells a story illustrating the obsession of drinking. From the "Bill W." documentary, 2012.
  3. Bill on The 12 Traditions - part 1
  4. Bill on The 12 Traditions - part 2
  5. Dr. Bob and Bill W. - Central Atlantic Regional Assembly - Washington, DC, January 31, 1948
  6. Some AA photos - A collection of photos gathered from around the web (5 Mb zip file)
Some good AA Websites
  1. "AA History Lovers" Yahoo discussion group - 2500+ members, including GSO archivists, authors of conference-approved books, and academic historians (alcoholics and non-alcoholics are welcome)
  2. Silkworth.net - A great website on A.A. history
  3. The Hindsfoot Foundation - A non-profit organization devoted to the history of treating alcoholism
  4. The West Baltimore Group - a whole lot of AA love in this website
  5. Official AA website