Regarding the work here at Central, I’m not the one who started calling this operation the General Service Office. Other members and groups began referring to it in that way, apparently because it was serving that function, since most of our members are from other Twelve Step programs, such as AA, and know about AA’s GSO in NYC. This came about from the sheer necessity of having to have a central focus for 12th Step work in the aftermath of the Dear Abby “shotgun.” I called it nothing until late ’81 or ’82 because during that pre-Abby period it was largely the focal point of my own 12th Step work. Sometime in ’81 or ’82 after the Abby onslaught, I began calling it SA Central due to the effect the Abby column had. It called for responses to some 3000 inquirers from all over in a very brief span of time.

You see, that’s how SA got started nationally—from that one newspaper article in June of ’81. To handle the response, I opened Box 300 here in Simi Valley, and it—and my garage!—became the focal point to and from which all the mail flowed, members made contact with each other, and groups were formed. Hundreds of individuals who said they wanted in—the whole shotgun blast of them—had to be paired up with others in their areas. That’s how the first groups outside of California were formed. The centralized operation here arose by necessity. There were no other SA groups in existence, so there was no place else for inquirers to write for information and connection with others. For those who had no others in their area, special means were taken to phone and correspond with them until they found their people.

It was sometime after ’81, when some groups were going and SA was getting off the ground, that certain members and groups started using the term “General Service Office”—which is still in my converted garage. The term is used loosely (and technically incorrectly) and derives from the common usage and affirmation of the fellowship at large—the principle that seems to be guiding SA in the rest of its matters.

The work here at Central takes fifty to sixty manhours per week on the average and as much as 120 hours/week and more when we get media attention such as Dear Abby. The work consists of answering mail, corresponding with newcomers and a growing number of SA members, heavy phone work with members and newcomers, handling literature orders, and other routine office matters.

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Dr. Bob presented his ideas on the future of A.A. in his last major talk, in Detroit in 1948 (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, pp. 287-288):

“We know what A.A. has done in the past 13 years, but where do we go from here? Our membership at present is, I believe, conservatively estimated at 70,000. Will it increase from here on?

“Well, that will depend on every member of A.A. It is possible for us to grow or not to grow, as we elect. If we fight shy of entangling alliances, if we avoid getting messed up with controversial issues (religious or political or wet-dry), if we maintain unity through our central offices, if we preserve the simplicity of our program, if we remember that our job is to get sober and to stay sober and to help our less fortunate brother do the same thing, then we shall continue to grow and thrive and prosper.”