I just returned from visiting a loner who lives in Slovenia. This man has 21 years of SA sobriety, but because of the nature of his profession, he has been unable to attend meetings—although we did have two meetings whilst I was visiting there. This member subscribes to ESSAY, and for many years he participated in a letter-writing circle within our fellowship. However, with the growing availability of email, this circle has gradually reduced in size and activity, until it ceased to function altogether.

My friend impressed upon me his concern that the fellowship is failing in its primary purpose by making no provision for loners like him, who do not or cannot have email. He has asked that the fellowship’s letter-writing activity be restarted and that he and similarly situated loners be allowed to participate. He also showed me copies of two AA publications, “Hello World” and “Loners-Internationalists Meeting,” which seem to cater very effectively to loners in that fellowship.

Within the SA fellowship we have a number of loners who either have no access to the Internet or simply prefer to stay in contact by mail. Others, called “homers,” are unable to leave their homes to attend meetings. Still others simply enjoy writing with pen on paper.

If you are a member who enjoys letter-writing and could help by writing to others, please send your name and address to saico@sa.org. Also, if you are familiar with our former letter-writing circle, could you please let us know how this worked in the past? This service would be a great encouragement to many of our members around the globe.