“You are literally responsible for his life.”
In print
The Big Book of 1939 has a chapter on helping another drunk, “Working with Others.” It tells a member how to find a prospect, when to call on him, what to say and what to leave out. It never uses the word “sponsor.”
The first instructions written for sponsors by name came from Akron. AA’s first group there moved its meetings to the King School in January 1940, and its members put out a small pamphlet, A Manual for Alcoholics Anonymous. Histories date it 1940 or 1941. It was meant, it said, as “a practical guide for new members and sponsors of new members.”
Its “Word to the Sponsor” took for granted that the newcomer was going into a hospital, and it held the sponsor to account. “You must assume full responsibility for this man.” Don’t promise him his job back, or money, unless you can deliver. Don’t put him in the hospital without knowing how the bill will be paid, unless you’ll pay it. Line up his visitors: “twenty or thirty phone calls will clinch matters.” Visit him yourself, take him to his first meeting, and keep after him at home, once “the glamour has worn off.”
In 1944, Cleveland’s Central Committee put out A.A. Sponsorship, a pamphlet credited to Clarence S., who had started Cleveland’s own meeting. “Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is a potential sponsor of a new member,” it began. No one should sponsor to “Increase the size of the group,” or for “personal satisfaction and glory.” The hospital was left to the case: “Thousands of cases are treated in each manner and have proved satisfactory.”
The two pamphlets parted ways over the family. Akron asked the newcomer’s family and friends to stay away from the hospital. Cleveland wanted them “fully informed of A.A.” and invited to meetings. But both agreed with the Big Book that the sponsor gained from it too. “Remember,” Akron’s manual said, “you depend on the newcomer to keep you sober as much as he depends on you.”
It’s about 1940, in Akron, Ohio. AA’s first group has moved its meetings to a school, and its members write down what they have learned in a small pamphlet. One section is addressed to the sponsor, and it does not soften anything.
The newcomer’s life is in your hands, it says. Don’t promise him a job or money you can’t deliver. Don’t put him in the hospital unless you know how the bill will be paid, or you’ll pay it yourself. Get on the telephone and line up his visitors. Take him to his first meeting, and keep calling on him after he goes home.
Four years later, Cleveland writes a sponsorship pamphlet of its own, and it doesn’t agree on everything. Akron asks the family to stay away from the hospital. Cleveland wants the family kept informed and invited to meetings. But Akron’s pamphlet saves its plainest point for last: the sponsor depends on the newcomer to stay sober, as much as the newcomer depends on him.