McKenzie Towne AA Group History

In August 2001 David T asked Debbie Isaacson* (deceased) to be part of a new group in SE Calgary and she accepted without reservation. Dave approached the Pastor of the newly built McKenzie Towne Church and after an engaging conversation a new friendship/relationship was formed.

The McKenzie Towne AA Group came to life with its first meeting on August 28, 2001 held in the nursery/playroom on the main floor of the new church. Debbie brought the first coffee pot from home, Dave brought a Big Book and the Pastor directed a newcomer to the first meeting.

They started with one closed Big Book meeting a week on Tuesday nights, opening with the Serenity Prayer and closed with the Lords Prayer. The group registered with General Service shortly after and was added to the Calgary meeting list

Both founding members came from the Deer Ridge AA group. Shortly after it was listed, Bill K and Cathy H found and joined the group. The group added a Thursday night closed Big Book meeting and shortly after a Saturday morning closed Daily Reflections meeting.

In less than a year, the group had outgrown the playroom and were allowed to move upstairs to a much larger meeting room and finally they moved across the hall to the recreation room which is twice the size of the previous room.

McKenzie Towne expanded to include a Sunday Came to Believe meeting for several years until the church had to reclaim the room for its use. A Friday night women’s only meeting was also tried for a while.

At the time of writing this, McKenzie Towne is a strong group of over 100 members with a healthy mix of old timers and new comers. The monthly business meetings are attended by an eager group of members anxious to give back. The birthday meetings are now held in the sanctuary to accommodate the large crowds of members, friends and families.

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* Debbie Isaacson has passed away, thus using her last name is not an anonymity break.