Be a Part of Something Great—to the Glory of GOD!

I would like to ask your help in fulfilling a great need and dream concerning Dr. Bob and his "excellent training" in the Bible "as a youngster" in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

My son Ken and I have now been able to visit St. Johnsbury twice in less than a year (in October 2007 and again in June 2008). I have wanted to visit this town for a long time, particularly for investigation and research there, beginning at 297 Summer Street where Dr. Bob was born. Our first trip in October 2007 led us to conclude that we needed to secure benefactors to enable us to buy, acquire, and assemble a first-class library of manuscripts, books, records, pictures, and other items that would accurately portray the immense amount of religious training that we could see was made available to Dr. Bob by: (1) his parents—Judge Walter P. and Susan H. Smith; (2) North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, its Sunday school, and its Christian Endeavor Society; and (3) the revivals, Gospel meetings, and YMCA outreach in St. Johnsbury. These, as well as the whole Congregational atmosphere in Vermont; in St. Johnsbury; and, in particular, at the famous St. Johnsbury Academy where Bob’s parents were involved—Bob’s father was an examiner at the Academy, and his mother was a graduate of and teacher at the Academy. Young Bob received further extensive training through the Academy’s Daily Chapel, required church and Bible study attendance, Congregationalist sermons and talks, and texts.

This plan to put Dr. Bob’s youth back in the recovery picture has enormous proportions and immense value to those who really want to know where the early Akron A.A. program came from, how its ideas were shaped by the Bible, and what Dr. Bob learned in St. Johnsbury and translated to the Akron pioneer program he and Bill W. founded, and he led.

We have been assembling this history for a decade. And, following our first trip to St. Johnsbury in October 2007, we worked unceasingly for about four months preparing a core library--a multi-volume set of more than 20 resource binders with thousands of pages of exhibits, citations, and resources. We have also now published Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2008) about Dr. Bob’s youth to accompany the core library. (This title is 356 pages, contains a Bibliography and an Index, and has more than 660 footnotes: http://dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml.)

If you would like to help us make this plan a reality, please consider:

1.      Donating $37,500.00 (by yourself or with others as a group) to make possible the immediate placement of the eight (8) remaining segments of Dick B.’s "Dr. Bob Core Library" of resources on early A.A.—especially including thousands of pages of materials relating to Dr. Bob’s youth in St. Johnsbury--at North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, so that they may placed alongside the two (2) segments already there;

2.      Donating $5,000.00 (or more, in multiples of $5,000.00) to make possible an immediate, partial shipment to North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, of one or more of the eight (8) remaining segments of the "Dr. Bob Core Library"; and/or

3.      Donating $400.00 (or more, in multiples of $400.00) to make possible the sending of one or more boxes of the books I have written about early A.A.’s astonishing successes (based on the size of the donation) to: (a) Dr. Bob’s Home (in Akron, Ohio); (b) “Dr. Bob’s church” (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron); (c) the Akron Archives of Alcoholics Anonymous; (d) the Griffith Library at the Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont; (e) Stepping Stones (the historic home of Bill and Lois Wilson in Bedford Hills, New York); (f) the A.A. General Service Office in New York, N.Y; (g) the Gate Lodge on the Stan Hywet Hall (formerly Seiberling) estate in Akron, Ohio, where Henrietta B. Seiberling lived, and where Bill W. and Dr. Bob had their first meeting in 1935; or (h) other mutually-agreed-to people and organizations which will help carry the message to those who still suffer.

I very much hope to encourage participation in this information outreach opportunity by those of you who have shown a consistent interest in making known the facts concerning the documented, 75% and 93% success rates (in Akron and Cleveland, respectively) of the pioneer AAs among “seemingly-hopeless,” “medically-incurable,” real alcoholics who thoroughly followed the original path. In order to encourage you to become more informed about, and hopefully participate in, this outreach project, I have decided to make available to you two additional resources at a price I hope you can afford: (1) A complete reference set of my 29 active, in-stock titles at a very much discounted price of $299.95, including free shipping and handling within the U.S. (2) My two most recent and relevant research titles--The Conversion of Bill W. (http://dickb.com/conversion.shtml) and Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous (http://dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml)--for the discounted price of $39.95, including free shipping and handling within the U.S.

Taken together, these historical information outreach projects can insure that A.A.’s early history and success can come to be known in the major historical places AAs visit, in the libraries of prisons and rehabs which have a definite outreach, in study groups you yourself may form and lead, and in the hands of people to whom you personally give copies of the historical literature—whether your pastor, church, Bible or prayer group, study group, a treatment or rehab facility you favor, a sponsor or therapist you know, or newcomers you meet.

It is legendary that “you have to give it away to keep it.” And the “it” that needs to be donated is the resource that will attract and inform people of the vital importance of establishing a relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ, obeying Him, and walking in fellowship with Him, His son, and other believers. I believe my 19 years of research on the roles God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in early A.A., and my 33 published books serve this purpose. I hope you agree and act on the suggestion.

Please send your check or money order payable to “Dick B.” in U.S. dollars drawn on a U.S. bank to: Dick B., PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837; and, if you wish your contribution to be deductible for tax purposes, please make your check or money order payable to: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron. Donations may also be made via PayPal or credit card using the “Donation” button in the center column of the front page of the www.DickB.com web site. (Just contact us in advance by email, phone, fax, or regular mail to let us know the amount you would like to donate and the use to which you would like your donation put.)

For more information, please see Dick B.’s web site about Dr. Bob (www.DrBob.info) and his main web site (www.DickB.com). Or email Dick B. at: dickb@dickb.com.

** Most recently revised on October 30, 2008 **

Gloria Deo