History of the Convention

Hand in Hand Women’s Day of Unity was conceived August 2006 by Carolyn M. and Nancy K. through their desire to create a spiritual get-together available to women in California’s Central Valley.

Nancy K. reached out to Connie R. who invited Suzell T. to go forward with the concept of a women’s convention. In January 2007 this group, along with Joan K., and Charlotte C. met in Lodi, California to plan the first and event. Connie R. also called newcomer, Toni P., and asked if she would plan the decorations and help out wherever needed. In the beginning, all the committee members had more than one job, and they all contributed money for the start-up fund.  

Suzell suggested using Hand in Hand as the convention name because the committee wanted to express the idea of women reaching out to other women who were on spiritual and sober journey.

Since the gathering was meant to unify the women of Alcoholics Anonymous in celebrating sobriety, Nancy K. suggested that Women’s Day of Unity be added to the name. In 2007 the official logo and colors (variations of burgundy and white) were selected and have adorned all of the flyers and programs since that time.

In the early planning, there was a lot of pushback from local members who felt that what we were doing was breaking Traditions. So we contacted General Service Office (GSO) in New York to confirm that we were following AA Event Guidelines and the Traditions.

GSO confirmed that our get-together was typical of other AA events. Tradition Three states, “Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an AA Group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation”. Since we followed this Tradition, GSO had no objections. Like other AA groups and events, we support all our service entities.

GSO also advised that Hand in Hand Women’s Day of Unity would be designated as a convention, since it is the policy that only GSO functions are referred to as conferences.

Some of the ladies who at first opposed us eventually attended and have participated in our convention.

Our first event was held in Lodi at Ebenezer Church with 87 women in attendance. To secure larger facilities, we moved to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for the next two years, however, we soon outgrew them. In 2009, we moved to Century Assembly Church, where we remained for three years. In 2012, the convention moved to the First Baptist Church for four years.

In 2017 we came to Vinewood Community Church. 2019 was our second year at this location and the first year to include translation for our Spanish-speaking sobriety sisters—continuing to make this truly a Women’s Day of Unity.

Then Covid-19 hit and we had to scramble to make the event virtual for 2020 and 2021. It was definitely a learning experience for all of us, however, the response was wonderful and it came off beautifully. We were thrilled to include ladies from all over the world in the online format. It proved that we can still stay together whether online or in-person.

The majority of our committee had never been to a Hand in Hand Women’s Day of Unity before, including our Chairperson that year, Carole D. It’s definitely been a learning experience.

In 2022 we were back and kept it simple with in-person only. We were still taking precautions with mask wearing and no food contamination. Although we missed our online ladies, it was an amazingly enthusiastic event.

We are here to celebrate our 19^th Annual Hand in Hand Women’s Day of Unity. Each year we continue to have outstanding speakers, workshop chairpersons, and committee leadership. According to our annual survey of attendees, the content and quality of the gathering has steadily improved.