East Yolo Fellowship History  (Inez-7/8/14)

About 45 years ago, give or take a year or two, there were very few groups or meetings in the Sacramento area. Group 3 had a meeting on Tuesday evenings. In 1975 it was decided a meeting should begin in West Sacramento. The meeting started at the old Firehouse in Broderick and met on Wednesday evenings. A lot of people from Sacramento came across the river to attend this meeting.  In the early ’70s the meeting moved to the Old Girl Scout House at Sam Comb’s Park and continued to meet weekly still on Wednesdays. By this time there were probably a dozen regular members that attended the meeting. And members from Woodland, Davis, and Sacramento often came to the meeting. Within the next year or so, meetings were popping up all over the Sacramento area and the Girl Scout House became too small for the growing West Sacramento meeting. So the meeting moved to South River Road above the Sanitation Department. Every Wednesday the members (with herculean effort) would have to carry a big trunk full of AA books, other AA material, and a coffee urn up the stairs for the meeting. Many times Yolo County had to use the room for an urgent meeting, so our AA meeting had to be canceled. But the meeting continued at the South River Road location for a little over a year even though some of the members had trouble climbing the steep stairs. 

Our next move was to a house at an old trailer park on West Capitol Avenue across from the El Rancho Hotel. Still, our Wednesday night meeting attendance continued to grow. By the mid-’70s other meetings were happening in West Sacramento. There was a Tuesday Night Women’s Meeting that met at Marge K’s home, Ralph V was holding a meeting on Sundays at the Holy Cross Church in Broderick and the West Sacramento Meeting had added more night meetings. Our archives show that sometime in 1976, members of all these meetings got together and decided to get one place where all of them could meet. It would also be a place for each meetings supply’s to have a permanent home and not have to be carted in and out each time they had a meeting.

Everyone started looking for a new place to call home for this budding East Yolo Fellowship, often times referred to as EYF or East Yolo. We finally found our home at the Old, Old, Hall. It was an old newspaper office on Merkley Avenue across from the El Rancho Hotel. The place was a mess! Hal and Peggy, 3 Jacks, 2 Chucks, Ralph and Michelle, Lucy, Marge, Joe… as well as many other members scrubbed and cleaned the hall to make it our own. The new EYF met nightly and soon noon meetings were added. The addition of noon meetings probably caused our fellowship’s first big ‘stir’ (as Lucy calls it) concerning the minority opinion. Some of the “non-governing members” decided the noon meetings were not pulling their weight… they needed to be closed down. One of the members, Charles S. worked nights and was adamant that the noon meetings were needed. I am grateful to tell you that EYF continues its noon meetings today. It was a Tuesday noon meeting in February 1987 that began my road to recovery. And even though the hall was long and dingy, we stayed there until we were bursting. Then we moved to the ‘Old’ Hall.

  The ‘Old Hall was also located on Merkley Avenue above a Dance Studio and across from the West Sacramento Post Office. We merged two rooms so it was a lot larger and more comfortable. But once again we faced the challenge of stairs. Another member, Peggy L stated a minority opinion that the stairs might exclude disabled members, but the group decided to continue the move anyway. Over the next 5 or 6 years, 2 or 3 people that needed to use wheelchairs became members of EYF. We had many wonderful members that carried our wheelchair members up and down the stairs. Yet when our building lease came up for renewal, the group decided we needed to move. We wanted our meetings to be inclusive to all who wanted to recover from alcoholism. A committee was formed to find another Hall. The committee members looked all over West Sacramento for a few months and finally, Connie G. found an “old biker bar turned bike repair shop’ that several of our members had frequented (and if I remember correctly for bike repairs). 

The hall was remodeled with several members donating time and supplies for the renovation. With walls removed, carpet replaced, and painting and decorating done…the new Hall became EYF’s new home. We have been in our new home across from the railroad tracks at 1040 Soule Street for over 20 years. There have been some changes. The Tuesday Night Women’s meeting now meets on Mondays and the Monday Night Men’s Meeting moved to Tuesdays. I think this had something to do with Monday night football. EYF started a Beginner’s Meeting and has added a few 6:30 am Meetings, and the Men and Women Meetings are doing great. We invite you to visit us anytime as there are 21 different meetings, plenty of room, no stairs, and lots of love! Oh, and let me not forget, lots of coffee. 

East Yolo Fellowship-History Continued (Brenda C. 09/2022)

Then came the pandemic and we were forced to close the meetings until we obtained a letter from the County that we were considered “essential”. We had jumped on the zoom bandwagon and had several meetings that were held virtually the Monday night woman’s meeting, the Tuesday night Men’s meeting and the Beginners meeting on Friday night just to name a few.  We finally opened back up only to be told that our building was being sold and we would need to find a new home. We were at 1040 Soule Street for over 28 years, our rent was now on a month to month and we were not paying market rate. A committee was formed and we started looking and soon found out we had been almost priced out of the market. We looked everywhere and the rates were double and triple what we had been paying. We found a location and began to negotiate. They were willing to work with us to get to the rate they wanted and we secured a five-year lease. 

Our new home was once the Yolo County Court House right next to the Post Office located @ 910 Sacramento Avenue. Although the space is a little smaller than the old hall we are settling into the space and we now have plenty of parking. The meetings have struggled due to the pandemic however we are gaining strength. We have added a Back to Basics meeting on Wednesday nights. The 6:30 am meetings were closed and all our meetings are back in person. Come join us… still across from a set of rails, the coffee is hot and will leave the lights on for you!