Sam H. From Alcoholics Anonymous Joins Slutsky Elder Law as a Guest Contributor.
The South Eastern Pennsylvania Intergroup Association (SEPIA) serves Alcoholics Anonymous groups in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties. We have a program called Helping Unite Sick, Shut-in, Hospitalized and Home-bound (HUSSHH). If someone can’t get transportation to an AA meeting they can call our office. One of our 70 volunteers will bring a meeting to them. Mere abstinence from alcohol does not completely solve the problem for all problem drinkers. Face to face contact with another AA member can help them to keep a more positive attitude.
My name is Sam H., and I’m a sober alcoholic with seven years of continuous sobriety. I’ve been an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous throughout that time and currently serve as a volunteer with the HUSSHH Committee of SEPIA. As a volunteer, I help bring meetings directly to those members, whether they’re at home, in a hospital, a senior facility, or wherever support is needed.
In the spring of 2024, I had the privilege of bringing a meeting to a fellow AA member who was receiving care at the VA hospital in Philadelphia. Though he had been sober for decades, his health challenges had prevented him from attending meetings for several months. Through the HUSSHH Committee, I was connected with him and offered to bring the meeting to his hospital room. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I knew how meaningful this program has been in my own life, and I wanted to show up the way others have consistently shown up for me.
When I arrived, he was sitting up in bed, alert and eager to connect. We read from our book Alcoholics Anonymous, shared our stories, and talked about how the principles of AA continue to work—whether in a regular AA meeting or a hospital room surrounded by machines. He spoke about meetings he’d attended in the late 1980s, the people who helped shape his recovery, and the spiritual practices he still leans on today. Despite the clinical setting, it felt like a true AA meeting—because it was.
What stayed with me most was the sense of connection we both felt. He told me it was the first time in weeks that he had felt truly a part of something again. And I felt it too—that quiet, unmistakable sense of purpose that comes from being of service. This experience reminded me that service doesn’t have to be grand to be meaningful. Sometimes, it’s simply about showing up, bringing a book, and offering fellowship. Volunteering with HUSSHH has deepened my gratitude for AA and affirmed that no matter our circumstances, we’re never alone—especially when we carry the AA message to someone who needs it.