The number of meetings and attendance at Uptown House online meetings continues to grow in the face of a local and nationwide virus lock down. We invite anyone to start their own meeting(s) anytime they want.

If you’d like to organize a meeting, Uptown House has created a Zoom room for:
1.) Fellowship between meetings, and…
2) Host meetings for groups/times/squads that don’t already have a virtual platform. This room is open to anyone with a desire to stop drinking and, like the house, will function with very little oversight.

We will count on the members to manage the ‘rooms’ as they do at the House and their own meetings.

Email peterk@uptowngroupstpaul.com if your squad wants to use this room at a specific time, and we’ll post your meeting, or just start impromptu meetings anytime you like.
Some meetings are up to 30 members; feel free to split popular meetings if they become too unweildy by using Zoom’s breakout feature.

Start an Uptown Zoom Meeting Anytime, Access Anytime:
Zoom Meeting URL; https://zoom.us/j/3215559366 Meeting ID 321-555-9366

Also, please take the time to pass the “virtual basket” at these meetings as you would at your regular meetings. Remind all in attendance that there are many e-donate options (info located here). If you can pause 60 sec to give people the time to stop and donate. This will help the house greatly during these challenging times. Thank you and have a good meeting!
Here is a list of current online meetings:
For a complete list see https://uptowngroupstpaul.wpcomstaging.com/online-meetings/

Uptown House on MINNPOST

The media has been reporting on how the recovery community is responding to physical distancing requirements. A recent story in MINNPOST also reported that many treatment centers remain open as they are considered essential services.

Small wonder we’re considered essential: William Cope Moyers, Hazelden Betty Ford vice-president of public affairs and community relations, said in the MINNPOST story that addiction remains a deadly epidemic of its own. “In 2020, 70,000 people in America will die of accidental overdoses. Another 88,000 people will die from alcohol-related issues. The pandemic of coronavirus is real, but so is the epidemic of addiction and mental illness. We cannot afford to pay attention to one at the expense of another.”

Some treatment centers aren’t taking new clients, many remain open, although some treatment center clients are getting infected and some have died, according to a CBS News report April 3.

Not surprisingly, given such news, many treatment centers report fewer clients due to travel restrictions, travel fears and fear of groups due to virus spread. Some treatment centers are offering online recovery programs which, of course, cost less than their inpatient programs.

“AA has been around since 1935, and wars have come and locusts have come. Those meetings will remain. They’ll come back. I think we will have ignited a new generation with these new virtual options,” Moyers said in the MINNPOST article.

To read the entire MINNPOST story, see: https://www.minnpost.com/mental-health-addiction/2020/03/sobering-moment-how-is-covid-19-impacting-minnesotas-recovery-community/ 

A recent story in the City Pages also reports that several Twin Cities AA houses remain open, although with reduced numbers allowed and cleaning regimines. See the full story at http://www.citypages.com/arts/minnesotas-oldest-aa-club-needs-volunteers-to-stay-open-during-quarantine/569066821