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It was at Bill W.’s kitchen table that he and Ebby T. formed the first sponsee/sponsor relationship. “He had come to pass his experience along to me—if I cared to have it,” Bill wrote in his story, the first chapter in the Big Book. “Certainly I was interested. I had to be, for I was hopeless.”

Ebby T., a former schoolmate and occasional drinking buddy, had gotten sober through the Oxford Group and had been told to carry the message of hope to others. But Ebby’s message to Bill wasn’t just sympathy for a suffering man. He told Bill that if he wanted to get better, he had to change. Ebby started working with him on making amends and getting rid of character defects. “I fully acquainted him with my problems and deficiencies,” Bill continues, describing in the Big Book the early work he did with Ebby: “We made a list of people I had hurt or toward whom I felt resentment. I expressed my entire willingness to approach these individuals, admitting my wrong. ... My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs. Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me.” That message led to Bill finding Dr. Bob, and they became sponsor/sponsee. As the AA program grew and its founders began to work with others, the flame of sponsorship was passed along—and it continues to burn today.

“In AA, sponsor and sponsored meet as equals, just as Bill and Dr. Bob did,” says the AA pamphlet, Questions & Answers on Sponsorship. “Essentially, the process of sponsorship is this: An alcoholic who has made some progress in the recovery program shares that experience on a continuous, individual basis with another alcoholic who is attempting to attain or maintain sobriety through AA.”

In this book, members write about the joys and challenges of sponsorship, the many ways we do it, and how we consider it a vital key to staying sober as well as living a happy life. “Alcoholics recovered in AA want to share what they have learned with other alcoholics,” Questions & Answers on Sponsorship says. “We know from experience that our own sobriety is greatly strengthened when we give it away!” There is no right or wrong way to sponsor, only suggestions—each sponsor and sponsee finds his or her own path.