The Chestertown Group of MGYPAA’s mission is to provide a safe, nurturing, three day, weekend event for those young in years and of heart that are seeking to establish as well as maintain long-term recovery from alcoholism.

While not heavily populated, Maryland’s Upper Shore, and specifically the rural counties of Districts 46 (Kent) and 24 (Queen Anne’s,) repeatedly rank second only to Baltimore in substance abuse among its youth.  Shocking as these facts are, Young People groups in these districts have only in the most recent years begun to flourish.   In fact, less than five years ago the term “young people” was practically unknown.  Its use was met with blank faces or glowers and sighs from our older, more long-term members.  Chestertown’s Bid Committee is happy to report that this attitude is not only changing, but increasingly the enthusiasm of our young people members has begun to bridge divides that were historically held between certain “old-timers” and AA youngsters in our small town.

Chestertown, Maryland, is the seat of Kent County and has a population of roughly 5000.  Kent County itself sits at just under 20,000.  With respect to our traditions, we can roughly site that membership at the Eastern Shore Alano Club in Chestertown is up to 150 members, and attendance at our Friday night Young People’s Meeting sits at a minimum of 30 every week.  This meeting is an important cornerstone to the introduction of recovery to the visiting patients of our local rehab, many of whom are under 30.  As well, attendance is growing by the week due to the recent drug and alcohol related deaths of several young people in our area.  These events have shaken our community.  In fact, task forces of concerned citizens have even begun to petition our county commissioners to publicly acknowledge and begin to combat the substance abuse problem among the youth of our community, which has been noted in the newspaper as “epidemic”.  Though we are not affiliated with any one, are not out to promote our cause, and we respect and maintain anonymity both at the individual and group levels, simply hosting the conference here would be a beacon of light and hope in our small town.  Our young members need to see the power of youth-in-fellowship in action.   Now more than ever, we need MGYPAA here.

According to the By-Laws of MYGPAA, our original mission is to unite AA members and to help young people stay sober and have fun.  At this burgeoning time in our Young People history here in Districts 46 and 24, awarding us the conference could positively grow our membership in enthusiastic, autonomous ways.  We are also committed to a high level of outreach to the rest of the Districts in our State and to Area 13.

We hope to assist those interested in passing on and discovering this vital 12 step message of Alcoholics Anonymous through a variety of around the clock meetings, workshops, dinning functions, camping opportunities and additional supporting activities.