Dear Friends,

We are delighted to invite you to the 20th Annual Al-Anon Adult Children Workshop and Festival, and hope that you will join us for another weekend of healing, peace, and growth. The dates will be May 2nd – May 4th, 2008. The Workshop and Festival is intended to be a safe place for Adult Children and the people who love them. All members of Al-Anon, AA, and other 12-step groups serving adult children are welcome.

As usual, the entire weekend is designed to be very casual, affordable, and relaxing. For more detailed information, please call the hotline 1-800-843-5492 (access code 46).

The location will be the Green Lake Conference Center, on the shore of Green Lake, Wisconsin. The workshop planning committee has been unanimously impressed by the beautiful and peaceful atmosphere at the Green Lake facility, the high quality of both the food and the very affordable lodging, the centralization of meeting spaces and lodging, and an environment that is so conducive to recovery.

This year's theme is 'Journey Through the Land of Recovery – Finding My Way Back Home”. The program is designed to concentrate on the core recovery issues for adult children, and to reaffirm that Recovery comes through the journey itself, rather than something that we find 'somewhere over the rainbow'. There will be almost 70 meeting topics to choose from, as well as social events and time to just enjoy the lakefront and grounds. The meeting topics are generally grouped into Relationships with Others, Individual Growth, Character Shortcomings, Abuse and Trust, and basic Al-Anon topics like Step Meetings and Traditions.

Our Friday night speaker will be Libby D., the current Northern Illinois WSO delegate. Topics on Friday night and Saturday morning will deal with the attitudes, fears, family values, and problems that are common characteristics of Adult Children. Although these are difficult and painful issues, the emphasis will be on recovery, rather than remaining stuck in the problems. There will also be a campfire social time a short distance from the meeting rooms.

All day on Saturday topics will transition from issues of survival to the tools of recovery today. This will include a multi-meeting series on the 12 Steps and many of the core ‘laundry list’ issues for adult children. After lunch on Saturday, Scott Mc. will share his story. Scott was co-founder of the Workshop and Festival in 1989, and has served the planning committee every year since then.  After supper we will symbolically ‘let go’ of our old stuff in our traditional “Resentment Roast”. Evening speakers include 4 mini-stories of ‘Finding My Way Back Home’ from our panel, and our main speaker, Maxine K-H, a former Northern Illinois delegate and Trustee-at-Large to the Al-Anon World Service Office. Topic meetings will continue for the rest of the evening, or you may unwind at the dance or campfire fellowship.

Sunday morning topics will focus on maintaining positive attitudes and sharing our recovery with others. This will be a time to relax, enjoy our prize-filled raffle, and perhaps laugh a little. The Sunday speaker will be Bruce G., co-founder of the Workshop, and long-time servant of the workshop planning committee. The program will end with a time of sharing unconditional love and trust, ‘Amazing Grace’, and the traditional Al-Anon closing.

There are a variety of competitively priced sleeping accommodations, including hotel-style rooms sleeping 1- 5 (many in the same building as the meeting rooms), and a limited number of rustic cabins sleeping 1-5. Camping is available on the grounds. Please note that the prices are per room per night for single or double occupancy. This makes them very affordable, especially when additional people can share the room for a small fee. The hotel-style rooms require the purchase of a reasonably priced ‘meal plan’ for the weekend, in addition to the room cost. This includes all meals on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday. Friday evening’s meal is not included with the basic meal package, but can be added for those planning to arrive before 5:30 pm. The food is of high quality and plentiful. Special dietary needs can be accommodated if requested in advance. ALL LODGING AND MEALS ARE RESERVED DIRECTLY THROUGH THE GREEN LAKE CONFERENCE CENTER (920) 294-3323, AND NOT THROUGH ACAFG. You must ask for the ”ACAFG Workshop” to get reduced lodging rates. Reservations made after March 15, 2008 cannot be assured of lodging. Walk-in registrations should not expect either meals or lodging, and there will be a $5 per day gate fee for use of the facilities in addition to the cost of the Workshop.

Please note that while the Green Lake Conference Center is a not-for-profit, faith-based facility, the Al-Anon Adult Children Workshop and Festival is in no way connected with, nor do we as a group endorse or promote the beliefs of the facility. Please also note that the facility will not attempt to promote its beliefs upon anyone attending the ACAFG workshop, nor will our meeting spaces have a religious atmosphere or décor.    

Whether this event has been meaningful for you in the past, or you are just beginning to explore the effects of parental ‘problem drinking’ in your family, please come to celebrate this milestone 20th anniversary with us and share this invitation and a flyer with a friend.

Your Servants, the Planning Committee