Life doesn’t end in sobriety. It begins.

Our Mission.

Butte County Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (BUTTEYPAA) has one primary purpose, to carry its message to the alcoholic that still suffers. Upon this message, our common solution, we can join in harmonious action. Whether we are young in age or young at heart, we will trudge the Road of Happy Destiny as one.

For the Young and Young at Heart.

While the term “young” appears in all YPAA committee headings, its meaning is to be interpreted loosely. We are simply a spirited group of sober alcoholics who choose to prioritize fellowship on our journey in sobriety. Our average age is roughly 35. All ages are invited to join us provided the following:

History of BUTTEYPAA

The story of BUTTEYPAA begins decades ago with CHICYPAA (Chico Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous). In the 1980’s and 90’s, while Chico was best known as a flourishing California party destination, a group of young, sober alcoholics known as CHICYPAA was also flourishing. In 1992, CHICYPAA was so widely recognized as a healthy YPAA committee that it was tapped to host ACYPAA (All-California Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous). The broader California YPAA community descended on Chico for an extended weekend of celebration and spiritual growth.

The times of a thriving Chico YPAA committee didn’t last forever though. For reasons unknown, by 2010, membership had dwindled to less than a dozen, and in 2011, CHICYPAA was disbanded. For the next 9 years, no YPAA committee existed in Chico or California’s Butte County.

This isn’t to say, however, that there were no young, sober alcoholics in Butte County. Young people’s meetings boomed in the area, and talk of reforming a YPAA committee swirled for years. Then, on November 8th, 2018 the “Camp Fire” roared through Paradise, CA displacing 25,000 residents, and the entirety of the Paradise young-peoples fellowship. Those who stayed in the area after the fire mostly relocated to Chico, CA, and a few of the historical members of CHICYPAA were reunited.

In early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns took effect, ACYPAA 2020, hosted by SACYPAA (Sacramento Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous), was attended by a uniquely large group of Butte County young, sober alcoholics. It was at this convention that decisions to form a new YPAA in Butte County found a foothold. Returning home, these early founding members began to construct what would eventually become BUTTEYPAA, and on May 24th, 2020 BUTTEYPAA’s first elections were held. The group was officially a YPAA committee from this day forward.

Current BUTTEYPAA active membership stands at 30-40 young, sober alcoholics. More are joining each month.

History of YPAA

Credit: the following excerpt appears on CCYPAA

Young People's Groups in Alcoholics Anonymous began appearing around 1945 in Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and now they can be found all across North America. In 1958, a meeting of young AA's from across the U.S. and Canada started what is now the International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA), and it has met on an annual basis ever since. At the 1960 AA Convention, Bill W. noted that the age of new members was much lower than when he and Dr. Bob founded AA 25 years earlier. In a letter to ICYPAA dated June 15, 1969, Bill wrote "... in recent years I have found nothing for greater inspiration than the knowledge that A.A. of tomorrow will be safe, and certainly magnificent, in the keeping of you who are the younger generation of A.A. today."

ICYPAA was founded for the purpose of providing a setting for an annual celebration of sobriety among young people in AA. Since its inception, a growing group of people, who at first would not consider themselves as "young people," has become regular attendees. The number of young people suffering from alcoholism who turn to AA for help is growing, and ICYPAA helps to carry AA's message of recovery to alcoholics of all ages. This meeting provides an opportunity for young AA's from all over the world to come together and share their experience, strength, and hope as members of Alcoholics Anonymous. AA members who attend an ICYPAA return home better prepared to receive young people who come to AA looking for a better way of life.

ICYPAA provides visible evidence that large numbers of young people are achieving a lasting and comfortable sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. The three legacies of AA -- Recovery, Unity, and Service -- are the backbone of ICYPAA, just as they are throughout AA. ICYPAA has a long history as an established AA conference. It regularly contributes to the AA General Service Office, as well as to the Area Service Structure in the local areas where it is held. ICYPAA and its attendees are also committed to reaching out to the newcomer, and to involvement in every other facet of AA service. ICYPAA participants can often be found serving at the national, state, area, and group levels. Newcomers are shown, by people their own age, that using AA principles in their daily lives and getting involved in AA service can have a significant impact on a lasting and comfortable sobriety.

History of AA

Credit: Reprinted from the Forward to the Second Edition – Alcoholics Anonymous

The spark that was to flare into the first A.A. group was struck at Akron, Ohio, in June 1935, during a talk between a New York stockbroker and an Akron physician. Six months earlier, the broker had been relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience, following a meeting with an alcoholic friend who had been in contact with the Oxford Groups of that day. He had also been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less than a medical saint by A.A. members, and whose story of the early days of our Society appears in the next pages. From this doctor, the broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God.

Prior to his journey to Akron, the broker had worked hard with many alcoholics on the theory that only an alcoholic could help an alcoholic, but he had succeeded only in keeping sober himself. The broker had gone to Akron on a business venture which had collapsed, leaving him greatly in fear that he might start drinking again. He suddenly realized that in order to save himself he must carry his message to another alcoholic. That alcoholic turned out to be the Akron physician.

This physician had repeatedly tried spiritual means to resolve his alcoholic dilemma but had failed. But when the broker gave him Dr. Silkworth’s description of alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician began to pursue the spiritual remedy for his malady with a willingness he had never before been able to muster. He sobered, never to drink again up to the moment of his death in 1950. This seemed to prove that one alcoholic could affect another as no nonalcoholic could. It also indicated that strenuous work, one alcoholic with another, was vital to permanent recovery.

Hence the two men set to work almost frantically upon alcoholics arriving in the ward of the Akron City Hospital. Their very first case, a desperate one, recovered immediately and became A.A. number three. He never had another drink. This work at Akron continued through the summer of 1935. There were many failures, but there was an occasional heartening success. When the broker returned to New York in the fall of 1935, the first A.A. group had actually been formed, though no one realized it at the time.

A second small group promptly took shape at New York, to be followed in 1937 with the start of a third at Cleveland. Besides these, there were scattered alcoholics who had picked up the basic ideas in Akron or New York who were trying to form groups in other cities. By late 1937, the number of members having substantial sobriety time behind them was sufficient to convince the membership that a new light had entered the dark world of the alcoholic.

It was now time, the struggling groups thought, to place their message and unique experience before the world. This determination bore fruit in the spring of 1939 by the publication of this volume. The membership had then reached about 100 men and women. The fledgling society, which had been nameless, now began to be called Alcoholics Anonymous, from the title of its own book. The flying-blind period ended and A.A. entered a new phase of its pioneering time.

With the appearance of the new book a great deal began to happen. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, the noted clergyman, reviewed it with approval. In the fall of 1939 Fulton Oursler, then editor of Liberty, printed a piece in his magazine, called “Alcoholics and God.” This brought a rush of 800 frantic inquiries into the little New York office which meanwhile had been established. Each inquiry was painstakingly answered; pamphlets and books were sent out. Businessmen, traveling out of existing groups, were referred to these prospective newcomers. New groups started up and it was found, to the astonishment of everyone, that A.A.’s message could be transmitted in the mail as well as by word of mouth. By the end of 1939 it was estimated that 800 alcoholics were on their way to recovery.

In the spring of 1940, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. gave a dinner for many of his friends to which he invited A.A. members to tell their stories. News of this got on the world wires; inquiries poured in again and many people went to the bookstores to get the book “Alcoholics Anonymous.’’ By March 1941 the membership had shot up to 2,000. Then Jack Alexander wrote a feature article in the Saturday Evening Post and placed such a compelling picture of A.A. before the general public that alcoholics in need of help really deluged us. By the close of 1941, A.A. numbered 8,000 members. The mushrooming process was in full swing. A.A. had become a national institution.