The basics of ICYPAA and RYUKYPAA
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.
Quoted from https://www.icypaa.org/about-icypaa About ICYPAA
Diverged from AZYPAA to RYUKYPAA
AZYPAA was launched in Tokyo in 2012 as the ICYPAA for the Asian region. Since then, members have held events at the same location for the following three years. In 2015, Okinawa hosted the first international AA conference, AZYPAA2015. This marked the first opportunity for American AA members and local Okinawan members to gather together since the military group began in 1947 and the Japanese group in 1987.
Following the 2016 AZYPAA conference in Kyoto, the AZYPAA Executive Committee decided to temporarily suspend events until another host country outside Japan emerged. Meanwhile, ICYPAA, RYUKYPAA in Okinawa, and TOKYPAA in Tokyo were established in 2017 as spin-off events from AZYPAA, following the ICYPAA guidelines, which state that there are no restrictions based on age, country, region, or group, as long as the conditions for membership as defined in Tradition 3 are met.
Thanks to the efforts of some members that have reached out to other Asian countries, this year’s event is expected to be broader in participants’ background and more expanded. For example, two guest speakers from Dalian, China, and San Jose, USA, have already decided to join this event.
It was expected that this movement will be expanded, however, due to COVID pandemic there was a five-year suspension of this event. During that time, there were notable number of members joined AA through a new channel, the virtual online meetings, and some of them became interested in real-life AA activities. For that reason, the committee was formed to resume RYUKYPAA as a place for the third legacy of service freely, and we are now planning the 4th RYUKYPAA.
The relaunch of RYUKYPAA will be challenging because the event requires to be formed from the scratch again including the members of the RYUKYPAA committee. However, all committee members are looking forward to hold an event that we can share our hopes together.
