It’s an event that’s a celebration of HOPE, featuring faces and voices of those in recovery. 

Here today to chat about The Fairbanks Circle of Hope Dinner are Kyle Morris, Circle of Hope committee member, and Barbara Elliott, President & CEO, Fairbanks.

Circle of Hope
Thursday, April 18, The Westin Indianapolis, 7 – 9 p.m.

The Fairbanks Circle of Hope Dinner is held each spring to raise awareness in our community about alcohol and drug addiction. The Richard M. Fairbanks Circle of Hope Award is presented to an individual or organization making outstanding contributions to the field of addiction. Proceeds from the Fairbanks Circle of Hope Dinner support the Fairbanks Patient Assistance Fund for those in recovery who are uninsured or under-insured.

This year’s Keynote Speaker is Pat O’Brien – A former sportscaster with CBS and NBC as well as anchor and host of Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight and the Insider, Pat O’Brien had a very public downfall from alcohol abuse. Now more than ten years sober, he’s counseled many who are dealing with substance use disorder.

Fairbanks is honored to display the original working manuscript of AA this evening courtesy of Jim Irsay. According to Hazelden Publishing, the original working manuscript is the missing link in the understanding of what transpired between AA founder Bill Wilson’s first draft of Alcoholics Anonymous and the first published edition. In January 1939, Wilson and other AA founders distributed 400 copies of his typescript to everyone they could think of “who might be concerned with the problem of alcoholism,” to test out the program. As the loan copies were returned, suggestions for revision were considered and written out in colored pencil on one master copy that was eventually submitted for publication. The many changes made in black, green, and red on page after page are shown here in their original form, revealing the opinions, debates, and discussions that went into making the Big Book.

The Alcoholics Anonymous book, published in 1939, has stats most authors dream of: 30 million+ copies sold. Translated into 67 languages. Ranked No. 10 in 2012 by the Library of Congress in its top 25 “Books That Shaped America.” In 2018, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who attended his first AA meeting more than 25 years ago, bought it an auction for $2.4 million. For several months a year he allows for it to be displayed at Alcoholics Anonymous headquarters in New York. For the first time, it will be displayed in Indianapolis at Circle of Hope on April 18.

Tickets are $150; more information can be found online at: fairbankscircleofhope.com or fairbanksrecovery.org.

You can also visit https://www.fairbankscd.org/.

SEGMENT IS SPONSORED BY FAIRBANKS