Six long years have passed since WCNA 37 (Orlando). COVID canceled the original plan for WCNA 38, which was scheduled to be held in Australia in 2021. As such, Washington, D.C. is welcoming the NA fellowship back to the Capitol in 2024 for WCNA 38 (The Power of Love).
This is not the first time the Capitol welcomed the World Convention. The purpose of this blog is to look back at the first World Convention held in Washington, D.C.: WCNA 15, Unified and Staying Alive in 1985.
At the time of WCNA 15, today’s Narcotics Anonymous had taken root 32 years earlier. Narcotics Anonymous, the basic text of the fellowship, had been approved 3 years earlier at the 1982 World Service Conference. It had been published 2 years earlier in 1983 and by 1984 was already in its 3rd edition. In 1985, there were 6,094 meetings. And 51 days before the start of WCNA 15, Jimmy K. passed away (July 9, 1985).
Gathering at the Shoreham Hotel, approximately 2,600 people attended WCNA 15.1 The Friday night speakers were Vito L. (Pennsylvania) and Vida M. (California). Saturday night, William H. (California) was the main speaker. The convention closed with Dot T. (Pennsylvania) speaking at the Sunday morning spiritual meeting.
One member who was a part of WCNA 15 is Anthony E., Executive Director for NAWS, Inc. Anthony was a “grunt” for the program committee because Carmelita was the Chair. “During the convention, I was the guard on the door for the money room,” Anthony shared. According to Anthony, another important trusted servant was Brother Rick. He served as the Treasurer. Under his leadership, the committee became such effective fundraisers that “all the expenses were covered before walking through the door to start the event.”2 The Washington committee did such an effective job they were able to pass along all of the convention proceeds ($86,000) to the World Service Office.3 Compare this to WCNA 14 where proceeds totaled $12,636. Of which, the Chicago Convention Committee passed 50% of the proceeds to Washington, D.C., 20% to the World Service Conference, and 10% each to the Chicago Area Committee, the Chicago Regional Committee, and the Mid-Coast Region.4
WCNA 15 was unique for another reason.It represented a transition of the World Convention into the new and evolving service structure. Bob Stone writes that it was the last World Convention to operate independently. All future World Conventions would come under the control of the World Service Conference.5
In the research involved with writing this blog, Ron H. provided some very helpful context. Ron shared, “All uses of the phrase ‘Convention Committee,’ through WCNA 15, referred to the local host committee in the city where the convention was held. There was no formal continuity between the World Convention except for their voluntary coordination with each other in the process of choosing the city for the next convention and the voluntary hand-off of proceeds from one city to the next. NA World Services had no management authority over them. This was increasingly seen as a problem as the convention and its proceeds and liabilities were rapidly growing.”
“In 1984, the Chicago local convention committee decided to incorporate to better deal with the liability and tax issues. This seemed straightforward enough at first, but was each subsequent convention supposed to do the same? International conventions as well?”
“This concern and discussion led to the decision to form a Convention Committee of the conference in 1985. At its inception, it did not have direct management of the convention, but it was intended to be an umbrella entity that could facilitate these annual hand-offs. But it quickly became clear that a conference committee wouldn’t be sufficient. One of their first recommendations was that a World Convention Corporation be formed that would have greater actual management of the conventions themselves as well as the responsibility of recommending the upcoming cities that would host the convention. Because there was an existing corporation already formed, the one that the Chicago convention had created, it was decided that the WSO would simply take over that corporation and reconstitute it to be not a local corporation, but a subsidiary of the WSO.”6
Thirty-nine years later, WCNA 38 is expected to draw over 24,000 members. Anthony shared, “It feels surreal and at the same time it feels like Karma that this is my last official convention in this capacity. So, it seems a fitting end to the opportunity of a lifetime. It has been and continues to be such a tremendous privilege that it is hard to put into words sometimes.”
As he reflects on his career with NAWS, Anthony said “I have always thought of myself as a steward. I had a responsibility to take care of something that didn’t belong to me. I have always felt like at times I was the captain of a large ship who got its direction from someone else, and the job was to get the ship there safely and intact…I think I have left the ship better off than it was when I first started to sail with it.”
In advance of WCNA 38, Preserving the Message is featuring some items from WCNA 15 on the website, such as the t-shirt below. If you wish to contribute any additional WCNA 15 archives to Preserving the Message, please contact us through the website.
- Email communication with Anthony E., August 5, 2024. ↩︎
- Email communication with Anthony E., August 5, 2024. ↩︎
- Stone, B. (1997). My years with Narcotics Anonymous. Joplin, Missouri: Hulon Pendleton Publishing. ↩︎
- Stone, B. (1997). My years with Narcotics Anonymous. Joplin, Missouri: Hulon Pendleton Publishing. ↩︎
- Stone, B. (1997). My years with Narcotics Anonymous. Joplin, Missouri: Hulon Pendleton Publishing. ↩︎
- Email correspondence with Ron H. August 15, 2024. ↩︎