The History of the Millvale Group of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Spring 1989 Charlie G. and his wife read a library book on sex addiction by Jess Lair. The book was very meaningful to Charlie. He contacted Jess L. and had several conversations where he introduced Charlie to Sexaholics Anonymous.
June 20 1989 Charlie G. held the first SA meeting on P.E.I. in a cottage [ abandon school house ] owned by Father Clifford Murphy in Millvale P.E.I.
June 21 1989 Paul R. read a Dear Abby column which told the story of a porn. addict and he identified with sexual addiction. Paul contacted the central office in Simi Valley Ca. for info. on SA and was given the SA brochure and Charlie’s phone number. Paul called Charlie and went to the next meeting.
They went to an international convention in La Guardia N.Y. They learned about starting and keeping a meeting going, patience and perseverance, Saico, SA men and women and met our founder, Roy K.
1990 Percy F. heard about the SA Group in Millvale from a priest friend. He contacted the group, met with Paul and he started the next Tuesday.
October 1990 The Group moved to St. Ann’s Church in St. Ann PEI for the winter months as there was no heat in the cottage.
November1990 They moved to St. Paul’s Parish House in Summerside, compliments of Father Lacey. This was more centralized and a lot closer to Percy.
Summer 1991 Roger C. heard about SA from an AA retreat leader.
December 1991 They had a meeting at Percy F. home in Tignish, the first of many.
February 1992 Roger C. met Paul through a local priest contact and started but went back out.
1993 A member made a Chip Board, it’s been repaired a couple times and is still in use.
October 11 1994 Roger came back for good this time, one day at a time.
July 1996 In a business meeting they decided to become an all male group and after several reviews that decision still stands.
These dates came from the members own stories and the original record book [June 20, 1989 to October 29, 1996] of the Millvale Group.
This group is still active in Summerside P.E.I. still meeting on Tuesday night at 7 pm . Through the years there has been a pretty serious effort to reach out. Word of mouth, Brochures, Posters and Meetings. Book study, Step study, Traditions, Sponsorship, Retreats and Celebrations of Recovery. We still attend International Conventions when we can and we’ve held spring and fall Retreats since the early 1990’s
We celebrate the Groups founding with a Pot Luck meal and sharing. Member sobriety anniversaries are usually celebrated with Cake and a lead share.
We use Tradition 7 to pay the rent and other expenses including donations to Saico and NERA.
We have held meetings in 2 Provincial Correctional Facilities as the needs arise and access is granted.
We’ve studied SA and AA literature, stories from the Essay newsletter and Practical Guidelines to Group Recovery. Controversary are discussed at business meetings using SA literature, Steps and Traditions before any decisions are made.
Charlie G. our friend and founding member passed away May 2019, sober 29 years 6 months.
Some spinoff meetings;
2004 Tom V came to Millvale then started one in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
2008 Windsor, N.S. which just folded this year,
2010 Charlottetown, P.E.I.
2019 Moncton, New Brunswick
S-anon is active in Charlottetown since 2010 and will soon start in Summerside.
It’s been a long hard journey but it’s also been quite easy and the benefits are astronomical.
We can be contacted at
samaritimes.ca
phone-1-902-812-5563
My name is Jack T. my sobriety date is March 15, 2015