09/11/2026
🇺🇸 SEPTEMBER 11, 2001–2026
25 YEARS LATER — A REMARKABLE PIECE OF A.A. HISTORY
As we remember September 11, 2001, there is an extraordinary chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous history that many members may never have heard.
As the World Trade Center towers fell, firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, construction workers and countless others began the overwhelming work of rescue, recovery and cleanup.
Among them were members of Alcoholics Anonymous.
And among those who died that morning was a man whose life had already become an extraordinary example of recovery and service:
Father Mychal Judge, OFM
FDNY Chaplain • Recovering Alcoholic • A.A. Member
Father Mychal Judge had been sober for more than 20 years.
He knew alcoholism.
He knew recovery.
And he knew the importance of one human being showing up for another.
As chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, Father Mychal rushed to the World Trade Center with the firefighters he served. Amid the chaos, he prayed with rescuers, comforted the injured and ministered to those around him.
He was killed when the South Tower collapsed and became the first officially recorded fatality of the World Trade Center attack.
The image of firefighters carrying Father Mychal's body from the wreckage became one of the most unforgettable images of September 11.
But for those of us in recovery, there is another part of his story worth remembering:
He was one of us.
A recovering alcoholic who had found a new way of life and then spent that life helping others.
And while one sober alcoholic was giving his life in service at Ground Zero, other members of Alcoholics Anonymous were arriving to continue the same principle of service.
Firefighters, police officers and cleanup workers who were members of A.A. were working virtually around the clock.
They were exhausted.
They were grieving.
And they couldn't simply leave Ground Zero to attend their regular meetings.
So they began asking for A.A. meetings at the site.
And A.A. responded.
New York A.A. members, Intergroup and the General Service structure helped establish meeting space near Ground Zero. Eventually, rooms were available where members could step away from “the pile” for a meeting, fellowship, conversation, prayer, meditation or simply a moment with another alcoholic.
Think about that.
In the middle of one of the darkest moments in American history, alcoholics gathered together and did what generations before us had taught them to do:
They showed up.
They stayed sober.
They helped one another.
And they carried the message.
A.A.'s connection to this neighborhood went back decades.
In 1940, the young Fellowship established one of its earliest offices at 30 Vesey Street in Lower Manhattan, near what would decades later become the World Trade Center.
From those early New York offices, letters were answered, suffering alcoholics were connected with other alcoholics, and the message of recovery began spreading throughout the world.
More than sixty years later, when unimaginable tragedy struck Lower Manhattan, the hand of A.A. was there again.
The Big Book gives us powerful guidance for circumstances beyond our control:
“If trouble comes, cheerfully capitalize it as an opportunity to demonstrate His omnipotence.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 133
That does not mean tragedy isn't tragic.
It does not mean grief, fear or pain aren't real.
It means that when life presents something we cannot change, we can ask:
How can I be useful?
Who can I help?
Where can I bring hope?
What is the next right thing to do?
Father Mychal Judge answered those questions with his life.
The A.A. members serving at Ground Zero answered them too.
They couldn't undo what had happened.
They couldn't remove another person's grief.
But they could pull up a chair.
They could make coffee.
They could listen.
They could pray.
They could sit beside another alcoholic and remind them:
You don't have to do this alone.
Twenty-five years later, perhaps that is one of the most powerful lessons of A.A. at Ground Zero.
Wherever there is suffering, we can be useful.
Wherever there is fear, we can bring fellowship.
Wherever there is darkness, we can carry hope.
And whatever happens around us, we do not have to drink over it.
Today, the Alcoholics Together Group remembers the nearly 3,000 people whose lives were taken on September 11, their families and loved ones, the survivors, first responders, rescue and recovery workers.
We especially remember Father Mychal Judge — a fellow recovering alcoholic whose final moments were spent doing what recovery teaches us to do: being of service to others.
And we remember the A.A. members who quietly carried the message in the shadow of Ground Zero.
One alcoholic helping another.
One day at a time.
Even at Ground Zero.
🇺🇸 WE REMEMBER.
Alcoholics Together Group — Established 1984
Las Vegas, Nevada
