Southern Pines, NC · Est. 1997
Primary Purpose Group
Open meetings every Monday and Thursday at 7:00 PM. New to AA? You're welcome here.
Meeting InfoMeeting Info
Monday at 7:00 PM
Closed Discussion + Big Book Study
Open Newcomers Meeting
Thursday at 7:00 PM
Open Speaker Meeting
First Baptist Church, 200 E. New York Ave., Southern Pines, NC
Closed meetings are for anyone who thinks they may have a problem with alcohol. Open meetings are open to anyone, including family, friends, and the curious.
New to AA?
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
— The AA Preamble
Our Monday Newcomers meeting was created in 1998 as a space for people new to the program. It runs alongside the regular Monday meeting. It is a good place to ask questions, share what is on your mind, or simply listen.
If you need help right now, the Moore County AA hotline is available 24 hours a day at (910) 420-9628. You can also find meetings across our area at aanc52.org.
Our Story
The Primary Purpose Group was formed in the spring of 1997, coming out of a Big Book workshop. A small group of members wanted a meeting whose name would also be its job description: to carry the message of recovery to the alcoholic who still suffers, with every service committee that AA's General Service Office recommends in place and actively functioning.
The first meeting was held on June 2, 1997. It was a closed discussion meeting at First Baptist Church in Southern Pines, where the group has met continuously ever since.
In April 1998, the group added a Monday-night newcomers meeting. The thinking was that anyone walking in for the first time deserves a dedicated space to share, ask questions, and be met where they are. That meeting still runs today.
Service has been the group's spine. Members carry the message of recovery to those who are still suffering, in many places and many forms, often in partnership with members from sister groups across the county.
Today the Primary Purpose Group remains an active home group, with members at every stage of recovery, from those celebrating decades of sobriety to those walking through the door for the first time.
Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
— Tradition 5
A Word of Thanks
Recovery is rarely a solitary effort, and the life of this group has been carried as much by those outside the program as by those in it. We are grateful to the parents, spouses, children, siblings, and friends who stood by members through the worst of it and stayed to see the better days.
Our friends in Al-Anon walk a parallel road and have helped more of our families find their footing than we could ever count. We are thankful, too, for the doctors, nurses, first responders, attorneys, employers, and HR teams whose patience and good faith have helped people get sober and stay that way.
And to the wider community of Southern Pines and Moore County, who have welcomed our members back into work, civic life, and friendship: thank you. None of this happens alone.