Overeaters Anonymous East Bay Unity Intergroup

Donna Saturday 845 AM Berkeley Meeting 01.17.26

·19 min·1 clip

Donna has maintained a 100-pound weight loss since 1986 through Overeaters Anonymous, revealing how service kept her abstinent.

Donna introduces herself as a compulsive overeater who joined Overeaters Anonymous in 1984 and has been abstinent since 1986, with a progressive abstinence that adapted as she aged. She maintained a 100-pound weight loss over the years. Donna was highly active in OA in the Chicago area, serving as intergroup chair, regional chair, and on the national board of trustees, finding that service kept her abstinent by requiring her to sound sane. She discusses Tradition One's significance, quoting from the AA 12 and 12 book about OA unity being essential for survival. Donna recalls a time of controversy within OA while on the board, fearing it might break up the society, but was reassured by another trustee that the program would persist as long as they were part of it. She entered OA seeking spirituality, not weight loss, introduced by her pastor who used the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Donna mentions being a Methodist lay preacher and jokes about getting preachy. She led a dinner program for six years, feeding up to 500 people on Christmas, and recently handed it over to a younger church without regret, attributing this to OA's sanity. Donna plans to volunteer at a recovery house for addicts and alcoholics, considering a certificate in drug addiction. She reflects on her early life struggles, including financial instability after her husband left with four kids, and how OA helped her cope. Donna shares stories of youth work in Chicago with street kids and gang members, including one who stole her car and later married a church pillar's daughter. She reconnected with some of these individuals recently, noting their lasting bonds. At her 80th birthday party, many from her past attended, showing the impact of her involvement. Donna credits OA with providing serenity and sanity, replacing her childhood coping mechanism of food. She mentions sponsors like Ernie and Mary, who passed away, and ongoing sponsorship relationships. Donna practices Step 11 daily, seeking guidance from her higher power, which recently led her to gym routines. She describes handling a colonoscopy with a liquid diet without cravings, seeing it as a revelation of OA's support. Donna concludes by expressing gratitude for the OA community and fear of returning to compulsive overeating without the program.

As heard by us

A long recovery story treats unity as a practical condition for staying present.

Donna's recovery story moves between long abstinence and the unsettled life that recovery had to carry: a changing body, weight lost and regained, service in Chicago, and a family left to make do after her husband was gone. Tradition One gives the piece its center.

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Why you'd press play

You want Donna's recovery story where service, family strain, meetings, and unity keep pulling life back into view.

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