Wichita Fellowship Club, Inc.

In the early 1960’s, a man named Jim James moved to Wichita, Kansas. He was a World War II hero who came from a successful Southern family. He was bright, handsome, and an alcoholic. During the war he was introduced to alcohol and it had a firm grip on him. He was looked on as an insult to his family. His alcoholism stripped him of everything he loved, and his alcoholism would take him into more pain and degradation than he could ever imagine.

It was then that he decided to “sober up” in a California Alcoholics Anonymous half way house. He stayed for more than two years and became sober there. He learned how to live and have friends again. He learned how to save his life. When a friend he met in AA told him of a good career in Wichita, Kansas, he decided to take the opportunity.

He soon started a support group with another alcoholic friend, holding meetings in their apartment. This small group of struggling alcoholics began to invite other men and women they found on the streets to their AA meetings. They banded together, supporting one another 24 hours a day.

From this humble beginning, Wichita Fellowship Club grew. Their purpose was to provide a safe, structured environment for alcoholics to rehabilitate, reintegrate and repair the damage done to themselves and their families.