1991 - Two women, inspired by conferences of the same name – Woman to Woman - in other states, began brainstorming ideas and recruiting other women in recovery to get involved. These women, Ann and Rusty, began forming the basic ideas for a conference here in Colorado that would bridge the gap between AA and Al-Anon women.

They contacted a couple of women, Rosalie and Linda, and asked them to contribute their efforts. They agreed, and soon more women jumped on board (Jane, Louise B. and Chesley). The ball began to roll…

 

The women began to meet on a frequent, often weekly, basis. One of the first steps was to determine the format of the conference. Taking their cue from the other W2W conferences, the Founding Mothers based the format on their examples. Texas W2W generously provided their By-Laws for a foundation to follow, and provided $100 seed money to get Colorado’s conference off the ground.  The only “payback” required for this initial investment was a request to “pass it on” to another foundling Woman to Woman conference.

 

The Chair and Co-Chair positions were created, and the W2W Preamble was drafted, using a combination of both the AA and Al-Anon preambles. It was determined that the annual conference would be held the weekend before Mother’s Day.  The selection of speakers was, and continues to be, one based upon word of mouth, and speaker tapes.

 

The next step was to raise money for the conference. There was a fundraiser held early in the year at the El Jabel Shrine. This consisted of a luncheon and a fashion show, in which some of the early participants modeled the T-shirts to be sold at the conference.  As many as 100 people attended the fundraiser, many of whom were women who supported the fundraiser, but were not able to attend the conference.  The luncheon was successful, raising enough money to fund the conference’s first year.