Step One. Tradition One. Concept One. January We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

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1 January 2009 A publication of the Central Intergroup Office of the Desert serving the Coachella Valley. Central Intergroup Office of the Desert Date Palm Drive Suite 34 Cathedral City CA Open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Mon.-Fri. 0 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sat. & Sun. West Valley East Valley Fax Web site: manager@aainthedesert.org Intergroup Meeting st Thursday of the month, 7 p.m. Board of Directors Meeting 3rd Thursday of the month, 6 p.m. General Service, District 9 st Sunday of the month, 4PM Fellowship Hall Portola Ave. Palm Desert Mailing Address: P O Box 3684 Palm Desert Step One We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable. Tradition One Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity. Concept One Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship. Hospitals & Institutions Last Wednesday of the month, 6:00 p.m. Fellowship Hall Portola Ave. Palm Desert Mailing Address: P O Box 843 Palm Desert 9226 Mid Southern California Area (MSCA) P O Box, 5446, Irvine CA Web site: The General Service Office, P O Box 459, Grand Central Station NY 063 Web site: Surrender - to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield.

2 Central Office Activity for November We are Responsible! Central Intergroup Office of the Desert Board of Directors Chairman: SherAli J. Vice Chairman: John E. Treasurer: Mike B. Secretary: Lee F. November Meeting Info Step Calls Visitors Literature Sales Al-Anon Other 2 Step Misc. Business Answering Service 2 Step Meeting Info Other TOTAL: Directors Garrett D. Jim D. Paul A. Paul R. Rebecca K. Desert Lifeline Editor: Jim K. Letters to the Editor or Articles for the Desert Lifeline must be received by the 5th of the month for consideration of publication in the following month s issue. Please submit your material for The Desert Lifeline to: Central Intergroup Office of the Desert Date Palm Drive, Suite 34, Cathedral City, CA manager@aainthedesert.org Birthday Celebrations Chad S Chris R Kenny M Syble B Mark H 2 Doug R 5 Bridgett 6 Heather B 6 Maryann A 6 Wendy B 6 Pat S 23 Jana 24 Jerry G 28 We thank all of the birthday celebrants for their contributions to the Central Office Birthday Club. 2 Dakota R John B Keith W Liz H Jessica G Rolando N Mary L Mario R Jeremy Dani M Mike G Jeff M Don M Helene H Curt C Ruth F Connie L

3 NEW MEETINGS & MEETING CHANGES November Website Usage New Meetings: Palm Springs, 0PM Attitude Adjustment, AA Attitude Adjustment Group, 559 S Palm Canyon Drive, B05, 0PM Daily Highest # of sessions in a day: 84 Highest # of hits in one day: 0,89 Avg. sessions/day: Avg. hits/day: 7,35.83 Total sessions: 4,228 Total hits: 24,075 Ranch Mirage, Just The Black Print Big Book Study Group, Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert, Via Vail, Wednesday, 6:30 PM Location Name Change: La Quinta all meetings listed as Francis Hack Park are now listed as La Quinta Community Park Session: A series of Hits to your site over a specific period of time by one visitor. Location Change: A 'Hit' is simply a successful request to your Palm Desert, Desert Men s Big Book Study, Tuesday, 7:00 web server from a visitor's browser for any type PM has moved to St Margaret s Church, Highway 74 Time Change: Attitude Adjustment, Rancho Mirage AA, 4750 Rancho Las Palmas, Bldg F all meetings Monday Friday 6:30 AM Change is inevitable of file, whether an image, HTML page, an MP3 file, or any other type. A single web page can cause many Hits -- one for each image included on the page, etc. Please visit us at: Maps now available for most meetings..check it out! November Web Site Hits Wanted! We need a volunteer to be the publisher of the Desert Lifeline. The job requires 5 0 hours per month usually in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the month. Skills required are Microsoft Publisher. If interested, contact Central Office at or manager@aainthedesert.org. Get involved! 3

4 November VOLUNTEERS Central Office Ann T Brenda F Carol W Dallas E Dave O Dennis H Don P Dorit R Emil M Gene S Jerry G Jill J Jim D Kathy P Lynda B Mike B Pat W Patrick L Pat W Paul A Please mail the Subscription form with your annual subscription fee of $20 to the address on the front of the Desert Lifeline for your Central Intergroup Office. DESERT LIFELINE Subscription Form Name: Address: City: State: Phone: Peggy M Phillip F Rebecca K Steve C Steve P Stuart H Suzy & Bob A Tony M Tracy M Don t miss an issue, have the Zip code: DESERT LIFELINE delivered to your mail box each month. Home Group: Book of the month! As Bill Sees It Hard Cover Edition Normally $7.00 this month $6.25 4

5 December Puzzle Solution Tradition One Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity. The long form of tradition one states we are small part of a great whole. What a change to the old way of life, when we thought so much of ourselves, made drastic, dumb life changes without any help from another person. We did it all by ourselves which brought many of us close to death. Then we walk through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous and learn the Great Whole is the brothers and sisters of Alcoholics Anonymous of which we become a part of. When so done, AA continues to grow and we learn as a group the AA design for living. John E Alkies Only, Sacred Heart Church, Palm Desert 5

6 January Puzzle Puzzle answers will appear in next month s Desert Lifeline. You can also find them on our web site 6

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8 Concept One Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship. The concepts were developed out of necessity, the necessity that our founders were mortal. A structure for the continuance of AA World Service needed to be developed. The Twelve Concepts of World Service is that structure. Concept is based upon Tradition 2 For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. The 2 Concepts gave AA the upside-down triangle to represent the service structure of Alcoholics Anonymous. The triangle depicts how our service structure works, from the individual AA groups (Concept ) at the top, the District below the groups, then the Area, to the annual General Service Conference at the bottom of the triangle. There will be new service needs and new problems will arise. Structural changes will be necessary and these changes will be driven by the collective conscience of our fellowship (Concept ), starting with our individual groups consciences. Paul S Oxy-Moron Group, Elmer's Restaurant, Palm Springs The Spiritual Spiral I wake up I give up I get up The Ones We ve Lost I clean up I brush up I make up Gloria Decker Fredricka Saldivar I suit up I show up I sober up I listen up I open up I grow up A day at a time, Dallas Ann E. Happy, joyous & free! Mark You Calendars! Secretary Workshop at Central Office Sunday, February 22, 2009 :00 3:30 8

9 CENTRAL INTERGROUP OF THE DESERT INTERGROUP MINUTES November 6, 2008 SherAli called the meeting to order with the Serenity Prayer. Board Members Chairman: Vice Chairman: Secretary: Treasurer: SherAli J. John E. Wendy B. Rebecca K. Directors Jim D. Garrett D. Paul A. Paul R. Mike B. Also Present: Jim K., Office Manager 3 people were in attendance STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: SherAli read the Reason for Central Office and passed around the 2 Traditions to be read by attendees. INTRODUCTION OF NEW ATTENDEES: Linda-Stepping Stones, Tuesday 0AM Fellowship Hall-P.D., Shannon-Questions and Answers, Friday 0AM Fellowship Hall-P.D. MINUTES: Wendy read the minutes for October 2, Upon motion duly made and seconded, the minutes were approved with the following corrections: Manager report-bid for AAWS Seminar would be for the year 2 0. TREASURER S REPORT: Rebecca presented the Monthly Financial Report for September, Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Financial Report was approved with the following correction: Should read Profit and loss Summary not Comparison MANAGER S REPORT: Jim reported on the following: A. Please sign in at the door. This is used for calling with the meeting reminder and also used for the election eligibility determination. Please take any Desert Lifelines to your meeting location if the rep isn t here tonight. B. Thanks to Jane T. for Step, Tony C. for Tradition, and Stuart H. for Concept. Ann M. volunteered for Step 2, Connie Z. for Tradition 2, and Rebecca K. for Concept 2. C. Book of the month is Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) soft cover edition-usually $5.50, this month only $4.60. D. 2 new books, 2 Concepts and Grapevine Beginner s Book E. Please take forms for the Grapevine subscription back to your group. F. If Intergroup grows in size, we can rent the room next door for our meeting for about $30 month. Also the room may be available to rent for AA meetings. Call Jim at Central Office for phone number of the person to contact. 9

10 G. Elections will be next month. We will be electing 5 board members. SPECIAL EVENTS: A. Gratitude Dinner: Jim read a Thank You letter from Fran. We have made a profit of $,586 so far, but not all the money is in yet. B. Men s Banquet: Tony C. reported that the banquet was a big success and that we should be getting an $800 donation. OUTREACH COMMITTEE : Tony C. reported that he has still not been working on it due to the Men s Banquet, but that he is now ready to start reaching out. WEBMASTER: Jim K. reported on the following: Stats for October Highest # of sessions in one day- 72 Highest # of hits in one day-8,944 Average sessions-38 Average hits-6,537 Total sessions-4,268 Total hits-202,637 Our web hosting company was having more database problems during th e month so Jim decided to move to a different hosting company. OLD BUSINESS: General Service will be putting the posters in the buses soon for a 3 month period. The posters will say something like Is Alcohol a Problem? Call Alcoholics Anonymous NEW BUSINESS: None GROUP REPRESENTATIVES - COMMENTS AND/OR CONCERNS: Q- Some meetings have a lot of people breaking the traditions by mentioning recovery homes. A-This can be brought up at the business meeting. The meeting can take a group conscience and choo se to put something in the format such as a group conscience has been taken and we ask everyone to refrain from mentioning the Name of any outside recovery homes (as compared to just saying a local recovery home) in your sharing as this breaks our tradit ions in that we do not endorse any outside enterprises. It can also be confusing to the newcomer that they may think that these centers are part of Alcoholic s Anonymous. Q-Regarding people bringing pets to meetings A-First check with the facility where t he meeting is being held. Some facilities do not allow dogs in which case the group must abide by this. If the facility does allow dogs then a group conscience should be taken at the business meeting. The business meeting should be after the meeting becaus e the meeting is only for one alcoholic talking to another. Q-Secretary Workshop A- There will be another Secretary Workshop in probably January or February. Many of t hese questions will be addressed. Q- Saying the Lord s Prayer at the end -some people do not say it due to religious affiliations A-It is up to the group, suggested format to read for all those who care to please join us in the Lord s Prayer H&I/G.S. Dist. 9 REPORTS: Rebecca reported for H&I that there are forms in the back and on our AA website if you want to sign up for any panels. 0

11 SEVENTH TRADITION: Passed Upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned followed by the Lord s Prayer. NEXT INTERGROUP MEETING: NEXT BOARD MEETING: Thursday, December 4, 2008@ 7:00 PM Thursday, November 20, 6:00 PM Respectfully Submitted, Wendy B. Secretary Step One We admitted we were powerless over alcohol that our lives had become unmanageable. My understanding of this step is this: We = I am not alone, others have done this too. Admitted = to accept as true or valid. We Were = past (before walking in the door of AA). Powerless = have lost the battle. Over alcohol = above the drink That our lives = I am not alone, others have done it too. Had = past (before walking in the door of AA). Become = to undergo change or development. Unmanageable = unable to achieve ones purpose. So when we put them all together, it means that once we make the first step as others have done, we are not alone. We accept the fact that we have lost the battle with alcohol, we cannot change or develop beyond this point, and we are unable to achieve our purpose because alcohol has control over us. Now that we have made this step, we open the door for the second step and are well on our way to gaining back control of our lives. Lisa K Friday Night Speaker Meeting, ABC Recovery Center, Indio Before A.A. I judged myself by my intentions, while the world was judging me by my actions. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Acceptance was the Answer, page 48

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