How To Get A Meeting Together

Transcription

1 A.A. Area 03 General Service District & Meeting Minutes The bimonthly meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous - General Service District & was held at St. John s Episcopal Church in Bisbee, AZ, hosted by the Bisbee Group. The meeting began at 9:07 am. Minutes of the meeting are as follows. The meeting was chaired by Jim C., DCMC of the District. 13 GSRs and Alternate GSRs (out of 28 active Groups and Meetings) were in attendance. Minutes Of Previous Meeting Carol C. read the Minutes of the previous meeting. There were no corrections and the minutes were unanimously accepted. Officer Reports DCMC Jim C. reported that he attended the Globe Assembly and that it was very good. He talked about the upcoming Assembly in Tucson on September 26 th -28th. It will be at the Radisson Hotel at Speedway and Wilmot. DCM Eric W. talked about the Globe Assembly. He said at the Conference it was decided that no more full-face videos would be made in the wake of the controversy about the Hope video. He said that the Bridging The Gap program was being revitalized at the State/Area level and talked about what the program is and does. He also mentioned that there will be a Seniors In Sobriety 2012 International Conference in Yuma next March 14 th -17 th and circulated flyers for it. He complimented the Progress Not Perfection Group s report for this Business Meeting. DCM Carol C. said that she has been getting around to the groups in She also said there was going to be a Tucson Women s Luncheon in Tucson at the Doubletree Hotel on Sunday October 16 th. Treasurer s report James D. gave a summary of the June and July financials, which were unanimously accepted and approved. Expenses for June and July were $1, and income was $ The beginning balance was $ and the ending balance was $2, He noted that the donation trend had continued to be negative with expenses exceeding income. Secretary s report Bryan R. circulated the Meeting sign-in sheet and the District Contact List for updates and corrections. Page 1

2 Committee Chair Reports Answering Service report Rich C. was not in attendance. Carol C. said that they had had no meetings and that there was no progress that she knew of. Greg G. said he had spoken with Rich and that he had said that he just couldn t chair the committee anymore because of work and family. Carol C. circulated a sign-up sheet for 12 th Step volunteers for the phone service, as well as volunteers for treatment facilities (on the other side). There was some discussion about that and the committee as a whole. It was decided to take the Answering Service Committee up again under New Business. Archives report VACANT NEED A VOLUNTEER TO CHAIR Corrections report Randy A. said that huge kudos were due to the women who have revitalized the meetings at the Bisbee Jail, as well as the women s shelter/halfway house in Bisbee. He said he had lost some volunteers for the prison and really could use some volunteers. He also talked about the Bridging The Gap program and what Corrections was doing for releases from the prison and jail. CPC report Matt N. was not in attendance. Grapevine report Greg G. gave an update on the changes and options available for hard copy and digital Grapevines, and reminded people that there was a 7 day free trial membership to try the online version out. Meeting List report John S. was not in attendance. PI report Pat C. was not in attendance. Social Committee report Dennis B. said that Founder s Day on June 25 th at the Serenity Club in Sierra Vista was a huge success. Bryan R. said that the Serenity Club was very happy with how it was run and that the Club was visibly much cleaner after they left than before the event. Treatment report VACANT NEED A VOLUNTEER TO CHAIR Web report Lee C. said we had had over 3,700 visitors in the last 14 months. He reminded people to send event info to him so that he can put it up on the website. Ad Hoc Committee [Guidelines] Doug M. said they had gotten organized and were operating. He said there were questions about how the guidelines should be structured, how the structural and significant changes passed in the past would be incorporated. There was considerable discussion about this with a motion made to combine the draft guidelines, position descriptions, and structural changes into one document to be presented to the Groups for approval, with minor changes not subject to Group approval; it passed but the minor wording was objected to by Steve P. as too vague. Reconsideration was called for and Bryan R. changed his vote from for to against Page 2

3 and, following more discussion, the motion was reconsidered and failed to pass. It was ultimately decided and approved that the past structural and significant changes would be incorporated into the guidelines. Following subsequent discussion as to how to structure the guidelines, it was decided (no vote taken) that the Committee organize the document and parts as they saw fit, and bring it back to the District Business Committee for further review. Old Business There was a request for volunteers or human sacrifices to chair the Archivist position and the Treatment Committee. There were no volunteers or human sacrifices offered up. New Business The major item considered was what to do with the Answering Service Committee, which is essentially dead in the water. Bryan R. said that while there were many issues with the Committee and its work, the one thing that had to be resolved was whether or not we were going to continue with the Committee s stated purpose to replace the answering service and have all calls answered by alcoholics. Eric W. said it works in other Districts but that maybe we should go back to the Groups and tell them it just cannot be done at this time. Greg G. said we could never get enough bodies for this to be viable, that there simply not enough people in the District for it to work. Jeanne C. agreed with Greg and said that when she had lived in Portland, Maine, they had tried it there in a city of roughly 200,000 people and there weren t enough people to make it work. [NOTE: the 2010 population of Cochise County 131,346 spread out over square miles.] James D. said we needed to have better interface with the answering service. Doug M. said that maybe the right direction was to make the answering service better by training the operators and having cheat sheets for them to use. Carol C. made a motion to go back to the Groups and tell them that it was not possible at this time and that we were going to leave it with the answering service. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. Lee C. brought up the subject that we needed to get going now on finding the next rotation s Webservant unless the District wanted he and Doug to rotate. This segued into a discussion about extending allowable rotations per person for the Archivist and Webservant position, as well as possibly other positions, such as the Grapevine chair and the Meeting List chair. The idea behind it was that some positions were hard to fill (e.g., Webservant) and that they did not have a major impact on District business beyond their specified support functions. Elaine O. said that it was not mandatory to change and that positions like the Archivist and Webservant were good examples of where that might be appropriate. Bryan R. said that it should be mentioned at Group Business Meetings. The Ad Hoc Committee will also consider this and come back with recommendations. GSR Reports Benson Sobriety Old Timers Group GSR not in attendance. Page 3

4 Daily Reprieve / Benson GSR not in attendance. How It Works / Benson GSR not in attendance. Progress Not Perfection / Benson Rick L. submitted a written report detailing the Group s activities and status. Sisters In Sobriety / Benson GSR not in attendance. Carol reported they still need a new GSR but there was a possibility of one at their next meeting. Saving Our Sobriety / Benson Jan B. said that they were doing well, and that the Friday had attendance of up to Double Trouble Group / Ft. Huachuca - GSR not in attendance. Thunder Mountain Men s / Hereford Greg G. said they were averaging people per meeting. He also said that they were planning to have their 7¾ year anniversary picnic on Saturday 24 th, not the 17 th and that everyone was welcome. Greg also announced that they had recently had two big anniversaries: Bill S. (39 years) and Randy A. (21 years). New Beginnings / Huachuca City GSR not in attendance. AA Way Of Life / Sierra Vista Jeanne C. said that they were doing well, averaging 10+ at meetings, and still having Jello parties to celebrate anniversaries. Back To Basics / Sierra Vista GSR not in attendance. High Noon / Sierra Vista GSR not in attendance. High On Life / Sierra Vista GSR not in attendance. Highway 92 / Sierra Vista Bryan R. said attendance was good and that their biggest meetings continued to be Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night and Sunday morning. Honest Open Willing / Sierra Vista - GSR not in attendance Saturday Night Special / Sierra Vista GSR not in attendance. Sierra Vista Group / Sierra Vista Steve P. said that they had settled into their new location and that they needed support. Sunday Morning AA Group / Sierra Vista Joan O. said they were doing very well. Page 4

5 Willingness Group / Sierra Vista Doug M. announced that they were doing very well, and that it was expected that they would have a new GSR shortly.. GSR Reports Bisbee Brown Bag / Bisbee Will G. said they were averaging attendance and that the women were actively involved with the women s transition project. Bisbee Group / Bisbee GSR not in attendance. Thursday Men s / Bisbee - GSR not in attendance. Tuesday Women s / Bisbee Audrey C. said they were doing a lot of work at the jail. Thursday Women s / Bisbee Ginger said they were hanging in there. Verhelst / Bisbee GSR not in attendance. Step By Step / Douglas GSR not in attendance. Dragoon Gang / Dragoon - GSR not in attendance. Keep It Simple / Sunsites GSR not in attendance. Tombstone Meeting Rich B. said they were averaging 10 boys and up to 20 total at their meetings. Homestead / Willcox GSR not in attendance. John S. said that they were averaging at the Wednesday open discussion meeting, and 8-10 at the Friday Big Book study. Open Discussion Carol C. said it had been a grueling meeting but to keep the faith and keep coming back. Next Meeting The next meeting will be held at the Sobriety House in Benson on Saturday, October 1st starting at 9:00 am. The District Meeting was adjourned at 12:13 pm. Respectfully submitted, Bryan R. District Secretary Page 5