ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS / AREA 93 / DISTRICT 17
Monthly District Meeting /March 5, 2007
Maureen called meeting to order at 6:30
A Moment of Silence followed by the serenity prayer
12 Concepts read by Kathy
Attendance -
DCM – 1
Alt. DCM - 1
GSR’s - 13
SFV Intergroup 2nd Alternate: Tom Taylor
New GSR – We welcomed Gale from the Thursday Noon Meeting at Moorpark.
DCM Report – Maureen
I attended the ACM meeting in Goleta on Sunday, February 18th. Debbie distributed the Persona/Group Opinion polls and I have copies for you. Please take these to your groups and get as many people to complete these as possible. This is their opportunity to have their voice and opinion heard. This information needs to be brought to the March 17th/18th pre-conference assembly. If you can’t make it to the assembly these are on-line and can be e mailed directly to Debbie or you can give them to me.
Michelle gave her bridging the Gap presentation and past delegate Joe V. will be chairing the ad-hoc committee at the Area level. They will decide which committees this function will be part of like CPC etc. or if it needs its own committee. If you are interested please let me know.
Ken the Area Registrar gave me a list of all our meetings from NY which I will give to Ernie. We can begin with this and try to reach out to the dark or inactive meetings in our district.
The ACM meeting is looking to move from Goleta to Santa Paula which is the center of our Area and makes the drive to the ACM fair for all districts.
Our past delegate Vicki spoke about the literature translation committee and there are now AA pamphlets in Croatian, Indonesian and Thai. She also spoke about pamphlets in Farsi for secret groups in Iran. In Iran it is against their culture and illegal to admit you are an alcoholic.
Additionally one of the new Class A trustees is a judge from the northern part of area 93. He has cooperated with AA for many years and is known as the “hugging judge.”
I just spent the past three days at PRAASA in Portland. Please, please, please thank your meetings for their continued support and allowing me to represent District 17. It was amazing - there were over1400 people who love AA service including Sharon, Karen, Michael and Mark from our District. I had the honor and privilege of giving a panel presentation on Friday on “Do we carry the message or are we resting on our Laurels” which was surreal. There were many wonderful presentations and just a wonderful energy. Greg M the GM of the NY GSO was there as well as Robin the editor for the Grapevine. Yesterday there was a panel of past trustees and two of them were sober even before there was general service. It was an amazing spiritual weekend.
I also have a contact for Steve there is a group in Altadena which has done much work reaching out to seniors which they will share this information with us.
Thank you all for allowing me to be of Service.
Alt DCM Report – Michael F.
Michael imported the District 17 website into FrontPage with Jeff Johnson. If anyone is interested in working on the website, please let Michael know. The District Roster cannot be put on the website as it is a breach of anonymity. Michael attended PRAASA 2007 and found it to be an incredible experience with incredible presentations. At one of the Round Table Discussions, he learned that seniors, those over 60, are the fastest growing group of alcoholics in the United States. They are the most misdiagnosed and untreated segment of alcoholics. Many are admitted to ER’s with injuries from fall due to alcohol consumption or mixing their medications with alcohol.
Treasurer Report – Leslie C.
February Treasurer’s report was approved with approved revisions. Motion to pay the District PO box one year in advance was made. It would save us $60.00. If we pay monthly, it will cost $180. If we pay in advance, it’s $120. The motion passed.
Archives – No Report
CPC/Treatment Facilities – Mark
Mark attended the Corrections and Treatment Facility Round Table at PRAASA and said it was awesome. He is working on developing “Bridging the Gap” in District 17.
Finance - Maureen
Grapevine/La Vina – Karen
I attended the Grapevine Round Table at PRAASA. There were many good ideas shared from other GvR’s about raising Grapevine awareness. Robin Bromley, the Executive Editor of the GV joined in the round table discussion. She mentioned a number of interesting facts: 70% of the readership is over the age of 50! How can we get the new generation to subscribe? New subscriptions are declining; gift subscriptions are up; currently the renewal rate is at 65%. However, circulation is up after a steady decline the last 15 years. GV sells boxes of 50 back-issues for $22.00. These are great to send to prisons and institutions. Remind your groups that GV accepts articles from any sober alcoholic. You can suggest a Writers’ Workshop as a group project or activity.
Guidelines and Policies - No report
Literature/Audio Visual/Newsletter - No report
Public Information / Accessibility/ Website – No report except for what Michael shared in his alt. DCM report about the website.
Registration – Ernie
Ernie will be distributing registration forms to all GSR’s at the next meeting to ensure data is up-to-date and correct.
SFV Liaison: Jeffrey – No report
H&I Liaison - Mark
Attended H&I monthly meeting.
SFV Inter-group Liaison - No report
Newcomer packets – Richard F. No report
Old Business:
1. Ad-hoc report Senior Centers/Libraries/Schools: Create new grid to work from. Possibly add Grapevines to the literature distributed.
2. Meeting Outreach – Form an ad hoc committee (push back to April agenda)
New Business:
1. Opinion Polls for GSO Conference – Distribute opinion polls to your meetings. Debbie Johnson needs them before she leaves for the Conference in April.
2. “Bridging the Gap” – In planning stage.
3. Bus Bench Project – Wording suggestions are being accepted. Deadline is April. Copy must be no longer than one sentence and simple. PSA will be bi-lingual and include the SFVCO phone number.
4. PRAASA – Maureen, Michael, Mark and Karen enthusiastically recounted their impressions and shared what they learned while attending PRAASA.
Good and Welfare: We sang Happy Birthday to Page.
The meeting adjourned at 7:30 with the responsibility declaration.
Next District meeting is Monday, April 2nd.
Submitted and prepared by Karen Andersen
Thank you for allowing me to serve District 17.