Reports From The April 2012 Area 26 Quarterly Meeting
Treasurer's Report – Kenny B. All DCM’s and Area officers have a treasurer’s report. There are additional copies if you would like to follow along. Short follow up to report of January 1, 2012 there is a difference of $8,344.54 between the last report of $16,053.42. My beginning balance was $7,708.88. Current balance is $6,911.89. Chairperson’s Report – Joy F. Thank you all for being here. Yesterday I ended the meeting with a moment of silence and did not say the Serenity Prayer. It has been a really tough quarter for a lot of people who are going through stuff and I really do want to thank you all for being here and keeping the faith. I attended the Kentucky State Convention which was a success and I thank the host committee for inviting us to join them. We had a panel of Committee Chairs who gave a service talk. I had created a document about Area 26 to hand out at the workshop for those who might not be aware of what we do. The first draft of the Spanish language Area 26 service manual has been turned in. He will edit one more time before we go further. We will also have a report from the Ad Hoc committee later today.
Alternate Delegate’s Report – George J. Thanks to District 21 for hosting the area meeting this weekend. Also it is days like to day that I am grateful to be a part of Area 26. We can face our challenges straight ahead and as we face those challenges we can walk the high road and be grounded in spiritual principles. First I would like to share my thoughts and experience with the Delegates Get Together. This was a very informative and exciting event. As our S.E. Regional Trustee El N. gave the board meeting report, a sense of urgency began to rise. The board’s upcoming request to the conference for motion support to develop a plan that may include the complete restructuring or dismantling of the Grapevine Corporate Board, with the first bit of news that caught the attention not only of myself but all attending. This was only one piece of the news that brought to the forefront the absolute necessity for the fellowship to take responsibility for the principles and practices that guide our world services. It was said, by Trustee at Large, Don M., “that we should demand leadership from our general service board”. This request from the board to the conference may be one example of the need for leadership. This idea, appears to some to be inconsistent with our principles (bylaws, concepts and charter). Also we were informed that Trustees subcommittee on developing a comprehensive media plan, is recommending to the Conference committee on PI, that Alcoholics Anonymous establishes a Facebook presence. This too, with respect to our Traditions (VI and XI) and Warranty (five) also triggered alarm with many of us. We will hear more from our delegate on these matters. We need to decide if we are primarily a business with a little spiritual activity or, are we a spiritual fellowship that must do a little business. Other striking news was the trend of declining literature sales which directly affects our reserve fund. As many of you know the reserve fund is the instrument that funds our services and the presence of any shortfall in group contributions. Also noted is a downward trend in seventh tradition contributions. Now with the group contributions historically covering less than 50% of overall expenses, a clearer picture of where we are heading financially is coming into focus. Now as always is the time that we must be awake to the issues that face our fellowship, be ever committed to the Traditions that ensure our unity and survival, and be dedicated to the Concepts that ensure an effective service structure, that Alcoholics Anonymous is here and affording the next alcoholic that comes through our door, the same assurance for lifesaving recovery that we were blessed to find. I must express my appreciation, for being asked to participate in two service related workshops. We were invited to New Albany in District 22 to a workshop on service experience, and also District 24, Louisville where the discussion was “The Three Legacies as expressed in our Literature”. Both showed quite an interest in service, the Traditions, Concepts, and the Service Structure. There was much discussion with informative question and answer periods. Also I had an opportunity to have correspondence with a seated member on the Conference committee Report and Charter in regard to conference approved literature, conference advisory actions and the conference process. This leaves me hopeful.
Delegate’s Report – Lynda R. Thank you to District 21 for stepping up to host this Area meeting. It's a big job and you all have done a great job. The weekend immediately following our last area meeting, I had the privilege of attending the Delegate’s Get-Together in Atlanta. A big thank you to Barbara for driving. It's always more fun when we can travel together. As always it was a great weekend, with lots of information shared. The Panel 61 delegates share their experience, strength, and hope with us newbies, so we have a pretty good idea of what to expect at Conference. It was also an opportunity for the Panel 62's to practice presenting our Area highlights which we will share with the Conference. We were fortunate to have GSO staff member, Rick W. with us for the weekend and it was a pleasure getting to know him better and to hear his story Saturday night. Our Southeast Trustee, El, filled us in on what took place at the January board meeting. The majority of the January Board meeting was spent reviewing proposed Agenda items for this year's General Service Conference and those are reflected on the Final Agenda, which you should all have. The following are a few of the other actions taken by the Board in January: approval of a recommendation to post a Daily Reflections page on AA.org, and that's now available. There's a small box on the top, left-hand corner of the homepage. When you click on it, it brings up the page for the day. In addition, they are still considering implementing a daily e-mail where members could have the page for the day delivered to their personal e-mail. The next two e-books planned for release are Daily Reflections and Living Sober. The Board approved the recommendation that an anonymity protected PDF of the Advisory Actions of the General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous 1951 - 2009 be made available as an electronic service piece to be sent to AA members upon request. That's still a work in progress, but will probably be available in the next month or two. The Board affirmed that the theme for the 2015 International Convention in Atlanta will be “80 years - Happy, Joyous and Free” and the convention will take place from July 2 through July 5. Since the event will be taking place in our region I'm sure there will be ample opportunities for service. The Trustee's Committee on the General Service Conference reviewed the letter I sent regarding the use of third-party vendors and forwarded it to the attention of the General Service Board. The Board will be developing policy regarding the use of third-party vendors by both A.A.W.S., and the Grapevine. Lastly, I believe everyone has copies of the Chairman of the Board's letter to the Conference as well as my response. Despite several letters being sent in opposition, at this point in time, the Board plans to move forward with its Motion. During the last quarter, I e-mailed full copies of the Board Minutes and A.A.W.S. Highlights, along with copies of the Grapevine Newsletter and various correspondence received from the General Service Office to our Standing Committee Chairs, Area Officers and all DCM's that had supplied me with their contact information. I believe I have contact information for everyone except for Districts 8, 20, 30 and 31. I'd like to thank District 24 for inviting me to participate in their workshop on the “Three Legacies Expressed Through AA Literature” that was held on March 31. It was a pleasure conducting the workshop with George, and we were sorry our Literature Chair, Dave K., wasn't able to make it. Attendance was low, but we had some stiff competition with Louisville and UK playing in the final four later that day. But there was great participation from those that did attend and, as always, the fellowship and food were great. The majority of my time this quarter was devoted to becoming familiar with the background material for the General Service Conference. CDs of the background material were mailed to our Area Committee Chairs, Officers and DCM's and I'd like to thank all of you for the time you spent reviewing the material and for sharing the voice of your districts and committees yesterday afternoon and today. Without your participation it would be impossible for me to carry the conscience of Area 26 to Conference. Districts 24, 28 and 15 invited me to conduct pre-conference workshops. The workshops were well attended and the feedback and questions were great. Each time I had the chance to go through the material, the more familiar I became with it so thank you so much for that opportunity. This time next week, I will be attending the opening brunch and delegate’s orientation meeting at the General Service Conference. Preparing for conference has been both exciting and terrifying, but most of the terror has subsided. Thank you for your love, trust and support in this journey and I'll be carrying each one of you with me in my heart. If you haven’t already done so, please get with me to schedule a post-conference Delegates Report. I would love to have the opportunity to visit your districts to share my experience of the 62nd General Service Conference with you.
District 1 – Alt. DCM: Mark S. I would like to thank District 21 for hosting this weekend. Because of health reasons I am unable to again be with all of you. So at this time I would like to say thank you to Mark S. for standing in for me once again. District 1 is doing great and our meeting attendance has tremendously improved. The standing committee chair positions have finally been filled after a couple of years of trying; now due to the increased attendance at our district meetings we have been able to fill all the positions. Thanks to all those who accepted these positions. We will be having a workshop on corrections on June 10, 2012 at the Ice House, 1400 S. Shelby St., starting at 4 PM. Our speaker will be at Ed M., Corrections Chair Area 26 Corrections. We will be serving dinner at the workshop. We invite all to attend. District 1 is still meeting the second Sunday of the month at 4 PM at the Ice House 1400 Shelby St. At this time I would ask all those from District 1 could please stand and be recognized. If it be God's will I am prayerful that I will be able to be with you in Frankfurt in July. District 2 - DCM: Darrick H. I want to start by saying thanks to the people for their hard work hosting this Area meeting. I also want to say a special thank you to Joy and Lynda for the e-mails and all of the updates and the other chairpersons for all their dedication and hard work. I have visited all with the exception of one in which contact was made in District 2. We have a new group, Saturday Night Live which meets Saturday night at 8 PM at the Brown Street club in Paducah. Last weekend was our last district dinner we had a good turnout for the meeting. We are continuing to try to get all of the GSR’s and groups in the district involved in the service structure. Some groups are planning for spring and summer activities such as picnics and fellowship. There are meetings morning, noon and night seven days a week, in our district and for that we are grateful. Thank you. District 3 -- DCM: Shawn M. District 3 would like to thank Districts 21 for hosting this event and having lasagna. Would all those from District 3 please stand and be recognized. As reported last quarter, our elected district treasurer resigned due to employment relocation out of state. After nominating 3 people to stand who declined, the person doing all the nominating was nominated, he is now our new treasurer. We have updated our website and have received feedback that many out of town guests are using this important tool to find meetings. We invite everyone to go online and check out our website, www.bowlinggreenaa.org. We are in the process of updating our district structure. Meeting attendance is up thanks to our local justice department accompanied by a surplus of alcoholics wanting to get sober. District 4 -- DCM: Terry C. We at District 4 would like to thank District 21 for hosting the Area 26 meeting this weekend, and District 4 for allowing me to serve them. Our officers are as follows: Alternate DCM: Doug B., Treasurer: Jill L., Secretary: Charles W., CPC: Laura D., Corrections: Phyllis H., PI: Keith T. Since our last area meeting we have focused on creating an (800) information line that would allow people to call and find out where our AA meetings and groups are located within our district. We also have been looking into creating a District 4 webpage under the AA guidelines to assist people in the location of groups. We are still searching for someone to head the Literature and Grapevine committees. We have had no changes in GSR's and no changes in groups this past quarter. District 4 attendance averages 10 persons per meeting. Meetings are rotated between four different cities in an effort to promote maximum participation. District 5– DCM: Buddy G. I would like to thank God for allowing me to be here. We would like to thank District 21 for hosting this weekend. The food was wonderful and the skit was nice. District 5 is doing very well. We had our district meeting on March 25 at the Coffee club in Lebanon. I appreciated everyone being there because Kentucky basketball was played that day. We had a total of 27 people. The total of GSR’s was 16, up from last quarter. We had some good reports from GSR’s about their home groups, attendance either up or steady and that's always good to hear. All of the committee chairs have been filled since last quarter as well. We also had lots of birthdays and some anniversaries as well. Our ad hoc committee gave our recommendations for District 5 guidelines to take to their home groups to discuss and approve or not and vote on them the next quarter. Rick C., my alternate, and I are still visiting home groups and it's been really good. We have had lots of fun road tripping and have really enjoyed just getting to the different home groups as a whole, in the district. We expect to wind up in the near future, still having a few to go to so stay tuned. I would like to thank Joy and Lynda for all the e-mails and information you have passed on to me. I really appreciate the information which allows me to keep the district informed. We had visitors from District 25, Renetta and Greg, to sit in on our meeting. I always heard that visitors are a blessing from God and that was a pleasure to have them there. Our district would like to say, “It is impossible to use Grapevine subscription numbers to reflect the number of readers as many people share one Grapevine, passing them around through meetings and institutions. You never know how many people you reach with just one Grapevine”. Anyway it is an honor to serve District 5 and Alcoholics Anonymous. Would District 5 please stand up and be recognized. District 6– DCM: Brian D. District 6 would like to thank District 21 for hosting Area 26’s quarterly meeting. District 6 holds monthly meetings on the first Wednesday of the month. We are averaging 12 groups at our monthly meetings. In the past quarter District 6 held a Traditions workshop on March 24, 2012 that was well attended. Our alternate DCM Mark L. did a great job of arranging the workshop and selecting the materials. By using the group information sheets given to our DCM by the Area Registrar, Jon S., we have had contact with 80 percent of the groups in our District. Three of these groups have elected GSR’s and they are attending our District meetings. We have also added one new group to our District, this group had been meeting for over a year and decided it was time to become an active group in the AA service structure. So in closing let me say that District 6 groups are happily trudging the road of service in AA. District 7 – DCM: Bill P. I am the newly elected DCM for District 7. I would like to thank District 21 for hosting the area meeting this quarter. One of our goals is to host an area meeting in our district. Things are going well in our district which is located in south-central Kentucky. There is a new meeting in the McCreary County Detention Center. We have a new candlelight meeting on Saturday nights at the Gratitude House which is a clubhouse in Somerset. The meeting is doing well. Our newest group The Young People's group is strong with good attendance. There is no other news about meetings in our district. We had a Valentine's dinner/dance in February which was very successful. We are planning to have a barbecue in the May time frame and plan to continue with a district sponsored event each quarter. Our next district meeting is April 22, 2012. We would like to open up positions of service for those who would like to be more involved in AA. I also plan to visit each group in the district on a regular basis. District 8 – DCM: No report District 9 -- DCM: Jim R. No report District 10 - DCM: Joy M. Not much has been happening in District 10 since we last met. Attendance at our district meetings has declined somewhat, but the core of regular attendees remained strong. As DCM I have been visiting non-active groups in District 10. A few of these groups have inquired about our monthly meetings, however, I have seen only one new GSR attend one district meeting. I'll continue to visit or contact those groups hopefully inspiring someone to step up to the plate. Also I've had the privilege of working on an ad hoc committee with some great folks from our Area. It has been a wonderful experience, something I will always remember, and be forever grateful for. Would everyone from District 10 please stand. Thank you for allowing me to serve Area 26. District 11 – DCM: Kevin K. District 11 would like to thank District 21 for hosting the area meeting. Everything has been wonderful so far. District 11 is alive and well, working to carry the message of AA to the sunny side of Louisville and Clark County, Indiana. It was suggested that the blue card be reintroduced to the groups in our district. Therefore, our GSR's have been given a blue card and some information about our 5th tradition to take to their groups for discussion. Groups may then decide if reading the blue card at their meetings is appropriate. We have also been working hard to get our workshop organized. Flyers were handed out at the break. The workshop will be on the Three Legacies of AA: Recovery, Unity and Service. The workshop will be held at the Jeffersonville Token Club on Saturday, May 19th from 2-5 PM. We will have four panel members with extensive experience with the three legacies to share some insight and answer questions on the topic. The “District 11 Players” will perform a skit on the three legacies. There will be door prizes and a 50-50 raffle. There will be plenty of food with a cookout for all who attend. Please join us for fellowship, food, and some good information on what AA is all about. Thank you District 11 for helping me to stay sober and be of service to AA. District 12 - DCM: Jake B. I am the new DCM for District 12. Everything in District 12 recently has been relatively quiet and smooth. Everyone is getting used to their new positions and learning how to work effectively as a team. We have several new GSR's who are eager to learn about service and how they can best serve their groups. Having an almost completely new group of people at District 12 we are currently evaluating how the district has operated over the past several years and how we can more effectively serve the district. Some things we have been looking at are discontinuing the District 12 newsletter or putting it into a virtual format, a possible web page and the three yearly events that we have host. Thank you to District 21 for hosting this meeting, thank you for allowing me to be of service and would all those from District 12 please stand and be recognized. District 13 -- DCM: Mike Y. Thank you District 21 for hosting this area meeting. There were six GSR's in attendance today. District meetings are well with attendance of about 11 GSR’s at each district meeting. We are having district handbooks made for the new GSR's. We have turned in the information on our groups to the Registrar. District 13 please stand and be recognized. District 14 -- DCM: David W. District 14 has had 2 meetings since the last Area 26 meeting. We have been working had planning for the July Area 26 meeting in Frankfort. All of the groups who regularly attend District 14 meeting are participating. We still have a few groups who do not send a group service representative to district meetings. We have some flyers here for the July meeting, and we will ask the web master to put them up on the website after the meeting here. Most of the district activity has been directed toward the July meeting. One meeting in our district is currently not meeting because the location closed down and they have not found a new location yet. District 15 -- DCM: Jason R. Thanks to District 21 for hosting. Things are going well in District 15. The past few months have been very busy as we have been trying to collect current contact information for all the groups. We currently have 34 registered groups. We have had an average of 10 GSR's in attendance at our monthly meetings and have filled several committee positions. Our new Corrections chair has been busy recruiting new volunteers to carry the message into our only correctional facility, and has had several new AA's cleared to enter the facility. Our new Public Information committee member has been working diligently to get our district website up and running. This website will hopefully make it easier for newcomers to find meetings in the Lexington area as well as provide a means for communicating events and service opportunities. During the past few meetings there were some very intense discussions about the content of the website. The topic was taken back to the groups and the consensus was to not include outside links to non-service related pages on our website. District 15 also put on an exciting workshop in March on the topic “Chairing a Meeting”. On a personal level, the past quarter has been very challenging as I have been trying to find the right balance between my duties as DCM, school, work, and home life. This has provided many opportunities for growth on many levels. More than anything I have been learning that if I keep one foot in front of the other, God will take care of the rest. Thank you all for being here to help me recharge my spiritual batteries this weekend! District 16 -- DCM: Everett S., Stand In Hello Everybody, I’m Everett S., standing in for Shirley B., DCM for District 16. Shirley is sick. Jason M., our alternate DCM couldn’t come this weekend so you all get me again. I was DCM for District 16 back in the 90s and still enjoy coming to Area 26 meetings. District 16 is located in central Kentucky and is composed of Madison, Estill, Lee, Jackson and Rockcastle counties. We have 11 or 12 active Groups and most of them are active at the District level. I don't have much to report. Our District meetings are on the second Thursday of every month, at 6:30 PM at the Berea Baptist Church. Everybody is invited to our Spring Fling, May 20th at the Ol’ Kentucky Campground in Berea, Exit 76. The Potluck will start at 1:30PM and there will be a speaker at 2:30PM. District 17 – DCM: Renee B. I would like to thank District 21 for hosting this meeting. District 17 has 24 registered groups that meet 47 times per week. We have two groups that were inactive that are being restarted one at a homeless shelter and one at a corrections facility. District 17 finally exceeded its prudent reserve and was able to make a donation to the Area and GSO. District 17's central office answered 156 calls in the first quarter. I invite everyone to our 3rd annual Hog roast on May the 19th in Owensboro at the 320 Club. District 18-- DCM: Jim R. Thanks to District 21 for hosting us this weekend. In District 18 we held our second annual traditions workshop. We had around 40 interested members in attendance. It is one of two annual workshops held each year. We continue to use the workshop forum to carry the AA message within our district. We are currently updating our group information as to group contact, GSR, and active or inactive. We currently have 27 groups listed in our district. Thank you. District 19 – DCM: Jim K. Thank you District 21 for hosting this meeting. The groups in District 19 have more active GSR’s than they have had in many years. We have regular meetings with several GSR’s in attendance. All the meetings in District 19 have been visited and encouraged to participate. This seems to be paying off. Would all those people in District 19 please stand. Thank you. District 20 -- DCM: No report District 21– DCM: Melissa B. District 21 has been very busy preparing to host the Area this weekend. Some of our GSR’s have visited groups who had no representation and we now have at least a contact for each of our groups. We have a small, but energetic group of GSRs who regularly attend our District meeting. I’m very grateful to our GSRs and all the other volunteers who literally made this weekend possible. We thank Area 26 for this opportunity to be of service. Would those here from District 21, who haven’t collapsed yet, please stand & be recognized. District 22 -- DCM: Stan B. I want to extend my gratitude to District 21 for serving as the hosts for this area meeting and for the fine lunch provided. The attendance at the district meetings has been above average and most home groups report their attendance is up as well. We have 2 new GSR's and I received notice that we officially have a new Home group, unfortunately we had one group seek inactive status. Our workshop on service was well attended and was the largest crowd I had seen since I have been part of the district. To keep it short and to the point District 22 to is alive and vibrant. I want to thank you and my district for allowing me to serve. District 23-- DCM: Jason R. (Holly GSR) I would like to apologize for not being able to attend this quarter, however family commitments prevented my attendance. I look forward to seeing you in July. The fellowship is growing in our district with the addition of a Wednesday Early Bird meeting at 7:30 AM and a Beginners meeting Saturday at 6:30 PM. Both are open discussion meetings and both are enjoying good attendance. We also added the Ironton Ohio group to our district. So I guess we will have to reevaluate the kentuckiana name for the area since we have Buckeyes in our midst who might feel left out. Most standing groups are getting by just fine. Of course we need more people willing to commit to chairing meetings on a regular basis and some groups could stand to read the “group pamphlet” to gain a better understanding of how a little organization can help carry the message and get more folks involved in service. We have come a long way as a district in the past few years and we are all thankful to our Higher Power for that. Finally I know that there will probably be much emotion attached to tomorrow's discussion regarding the discrepancies in the accounting. It is my prayer that it will be tempered by love and tolerance and forgiveness. We all make mistakes and our unity as an Area should not suffer over something as petty as finance. Remember absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake. District 24 -- DCM: Jennifer S. District 24 would like to thank District 21 for hosting us here in LaGrange. I would also like to thank District 24 for allowing me the opportunity to be of service. Before I forget, would all members of District 24 stand and be recognized. At our March District Meeting Lynda R. was invited to give us a Pre-Conference Report. Thanks Lynda!! We will be thinking of you as you attend your first General Service Conference. Tom M., our District 24 Literature Chair, has been hard at work. We recently had a workshop focusing on "The Three Legacies of AA, Expressed through AA Literature." Big thanks to George J. and Lynda R. for their participation. Without prior knowledge, the workshop was scheduled on a big March Madness Day. Live and Learn!! The District discussed its concerns with confidentiality and anonymity on the Area 26 Website which resulted in the motion regarding a password protected area of the website which we will be discussing tomorrow. All Committee Chair positions are filled with the exception of Kentuckiana News. Since our last Area Meeting, our Alternate DCM resigned, so we are in the hunt! A structure change did take place that gives the Committee Chairs and Intergroup Liaison a right to vote. Currently, our structure states that an individual does not have to be a GSR to be a District 24 Committee Chair. My journey of visiting Groups, within District 24, continues. We have obtained a couple more GSR's and the Group Information Change Forms have been sent to the Area 26 Registrar, GSO and the Louisville Intergroup. I am finding that if a Group does not wish to have a GSR, they are interested in having a contact person. District 25– DCM: Renetta P. Good afternoon, Area 26! District 25 extends their appreciation to District 21 for their hospitality and efforts. At the District 25 Quarterly Meeting, all GSR’s were present. With lively participation, we managed to approve a Beginner’s Packet and the materials to be used for CPC contacts. All stayed sober. The Casey County Group hosted their 26th Group Anniversary in March. As usual, it was well attended; it appeared to me that all were well fed, both physically and spiritually. CPC is actively pursuing contact with the district professionals. Meeting information has been synchronized between the Area 26 website, the Registrar, the schedule listing published by Bluegrass Intergroup, and a District Meeting listing. The District Meeting listing has been re-formatted and printed to be available for use in CPC and other outside contact work. Efforts were made for outside A.A. members to become involved in the North point Training Center meeting, but this hasn’t been accomplished to date. Ed M., Area 26 Corrections Chair, attended a meeting at North point and graciously met with me afterwards to update us on the status from within the walls. Thank you, Ed. Participation by outside members at the Boyle County Jail Women’s Meeting appears to have increased, with questions being raised about resources available. We look forward to seeing what our Higher Power has in store for us. Would all those from District 25 stand and be recognized. District 26 – DCM: Nikki P. On behalf of District 26 I would like to thank District 21 for their hospitality in hosting the quarterly meeting. Our district has had one meeting since our last Area. Only 4 or our 8 groups were present due to scheduling conflicts. One of our groups informed us they are in the process of scheduling a group conscience meeting to decide if they will continue their group due to lack of attendance. The Hungry Spirits Group held its annual Super Bowl party which was well attended and the food was fabulous. Our Downtown Group hosted a Chili Supper speaker meeting And Jeff N., was the speaker. Our next district meeting will be held in May. District 27 -- DCM: Jeremy S. We in District 27 would like to thank District 21 for hosting the April area meeting. Our last district meeting was March 18, 2012. We had 13 of 19 groups in attendance. We further discussed the upcoming 15th annual Howling at the Moon, updated the meeting information, and discussed printing new brochures for area meetings. Our district meeting has been moved from E.B. Terry Estates to a new location, the Christian Church Fellowship Hall, in Hiseville, still in the Cave City area. Our next meeting will be May 20, 2012 at 2:30. Thanks for letting me be of service to Alcoholics Anonymous. Everyone from District 27 please stand. District 28-- DCM: Rita B. I would like to thank District 21 for hosting this weekend's Area Meeting. This quarter I have been busy trying to update group information, visiting groups, and announcing opportunities to be of service. The Special Needs/Treatment workshop we had on Feb 25th went well. The average attendance at District meetings has been about 12. I provided GSR's with copies of Conference agenda items and I have been reading the background material. Districts 28&15 invited Lynda to do a pre-conference report on March 18th. It was well attended with much interest and discussion. At the March District meeting we approved the proposed change to the District 28 guidelines and are in the process of getting updated copies made for the GSR's. We have three new committee chairs: Adam J. (Lunch Bunch Group)- Archives, Josh Y. (Fresh Air Group)- Group Awareness and Jim S. (Down Under Group)- Public Information. All of our committees chair positions were filled for about three weeks. I was informed after the last District meeting, by the Special Needs chairperson that she is planning to resign. May 19th District 28 will be having a C.P.C. Workshop at 1:30 at the Alano Club. Will all those from District 28 please stand and be recognized.
District 29 – DCM: James G. District 29 would like to express its gratitude for the tremendous efforts and hospitality of District 21 for hosting this Area 26 meeting. The attraction of such efforts continue to inspire us to greater opportunities for service in our district such as the following: “Meetings on Wheels” has rapidly hit the ground running to allow us to bring meetings to shut-ins, hospitalized or otherwise non-ambulatory alcoholics that have no way of making a meeting. The “Grapevine Lending Library” has been established to allow alcoholics who otherwise could not afford to purchase a Grapevine subscription the opportunity to reap the benefits of the “experience, strength and hope” in the Grapevine. Subscriptions were purchased with funds of the district and donations of members and or their groups. “Newcomer packets” are proving to be very popular. The first 500 have been distributed and the district has approved an additional 300 packets which contain certain AA approved literature and brochures, area meeting schedules and call lists of volunteers to take emergency calls from newcomers. Free “alcathon” coffee was provided by the district for the around-the-clock meetings on Christmas and New Year's. The district has composed a letter to all home groups of the district to encourage general and GSR participation in service to AA pursuant to the AA service manual. Our next meeting is Tuesday, June 5, 2012. District 29 expresses its gratitude for Alcoholics Anonymous in general and all of those kind folks here participating. District 30 -- DCM: No report District 31 -- DCM: No report District 32-- DCM: Erika G. Good afternoon all, District 32 would like to say thank you to District 21 for hosting the Spring Area 26 meeting. District 32 is still being supported regularly by 6 groups. We are holding our 2nd annual service event on April 22nd at the Alano Club, in Florence, from 4-7pm. River Bill and Judy N., will speak on Unity, Service and Recovery. We will provide a wonderful lunch, dessert and drinks. So if you can make it north, stop in and support us. The District is hoping to get a few more people involved in the open committee positions we currently have. Thanks for the opportunity of being part of Area 26. District 33 – Alt. DCM: Phil B. Hello my name is Phil B. District 33 alternate DCM reporting for Clay D., District 33 DCM who was not able to attend today. I would like to thank hosting District 21 for all the work you have put in to this Area 26 quarterly meeting. District 33 held its quarterly GSR meeting on March 11, 2012 at the Western Kentucky Intergroup office in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. The meeting was called to order by Clay D., DCM. Roll call was taken, there were representatives attending from seven groups. The Treasurers report was given by Treasurer Woody C. Standing committee reports are as follows: CPC/PI Jason S., gave a report. The committee is putting packets together for probation and parole meetings with groups to distribute the packets. The district reimbursed the committee for material for the packets the cost was $73.43. New business: a motion was made by Ray L., and seconded by Debbie D., to give $100 to WKIG to provide Big books to the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex in Fredonia, Kentucky. This was also to keep the district prudent reserve in line with the district bylaws. It was discussed that two of the groups of the district, the 142's and By the Book do not have group officers. District 33 is alive and well. Attendance at meetings is down slightly. The Night Owl meeting in Benton, Kentucky at 10 PM has suspended the meeting due to lack of support. District 34 – DCM: Jeff N. District 34 has made numerous changes in GSR's. We are looking forward to a more active group. All the groups in District 34 seem to be doing well. The Bremen group (a.k.a. the Secret meeting) had its 26th anniversary on February 20. There were over 72 people in attendance. The food was excellent and the speaker was Mark W. from Owensboro. Mark was even better than the food. Everyone had a great time. We have no events coming up in the near future for District 34. District 35 -- DCM: Bernard B. On behalf of District 35 I would like to thank District 21 for its wonderful job hosting this Area 26 General Service Meeting. Sense our last area meeting there has been some positive growth in our district. At the district level, we have elected a DCM, Bernard B. our Treasurer, Jack H. is now officially in charge of district finances. We have also elected our district Secretary, Joe F. All other committee chairs are still open. Our main focus of our districts is unity, not only between the district and its groups, but also between District 35 and its neighboring districts. Working closely with my service sponsor John S., it was suggested not only to visit the districts groups but also the neighboring district meetings to observe how they conduct business at a district level. I have since visited district 18. Not only did I see they struggle with the same issues as our district, but I was pleased to see they have the same desire for unity between the districts as we do in District 35. It was also nice to discover I was truly welcome at their meeting and asked for a report on district 35’s wellbeing on which I was more than happy to share. District 35 GSR’s were asked to return to their home groups and ask for their involvement and ideas for throwing a dance in the near future as a means to spark unity among the groups and its district. There has also been a discussion on sponsoring a sober poker run in 2013. This event we are hoping to open to all districts in Area 26 and the poker runs route would possibly be linked by the meeting sights of the participating districts. This we hope would encourage fellowship and unity at a district level. District 35 has one jail in its district and no Corrections chair, However Jack H., our current Treasurer and former Corrections chair, District 6 and I have been working in conjunction to insure the jail it is getting the support it requires in the absence of a Corrections chair. On a group level, Latonia 11th step group has elected a GSR, Joe F. He is also participating at the district level. The Madison group has elected a GSR, Greg R., He is also participating at a district level. Newport AA lost there GSR, Bernard B., due to the district electing him as their DCM...They have had a new election, and elected Chris M., as their new GSR .He is also participating at the district level and is willing to attend the area meetings as well. District 36 -- DCM: Braulio S. On March 25th we went to Bowling Green to carry the AA message with the representative from District 3. On April the 7th we had our 19th anniversary at the Ramada Inn and we had a wonderful time with dancing, eating and 3 new members were added to the group. On April 15th there will be a health fair in New Albany, Indiana where we will pass out some AA pamphlets. In June we will be having our third district anniversary. Host Committee and Intergroup Reports No report The Lexington Host Committee has secured a date and location for the 2013 State Convention. The date will be February 15, 16 and 17 and the location will be the Lexington Convention Center. The host hotel hasn’t been decided yet, but will probably be the downtown Hilton Hotel. The speakers so far are Gary B. and Julie B. from Indianapolis IN, Peter M, from NJ, Bob O, from CO and Kent C from OH. The committee will start meeting on a regular basis starting in July. Flyers and registration forms will be available by the next Area Meeting. Louisville Host Committee – Angie S., Chairperson I would like to thank District 21 for their hospitality. The state convention was a great success. We ended up with about 1200 in attendance. We did a district shout out Saturday night which people loved and all but four districts were present. Thanks to all the committee chairs that came and brought their displays. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and loved the skit. Thanks to all who attended. We have been very busy planning our local convention, the 21st Fall City, which will be held on May 25 through the 27th at the Fern Valley Hotel and Conference Center. I have flyers with the program on them. Please register early. Will all Host Committee members in attendance please stand.
No report Northern Kentucky Host Committee No report No report Kentucky Conference of Young People in AA (KCYPAA), Adam This will be held November 16 – 18, in Lexington, at the Clarion Hotel. We do have a website, kcypaa.com and you can download the pre-registration flyer and send in. Bluegrass Intergroup, Adam The Bluegrass Intergroup picnic will be held June 30, 2012 at Jacobson Park at Shelter four. Specific details such as menu and foods to bring will be forthcoming. Starting May 5th the Intergroup office will be open on Saturdays from 10-3 PM. We are hoping that the extended hours will help those who cannot come during regular business hours. Our regular business hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from noon to 5 PM and Tuesday from noon to 6 PM. The Intergroup office has an excess of its prudent reserve and the IGR voted to disperse the excess of $11,000. The IGR's voted to give 50% to the AA World Service Office and 50% to Area 26. The Intergroup office is in desperate need of 12 step volunteers for our phone lists. We are trying to update the lists of the surrounding communities. Our intergroup office covers 65 counties in Kentucky. Please check to see if you are in this area and if you are interested please call the office at 1-800-467-8019 if you are outside of Lexington and 859-225-1212 if you're in the Lexington area. It is suggested that you have at least one year of sobriety Greater Louisville Intergroup, Martin B., Chair I want to thank District 21 for hosting this Area 26 meeting and thank you to all who serve Area 26. Some of the things are committees have accomplished in the last quarter are: Archives: continues to work on the local records and getting them into plastic sleeves. Also, the committee is still acquiring group histories. Corrections: Terry continued promoting the “pink can” collections for AA books for corrections facilities. Also has helped start new meetings at Roederer, Dismas facilities and Clark County juvenile detention. CPC, Outside speaker and PI: coordinated on a presentation and workshop at Galen School of Nursing. PI: Charlie familiarized Intergroup with the AA worldwide PI policy and reported on the three legacies workshop put on by District 24. Quarterly: Camille is changing the look of the quarterly to make it more appealing. She is organizing an old timers meeting for April 28 with four presenters with more than 25 years. This should be enlightening so come join us. Treatment committee: is taking a California style meeting into some facilities. Most of our standing committees are having committee display tables at the quarterly and Cissy from Archives has been making display boards for them. Our Central office and answering service had 2043 calls and 88 twelve-step calls. Visitors to our Central office were 274 and we had 90 e-mail contacts answered. Our website had 8243 unique visitors. Western Kentucky Intergroup, Phil B., Alt. DCM District 33 I would like to thank District 21 for hosting the Area 26 quarterly meeting this weekend. The Western Kentucky intergroup met on March 11, 2012 at the Western Kentucky Intergroup (WKIG) office at 6804 US Highway 641 N. in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Woody C., with a moment of silence and the serenity prayer. The 12 traditions were read. There were 14 in attendance at the meeting. The Treasurer report was given and accepted. The secretary report was given and accepted. Standing committees present were CPC/PI, Corrections, Archives and Special Needs. Under new business: WKIG will be putting together and paying for “where and when” meeting directory for 2012/2013. The estimated cost for 2000 at $.60 each will be a total cost of approximately $1200. The prudent reserve for the WKIG was discussed, and it was discovered that the prudent reserve was not large enough to cover expenses. A motion was made and seconded to amend the WKIG financial guidelines increasing the prudent reserve from $500 to $1300. The motion is being taken back to the groups for discussion and will be brought back to the next WKIG. It was also discussed that volunteers are needed to staff the WKIG office. Our last intergroup meeting was well attended, with several new IGR's welcomed. At present there are no new activities planned. We have a new corrections chairperson. We cooperate with the districts that have corrections institutions in them, to help support them. We first completed the update on our Where and When schedule. After it was put out we were asked to include the zip code of each meeting place by their address so you can use your GPS. The update will be in the next printing of the schedule. Meetings are also included on the website. We also put out a bimonthly newsletter called “The Message.” Communication with AA is important. Our office phone hours are 10 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday. After hours our phone transfers to a call phone which will be answered by the person volunteering that day. I want to thank all the districts 6, 18, 30, 32 and 35 and all the groups for their continued support of intergroup. South East Regional Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (SERCYPAA) No report
Archives – Peggy S., Chairperson January, February and March were busy months at the Archives Repository in Lexington. It was a time of reorganization. Former Chair David W. and I cleaned out the area, keeping what was useful and discarding what was not. The furniture was reorganized to make a more user friendly environment. Former Chair Mike H. assisted in organizing the files. All the Area 26 minutes are organized by years in one file cabinet. The other files are loosely organized in the other file cabinet. The books are organized on a pretty shelf. The Grapevines are organized by year. One Sunday Paul K. came and helped organize. The millions of tapes are in one area waiting their organizational turn. So organization is the theme. The Archives hold a wealth of our history. I hope you all got to view this quarterly display concerning the history of our directory. We hope to have a new display every area meeting. The committee meeting was attended by 9 people. Please stand and be recognized. Some Archives literature was passed out. The history of the repository was told. We reviewed the Archives workbook and decided it was okay by us. Please come visit your archives. It is open the third Sunday of each month from noon to 4 or by appointment. See the display for that information. Cooperation with Professional Community (CPC) - Mark D., Chairperson I would like to thank District 21 for hosting this weekend. I was asked to bring our display to the Kentucky State Convention in February. I would like to thank Angie for asking me to come. In our CPC meeting yesterday there were 5 in attendance. Would you please stand and be recognized? We talked about the excess literature I have which include Big Books, 12 & 12, Daily Reflections and what to do with them. We decided to sell it at cost. Greg from District 25 reported he had been in contact with hospitals in his district. We discussed how much education doctors get about alcoholism which is very little. We discussed the agenda items. A. Replacing the current AA Cooperation with the Professional Community DVD with a new compilation DVD that includes existing material. Our opinion is that we do not have enough information. B. Adding phrase nonalcoholic may attend as observers to the singleness of purpose statement in CPC literature. We vote yes on this item. C. Review contents of CPC kit and workbook is fine with the committee. Corrections - Ed M., Chairperson We had an awesome meeting of the Corrections Committee yesterday, with 24 people in attendance representing 13 districts and 16 correctional facilities. I made a mistake in chairing the meeting because I did not have everyone introduce themselves first before getting into the heart of our agenda. Consequently, our discussion went a little longer than it probably would have otherwise. I appreciate the opportunity to learn from my mistakes and to improve over time. Our committee learned more about service work by sharing what is happening in our lives and districts regarding corrections, discussing successes and challenges we are having. Some of our successes have included starting (or restarting) meetings in jails and prisons and getting new members involved. Our challenges continue to be safeguarding the Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous in these facilities (particularly with corrections professionals ignorant of those Traditions), abiding by the rules and regulations of those facilities, and supplying books, pamphlets, and correspondence to incarcerated alcoholics. We also discussed the General Service Conference Committee agenda items pertaining to Corrections and were in agreement that the two pamphlets and the Corrections Kit and Workbook should be considered for review. With respect to the video, “It Sure Beats Sitting in a Cell,” produced in 1987, we believed it should probably be redone, but were concerned about the possible use of actors in place of actual alcoholics. Generally, we considered it dangerous to show full views of people acting as if they are alcoholics, even if a disclaimer in the video states that they are only performers. The principal of anonymity is of paramount importance to the alcoholic, or should be. This video is intended to be shown to people incarcerated and could be confusing. There should be no doubt in the viewer’s mind that their own anonymity is being protected because we are also protecting the identity of the alcoholic interviewed on film. We therefore came up with a motion, submitted by Jill L. and seconded by Roy W., as follows: “That actual alcoholics be used in the making of any correctional videos, with their anonymity protected, in place of actors with their faces displayed.” Since our last Area meeting, I have travelled to Danville, Kentucky, to visit with Renetta P., DCM of District 25, about restarting an AA meeting at the North point Training Center. I was also invited to attend a service workshop in New Albany, Indiana, along with George J., the Alternate Delegate, and Vonda L., our previous Treasurer for Area 26. Thank you, District 21, for hosting our Area Meeting this weekend. Would all those who attended the Corrections Committee please stand and be recognized. Grapevine – Cindy S., Chairperson Thank you District 21 for the accommodations and the great lunch. It has been a trying couple of months with lots of life and progress made with God and one step forward at a time. The participation in Saturday’s committee meeting was 9 strong, with opinions and passion. We discussed the Grapevine agenda items with the following majority decisions. We would like the proposal for the Audio Strategy to be investigated further. The suggested Grapevine book topics sparked definite interest. The “Sunset” proposal appears to be a financial sound idea. Combining the GSR and GVR positions was voted No. However, the understanding that changes for good financial stewardship of the Grapevine must be made. I would like to thank all that participated in the meeting and I trust that God is going to guide AA’s decisions. Would all that participated please stand. Kentuckiana Newsletter - Gary P., Chairperson On Thursday morning The newsletter’s Yahoo email account was compromised and hackers took control of the email account. The hacker sent an email saying I was stranded in Spain, please send $4100.00. I have 2 other email accounts, and my 2 computers running AVG internet security was not touched so I really believe someone hacked the password and got in. I don't think this is a virus. I contacted yahoo, was able to change the password and got the account back however everything has been deleted. All folders, archives and 533 contacts are missing. I cannot send the current newsletter to the 533 subscribers. I have talked to the area website committee and they have agreed to put something on the area website explaining to members, if you want to continue to receive the Kentuckiana Newsletter through email you will have to subscribe to kentuckiananewsletter@yahoo.com. That email address can also be found on the current newsletter. I was able to attend the State Convention in February, met a lot of new people, passed out a lot of information about the Kentuckiana Newsletter and learned a few things myself. It was very enjoyable service work. The Newsletter picked up 33 new email subscribers this quarter. That’s a 13% increase in subscribers. 11 people attended our meeting yesterday. When reviewing the current newsletter we found the Sponsorship Rally has the wrong Holiday Inn listed. Area 26 website has it listed correctly. No one found the mistake in the last quarter so we left a coffee cup in the current newsletter and the first person to find it will get a paid subscription to the Grapevine. With that a conversation came up should we be spending area 26 money without the body approving it and we decided this would be that last giveaway. And with that came up the conversation what is the newsletter’s purpose. We are not part of the conference agenda and we have no workbook. We need a clear and defined direction and purpose. From what we can find out the newsletter has never had a written purpose. We are now in the process of writing a purpose. Betty S,, Barbara F., and Darryl M., have agreed to help with that process. The service manual gives suggestions, what a newsletter does. We do everything the service manual suggest with the exception of local news and we have very little of that. This quarter we looked at 6 newsletters from other areas and local news comes from area officers, standing committees, central offices, hosting committees, districts and home groups. The Kentuckiana Newsletter will never be the real voice of Area 26 until we are printing your words. July’s topic will be ‘’ The Whole God Thing”. Brian D., will write on tradition 3, Jennifer S., Tradition 4, Darryl M., Tradition 5, Mark S., Tradition 6 and Derrick Q., will write on ‘’The Whole God Thing’’. Carmen S., will write ‘’ How District 36 Was Born’’. Articles must be submitted by June 1st. October’s theme will be’’ Understanding & Misunderstanding Anonymity’’; we will be covering Traditions 7, 8 and 9 in October. I would like to thank District 21 for the hospitality, warm food and hard work that went into hosting the area meeting. Will all those who attended the Kentuckiana newsletter please stand. There are 5 districts I have not given newsletters to. If anyone could deliver to 8, 9, 20, 30 and 31 it would be greatly appreciated
Literature – David K., Chairperson I had the opportunity to attend the State convention in Louisville where I got to talk about and hand out literature which was a lot of fun and learned a lot. I have copies of the most recent Service Manual. Thanks to District 21 for hosting this weekend. I really appreciate all of your hard work to make this weekend happen. 18 people were in attendance for this quarterly meeting representing a wide variety of experience and knowledge. In addition to a discussion of the agenda items for the upcoming conference we discussed the flowchart of the conference advisory actions, how it relates to additions and changes to conference approved literature which assisted in our further discussion. The committee also discussed the subtle changes that appear from time to time in our literature reflecting grammatical “corrections” and were reminded that it is incumbent on us to preserve the true intent of our literature. We then focused the bulk of our meeting on the seven agenda items from the Conference Committee on Literature. We discussed the recent history of the request to develop literature which focuses on spirituality that include stories from atheists and agnostics who are sober in Alcoholics Anonymous, and understand the process is moving at an appropriate pace to ensure this action adheres to our principles. This discussion included several present to share personal experiences with this topic. We look forward to the next phase of this process. Since we are not privy to the content of the draft pamphlet “AA in the Armed Services” we look forward to seeing how this part of the process develops. We discussed some of the things that may happen once the draft revision is approved. We briefly discussed the draft of the revised “living sober” booklet since again, this information is only available to committee members and what may happen once the draft is approved. There wasn't much information provided about revisions to the pamphlet Circles of Love and Service” since this item was brought up at the Trustee's Committee on Literature in January of this year. We look forward to future developments. The request from this area to add text of the third edition of the big book to the fourth edition continues to move through the process and again, we look forward to hearing the results of the conference on the side of. A lengthy discussion took place about adding the preamble to the front inside pages of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Mention was made of its inclusion on pamphlets and other publications and its regular appearance in the Grapevine. We agreed with the merit of this item. The addition of the short form of the 12 concepts to as “Bill Sees It” appears to be consistent with the existing inclusion of the 12 steps and 12 traditions and warrants further action by the committee. Public Information – Doug P., Chairperson First, thanks to those who attended yesterday’s meeting. We had a total of 10 people in attendance. Will all those who attended please stand? Thanks to Districts 21 for hosting us this weekend. There was an inquiry regarding a pamphlet for P.I. from a member in Florida. They have designed a fold out flyer that they would like feed-back for as it pertains to applicability. Our committee meeting focused on the upcoming General Service Conference and its agenda. Briefly the items are: A.A. Web Site- everyone approves of new links etc. Review the final draft of the 2011 membership survey—All seems fine, follows the format of our last survey we voted to approve. Review the report on tracking of “My World” – Linda our current delegate gave us a report indicating that over a million were reached in the greater Lexington area. Consider centralized distribution, tracking and evaluation of the proposed Hispanic video “Tengo Esperanza” at a cost not to exceed $40,000.00. as an addition to the work of local Public Information committees. Review the current P.S.A.’s for relevance and usefulness – current P.S.A.’s are well done, consider going back to lack of full face presentation and disqualifying statement in the beginning of the videos. Consider the production of new P.S.A.’s Consider A.A. establishing a presence on Facebook for the purposes of providing information only, with no interpersonal communication capabilities. There is not enough information to know whether this is feasible at this time, a question of affiliation was raised. Committee members expressed some displeasure with current practices by some alcoholics who don’t respect anonymity by posting pictures on their home page, etc. The general consensus is that education about the traditions will be the best remedy to current anonymity breaches. Discuss requests related to adding language referring to current media to Tradition eleven. Both sides of this argument are well represented. The idea that loopholes will continue to be perceived by alcoholics regardless of literature or changes thereto. There is some sentiment that requiring 75% of the fellowship to change verbiage is an unreasonable requirement and perhaps not possible today. Consider updating the current Anonymity Wallet Card. This reflects the same issues as changing the words in the eleventh tradition comments on this apply. Review the contents of the Public Information Kit and Workbook. While some committee members indicated that a “box” to carry the kit would be preferable, they thought that each individual could purchase one if they found that necessary. Given this, we do not feel that the current kit needs revision. Registrar - - Jon S., Chairperson Thanks to District 21 for hosting this weekend. As of the first of this month we now have 697 Active groups, 535 Inactive groups, 4 Incomplete groups, 35 Merged groups, 1 Pending group 34 Unknown groups and no New groups. A group becomes unknown when GSO tries to make contact with the group and gets no response. Every effort is made by GSO and I to prevent this from happening. The GSO Directory has to have all group information by May 11, 2012 to be included. Please notify me immediately if you have a new GSR so the packet can be sent to them. All group change reports I get are immediately updated in New York and followed up for verification. For a group to be active the only requirement is a mail contact but will not be listed in the directory without a phone number. I have gotten estimates for printing 800 copies of our directory which range from $2,169 - $2,300. There is a printed roster of all groups in each district to be picked up by current DCM. Special Needs-Accessibilities –Nancy B., Chairperson There were seven that attended the Special Needs meeting yesterday. Discussions included the different types of special needs we may find in the meetings in our districts. It was suggested that each of us talk to our DCMs to work with the districts to determine which meeting places are handicap accessible, including the bathrooms. And we had lengthy discussions about the alcoholics that are also diagnosed as Bi-Polar, those who cannot read and those who are deaf. Most of our literature is available in braille. I have some examples with me. The one that most impressed me is the Daily Reflections in braille. Meetings on Wheels was an example of a special need that Louisville and Bowling Green are offering presently. Taking meetings to those members who are home bound or hospitalized, including members who are caregivers that cannot leave to get to meetings. And something else I had never thought about is meeting places that are on or near a bus line. Lots of us don't have transportation. We ended by deciding each of us would decide which special need we wanted to focus on in our districts as a project this term. I want to thank District 28 for inviting me in February to be part of a workshop that combined Treatment and Special Needs. There was a good turn out with lots of questions and, I might add, some great snacks. I took a sponsee with me and we had a great time. And a big thank you to District 21 for hosting this weekend. Lunch and the many choices of donuts were delicious. Would all who are still here and attended the committee meeting please stand up. Thank you for allowing me to serve. I'm learning a lot about special needs. Treatment Facilities – Laura H., Chairperson I would like to thank Districts 21 for their hospitality and great food this weekend. On February 25th I attended a Treatment/Special Needs Workshop at the Alano Club in Lexington put on by District 28. We had 16 people in attendance at our meeting. I would like to thank them and ask that they stand and be recognized. We discussed Agenda Item B- Suggestions for developing a pamphlet for the alcoholic with mental illness. This led to a discussion of the personal experiences of working with alcoholics with mental illness. Our suggestion would be to have a pamphlet referring to the other pamphlets we already have concerning mental illness. We also reviewed the contents of Treatment Committee Kit and Workbook and concluded that it is very resourceful and informative. I recommended that the District Treatment Committee Chairs and anyone interested in the Treatment Committee get the Treatment Committee Kit, which can be obtained for a nominal fee. The group participation was informative and enlightening, I look forward to seeing everyone in Frankfort at the July Area Assembly. Website – Bill C., Chairperson I would like to thank District 21 for hosting this area meeting and to thank you for your hard work. I also want to thank Buz and Jon for their help the last three months; they are invaluable to me and the website and have given a lot of their time to service. There was a complaint that someone entered the website and made contact with people and sent emails requesting them to answer a survey, since this is a public information site we cannot pick and choose who can make contact with us simply delete and or unsubscribe to these requests. We had fifteen in attendance at our Website Committee Meeting including Joy the area chair (stand please), we discussed several website related items including the above, and the time flew by with questions and information being shared among trusted servants. Due to some confusion the agenda for this Area meeting was omitted we discussed this and decided to post it from now as it was in the past with any phone numbers, names and email addresses omitted unless the area as a whole objects. In my January report I mistakenly stated that an website Ad Hoc committee actually a group of trusted servants are getting together to share information with interested groups or districts who ask for ideas and experience in starting their web site. I want to thank all who are still here for you service, look forward to seeing you all in July. Welcome to Service Workshop - Barbara F., Co-Chairperson I want to thank District 21 for hosting this weekend it has been a great weekend. I had the pleasure of chairing the Welcome to Service workshop yesterday morning. 45 people attended. There were 12 people who had never attended an Area meeting before. We went over this weekend’s agenda, talked about the life cycle of a conference agenda item and talked a bit about the Concepts. I read “AA’s Legacy of Service” from our Service Manual. Everyone seems to enjoy this meeting and I enjoy conducting it. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have about area or general service. DCM Meeting - - - -Chairperson No report |