2026 Motions
TECHNOLOGY CONTACT
MAIN MOTION
The World Service Board moves to amend the FA WSI Standing Rules of Order, 2024 June: Meeting Requirements, item 11 (“Elect the following required service positions”) by adding a new required service position for videoconference meetings registered on the FA website: Tech Contact.
CURRENT WORDING
From the June 2024 SRO, item 11:
2024 June: Meeting Requirements
11. Elect the following required service positions:
a. WSI contact
b. meeting contact
c. intergroup contact
d. chapter contact (if registered with an FA chapter as well as an FA intergroup)
e. secretary
f. treasurer
PROPOSED WORDING
11. Elect the following required service positions:
a. WSI contact
b. meeting contact
c. intergroup contact
d. chapter contact (if registered with an FA chapter as well as an FA intergroup)
e. secretary
f. treasurer
g. tech contact (if registered as a videoconference meeting)
RATIONALE
Videoconference meetings have unique technology and security needs. This motion creates a clear, consistent point of contact so World Service and the FA office can directly reach the right trusted servant when time-sensitive tech communication is needed. This includes alerts regarding Zoom bombings, up-to-date prevention practices, and evolving best practices for running meetings smoothly and safely, as well as offers of support and guidance
MOTION TO INCREASE MAXIMUM ANNUAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND ONE-TIME BEQUESTS TO FA
MAIN MOTION
The World Service Board moves to amend Article X, sec. 2 (a)(1) to increase the amount of money an individual member may donate directly to WSI from $3,000 to $5,000 in one calendar year and increase the maximum one-time bequest from $5,000 to $7500. The only change in the wording of the bylaw is to the maximum amounts.
CURRENT WORDING
Article X, sec. 2 (a)(1) of the bylaws:
An individual member of the fellowship may donate directly to WSI no more than $3,000 in a single calendar year and, in addition, may make a one-time bequest of not more than $5,000 directly to WSI.
PROPOSED WORDING
An individual member of the fellowship may donate directly to WSI no more than $5,000 in a single calendar year and, in addition, may make a one-time bequest of not more than $7500 directly to WSI.
RATIONALE
Contributions from FA members make it possible for us to share our message world-wide. With fellowship services expanding and costs increasing, the Inside Donations Task Force (IDTF) recommends the conference increase the maximum donation amounts, in keeping with our 7th Tradition.
The maximum donations according to the bylaw in 2010 were $2000 for both annual and one-time bequests. The maximums were raised in 2011 to $3000 annually maximum and $5000 for a one-time bequest. The maximums have not been raised in fifteen years. The maximum amount set by AA for an individual contribution is $7500.
Therefore, the IDTF recommends this modest adjustment to keep pace. This change will also increase opportunities for us to participate in the life-saving work of FA.
MEETING REQUIREMENTS
MAIN MOTION
The World Service Board moves to amend Article IV, section 1(d) of the WSI Bylaws, and the June 2024 Standing Rule of Order entitled “Meeting Requirements” to clarify the required elements of an FA meeting format.
CURRENT WORDING and PROPOSED WORDING (deleted language in red; new language in green)
WSI Bylaws
Article IV, Section 1. FA Meeting Groups
(a)...
(b)...
(c)…
(d) Registered FA meeting groups must meet the following requirements:
-
Welcome all who have a desire to stop eating addictively.
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Adhere to the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of FA.
-
Use one of the FA Meeting Formats in the Meeting Guidelines Documents posted on the FA
website. Each format must include the following:
Use a sample meeting format posted on the FA website, which includes these required items:
-
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of FA.
-
The definitions of food addiction and abstinence, as stated in Article II, Section 3 of
these bylaws.
-
The requirement that only members of the fellowship with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence in FA be invited to share.
-
The requirement that only members of the fellowship with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence in FA shall have a voice and vote at FA meeting group business meetings.
Standing Rules of Order
June 2024 “Meeting Requirements”
An FA meeting group is an association of two or more food addicts who regularly meet to share experience, strength, and hope about recovery from food addiction through the Twelve Steps of FA. The requirements for registration as an FA meeting group are stated below. The provisions marked with an asterisk (*) come from Article IV, Section 1 of the WSI Bylaws and can only be amended by following the process for amending the Bylaws.
-
Meet in person, by videoconference (including telephone access), or by telephone*
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Meet for 90 minutes
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If it is an in-person meeting, meet in a facility that is open to the public and arrange chairs in theater
style, in rows facing the speaker
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Have as its primary purpose carrying the FA message of recovery to food addicts who still suffer*
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Register with an FA intergroup and comply with its bylaws*
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Comply with the WSI bylaws*
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Welcome all who have a desire to stop eating addictively*
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Adhere to the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of FA
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Offer for sale or distribution or for reading during a meeting only the following:
-
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FA Conference-approved literature
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FA Conference-recognized literature
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WSI board-approved material
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Material distributed by the boards or committees of WSI, FA intergroups, or FA chapters
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telephone lists of registered FA meetings
-
meeting directories of registered FA meetings
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FA Information Session notices
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10. Refrain from distributing food plans as approved meeting documents. However, food plans may be shared between sponsors and sponsees as a component of the complete FA program of recovery.
11. Elect the following required service positions:
-
WSI contact
-
meeting contact
-
intergroup contact
-
chapter contact (if registered with an FA chapter as well as an FA intergroup)
-
Secretary
-
treasurer
12. Use the appropriate FA Meeting Format found on the FA website, which includes these required items.
Use a sample meeting format found on the FA website, which includes these required items, maintaining
the exact wording for items a-i:
-
the FA Preamble
-
the Twelve Steps as adapted by FA*
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the Twelve Traditions as adapted by FA*
-
the definition of food addiction*
-
the definition of abstinence*
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How it Works and “The Promises” from A.A.’s Big Book
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the FA Tools of Recovery
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the statement that only persons with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence in FA who are working with an FA sponsor will be invited to share*
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the statement that only persons with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence in FA who are working with an FA sponsor and who regularly attend the meeting will have a voice and a vote at the meeting group’s business meetings*
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Announcements welcoming newcomers and visitors, identifying available sponsors, and explaining how to donate as per the Seventh Tradition
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A break approximately midway through the meeting for greeting newcomers and visitors.1
13. By group conscience, meetings may change the language in the sample formats as long as the formats follow the requirements in this SRO,and are consistent with the WSI bylaws and the Twelve Traditions as adapted by FA.
14. Any meeting group that chooses not to adhere to the registration requirements above will not be recognized as a registered FA meeting group. The group will not appear on the FA website or be listed in any FA meeting directories, may not use the FA name or format, and may not have its meetings announced at FA group meetings, intergroup meetings, or chapter meetings.
1 Please note that the text of items h, i, j, and k is identical to the existing SRO. These items have just been reordered so that all of the items requiring exact wording are grouped together.
Items 12(a)-(g), (i), and (j) may not be altered from the wording in the FA Meeting Formats found on the FA website.
Suggested wording for the announcements listed in item 12(k) and for a section on guidelines or rules of meeting etiquette are provided in the FA Meeting Formats on the FA website, but these may be changed to suit individual meetings.
Any group of people that chooses not to adhere to the registration requirements above will not be recognized as a registered FA meeting group. The group will not appear on the FA website or be listed in any FA meeting directories, may not use the FA name or format, and may not have its meetings announced at FA group meetings, intergroup meetings, or chapter meetings.
RATIONALE
Many of the motions received by the intergroups and chapter during this motion cycle involved proposed changes to the FA meeting formats. WSI committees are often asked to approve even the tiniest deviations from the posted formats.
The World Service Board offers this motion to clarify which parts of the meeting format may not be altered. Many fellows ask, “Must meetings use the format, on the website, exactly as it is, in its entirety?”
Yes and No…
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All registered FA meetings must include 14 elements in their meeting format (SRO item 12, letters a-k).
-
10 of these items must be worded exactly as they appear in the formats on the FA website (SRO item 12, letters a-i).
-
For the remaining 4 required items (midpoint break and 3 types of announcements), meetings may decide by group conscience whether to use the sample wording.
Each FA meeting format on the website is a sample of an FA meeting format. Each Sample FA Meeting Format includes all 14 required elements and contains the required wording for 10 out of 14 items, as well as an order, structure, and flow that has been shown to work well for decades.
So…. Adding back the word “sample” means that:
A meeting may make adjustments, per the group conscience of the meeting, so long as the format contains all 14 required elements, and includes the exact wording for 10 of those items as shown in the Sample FA Meeting Format. Any variations to the formats must adhere to WSI’s Bylaws, SROs, and the 12 Traditions.
Adding the word “Sample" back in is consistent with the Conference’s approval of meeting formats in the past. The first “Meeting Requirements” SRO in 2011 and the first Conference-approved format in 2012 referred to the format as the “Sample FA Meeting Format.” Until 2024, the SROs repeatedly referred to the formats posted on the website as “Sample Meeting Formats” (SROs in 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019).
The guidance on the FA website about the edits meetings may make to the formats will be updated to be consistent with this SRO.
MEETING DURATION
MAIN MOTION
The FA-EAI Maine Chapter moves to change the FA meeting duration provision for meeting registration to 60 or 90 minutes, which allows each group to determine which option best meets the needs of their members.
CURRENT WORDING
FA WSI Standing Rules of Order Manual (SRO)
2024 June: Meeting Requirements
An FA meeting group is an association of two or more food addicts who regularly meet to share experience, strength, and hope about recovery from food addiction through the Twelve Steps of FA. The requirements for registration as an FA meeting group are stated below. The provisions marked with an asterisk (*) come from Article IV, Section 1 of the WSI Bylaws and can only be amended by following the process for amending the Bylaws.
1. Meet in person, by videoconference (including telephone access), or by telephone*
2. Meet for 90 minutes
PROPOSED WORDING
FA WSI Standing Rules of Order Manual (SRO)
2024 June: Meeting Requirements
An FA meeting group is an association of two or more food addicts who regularly meet to share experience, strength, and hope about recovery from food addiction through the Twelve Steps of FA. The requirements for registration as an FA meeting group are stated below. The provisions marked with an asterisk (*) come from Article IV, Section 1 of the WSI Bylaws and can only be amended by following the process for amending the Bylaws.
1. Meet in person, by videoconference (including telephone access), or by telephone*
2. Meet for 60 or 90 minutes
RATIONALE
Currently, FA meeting groups are required to meet for a duration of 90 minutes. The proposed motion amends this requirement to provide essential meeting autonomy. If passed, individual FA meeting groups would be allowed to register as a 60- or 90-minute meeting, based on the needs of their members.
For the power of FA to reach as many people as possible, it needs to be as accessible as possible. While we’ve expanded our reach with the recent advent of videoconference and phone meetings, the 90-minute meeting limits it. This withholds FA as a solution from many who would otherwise find healing, solace, God/Higher Power, spiritual growth, and community.
Food addiction in 2025
In the nearly 30 years since FA’s founding, the incidence of disordered eating has continued to grow worldwide. In the United States alone it is estimated that 9% of the population will experience disordered eating in their lifetime, which translates to approximately 28.8 million people.
Today only about one in five people with eating disorders in the U.S. receive any kind treatment: Financial, geographic, diagnostic, and insurance-barrier inequalities leave the vast majority to cope alone.
Making recovery accessible is not optional — it is a matter of life or death. The problem of addiction continues to grow and 12-Step programs continue to be a viable solution for millions of people.
Potential FA members
Working people today (ages 18-65) have significantly less time because of varied work schedules and family demands. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2025 that 8.9 million people work multiple jobs, the highest number since the agency began tracking in 1994. They have less money. They are caring for young children and elderly parents at the same time. The general population is aging, and the rates of mental and physical disabilities are rising, creating additional barriers to recovery.
All these issues point to the need for us to make the gift of the FA program as accessible as possible to anyone who is interested — to meet them closer to where they are in their lives today.
Many potential FA members are already familiar with the 60-minute meeting model. Other 12-Step programs have supported the contented recovery of their members through 60-minute meetings for decades. There’s even precedent within our own fellowship — FA members who lived on the frontier before the advent of videoconference and phone meetings obtained and maintained their abstinence by attending 60-minute A.A. meetings.
Conclusion
At the 1986 A.A. General Service Conference Closing Talk, Bob P. said, “If you were to ask me what is the greatest danger facing A.A. today, I would answer: the growing rigidity… If we ever falter and fail, it will be simply because of us. It will be because we can't control our own egos or get along well enough with each other. It will be because we have too much fear and rigidity and not enough trust and common sense.”
Bob P. was acknowledging that recovery is not static. Bill Wilson wrote in The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, “Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.” Just as in healthcare or education, innovation and evolution ensures that the approach stays alive, relevant, and effective for the next generation.
FA has been asking itself these same questions: At the 2025 FA World Service Business Convention the conference held a brainstorming session and asked the question: “How do we ensure FA attracts and is welcoming to the next generation of food addicts?” The issue of meeting length was raised multiple times in response.
Flexibility and authenticity are key to attracting the next generation of food addicts. If we engage people in a 12-Step context that bridges tradition with what resonates in today’s world, FA will remain sustainable, relevant, and growing.
Modifying our meeting requirements to allow an FA meeting group to meet for 60 minutes supports FA in fulfilling its primary purpose: to carry its message to the food addict who still suffers.
PILOT 60-MINUTE MEETING FORMAT
MAIN MOTION
The FA-EAI Maine Chapter moves to adopt a “Pilot 60-Minute Format” (Appendix A), which will remain in place until the World Service Conference approves a permanent 60-minute meeting format.
CURRENT WORDING
FA WSI Standing Rules of Order Manual (SRO)
2024 June: Meeting Requirements
12.c the Twelve Traditions as adapted by FA*
12.g the Tools of Recovery
FA WSI Bylaws
Article IV. Constituent Groups, Section 1.d.3.i
Section 1.d.3.i The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of FA
PROPOSED WORDING
FA WSI Standing Rules of Order Manual (SRO)
2024 June: Meeting Requirements
12c the Twelve Traditions as adapted by FA* (60-minute meetings read the “Tradition of the Month,” i.e., in the seventh month read the Seventh Tradition)
12d…
12e…
12f…
12g the Tools of Recovery (60-minute meetings read the FA Tools of Recovery Statement)
FA WSI Bylaws
Article IV. Constituent Groups
Section 1.d.3.i The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of FA (60-minute meetings read the “Tradition of the Month,” i.e., in the seventh month read the Seventh Tradition)
RATIONALE
This motion will give groups choosing to meet for 60 minutes a pilot format to use until the World Service Conference approves the permanent 60-Minute Meeting Guidelines and Format. While the format is in effect:
- The WSI Standing Rules of Order (SRO) June 2024 requirement to read the Tools of Recovery would be modified to allow 60-minute meetings to read the FA Tools of Recovery Statement
- The WSI Bylaws Article IV Section 1.d.i and the SRO June 2024 related to the reading of the Twelve Traditions would be modified to allow 60-minute meetings to read the Tradition of the month (i.e., read the Seventh Tradition in July, the seventh month).
Modifying the SRO requirement to read the Tools at every meeting and modifying the SRO and Bylaw regarding the Twelve Traditions will allow adequate time for sharing and hearing experience, strength, and hope.
See Appendix A, below, for a Pilot 60-Minute Format.
APPENDIX A
Pilot 60-Minute Format. If approved, this format could be modified for videoconference and phone meetings.
Please note that changes affected by the SROs and Bylaws are in blue.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the [day, time, location] meeting of Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous — FA. My name is NAME from LOCATION. I am a food addict and the leader for this meeting.
Before we continue, please silence your cell phone. [Pause.] Thank you.
After a moment of silence, please join me in the SERENITY PRAYER.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
PREAMBLE
Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous is a fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience and mutual support, are recovering from food addiction.
We welcome all who want to stop eating addictively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. FA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine. We take no position on outside issues. Our primary purpose is to abstain from addictive eating and to carry this message of recovery to those who still suffer.
We encourage those who do not have 90 days of continuous abstinence to come to the front of the room to read. Those with more than 90 days, please refrain from reading unless there are no volunteers.
Would someone please read the DEFINITION OF FOOD ADDICTION?
[Call on a volunteer.]
DEFINITION OF FOOD ADDICTION
Food addiction is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit for which there is no cure, but it can be arrested a day at a time by our adapting to a disciplined way of eating and the Twelve Step program of FA. When we abuse food by using it as a drug, our lives become unmanageable.
Food addicts have an allergy to flour, sugar, and quantities that sets up an uncontrollable craving. The problem can be arrested a day at a time by the action of weighing and measuring our food and abstaining completely from all flour and sugar.
FA defines abstinence as weighed and measured meals with nothing in between, no flour, no sugar, and the avoidance of any individual binge foods.
GUIDELINES
We encourage people to arrive early to help set up the room and greet newcomers.
Please don’t name or describe specific foods.
We avoid crosstalk – like giving direct advice or praise – by focusing on our own experiences and using “I” statements. We can, however, thank a person for their service or reference their sharing as long as we are not seeking to interpret or evaluate it.
The following readings are taken directly from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), the program on which FA is based. While the focus of the Big Book is alcohol, rather than food, the disease of addiction is the same regardless of the substance.
A.A. requires content from the Big Book to be read as originally written, so you will hear gendered language and the words “alcohol” and “alcoholic.” However, A.A. permits FA to change the wording of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to include food-related terms.
We encourage anyone without 90 days of continuous abstinence to read. Would someone please read HOW IT WORKS? [Call on a volunteer.]
HOW IT WORKS
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember we deal with alcohol—cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power—that One is God. May you find Him now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery.
Would someone please read the TWELVE STEPS as adapted by FA? [Call on a volunteer.]
THE TWELVE STEPS
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We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.
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Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
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Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
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Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
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Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
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Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
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Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
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Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
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Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
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Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
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Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
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Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to food addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs
The following passage is also from the Big Book:
Many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.” Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
THE TWELVE TRADITIONS
The Twelve Traditions of FA guide individuals, meetings, intergroups, chapters and the FA World Service Board as they consider specific issues and concerns.
The following is the Tradition of the month.
[Leader reads the month’s Tradition, i.e., in July, read the Seventh Tradition.]
[THE TWELVE TRADITIONS listed here for reference.]
-
Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on FA unity.
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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.
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The only requirement for FA membership is a desire to stop eating addictively.
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Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or FA as a whole.
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Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the food addict who still suffers.
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An FA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the FA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
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Every FA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
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Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
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FA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
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Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues, hence the FA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
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Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion. We need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
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Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
PROCEED TO THE FORMAT THAT WAS CHOSEN PRIOR TO THE MEETING. MEETING FORMAT OPTIONS
-
QUALIFICATION MEETING
Today is a qualification meeting. I’ve been asked to share my experience, strength, and hope regarding recovery in FA.
[Qualifications are approximately 20 minutes long.]
[After the qualification, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
-
AUDIO QUALIFICATION MEETING
[You can access audio recordings available only to FA members with an FA profile at foodaddicts.org/audio-recordings. You can also access public-facing recordings without a profile at foodaddicts.org/podcast or using a podcast platform.]
Today we will listen to a recorded qualification of an FA member sharing their experience, strength, and hope regarding recovery in FA. Please raise your hand to share if you relate to something said in the podcast.
[Choose an audio qualification that is approximately 20 minutes]
[Approximately 30 minutes after the meeting start time, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
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SHARING MEETING
In FA meetings, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
Raise your hand if you would like to share and please keep your sharing to about three minutes.
[Call on volunteers.]
[Approximately 30 minutes after the meeting start time, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
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TOOLS MEETING - Living Abstinently
[Many meetings go through the tools in order, one per month.]
Today we will read from Living Abstinently: A Guide to the FA Tools.
We’ll start with the Introduction and then move on to this week’s tool, ______. Please take turns reading. Those who do not wish to read, say “Pass.”
[Read and share on one tool weekly. Bookmark the pamphlet for the next leader so it can be read consecutively.]
[After the reading:]
In FA meetings, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
Raise your hand if you would like to share and please keep your sharing to about three minutes.
[Approximately 20 minutes after the meeting start time, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
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LITERATURE MEETINGS
5.1 BIG BOOK
[When choosing a selection from the Big Book, please avoid passages from Steps Four through Twelve.]
Today we will read from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. While the focus of the Big Book is alcohol, rather than food, the disease of addiction is the same regardless of the substance. Anyone can read.
However, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
Please take turns reading one [paragraph/page] at a time. Those who do not wish to read, say “Pass.” Please start reading from page ____.
[If there is time before the break:]
In FA meetings, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
Raise your hand if you would like to share and please keep your sharing to about three minutes.
[Approximately 30 minutes after the meeting start time, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
5.2 FA BOOK
[When choosing a selection from the FA Book, please avoid passages from Steps Four through Twelve.]
Today we will read from the FA Book – Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous [share chapter name and/or page number]. Typically, we don’t mention food by name, but we will read these stories as written.
Please take turns reading one [paragraph/page] at a time. Those who do not wish to read, say “Pass.”
[If there is time before the break:]
In FA meetings, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
Raise your hand if you would like to share and please keep your sharing to about three minutes.
[Approximately 30 minutes after the meeting start time, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
5.3 Connection
Today we will read from Connection magazine. Please take turns reading one [paragraph/page] at a time. Anyone can read Those who do not wish to read, say 'Pass.' Please raise your hand if you would like to share.”
In FA meetings, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
Raise your hand if you would like to share and please keep your sharing to about three minutes.
[If time permits, select another story, followed by sharing.]
[Approximately 30 minutes after the meeting start time, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
5.4 Other FA Conference-Approved Pamphlets
[The leader selects a Conference-Approved FA pamphlet.]
Today we will read from [ ]. Please take turns reading one [paragraph/page] at a time. Those who do not wish to read, say “Pass.”
[If there is time before the break:]
In FA meetings, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
[Approximately 30 minutes after the meeting start time, proceed to the WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS.]
NEWCOMER & VISITOR WELCOME:
We would like to welcome any newcomers or visitors. If you are at this meeting for the first time, would you stand, if you are able, and give us your first name so that we may welcome you? [Pause.] Is there anyone here for the second or third time or anyone who has not been to this meeting recently? [Pause.] Welcome to you all.
GREETERS: If you are new or have questions, greeters will be available during the break and after the meeting. Would the greeters for this meeting please introduce themselves? [Pause.] Everyone is encouraged to welcome newcomers.
ANNOUNCEMENTS [Leader reads]
SPONSOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Sponsors are FA members – working with an FA sponsor and living the Twelve Steps – who have been continuously abstinent for at least six months.
Sponsors start us in the program and guide us in our recovery. If you are ready to begin the FA program, please reach out to a sponsor. All sponsors with time available, please identify yourselves.
LITERATURE: On the literature table there are free newcomer packets, books, and other FA Conference-approved materials, including the Connection magazine and a phone list, to which you can add your name, if you wish. There are also reports and announcements from the Intergroup and World Service. There are many opportunities for you to do service, and services available for you, including IT assistance.
The literature chair will be at the table to answer questions and offer help.
TOOLS: The FA Tools of Recovery are: Abstinence, Sponsor, Meetings, Telephone, Anonymity, Literature, Writing, Quiet Time, Gratitude, and Service. Every tool is essential. Used together each day, they help us to live the Twelve Steps of recovery — to live abstinently — so that we can attain and maintain continuous, contented abstinence from addictive eating one day at a time.
FA's Living Abstinently: A Guide to the FA Tools pamphlet, represents the collective wisdom of FA members with decades of unbroken abstinence, describes these Tools and how members apply them in practice. The pamphlet is available on the FA website and at the literature table.
SEVENTH TRADITION: We will now collect the Seventh Tradition donation. FA relies exclusively on member donations per the Seventh Tradition. We neither solicit nor accept outside donations. Your contribution supports this meeting, your Intergroup (or chapter), and the FA World Service Office. Please contribute generously to the Seventh Tradition.
BUSINESS MEETINGS: Please attend the monthly business meeting, held after the _____meeting of every month. FA members with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence, committed to this meeting, have a voice and a vote and service positions open to them.
Are there any other announcements? We will now take a 10-minute break.
SHARING
Welcome back. In FA meetings, sharing is open to those with 90 days or more of continuous abstinence who are working with an FA sponsor.
We invite anyone who recently reached 90 days and visitors with 90 days to share first.
Please keep your sharing to about three minutes to allow more members time to share.
**The sharing will end at approximately [three minutes before the meeting insert end time].
We invite someone who does not yet have 90 days of continuous abstinence to read THE PROMISES from chapter 12 in the Big Book. [Call on a volunteer.]
THE PROMISES
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook on life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.
If you have any questions, need to connect with an available sponsor, or want to enjoy some fellowship, we invite you to stay after the meeting.
Thank you, everyone, for your service.
Please remain in your seat, and after a moment of silence, join me in the SERENITY PRAYER.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
DIRECTION TO WSB TO DRAFT PERMANENT 60-MINUTE FORMAT
MAIN MOTION
The FA-EAI Maine Chapter moves that the 2026 World Service Conference direct the World Service Board to draft 60-Minute Meeting Guidelines and Format for consideration at the 2027 World Service Business Convention.
Note: This motion is contingent on the passage of the motion to allow an FA meeting group to meet for 60 or 90 minutes.
RATIONALE
This motion will direct the World Service Board to draft the 60-minute Guidelines and Format. This is contingent on the passage of the motion to allow an FA meeting group to meet for 60 or 90 minutes.
