Service Group Support Committee Minutes - Sunday, March 15, 2020
3:30pm – 5:00pm ET
Serenity Prayer
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The FA website has the Local Service Group Guidelines and Recommendations, which are being reviewed and revised. If you haven’t read them, please do so and consider reading it at your LSG meetings.
If an LSG is leading a local project, please get buy-in from meetings before moving forward with plans, and please be judicious about using 7th tradition funds.
Attendance
Abby from Amherst, MA, Alia B. San Rafael, Akia W. from Washington, D.C.; Anita F. from Sarasota, FL; Barb C. from Alberta Canada; Betsy W. from Winthrop, MA; Constant from Denver, CO; Dom K. from Atlanta, GA; Deme S. from Lafayette, CA; Erica from Cupertino, CA; Joe from Augusta, ME; Jackie W. Washington, D.C.; Joan J. from Alberta, Canada; Kathy from Owensborough, KY; Ketura from Washington, D.C.; Kim K. from San Francisco, CA; Lenell, from El Dorado Hills CA; Linda C. from Toronto, Canada; Mac M. from San Francisco, CA; Mary from Fresno, CA; Nancy M. from Toronto, Canada; Pam K. from Toronto, Canada; Roz H. from Amelia Island, FL; Rod from Melbourne, Australia; Rosie A. in Dallas, TX; Shirley H from Woolrich, ME; Sharon N. from Santa Clarita, CA; Sherry W. from Cape Coral, FL; Vicki R. from Sacramento, CA; Yassir A from Alberta, Canada
"Writing Is Right for The Fellowship!" - Dom K, connections Chair
connection magazine publishes 10 issues each year. The magazine has a professional designer, but all the art and writing comes from the fellowship. There are several different sections (listed on the connection website) including Lighten Up, First 90 Days, and Qualification. connection recently moved to a new platform for digital format. They can never get too many articles! The minimum lead time to publish an article is 3 months. Getting published is great, but writing for connection service and to put the tool of writing into practice. connection writing sessions are a great way to unify local fellowships. Writing sessions around LSG meetings can bring people together to have important conversations.
What is a writing session? The session lasts 1 hour to 90 minutes and there is a format on the connection website. Writing session coordinator is Deborah F. from MD who can get you the format. There are typically 2 co-leaders, one with at least 2 years of abstinence and 1 with 90 days. The session starts with a conversation about what keeps people from writing. Common reasons include fear of not being a good writer, procrastination, believing they don’t have an interesting story, or that they wrote before and didn’t get published. What makes a good article? The session provides an example of a good story from connection – there’s a clear beginning, middle, and end; it tells a story; it talks about a specific experience and contains details. There are suggested topics, too: first 90 days, staying abstinent through a wedding, coming back to FA and getting abstinent, etc. Then, give people time to write – a lot of time. After people write, there’s time for people to read what they wrote or share about their experience writing. Then, everyone makes a commitment to someone else to finish the story and submit it to connection, often by a certain date. Making the commitment helps people to follow through and submit. Many times, people will make a note in their phone to follow up with the person and make sure they submitted. This is a good way to bring people together to share about recovery in a new way.
Writing for connection is also valuable to the wider fellowship – fellows on the frontier rely on literature like connection. There’s a fellow in federal prison who relies on literature like connection to stay connected. The committee is also working on audio recordings of connection articles for those who are visually impaired, as well as being more inclusive of people who speak languages other than English.
During this time while we might not have access to normal in-person FA meetings, it can be great to use connection by reading it on your own or in meetings, or to write for connection to support your recovery. The committee is planning an online writing session that they will open up to the greater fellowship while we’re all confined to our homes or general neighborhoods. This will have a way to work the tool of writing together.
For those who are insecure about writing, there are writing coaches available and the committee is developing the position of an art coach.
Vicki R. from Sacramento: LSG had one writing session in October and one in February. The LSG called all the contacts from 23 meetings and had a great mix of fellows who didn’t necessarily know each other, people from 90 days to 20 years+, people didn’t know about the coaches either. They had so much fun and everyone was able to participate, those with less than 90 days made a commitment to keep writing and those with more than 90 days made a commitment to submit. The format was easy to follow. Everyone wrote around a table, and they provided some materials but some people brought their own. Had 1 hour and 20 minute session, with 25 minutes for writing and 20 minutes for sharing. 2 positive comments per article. People seem eager to do it again.
Linda C from Toronto: Had a connection writing session in February with 12 people attending, which was great. Had it in person in conjunction with LSG meeting, had it in an hour, 2 people actually submitted and several others committed to submit. 1 person read their article at the end.
Mac M. from San Francisco: Does the committee recommend writing by hand or in person?
Dom: Usually people write by hand if they’re in person at a writing session unless they have a disability, and usually the session provides paper and pens.
Deme S.: Is there a way to track whether the submission is from a writing session?
Dom: When someone submits a story, there’s a question asking whether it was written in a writing session.
Pam asked about having a writing session online – Dom will distribute details about that in the next couple of weeks.
Barb: What about submitting an article and art at the same time that are meant to go together?
Dom: It’s not easy to keep art and articles together, but you could make a note on both the art and the article submissions that you would hope to keep them together.
Shirley H.: Will the online format be the same as the in-person format?
Dom: There has only been one session held online so far and it was a training for writing session facilitators. Dom supports having online sessions, and encourages people to let him know if they’re doing that so that he can get feedback about how it went.
Linda B. from London: What are the guidelines for writing? (Had trouble with guidelines when submitting previously)
Dom: The connection website has the guidelines for submitting – writers’ guidelines has a document that outlines just what they’re looking for.
SGSC now has a section in Gratitude in Action, so in addition to writing for connection, if someone wants to write about their experience at a writing session at their LSG, the committee would welcome that. Contact Roz H. for more information.
LSG Reporting
Jackie W. from Washington, D.C.: There was an in-person writing workshop that has been postponed temporarily, they may restructure it to be remote. They have been restructuring the P.I. Kit so that people in their area can reference it more quickly, with the understanding that the P.I. committee is also restructuring it.
Nancy M from Toronto: At the last meeting, they discussed the sponsor-a-rack initiative. They took an inventory of what Toronto has and what would be required to have it all up and running in terms of supplies and cost, addressed some questions in the meeting but ran out of time (30 min conference call meeting). Wondering if there’s a way to get a sponsor-a-rack program to local meetings. They will go to meetings first and address what each meeting will have to contribute in terms of cost and ask if the meeting wants to participate. There were also questions about who will be responsible for the rack – the LSG, the meeting, or someone else? They are trying to flesh out the details to make things run smoothly. Then, they will get a commitment from each meeting to buy a number of racks. Someone has been holding the materials – the physical racks, the labels to go on them, and how to establish who to contact to re- order. Someone from FA will go around physically and know where the racks are.
Pam asked if other LSGs do sponsor-a-rack. Sherry in Cape Coral has a spreadsheet, and someone contacts all the people who are in charge of racks to make sure they’re still responsible for them. Kevin (EAI PI) supplied racks and labels, and meetings can contact EAI to get trifolds to fill the racks at no cost. They ask the LSG member at their meetings to announce sponsoring racks at least once a month.
Pam K from Toronto: The LSG recently had a table at a women’s show which was a lot of work and the group felt that they needed to simplify for their next initiative. They are also looking at what health fairs and shows are coming to the Toronto area in the future – probably fewer now, but there might be things they are interested in being involved in for the future. The LSG meets once a month, generally by phone for a half hour.
Nancy M from Toronto: We also reviewed what FA books are in what libraries to check them out to make sure they stay in circulation, and we are reviewing the PI Kit.
Pam K from Toronto: Toronto has a position at the LSG level whose job it is to attend the WSI SGSC meeting who can take news back to the LSG and share.
Vicki R. from Sacramento: Our LSG probably won’t be able to meet in person now. For sponsor-a-rack, one of their meetings could afford it and one meeting couldn’t. They have a Google sheet of some of the rack locations but it would be good to look at having an inventory of all of them. They have Lenell as a person who is involved in community outreach who has information about health fairs. She is definitely interested in the concept of the online writing workshop to keep meetings going that are temporarily going dark.
Lenell: What is the role of the LSG in this time when we can’t meet in terms of connecting with the public and with each other?
Pam K.: Do people have ideas of things they’ve done or things that can happen when the LSGs can’t meet in person?
Dom K: My LSG met yesterday by phone, we spent the time making the decision to make a suggestion that all the meetings close until further notice, which was sent to all the meetings to spread the word. They also talked about supporting each other during this time and it might be the time for LSGs to be the unifiers and connectors in terms of keeping everyone together; they are encouraging people to make extra calls with each other. People can meet together on the phone to read literature together and communicate that to the fellowship.
Rod: Melbourne had a connection writing session with about a dozen people there which was good, and they had lunch afterwards. It was after the Saturday meeting; some people came to the meeting but some people came from other meetings. They are trialing getting racks into an area not where meetings are but where members live, to see if there’s interest in getting meetings started in those areas. They’re also trying out a new way of pinning racks to a notice board. They did a trial run in a supermarket with a PVC pocket that fits 10 trifolds in and pin it to a notice board. (Australian option: https://www.ezitag.com/nch020a Amazon option: https://www.amazon.com/Plastic- Holders-Lanyards-Tomorrow-PORTRAIT/dp/B0799QNDNS. North American option: https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-5004/Vinyl-Envelopes-Job-Ticket-Holders/Press-On-Vinyl- Envelopes-4-x-8). They’re going to distribute them to the Melbourne fellowship, usually at a community center or grocery store where there’s a notice board but not a table for a rack. They’re doing another trifold print because they have had a bunch of changes.
Pam shared that their initiative in Toronto worked. Deme asked if they ordered the envelopes online, Rod found them locally in Melbourne. They have enough flexibility to allow them to hold 10 trifolds each, most of them have 3 holes at the top and they held in place nicely.
Deme S: Also, the Perth fellowship in Australia did a bunch of radio interviews that are archived; she will ask them to provide updates next time.
Mac M: The San Francisco LSG did a months-long project to post weblinks. There were less than 10 responses, 1 confirmed they added a link, but sometimes links are posted without confirmation. The group is moving on to look at a list of previously- brainstormed project.
Anita F.: EAI is working with LSGs to keep service going during these difficult times. A PI session in Germany is now cancelled. EAI can help LSGs so they do not have to use their 7th traditions.
Sherry W from Cape Coral, FL: They have gone to a conference call for their meetings. They created a flyer for their meetings with a QR code so that people can scan it to get to the FA website as an alternative to putting out trifolds. They are looking at putting trifolds in the AA store where they get their literature. They’re also doing Craigslist postings and recently got a response from one. There is a meeting notice in their local monthly magazine, and they have a business card ad in the local newspaper. They’re gearing up and growing!
Shirley from ME: The ME chapter has cancelled the Meeting Support Day in April. Usually they do a meeting information blast where they provide materials to all the meetings, but they have decided to delay it until the meetings are able to start meeting in person again.
Linda B. from London, ON: They gave the FA book to a local library. They had a plan to have the media visit a meeting, but postponed it until April, and the media contact will interview them to get the word out.
Serenity Prayer
Call ended at 5:00pm EDT