District 9 Minutes
1 Nov 2009
Attendance: DCM – Carrie C.; Alt. DCM - Pat J.; Treasurer – Cathy G.; Grapevine – Kate S; Literature – Davi M.; CPC - Jammie B.; PI – Park M.; Treatment – Brenda M.; Secretary – Mary Ann P.; Corrections - Cissi L.
Groups Present: Central - Pat S.; Bettendorf - Gary J.; Marquette – Dan P.; North Scott – Neil B.; Courage to Change – Teresa T.; Northwest – Wes J. Sisters in Sobriety - Cheryl F. Blandine Group - Donna G.; Clinton Group - Donna P.
Secretary’s minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Beginning balance - $631.64; Total Income - $729.00; Total Expenses - $453.75; Operating Balance - $906.89
DCM: Greetings. I will not be with you today but will leave you in the capable hands of the
Alternate DCM, Pat J. Thank you to all of the committee members who attended the Fall Conference in Des Moines. I thought it was very interesting. Additionally, I believe the committee members for the Fall 2010 Conference who were in attendance learned a great deal about expectations/duties of their respective positions. I believe it was helpful to view a conference from a hands on perspective for all of the chair person and committee member positions. Today we will be picking a new corrections chair. There will be a volunteer committee for the hospitality room for the Fall 2010 Conference formed at today’s meeting. Great news! At the fall conference the new proposed location for the conference was approved. Our conference will now be held at the Radisson in Davenport, Iowa. A theme was also chosen for the 2010 conference, I Am Responsible. At the 2009 Fall Conference I obtained lots and lots of information. I will attempt to summarize as much as possible without losing the content. At the DCM Sharing Session Rick C. informed the DCMs that GSO is using literature money for the services provided by GSO. This generated lots of discussion. He also discussed the Hope video and why it is not being released. According to Rick it was voted that the video should be released and the hold up on release has occurred after the General Service Conference took place. I was asked to let all groups and/or individuals if they want to get the newsletters they must let me know and I will send a note to the Newsletter Chairperson. We are being asked to encourage attendance at the 2010 International Convention.Terry Coates has asked that he receive assistance for the Western Central Region Alcoholics Anonymous Conference that is to be held in Dubuque,Iowa March 5th , 6th, and 7th of 2010. I have flyers for anyone who is interested in attending. Anyone interested in helping please let me know as we may begin attending their planning meetings in Dubuque next month. The Pink Can reported they still do not need our assistance with money. The Grapevine increased to $27.00 per subscription on January 1, 2009. The chair person reported if the Grapevine had increased to meet inflation it would be $27.60 per month. Please remember if we have new addresses for your group, etc., please give me the information and I will forward to Area. There was no action taken on the translation equipment. There was a report on the Tax Status and we are utilizing a Davenport Attorney to assist in bringing the Area into compliance with the tax code and regulations. There was a motion to proceed with Articles of Incorporation to bring us in compliance with the IRS Code and to file all necessary documents. This motion passed unanimously. There are new guidelines for including flyers on the web site. The Area Committee was clear just because there are new guidelines, there may not be any flyers included on the web site at this time. The chair person for the newsletter is trying to determine the most cost effective way to distribute the Area Newsletter. Please take this question back to your groups and see if they have any input about how they would like to receive the newsletter. There were a couple of motions to have all business conducted in Marshalltown, which is centrally located, to enable more GSRs to participate. There was much discussion on this topic and it failed. I REALLY MEAN IT WHEN I SAY I am still interested in the GSRs providing me with the date and time of their business meetings so I can attend. Please provide this information to Pat today. I will see all of you next month. Have a great meeting.
Alt DCM: I attended the Fall Conference in Des Moines last month which was good. The number of hits on our website, aaquadcities.com, for the month of October was 382.
Literature: I attended the Literature Workshop on Friday evening during the Fall 2009 Conference in Des Moines. The Area 24 Literature Chair had been able to attend the West Central Regional Conference and shared some of his experiences with us. He noted that contributions are down currently, and A.A. World Services relies heavily upon the nearly six million dollars generated from literature sales to keep operations running in New York. He also elaborated on the nature of these services we are providing, which are mostly at the international level. The "Big Book" was recently translated into Hebrew and they brought in specialists from Israel in order to ensure correctness. He also mentioned how there was a discussion about getting A.A. Literature into the electronic era by making it available on Kindle, but there have been no decisions made. Finally, he informed us that $50,000 a year in royalties are still going to Bill W.'s relatives. (These are from sales of 12&12, As Bill Sees It, A.A. Comes of Age). The Literature Committee met at the end of October to discuss these events and any new ideas for the upcoming year.
Grapevine:
I am
looking forward to attending the fall conference and meeting
with
my area chair. We are in talks with Corrections to see if a
subscription is
needed or usable in the facilities. I'm also curious to have an update
of the
Grapevine budget.
Treatment: In October I attended the Area Assembly and treatment center workshop. Area Chair, Sandy E., reported that she has been traveling to various treatment centers giving Bridging the Gap presentations. The release of the Hope video has been out on hold due to anonymity issues abd GSO will decide its release date. Districts 8,9, and 11 have been asked to host a treatment presentation/workshop. We will workout the details at our next area workshop in January. Our committee will be meeting today to discuss who will serve and where for the upcoming year. We currently bring AA meetings to the Salvation Army, Country Oaks, and Bridging the Gap to the MARC Unit and the Abby. Anyone is invited to attend and join our committee.
PI: I attended the Fall Conference in Des Moines. Jammie B., CPC, and I had our meetings jointly. It was recommended at our meeting that we look into a joint informational workshop. Jammie and I both think it is a good idea so we will be working on setting that up. It was also recommended that we not send out e-mails to all of the doctors. Precedence has shown that they go into the circular file very quickly. In lieu of that it was recommended that we contact the individual in charge of education and training and ask them to make the information available. Other members of the group have had more success this way. I was approached by Kaplan to participate in a Recovery Workshop on December 10. I met with Linda Cook about it. She expressed an interest in having someone staff the booth. I explained to her our policy on anonymity but told her I would look into it and get back with her. I brought this question up at Conference meeting. It was the general consensus that it was up to me (I love that power!). The others indicated they had seen it done both ways. I will be asking for feedback at our meeting.
Intergroup Liaison: 10-12 Step Calls, 202 information calls, 0 Al-Anon, and 54 visitors. Looking for volunteers to fill in specifically on Friday AM. Intergroup is operating in the Red. Contributions have been low. Events include the 36th Anniversary April 24, 2010 at the American Legion. Doors open at 5pm. Tickets are $20.00 The telephone chair is looking for volunteers for the 4th Sunday 9-5:30 and the 1st Wednesday 5:30-9. A couple of positions are open at the intergroup level.
Corrections: AA men are taking meetings into the Scott County jail on Wednesday nights at 7pm, Thursday morning at 11am and a new started meeting on Friday at 9am. AA women are taking meetings into the Scott County Jail on Wednesday nights at 7pm, Friday mornings at 9am, and Mondays at 7pm. The corrections committee is looking for AA men for Friday mornings at 9am.
2010 Fall Conference Report: Committee met today and continues to move forward. The Saturday night speaker is confirmed and discussion on Sunday morning speaker was held. We are considering a local speaker. As the Area 24 Fall Conference has changed the guidelines from DJ to Entertainment, we will be discussing that change next month. Our coffee chair has stepped down, so if you know of someone interested in this position, please ask them to attend our next meeting at 2pm at Central Discussion on December 6th.
Sisters in Sobriety: New Group started August 1st, 2009. 3109 Harrison St. Davenport, IA at the Metropolitan Community Church. It is a Closed Women Big Book Study Saturday morning at 10am. Doors open at 9:30am for the meeting before the meeting, and the meeting after the meeting is held at Mary Sue's Cafe. Attendance has consistently been around a dozen. With as many women as 22 and as few as 4. We have a core group of 6.
Blandine Group: Officers have been elected. Thanksgiving Potluck November 22 at 12:15pm following the 11am meeting.
Dewitt Group: Meetings are going well. I did attend the Fall Assembly for Area 24 in October and I did submit a report to my group. I appreciate, once again, an awesome learning experience.
Old Business: A vote was taken for the entertainment for the DIstrict 9 Mini-Event. It was decided we will play pictionary at this event. AA Groups included in District 9 will make up teams for this event.
We are still looking for a Corrections chair.
A Committee was formed and will be chaired by Elle H. for a District 9 Hospitality Room for the 2010 Fall Conference.
Cathy G. handed out budget status to all officers and chairs.
New Business:
Brenda M . motioned to adjourn. Davi M. seconded.
Next meeting will be held at Central Discussion on December 6th at 3:30 pm. All are welcomed and encouraged to attend.