Delegate’s Report on NERAASA 2019
I attended the Northeast Regional Alcoholics Anonymous Service Assembly (aka NERAASA) the weekend of February 22nd– 24th. It was held in Hunt Valley, Maryland. It’s attended by GSRs, DCMs, committee chairs, officers, delegates and alternate delegates and anyone else in AA who wishes to attend.
It started Friday afternoon and between Friday and Saturday, there were six panels, each with 2 to 4 speakers on specific subtopics under one theme, followed by a period of time when anyone in attendance can have 2 minutes at the mic to share their thoughts or questions on the subject. All of the topics tied back to something that will be discussed at the upcoming General Service Conference. This year’s panels were:
– Clarity Of Purpose – Addressing The Need Of Our Meetings
– Yesterday’s, Today’s and Tomorrow’s World
– Our Big Book – 80 Years, 71 Languages
– Grapevine/LaVina (our own Todd D was on this panel and he did a great job!)
– Our 7thTradition: Are We Going To Any Length?
– Inclusiveness And Our Primary Purpose
Friday and Saturday nights were the roundtables, when each service position breaks off for meetings amongst themselves to share ideas about their jobs. The roundtables were: Archives, Chairs, Corrections, Cooperation With The Professional Community, Delegates and Alternates, DCMs and alternates, Grapevine/LaVina, GSRs and alternates, Intergroups, Literature, Newsletter, Public Information, Registrars, Secretaries, Treasurers, Treatment/Accessibility, and Website. These were scheduled from 9:00-10:30 Friday night and 10:15 – 11:15 Saturday night. Hats off to the Young People. They were asked in previous years if they wanted their own roundtable and they said they hold positions in those other categories and don’t want to miss out on attending those main roundtables. So there was a Young Persons roundtable afterthe other round tables both nights. I am impressed by their energy and secretly proud of them for so clearly asserting that they are real, live, fully functioning AA members, not some sub category!
I attended the Delegates roundtable and we discussed the upcoming General Service Conference and the Communications Audit.
Saturday evening the freshman delegates read their Area Highlights, a 2 minute report about our Areas, that must also be given at the Conference. I’m told there were 1,005 people in the room, which is about 905 above my usual comfort level, but I don’t feel like I humiliated myself or Area 47, so yay. Then the evening speaker was a former Trustee At Large and he told his story and some of his experiences helping to carry the message literally all over the world.
Sunday a representative from each roundtable gave a report back on the highlights of what they discussed and the Regional Trustee gave his report on how 2018 went, including financials, examples of recent translation efforts, and strategies to be implemented based on the communications audit. His Power Point presentation can be found here: http://www.neraasa.org/2019-documents.html. Then the senior delegates answered questions from the Ask-It Basket.
It was a great time, and if you’ve never been – GO! I saw it light a fire in several first time attendees, which was so great. I felt like my battery had been recharged.
In love and service,
Barb – delegate
