Delegate’s Report to Area Assembly, May 5, 2019
It’s been a while since we had our regular agenda, so here’s various general news and info, in no particular order:
The registration for the Northeast Regional Forum is still open. There is a link to the sign up on our area website (aacny.org) It’s in Tarrytown May 31 – June 2 and is a great chance to learn from and interact with General Service Office (GSO) workers, trustees, and delegates from the northeast.
Registration is also now open for the New York State Informational Workshop. It will be held the 1st weekend in August, in Garrison, New York. You can sign up at NYSIW.org. SENY purchased this domain name for all 4 of the New York Areas to be able to use when it’s their turn to host the event. Phil, our website chair, will take a look and verify it is something we can make use of. If so, we may want to financially contribute. SENY paid $500 for 5 years of usage. If all 4 Areas contributed, our share would be $125.
I had a conference call with the other delegates on my committee, Policy & Admissions, and our assigned GSO staff member. We discussed how we would vote (simple majority or 2/3rds), that whenever anyone needed a break or to step out, deliberations will stop. We don’t want anyone to miss anything, so we must all be present for the discussions. We also decided to tackle the agenda items in order, but if we get “stuck” on something, we’ll skip it, move on and then come back to it.
The General Service Board is trying to get special forums going again. Those are a streamlined version of the regional forum, where they go to remote communities or areas without financial means to get to a regional forum. They are looking to start this 2021. They are also investigating the idea of “virtual forums”
The trustee committee for Archives considered a request to change its policy on accepting archival material as a temporary loan. They took no action which means we stay with the current policy of not accepting any loaned materials to display in the archives. They cited security and liability issues. I do not know if this was specifically brought up because of the original manuscript, but this does mean we would not show it in our archives on loan (the person who purchased the Big Book manuscript at auction last year said it was his intent to loan it to GSO to display. Doesn’t sound like he was aware of our policies)
There are 2 new pamphlets – AA for Alcoholics with Mental Health Issues and their Sponsors (which has an especially great section at the ends about taking medications) and The God Word, which sold 38,000 copies in 1st 4 months available and as of March had sold 53,259 copies. There is a new mini catalog of all the literature. It shows what’s new, revised, or has new cover art. If you go to aa.org, there’s a what’s new section. Always useful to check out every once and a while!
A new free App is supposed to be launching. It should have the online meeting list, the pamphlets and daily reflections. Later they will add the Big Book. The App was supposed to be available in February, then April 15th, now “before conference”
Corrections desk: In 2018, GSO received 5,368 letters from inmates thru the corrections correspondence service. They linked 1,268 males with “pen pals” on the outside and 368 females (that’s the highest number of women ever).
GSO is taking suggestions for non AA speakers at the 2020 International Convention in Detroit. Traditionally they host several speakers from fields we cooperate with – religion, corrections, other recovery programs, social work, etc. I have a form due June 5th if you have ideas to submit.
The General Service Office is tight for space and they are renovating several single occupant offices to be doubles. They are also investigating using additional space in the building.
There will be a new Book titled Our Great Responsibility: A Selection of Bill W’s General Service Conference Talks, 1951 – 1971. It includes 16 of his talks and is due to be released in May.
The board is considering a request to create a Young People in AA liaison.
There is a plan to add new content to the archives section on aa.org – new digital exhibits and audio recordings, and they’ve created a service document titled Archival Checklist: A Quick Guide for Local AA Archives, so if your district or homegroup has archives, pass that along.
I enjoyed being the speaker at the Elmira Intergroup Anniversary celebration and visiting the Love and Service group in Rochester to join their discussion on the conference agenda items.
Yours in Service,
Barb C – Panel 69 delegate
