NERD 2017
I attended the Northeast Regional Delegates Conference (lovingly known as NERD) the weekend of March 10th – 12th, 2017. It was held in Greenwich, Connecticut and was attended by current and past delegates, current alternate delegates, our regional trustee and a US trustee at large. It helped to bond the northeast delegates who will be attending the General Service Conference together in April and allowed past delegates to share their experiences to help the current delegates. Literally every kind of advice you can imagine – Joe might not have thought to pack Imodium but for the advice of a delegate who attended the conference last year and, apparently, had at least one bad day!
The weekend started with a Red Ball meeting, which I had never heard of before. It was a regular discussion meeting that was on the topic of gratitude, but after you share you literally throw a red rubber ball and whoever catches it, shares next.
Friday night half of last year’s Panel 66 NE delegates shared their stories and Sunday morning the other half went.
Friday and Saturday nights ended with all the current delegates and alternate delegates meeting with the regional trustee and it was an opportunity to ask any questions.
Saturday morning we alternate delegates had breakfast together and shared what our duties were and how we review the conference agenda background material in our Areas. I was blown away by how differently some other Areas are structured!! One Area has only one solitary Intergroup in it – so they work together very closely. Another Area doesn’t have a single DCM. NYC has an entire extra level of service structure at the county level. Truly, autonomy. No wonder we do things so differently!
Saturday morning was the business meeting and the regional trustee was just back from a meeting at GSO and had good things to report: this January was the best January in the history of AA for contributions, and out of 1,800 PSAs in the US, AA’s PSA “Doors” is ranked 26th!
Saturday afternoon there were optional activities you could sign up for, or free time. I went to Stepping Stones, the home of Bill and Lois Wilson. If you ever get a chance to go to Stepping Stones – GO!! And I definitely recommend doing it on a bus full of sober alcoholics!
Saturday night Bob W, a US trustee at large, was the main speaker. It was great to hear of his many trips abroad trying to spread this program of recovery. I think he said it was in the Ukraine where a priest he met with started a meeting in the basement during the time he heard confessions. If your confession involved over drinking, the priest recommended you go downstairs to the meeting right then!
Between NERAASA & NERD I heard past delegates warn new delegates that they may experience a moment of thinking they were in over their heads or weren’t up to the challenge and they were to trust that their higher power wouldn’t have put them there by accident. I thought I was exempt, being alternate. UNTIL they did a sobriety countdown Sunday morning. I only noticed one person with less time than me and I thought “Uh oh. Mistakes were made. How did *I* sneak in?” But it pretty much passed and I do thank you for giving me this opportunity – it’s been amazing so far!
Finally, the respect and affection everyone had for each other was palpable and I was really struck by some people’s utter humility. I was genuinely moved when I saw the woman who year after year interprets for the Spanish speaking attendees of NERAASA and realized she was a past delegate. What a great example of dedication to service work! I was very fortunate to be able to learn from these amazing folks over the course of the weekend.
Respectfully submitted,
Barb Chambers, alternate delegate
Thank you for posting an excellent report. It reflect the “flavor” of a NERAASA event and I hope it will encourage others to attend one.
Opps, I meant to post the previous comment on your NERAASA report.
It was good to get your perspective on NERD. It was a great event.