New York State Informational Workshop 2015
Held at Storm King School, 314 Mountain Road, Cornwall-on-Hudson NY 12520
August 14 – 16, 2015
The program was a full one filled with new creative ideas and scheduled to include all attendees all the time. Our Area 47 was represented on several panels which was nice to see.
We arrived Friday in time to have a meal then walk over to the theatre for the (dynamite) speaker, Laura M. Laura is cross gender and her message was very enlightening. An eye opener for me. The evening was capped off by A.A. Trivia in the cafeteria.
Saturday workshops started at 10 am with CPC, 11 am PI, and 12 Noon C&TF. CPC suggested sponsoring an Open Forum for the Professionals in a neutral location such as a Library. After a brief “what is AA” attendees can ask questions. A suggested article – Lets be friends with our friends. PI suggests sending a letter to schools to ask if they want AA Literature. I particularly liked the idea of training AA members to speak to non-AA audiences. Anonymity and the social media is something for everyone to know how to approach appropriately. Reference the Fact File pamphlet as well as the PSA “Doors.” The C&TF panel promoted “Bridging the Gap” for easing recovering people out of Treatment Centers and back into the community and sobriety. Corrections Connection Workshops that AA sponsors for AA members and Corrections personnel are reported to be very successful in promoting our program and helping those that are behind bars. There is a backlog of letters to inmates because no AA person has been assigned to correspond with the Inmate. Suggest that those interested send their email info to the Area Chair and they will mail it in to the prison.
Saturday afternoon 2 pm Accessibilities/Special Needs, 3 pm Grapevine, 4 pm Archives, 5 pm Website, 6 pm Underrepresented Populations. A/SN suggested a Workshop to review AA’s and Medication; providing a Presentation Table at Workshops and informing Districts about TOTAL Accessibility – door openings, bathrooms, ramps, etc. Home Groups can volunteer to take meetings to an individual at home or in the Hospital. GV supports giving Home Groups the Folder re “How to become a GV Rep.” GV Reps can have their products on display at any AA event to encourage AA’s to get a subscription and/or purchase Literature. General discussion of the Silkwood article on Relapse, Cofounders Memorial Issue and how to make old issues of the GV available to all. Keep reading and passing literature on. Website panel was enlightening and in some cases a real eye opener. All agreed that our websites must be easy to read, and easy to find Meeting Lists; provide Committee information and other pertinent Area information. Suggested having Area develop a template Counties can use. Mail Chimp for email has a lower intimidation factor. Underrepresented speakers were Luis for the Spanish speaking population; Jennifer for the Transsexual community; Tori a 15 year old in recovery. Every one of these 3 want to be heard, accepted as they are and included in AA.
Following dinner the GSO speaker Julio shared his experience, strength and hope.
Sunday morning there was a Feedback Meeting to praise all that went well and request a bit more of those items the attendees would like more of. Since I didn’t make any notes on these they must have been minor or at least not shocking.
I was pleased to attend this weekend workshop and encourage any AA’er that wants to know what is going on in other parts of the State to attend next year. Many thanks to Area 47 participants that represented us so well.
Anita Lee, Alternate Delegate
