CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA AREA ASSEMBLY
OF
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS – AREA 93
www.aaarea93.org
CCAA
Chairman Vicki B. called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. led with the
Serenity Prayer.
Stormy
read the 12 Concepts in English; Juan read the 12 Concepts in Spanish.
Eligibility rules for voting were read by the Secretary and the roll call taken:
ROLL CALL: DCMs/Alternates 14
DCMCs/Alternates 3
Committee
Chairs/Alts 16
Central
Office Liaisons 1
CCAA
Officers 5
Past
Delegates 2
Total 45
We
also had our translator, Sound Dude and Alternate Sound Dude, as well as 3
guests.
Districts without representation were 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 50, 53, & 59. We hope to see you at our next Area Committee Meeting in Santa Barbara on July 21, 2002 at 9:00 A.M.
The February 17 Area Committee Meeting minutes was
submitted for approval. A motion was made to accept the
minutes. The motion was seconded and
passed.
Secretary – Bertie attended an Informational Meeting at District 4. She wanted to share that now is the time to start thinking about rotation and what each person has to offer in the way of service.
Registrar – Stephanie S.: Please check you District
folders for an up-to-date list. District
7 stated that I missed a town. Please
see me and we will get it corrected.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any requests.
Treasurer – Debbie B.: Today in your folder you will find the March contributions report and the preview of the quarterly reports. The rest of the Area Committee will be handed their copies. Be sure to review the preliminary reports and let me know if you find any errors before the quarterly reports are presented to the Area Assembly in May, especially the Spanish version. I had to adjust a lot of areas, and though I proofread everything, my eyes were crossing by the time I had completed the reports. Also, I have not received any figures from our first Area Assembly and the only costs we have advanced are $200.00 for rent. So would the DCM of District 5 please get me the information needed to complete our Assembly cost and reimburse the District for costs. Stephanie has given me a report in order to change the District numbers, so beginning with April, the Contributions report will reflect the new District numbers. If your District has had an address change, please be sure to let me know. I had a number of returned receipts this last month and I will give them to the appropriate DCM of those Districts.
As many of you may have heard, the finance committee has formed a sub-committee to go through the financial guidelines and take out some of the conflicting information. For instance, the guidelines refer to our Assembly budget as $600.00 for rent and $300.00 for food. However our 2002 budge allows $600.00 for rent and $400.00 for Food. The sub-committee will be removing language that is too specific. Due to some of these conflicts in our guidelines, our last Assembly costs more than we had planned. After getting a sense of the other Officers, which is also what our guidelines direct me to do, and conferring with the DCMC for the Gold Coast, I am issuing additional check in the amount of $700.00. We had already advanced $2,000.00 for the 2-day Assembly and the Gold Coast will pick up any additional costs. It was really a pleasure to see the Gold Coast participating and lighting up their District. We hope this increased participation continues. By the way, the contributions from the Groups in the Gold Coast have also increased after the Assembly. So if you want to have a discussion regarding this additional cost, today is the day to do it.
One other item, I feel as though in my enthusiasm and gratitude about the contributions in 2001 being more than we had hoped for, I had not informed you that our costs were also over budget by about $4,000.00. So I have not meant to give the impression that we are rolling in dough. We have evened out over the first quarter but we actually spent $1,857.46 more than we took in March. So please make sure that your GSRs know that we are not rich and that we appreciate their continued support. Our bank balance as of yesterday, April 20, 2002 is $21,664.05. Thank you for letting me continue to serve.
Chairperson – Vicki B.: I don’t know that I have
anything really to report except that I am just having too much fun with all
this service work and that I am really thank you guys for letting me do
this. Last night I was asked to speak in
Oxnard and I went down there. And this
was the very first time I have been a main speaker. I had a great time. I never would have attempted doing anything
like this or anything as far as getting up to the microphone. I used to be so scared and then Marita kept
pushing me and pushing me, and now here I am.
I think the best part about the whole thing was that part of my story
when I was getting sober has to do with clinical depression. There was a woman in the audience who came up
to me later and told me she had been struggling with it as well and how she
appreciated the information I shared about how I got through it. This is because of service work. I know other people just go around and
speak…and I don’t do that cause I use to get so nervous talking to people
before. I don’t know that has anything
to do with our Committee Meeting, but because of all the stuff you have been
encouraging me to do, these are the benefits that I am receiving. Today should
be an easy day; we might even get out of here early. One other thing, I am going to be accepting
bids for the 2-day Election Assembly. So
far I have received 1 bid from District 4.
So you have until the May Assembly to submit your bids.
Alternate Delegate - Jeanine
R.: Good morning. My name is
Jeanine R. and I’m an alcoholic. My home group is the Freedom Group in Lompoc
and I have the honor of serving Area 93 as Alternate Delegate.
The
52nd General Service Conference has just gotten under way so I’d like to ask
for a moment of silence to pray for our delegates and the rest of the
Conference. Wow I can feel that. I can feel that going all the way to New York. Thank you.
Before Steve left I asked him if he needed me to report anything to you.
He asked that I inform you that there is a GSO staff position becoming
available. If anyone is interested they should submit their resume by June 1st.
You may contact Steve or Doug Richardson @ GSO for more information. There are
also 2 Class A Trustee positions opening up in April, 2003. Steve or Adrienne
Brown @ GSO would be the ones to ask for more details. Lastly he let me know
that Antelope Valley, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County still need to
schedule their Delegate Reports. So please contact him as soon as possible when
he returns to schedule these reports.
On
a personal note I’d like to thank everyone again for all the tremendous help
they gave in getting their group and district group consciences to Steve. You
all did a wonderful job and I feel that Steve was able to leave for the
Conference with a true sense of what is wanted by our members throughout our
Area.
I’ve
just resumed my job as liaison to Area 93’s Hispanic Foro. They have begun to
make their plans for the 2nd Annual General Service Forum that will take place
on October 13th in San Fernando Valley. Please do yourselves a favor and mark
this event on your calendar. It is always informative and the food is great.
The
Southern California H&I Intergroup Committee is holding their 21st Annual
Conference in Irvine next weekend. There will be a lot of good sharing and
several keynote speakers are scheduled. There are fliers with the information
and program on the handout table. The
Pacific Regional Forum is in July and there are fliers on the table.
That’s
all I have for today. Thanks again for letting me be of service.
Nelson R., DCMC –
Spanish Speaking Districts: We have our meetings the last Sunday of the month and the last one
was held at District 4 where we were discussing why we don’t get together at
the Area Assembly as Spanish Districts.
I don’t think that it’s about the translation, I think they just want to
hear it in Spanish. Even if we have
someone professional, they are not going to be very happy. We are just trying to figure out the best way
to work this out. We are going to talk
about it some more at the next combined District meeting. As combined Districts
we bought more of the radios for the translation. We bought 20 of them. We also have a person who is in charge of
them. At the Committee meeting it was discussed
putting them all together and have some way to keep track of them. Number them and mark down who checks them out
so we can keep better track of them. I
was also in attendance at District 4 for their informational meeting. I would like to see more Districts do this
type of meeting. It is a good way to let
everyone know the functions of the Area and the Districts. There was discussion about how long it takes
to get translated minutes. Nelson told
them that he gets the English minutes very quickly and has offered to make
copies of the English version, but they really want a quicker turn around on
the Spanish translation. We continue to visit the various Districts and start
working with the future GSRs, DCMs and Officers. We are going to elect our new GSRs and
service board for the combined Districts before the Foro so that we can take
those new GSRs and Committee members to meet the Officers so they can make
their own decision. We are also
discussing the Foro and find new ways to make it more informative and fun.
Ken S., DCMC – Gold
Coast Districts 12, 29, 32, & 31: Ken was elected as the new DCMC and MaryAnn S.
will be the treasurer. We still have an
opening for recording secretary. We also
elected David G. to take my position as the DCM of District 9 (old 29). Mary Ann rotated out after 2 years as DCMC
and she was going to continue through the year but health problems convinced
her it was time to retire. She will
serve on committees as needed and her support is going to be there. As you probably know, we did vote to change
our District numbers and they are as follows: District 29 becomes 9; District
31 becomes 8; District 32 becomes 13; and District 12 will stay as is. We are in the process of starting our budget
planning for next year and working on projects for the fall. Our CPC Committee Chair has been very active,
attending several Health Fairs, events for the homeless and coordinating with
the various County agencies. We will
have a display table at the Serenity by the Sea Round up in Ventura which will
be in 2 weeks and hope to see you there.
We will also be active at the Ventura County AA Convention in Westlake
Village at the end of August.
Alberto E., DCM –
District 4: Yesterday
we had our sharing meeting. It was just
an excuse to have all these topics that are very interesting to General
Service. We held it as a celebration of
our new place and the fact this is a new District. Bertie was there to talk about the Area
functions. Nelson and Celetino were
there to speak about the Combined Spanish Districts. Our Public Information Committee will be
working with District 3’s CPC and PI Committees to hold their annual Public
Information meeting, which will be held at the Royal Inn on Roscoe and Orion in
Van Nuys. Different professionals are
invited to attend. So far it has been a
success. The rest of our committees are
working find and our GSRs have responded to the challenge of supporting our
District in all aspects.
Sergio, DCM – District 5: We continue working within
our District having meetings on the 2nd and 4th
Saturday’s of the month for Group and Committee information purposes. The Distirct counts on 7 committees;
Archives, Foro, Audio Visual, CPC, Grapevine, Newletter, and Registration. These committees are working by bringing
information to each of their meetings.
CPC is working in the area taking information to hospitals, churches,
lawyers, the police, etc. The Audio
Visual Committee share movies within the Groups and the Newsletter Committee
keeps us informed of all the activities within the District. The Foro Committee is working on the 2nd
Annual Hispanic Foro. Archives is active
motivating the Groups with our history.
Registration is not having any problems and the change of District
numbers was well accepted. Grapevine
working slowly but we are working to strengthen it. With respect to Debbie’s question about the
costs of the Assembly held in Santa Paula on January 20; those were all the
costs. The District is absorbing all
remaining costs.
Javier, DCM – District 6: The Committee of District
6 is continuing to visit Groups rotating the visits. We have our meetings on the 1st
Saturday for Information and the 3rd Saturday to discuss
business. The Institution Committee is
working and we than the DUH for having visited us on April 6. The GSRs who were present were motivated and
found the importance of what this meeting was all about.
Eddie D., DCM – District
7: We
discussed the question as to whether we are carrying our Group’s message or are
we telling them what we as GSRs are doing in our Area. We discussed some Group reorganization as a
meeting hall where we live have faded away due to lack of participation in
their meetings. So we talked about
getting in some new blood and some new Officers, Secretaries, Intergroups,
things like that. We emphasized that
rotation is the best way it works in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Art G., DCM – District 8: We have been passing out the Gold Coast Secretaries handbook. With rotation, there are lots of new Secretaries. We recruited 1 new GSR and had them attend our Gold Coast GSR Orientation. We had 2 new GSRs attend the Orientation at the Pre-Conference Assembly. We recruited 1 new H&I Liaison. The CPC Committee had an information and literature table at a woman’s health fair at St. John’s Hospital. They spoiled us rotten. They had people there from about 40 different agencies around the County. They had 2-professional chefs who prepared cholesterol friendly, heart friendly food for us all. During the break they had a tenor sing and my soul floated. If CPC work has these kinds of rewards, I’ll do it forever. We had an information and literature table at the health fair that was held at the Jewish Synagogue.
Jay R., DCM - District
11: District
11 now has a post office box and we are beginning a project to help AA members
correspond with inmates in prison. As
soon as I am informed about our tax ID number, we will be opening a checking
account in District 11’s name. Our Big
Book placement project is continuing. We
will be placing donated Big Books in libraries and other offices. The Combined District’s DCMC and I have been
discussing the prospect of hosting a 3rd Legacy meeting in the near
future. We are in an information
gathering stage at this point. Neither
of us is experienced at hosting such an event and we plan to attend one in Area
5 to get an idea of how they do it.
Theresa D., DCM –
District 22: 2
new Grapevine Representatives signed up – on is from Cambria and the other is
from San Luis Obsipo. Public Information
is busy carrying panels to Cal Poly, Atascadero High. Mountain View School,
Arroyo Grande High, and Arroyo Grande Hospital.
11th Step Workshop is going to be put on by the Pioneer Group
and it will be held on Sunday, April 28th at 1:00 PM at 1814 Oso
Street. The Central Office has Big Books
in Braille. The 12th Step
Call List is being updated and the 5-Cities Group has moved to 564 Mesa in
Arroyo Grande. The Cambia Groups are
forming a small intergroup within Cambia to stimulate interest. Our District voted not to fund a signer to a
closed woman’s meeting. Thank you for
your feedback on that. I did take a
sense of the District to if they would consider putting aside some funds for a
signer at an open meeting. There was a
small number that put up their hands.
There was much discussion about the archives when a motion was made by
the adhoc committee to donate the archives to the Area. The motion was deferred and we have asked the
adhoc committee to put the motion in writing along with the history of the
archives so it can be taken to the Groups for an informed Group
conscience. I got a lot of feedback from
people who said they were tired of talking about it. and one of the things I
mentioned to them was that in Bill’s writings he wrote there should be a lot of
discussion and also that there should be substantial unanimity on topics. There is a service opportunity as our
treasurer had to go back east due to a family emergency and she will be gone
indefinitely. Thanks for allowing me to
be of service.
Rhonna W., DCM –
District 23:
The District is currently writing an article for the IGR Messenger. We have a new Alterate DCM and his name is
Marty S. I pray I don’t scare this one
away. I’ve gone through 4. We have a new H&I Liaison, which is a
first for us. We also have a new IGR
Liaison for them to be represented at our meeting. I spoke with the Central Office Chair and
they are working on getting a Liaison to the Area. We are currently talking about the
development of LCMs. It was brought to
the District 2 months ago and there was not enough information presented at
that time. So I gave them an
informational page and we will be revisiting this.
Shawn
M., DCM – District 24: On April 14th we had a
fellowship luncheon with the topic being the 12 Traditions. We had 12 speakers who shared their individual
experiences on living one of the 12 Traditions.
We served a hearty lunch and gave away a Big Book signed by all to the
newest newcomer. Our attendance was
about 80. All went home filled bodily
and spiritually. On July 20th
we are planning a night at the movies.
We will have popcorn and soft drinks with Lothar showing a host of AA
Movies. Our archives person found an
original AA member who filled in many holes in our history. He also attended meetings while visiting in
Simi and said that some of our meetings were some of the most
Spiritual he had been to.
Mary,
DCM – District 28:A motion was made, seconded and passed
to keep the District number as 28. It
was felt that we had too much history and there would be too many things to
change. Our District has voted to mail a
letter to all GSRs and Secretaries in the area suggesting that our Groups
continue the increase of the amounts they voted on for 2001 and asked that they
continue that increase through 2002. The
past Delegate Mary Ellen is now living in our area and she is now reading the
Concept of the month and explaining it each month to our Groups. Our PI person attended a Health Fair at
Moorpark College and she gave out quite a bit of literature. The other local college is soon to have a
health fair and hopes to be involved in that.
John M., DCM – District 52: District 52 has decided not to change their District number as they did not see sufficient reason to renumber. District 52 is extremely concerned that LCMs did not receive a vote at the Area Assembly and we feel very strongly that the LCM should have a vote at the Area level. We are currently revising our LCM guidelines so as to guarantee equal representation for all areas of the District. Our major activity is to prepare for hosting the next Area Assembly, which will be held in Solvang.
Joe V. gave us a brief update on the Special Hispanic Forum, which will be held on January 11 & 12, 2003 at the Double Tree Hotel in Bakersfield. My whole goal was to make sure we had a facility and that facility was suitable enough to host this forum. We are not actually in charge of this. I want to make that really clear. The General Service Office comes and puts on the forum. They organize everything. We give a little input on maybe some topics we would like to see discussed and to break down meetings and presentations. So far what we have done as host committee is to secure the facility which is very nice. I have been in contact with Adrienne Brown at the General Service Office and she has entered into a contract with the Double Tree. There is plenty of time between now and January. I am hoping that in June or July – there are 6 other Areas involved in this – I have contacted their Delegates and we have people from those Areas who as Liaisons to coordinate their Area too. I’m going to get together with them in June or July and sit down and see what kind of information we can give the General Service Office as far as input and what we want to hear them talk about and present to us in January. That’s about where its at right now.
Break --
GOOD & WELFARE
Marita
brought in registration cards that are on the back table. Even though this function is free they
request that you register so they can get some idea what kind of turnout they
are looking at and what they will need to address. If you are planning on going, please pick up
one of these blue cards and send it in.
You
can also do it online.
John,
Co-Chair for the Area 93 Newsletter, just wanted to let you know that the
deadline for articles for the Summer Edition need to be in by May 5, 2002. I also need help with the Spanish Translation
of the Newsletter. If you are
interested, please email me at news93@yahoo.com.
Mike announced the 7th National Archives Workshop will be in San Bernardino September 27 – 29, 2002. Lots of old-timers and archivists will be there. We have fliers on the back table. Next weekend is a planning committee for this workshop. It will be at 2:00 on April 28th at the Ventura County Central Office.
Debbie advised that if you have not sent in your $10.00 contribution for your 2-year subscription of the 93 News, you can make your check payable to Area 93. Your can give it to her, Victoria or Jim Wiley. You can also send it to the Area address but please note on your check that it is for 93 News.
Eddie announced that the 29th Annual AA Round Up would be taking place on June 28, 29, and 30th. This will include AA, Alanon, and Alateen participation. Lots of speakers too. I will bring more fliers to the Assembly.
Vicki brought to everyone’s attention a sign at the front of the Hospital that says “No Cell Phones”. That means do not bring them into this room – even if they are off. They interfere with hospital equipment and we need to make sure we do not bring them into this room
Motion was made
to adjourn the meeting. Seconded. Meeting was adjourned.
Meeting closed with the Responsibility Pledge.
Respectfully submitted,
Berate D.
Area 93 Secretary