 |
||
| Alcoholics Anonymous in Southern Wisconsin | ||
Alcoholic’s Anonymous - Area 75
9:00 a.m. Sunday, September 25, 2005
Madison Senior Center
Madison, WI
PRE-CONFERENCE ASSEMBLY MEETING
OFFICERS PRESENT: Howard P, Area Chairperson; Nancy G, Delegate; Robert S, Alternate Delegate; John B, Secretary; Kathy W, Alternate Secretary; George B, Treasurer; Nancy H, Alternate Treasurer
STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS PRESENT: Nancy S, Archivist; Terry R, Archives; Ken Y, Bridging the Gap (BTG); Paul H, Corrections; Stu E, Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC); Jo Mc, Grapevine; George P, Public Information (PI); Marian B, Treatment; Cindy H, Conference Advisory Chair
DCM’s PRESENT: D1-John N; D2-Susan J; D3-Ray Z; D6-Jim Mc; D7-Dale W; D8-Toni M; D11-John W; D12-Annette D; D13-Chris C, Kane B (Alt); D17-Carol Mc; D19-Tom W (Alt); D20-Dan K; D22-Matt Z; D25-Mark C; D28-Dave F, Ken N (Alt); D29-Ron G, Bill E (Alt); D32-Dale H; D34-Gary T; D36-Dennis L
GSR’s & DISTRICT COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS PRESENT: D1- Al B, Marci O, Rose K; D2-Denise E, Crysta M, Rickey B; D3-Michael S, Jan S; D6-Fred K; D11–Don V; D12-Nancy H; D13- Cheri C, James C, Kent B; D14-Renuka V, Frank S; D17-Sam M, Ray B; D19-Bonnie W, Maggie M; D20-Doreen H, Diana D, Rob Mc, Patrick S, Mark W, Mark H, Kris W; D25-Aaron M, Brian M; D28-Rex P; D29- Dennis D, Rick B; D32-Mike A, Chris E, Don D, Mike C, Chris P, Mike S; D34-Todd U, Sharon B, Teri B, Mike B, Bill K, Joe M
OTHERS PRESENT: Past Delegate (Area 75)-John B, Ken G, Joan J, Leo M, Bill A; Unity Conference 2006-LaVonne S; David F; Linda T; Jeanne D
Howard P, Area Chairperson, opened the meeting with a moment of silence, followed by…The Serenity Prayer.
Bob S, Alternate Delegate, read the Twelve Concepts.
John B, Area Secretary, took Roll Call.
Secretary’s Report - John B reviewed the minutes from the Agenda Planning Meeting, which were subsequently approved unanimously. John asked those who hadn’t yet submitted their reports for the Pre-Conference Assembly to do so in a timely manner as there are only three weeks to the Fall Conference. John hoped to have the completed Pre-Conference Assembly minutes available at that time.
Treasurer’s Report – George B reported that he was currently experiencing problems with his email account and printer and was only able to prepare a balance sheet for the area funds by manually typing it. $2000 was moved from the prudent reserve in July to cover area expenses and will be moved back now if the current expense submittals permit it. George stated that he hoped to have the problems with the software and his computer fixed soon and would forward the information to the area secretary for inclusion into the minutes. Discussion: A question from the floor asked if it was proper to list the translation equipment on the balance sheet or a least show depreciation on it. George replied that this needed to be looked at. The loss for the year was also questioned. Nancy G explained that an operating loss for the first year is not that unusual. Howard raised the point that he thought assembly actions called for a vote if money needed to be moved from the prudent reserve. Others thought that the treasurer was allowed to do this as needed. Nancy reinforced the point that expenses were always higher in the first year of the rotation. George agreed with this and asked the area officers and committee chairs to spread the upcoming year’s expenses out rather than buy everything at the beginning of the year. Howard P asked Nancy G to lend George a hand in getting the financials straightened out. George replied that the financial information was up to date but he couldn’t get the information out of his computer. A question was raised regarding the availability of funds from the Rainbow and Count-On-Us programs. George replied that the information would be available soon. The treasurer’s report was accepted in view of the actions that are being taken to make the current financial information available to the area assembly.
AREA 75 ASSEMBLY
BALANCE SHEET AUGUST 31, 2005
ASSETS
Current assets
Cash
in Checking-M$I $3,012.86
Prudent Reserve
2,000.00
A/R-Conference Seed Money 2,000.00
Total Assets 7,012.86
Property and Equipment
Equipment 1,467.37
Total Property and Equipment 1.467.37
Other Assets 0
Total Assets 8,480.23
Liabilities and Capital
Current Liabilities
Total Current Liabilities 0.00
Long-Term Liabilities
Total LongTerm Liabilities 0.00
Total Liabilities 0.00
Capital
Retained Earnings 8,916.01
Net Earnings <435.78>
Total
Capital 8,480.23
Total Liabilities and Capital
8,480.23
Note: No further records had been received from the Area 75 Treasurer at the time these minutes were completed.
DCM and Conference Reports
District 1
The State Of District 1
Since the last time I stood up here and gave a District report to the area about District 1 there have been a few changes. District now has a Secretary, Steve K. from the Lacrosse area. Don K. is the alternate DCM and Art B. is
now the Treasurer for District.
There are two Individuals that does not wish to be recognized as Districts Bridging the Gap Chairs going into the Lars House, Unity House, in the City
of Lacrosse showing the video Hope and telling their stories, I was first informed of this at our last District Meeting by our Secretary as he is one of
the individuals doing this, and it made my day to hear it.
In other happenings around District 1, A long time group in the Lacrosse
area (The Alacra West Group has shut its doors) 1 don't know why, I read it
in the Care & Share. At the same time two new Groups have started and are
still meeting but with low attendance. (Tomah Friday Night AA at the First
Congregational United Church Of Christ, 115 West LaCrosse Street, Tomah
at 5:30pm Fri. Nights) and( Cushion Thursday Night Courage to Change,
823 Cremer Ave. Apartment 3 Cashton, 7;00pm Thurs. Night.) I have also heard that the Native Americans are possibly starting a new
group around the Black River Falls Area, but t have no info on it. Now District 1 covers Four Counties, Five unofficially, Jackson, Monroe,
Vemon, Lacrosse, & unofficially Trempealeau, we at District have talked
about an LCM (Local Committee Member for District 1) just talked, nothing
official, reasoning is to get the word out better and to reach more people in
District.
I would like to take this time to thank Nancy G. for attending District 1's meeting this Month, it was a very informative and rewarding meeting Thank
You Again Nancy from all of us at District 1. Just kind of a final note. District 1 has five of our Chair. Positions still open.
[1] Bridging the Gap
[2] Grapevine/Literature
[3] Archives
[4] Special Needs
[5] Treatment
Even with this, District 1 is alive and well, maybe a little slow at times, but Recovering Alcoholics are reaching out to those that are still suffering and
taking the time to give it away. Yours in Service
John N Sr.
District 2
District 2
We have another new meeting Tuesday evening in Wautoma.
CPC chairperson has been filled as well as a special needs chairperson.
We are also working on updating our district meeting list to be accurate in whether a facility is handicapped accessible.
Reid Mevis passed away last week – funeral was yesterday – he will be greatly missed.
Susan J
DCM
District 3
District 3
This summer has brought many new people to our district meeting. Be it from the Fall 2007 conference district 3 is hosting and the Alano club in Manitowoc’s insistence that all groups remember they are autonomous and need to have each group keep some funds and have treasurer, GSR at least we have renewed interest and groups are sponsoring activities. Last month was a sponsorship workshop and November is a Joe & Charlie’s Big Book weekend. District chair positions which we have had problems filling are showing signs of interest.
Ray Z
DCM
District 6
DCM REPORT - DISTRICT 6 SEPTEMBER 25,2005
We meet on the second Wednesday every other month at 7:30 PM. The next District Committee Meeting will be on November 9th. Meetings are held at the Walworth County Alano Club in Delavan. We welcome visitors from the Area and other Districts.
We average 10 to 12 GSR's in attendance at the Meeting. All of the major service positions in the District are filled. During the last year we started our own 24-hour AA Answering Service to provide information on meetings in Walworth County and 12 Step volunteer contacts. The AA Hot Line phone number, (262) 723-1224 is listed in both the white and yellow pages of local phone books. Members of the Public Information Committee have also provided this number to local social service agencies.
District 6 has a well-organized and active Jail Committee to serve guests of the Walworth County Correctional Facility. AA volunteers lead separate meetings for men and women once a week in the jail, and 3 co-ed meetings per week in the Huber Dorm.
Jim Mc, DCM
District 7
District 7
Kenosha, WI
We have a workshop planned for Oct 23rd, the area delegate and the PI chair to share on 3rd legacy.
Our corrections and bridging the gap chair has been in St. Joes Missouri for a workshop.
Corrections chair has been getting a lot done in our district.
Our PI chair has been working a lot with the professionals in the community.
We have a few GSR’s showing up.
There are about 75% of all chairs filled.
Dale W
DCM
District 8
District 8
Sunday, Sept. 25th, 2005
1st Friday of month, 6:45 p.m. Lutheran Church Good Sheperd, Park Ave., Beloit.
Have corrections chair possible PI/CPC chair.
1-4 Archives sorting party.
Workshop - Sat Nov 12, 2005, potluck & speaker to follow.
Starting to generate some enthusiasm in district, had combined mini conference yesterday (9/24) and was a great success. See the 2 districts come together.
Elections November.
Expecting group response for getting answering machine for hotline, 1 person has had since Christmas ’04.
Respectfully,
Toni M
District 11
Sunday September 25, 2005
My name is John W. and I am an alcoholic.
District 11 Report
District 11 is moving right along. We have 35 ongoing meetings in the district every week. We lost one meeting due to lack of interest, but gained a new meeting on Sunday Nights at the Watertown hospital.
Our district meetings have grown from 4-5 people to 11-12 people per meeting. By the grace of God, moving the meetings to Tuesday evenings and by visiting each meeting in the district helps. We are not resting on our laurels; but planning a mini work shop for the district and anyone else who wishes to attend, the last Saturday afternoon in October. (October 29, 2005. At the Trinity Lutheran Church 302 Merchant Street, Fort Atkinson, WI. It will cover GSR School taught by Ken G., Bridging the gap by Ken Y, How to conduct a proper 12 step call by John B , Sponsorship by Rodger N., How to write a proper 4th step by Jim K.
District 11 has been asked to man a booth for the health fair, at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater in October.
District 11 members will also conduct a panel at the fall conference in Waukesha the middle of October. Rick C. and Jack J. from a Watertown meeting were asked to speak at the V.A. in Milwaukee. William I. And Tom S. holds weekly open A. A. meetings at the Fort Atkinson Mental Health facilities. Rick C. conducts A. A. meetings at the Jefferson County Jail on Monday nights. The Saturday morning Serenity Group has a crew of women that rotate doing meetings at a Women's Correctional Facility on Friday evenings.
Once again I am amazed at what can get accomplished when one person starts his day saying; "God thy will be done." Ask my H.P. for guidance and die power to carry it out. I tend to try and melt into the crowd and let others do their thing. By humility that allows me to ask others for help, I am learning how to carry the message more fully. A big thank you to Past delegates Bill A. and Ken G. A big thank you to our present delegate Nancy G., My service sponsor Rick C., my district secretary Ardith F., and to all are GSR's for their great ideas.
Sincerely
John W
DCM Dist. 11
District 12
District 12
Washington County
Nearly all committee chairs are filled except that of secretary and picnic chair.
Our 9th annual picnic/open speaker meeting was Sept 17th. Several area committee chairs were in attendance. Nancy S. brought the archives display. Michael N. Special Needs Chair of Area 75 and Brenda (Alnon) were the speakers. Thanks to all who supported the event.
Our hotline is functioning very well and continues to receive good support.
We are planning for a relationships workshop in February.
Annette D.
DCM District 12
District 13
DCM Report – District 13
Chris C
Our District has all chairs filled except the Corrections chair. That person had to resign from his position and we are actively seeking a new chair.
Generally, we have about 1/4 of our G.S.R.’s regularly attending our district meetings, but not many of them attend the Area meetings.
We are currently working to put together a workshop in November in conjunction with Districts 32 and 34.
Those people who are involved in the District are doing a great job!
District 17
District 17 DCM Report 9/25/05
We are holding our monthly district meeting and approximately 5-10 GSR’s are in attendance on a regular basis, although attendance was down considerably during July and August.
We lost our Grapevine rep to active military duty, but have just recently had a volunteer to fill that position. There are meetings going on in the women's section of the county jail. We are having some difficulty with getting sufficient volunteers to do meetings in the men's section and to find someone who is willing to coordinate men's meetings. It has been said that meeting conditions are not good due to overcrowding in the jail. We are working on both of those issues. Our PI/CPC committee is gearing up to do the semi-annual mailing that provides an updated meeting list for District 17 to approximately 800 community professionals. The cover letter also offers to provide speakers for any community function and the offer to provide further information about AA. Bridging the Gap continues to receive contacts and they are passed on to a volunteer from the list maintained by our district chairperson, who is doing a good job.
We are in the talking stages with surrounding districts to plan a service workshop sometime this fall yet or possibly after the first of the year.
Area 75 Delegate, Nancy, was at our June 19 meeting to give the report from the General Service Office.
District 20
District 20 Report
September 25, 2005
DCM Dan K
Since our spring meeting we have filled the districts Special Needs post with a full time person, Henry S. We as yet do not have an Archivist. We sent $500.00 to MAICO as a result of their request for assistance. Last, we anticipate doing a survey of all the meetings in our district to try and get an accurate count of the active meetings. This will be a large undertaking as District 20 covers almost all of Dane County.
District 20 meets the last Tuesday of the month at the Atwood Community Center. The center is located on Madison’s east side at 2425 Atwood Ave. The meeting begins at 6:30PM and everyone is welcome. We typically have 30 people attend.
Sincerely,
Dan K
DCM District 20
District 23
District 23
Dist 23 is hurting, needing service positions. Lack of attendance at District meeting. (GSR) Meeting are well attended but service lacking. Looking for suggestions as to what to do to fold Dist 23 to combine with other District or what should we do.
Submitted respectfully in love and service.
By proxy from,
Darrell
District 24
District 24
We still have open positions (lots of them).
We are putting together a workshop (November 12, 2005) and hope to get some support from that to fill some empty seats. See Attached Flier.
DCM
Matt Z.
District 25
District 25
Fond Du Lac County
The District 25 Intergroup will be held on October 1st at Lakeside Park. Registration will be held from 4-5, Dinner from 5-6:30 and speakers from 6:30 on. Michael N. (Area 75 Special Needs Chair) is one of our speakers. District chairs are filled. Good activity going on in Literature, Grapevine, PI and CPC. Two new meetings have started up at ARC, which will be registered. A couple others have started up and we will see how they evolve. Still hard to get people to help “carry the message”. There is lots of talk about it, but often its only talk. Need to keep pushing ahead. Need to keep making progress.
DCM
Mark C
District 28
District 28 D.C.M. Report
Sept 25, 2005
District 28 is located in the southeast corner of Milwaukee County. We have about 47 meetings per week in our district. We have 20 groups represented by G.S.R.S at our district meetings. Usually about 10 to 12 GSRs show up regularly to the meetings.
All chairs are filled except the Grapevine and Special Needs chairs. We also have a representative on the Central Office Service Committee.
District 28 keeps busy in many ways getting the message out. We have many volunteers that regularly hold meetings in the local Treatment Center and in local Correctional Facilities.
We keep an active Bridging the Gap contact list and a Correction Correspondence contacts list.
We publish a neighborhood meeting flier and distribute it to local Police Depts., Medical Offices, and other Businesses that a needy person could find it and get to a local meeting.
We hold a mini-conference every other year and try to put on workshops during the non conference year.
We sponsor an annual Old Timers Meeting Week (A different A.A. and Alanon member, with over 20 years sobriety, speaks each night for a week). We co-host an annual holiday Alkathon with District 29.
Our district has many dedicated servants and I would like to thank them all for their unselfish service. It is men and women like them that inspire us all to continue and spread the message of Alcoholics Anonymous to others.
In Service,
Dave F (DCM District 28) (414)421-2756 dflynn2@wi.rr.com
District 29
Here is my report as DCM. PLEASE NOTE, I am NOT able to attend this meeting and I am asking one of our GSR's or Bill E to stand in and deliver the report, and a hard copy of the report to the Area Secretary at the meeting. Technically, this is the Agenda Planning Meeting. I am, by this note, passing my proxy vote on to Bill E or any GSR who wishes to represent District 29 at this meeting.
District 29 Report:
1. Our District meetings are held once a month on the first Monday at 7PM. Attendance averages about 12-15 GSR's out of a total number of groups estimated at 48. We believe about half the groups have GSR's, so we're getting about half the GSR's to attend. We still need to do a full census of groups who don't have GSR's and to increase GSR's representation.
2. We hold 6 Round Robin open meetings sponsored by the District each year, one every other month, hosted by a Group who volunteers to host the meeting. Attendance is 30 on the high side, and usually lower in the summer.
3. A District 29 initiative is moving forward to co-host an open meeting in co-operation with District 10 Hispanic AA's in Milwaukee on November 13th.
4. District 29 is also rounding up volunteers for the English-speaking meetings at the Area 75 Spanish convention next weekend , Friday Sept.29th through Sunday Oct.2nd.
5. District 29 has responded to the request by the Baton Rouge LA intergroup for donations for literature for AA's in shelters, sending a $100 donation.
Respectfully submitted,
Ron G, DCM District 29.
District 32
District 32
DCM Report
Having a work shop with District 13 & 24 on November 12, 2005 at the Goodwill Center, Nike Drive, Waukesha, Wisconsin. On 12 Steps from 9:00 to 12:00. Speaker at 12:00 to 1:00, to be announced.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dale H.
DCM 32
District 36
District 36
Western Racine County
Meeting has been moved to the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. We are trying a non-smoking format. This is on a trial basis. This is to get non-smoking GSR’s involved. Trying to get all meeting registered with G.S.O. We have had some success. A few more GSR’s are showing up. We are also making up group packets. We are also sending out money to get back to our prudent reserve. New group at Lake View Rehab. 6:30 Thursdays in Waterford.
Fall-2005 Conference Report
Fall Conference 2005 Chairman's Report
My apologies for not being able to attend the pre-conference assembly meeting as I am out of town.
The Fall Conference is ready to go; we have all the speakers, panels, assembly room are all taken care of. Our main concern is the low number of registrations, as of Thursday 9/22 there are only 43 rooms for Friday and 49 rooms for Saturday reserved, With the cut off date of October 1 2005 for the banquet and lower room rate of $89.00 per night, it is getting a little late unless the people reserve by the 1st, the rate goes up to $129.00 per night, we arranged that there can be 4 people per room at no extra charge. Any help the Area can give to increase the registrations and rooms would be helpful. This is very disappointing for the fellowship.
We as a committee have put a lot of work into this and tried our best to keep the cost reasonable.
Yours in service.
Thank you
Jerry H
Fall Conference Chair
Fall-2006 Conference Report
Fall 2006 Conference
Ramada Inn
S. Beloit, IL
Oct. 20-22, 2006
Toni M reporting for Wanda F.
Ken & Nancy G. are conference advisors.
Committee chairs are full.
AA main speakers Sat evening & Sunday morning.
Alanon speaker booked.
Contract w/hotel signed.
Working on budgets – to set registration and meal prices – next meeting.
Room rated will be $79.00 per night.
Next meeting date is Saturday Oct. 29th at Ramada.
Fall-2007 Conference Report
Conference 2007 Fall
We have a conference chair and at least 1 volunteer to chair each panel & secretary and treasurer. Only position needed to fill is assistant DCM from Manitowoc and organizational meetings has been set up and contact with Al-anon made.
Ray Z
DCM
Unity-2006 Conference Report
2006 Unity Conference Report September 25, 2005
At our last meeting on June 12, Area 75 placed an item on the agenda to withdraw its support of the Unity Conference. At that time, we had a contract in hand that was ready to sign and a date to meet with the Hotel Mead to do just that. Following the meeting on June 12th, I was besieged with advice as to whether to sign the contract or not sign it. If we signed the contract and Area 75 withdrew its support, we would be left with a contract that couldn't be canceled without it costing a great deal of money. If we didn't sign the contract and the proposal was defeated, we would be having a conference with potentially no place to hold it. This was certainly not a win-win situation.
In the course of the decision making process, I had a lot of conversations with people from both Area 75 and Area 74. What finally made sense to me is that we could only act on the Assembly Actions we actually had in place and not on what might happen. In other words, we couldn't stop working because Area 75 might withdraw its support. It hadn't happened yet. If I could give an example. Say Area 75 made a proposal to raise the mileage reimbursement to 50 cents per mile. We wouldn't begin paying the reimbursement rate immediately just because it had been placed on the Agenda. We would have to wait until it passed the Assembly. I know these are two separate ideas, but the principle applies. With that in mind, we signed the contract. There will be a Unity Conference in 2006 in some form. It will still be called the Area 74/75 Unity Conference. Area 74 is still planning to participate. Hopefully we will still have the participation of Area 75.
The planning process is moving along nicely. We have two of our main speakers in place, but are waiting on confirmation on the third. Torv T. from Area 74 will be one of the speakers and Ken G. from Area 75 will be the other. We are waiting for confirmation from a speaker that has been invited from GSO. Al-Anon has also chosen their main speaker, Cheryl A. from Waukesha. We have seen the first draft of the registration flyer. At our next meeting in October we will be going over committee budgets to determine registration costs and dinner costs.
The committee hopes you will plan to join us at this conference. The Hotel Mead is a really nice facility that adapts nicely to our needs. They are bending over backwards to do anything they can to make our conference a success including plans to set up a lunch buffet in the Atrium on Saturday. We hope to see you there on July 7, 8, & 9, 2006.
Respectfully submitted,
LaVonne S
2006 Unity Conference Chair
Note from Area Secretary: If you are asking your alternate or co-chair to appear for you and give a report, please remind them that the report must be submitted in writing. There is often too much background noise to pick up what is being said on the meeting tapes. Only the reports of those DCM’s and conference chairs (or alternates) who submitted a written report appear in these minutes.
Intergroup and Central Office Reports
Madison Area Central Office
Maico 09/25/05 Area 75 Assembly Report:
Madison Area Intergroup Central Office – 6400 Monona Dr – Madison, WI
Website-Meeting Directory, upcoming events, catalog
Office Manager’s hours are 11:00 AM-6:00 PM Monday-Friday. Volunteers staff office Monday and Tuesday evenings 6:00 PM-8:00 PM and Saturdays Noon-2:00 PM
On 11/05/05 will have 9th Annual YoungTimers/OldTimers Workshop
10:00AM-3:00 PM at Lake Edge Lutheran Church-4032 Monona Dr-Madison, WI- YoungTimers (less than 2years) and OldTimers (over 20 years) –Lunch provided on a donation basis.
On 02/25/06-Sheraton Inn-Madison, WI 2nd Annual MidWinter Mixer-Buffet, Speaker and Dance
MAICO HAS NEW EMAIL ADDRESS maico@tds.net
Telephone-608-222-8989
Web- http://webpages.charter.net/maico/
Respectfully,
Kathy W
Maico Chairperson
Milwaukee Area Central Office
GREATER MILWAUKEE CENTRAL OFFICE, Inc.
7429 W. GREENFIELD AVENUE, WEST ALLIS, WISCONSIN, 53214, (414)771-9119
To: Area 75 Assembly, September 25, 2005
I would like to thank Howard P. for inviting the Greater Milwaukee Central Office to report on our activities and events.
We continue to serve the greater Milwaukee area with approximately 600 AA meetings each week. We are financially solvent and adhere to good financial practices. We also have an open door policy.
We have a secretary meeting on the second Tuesday of each month and have had an Area person give a presentation to those in attendance since about 1994. This practice continues today.
We, also, publish our newsletter the "Between-Us" which includes Area 75 functions as well as local events within the AA community.
Over the years we have donated literature to the Area 75 Committee for public presentations. Stu E., C.P.C. Chair may have mentioned our office contribution to the presentation Dave W. gave at the NAACP convention this past July. The Milwaukee Central Office does many presentations at churches, schools, Health Fairs, the Veterans Hospital, and other community functions when asked.
We support the AA community by providing AA Conference Approved Literature as well as other related literature requested by the fellowship. These two types of literature, of course, are clearly separated so as not to confuse the newcomer, per AAWS directive.
We try very hard to maintain the highest standards and traditions of AA. We maintain a 24-hour hotline, manned by alcoholics, 365 days a year. Our office is open six days a week. Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We are closed on holidays. We maintain a clean, welcoming and friendly office. We represent to the AA community and the general public the best AA has to offer in the way of Love and Service. On the local level we provide information and assistance to all inquires concerning AA, and refer others to the appropriate services and organizations when possible. We always cooperate but never affiliate.
God bless.
Yours in service,
Gene P.
Executive Director.
Delegate’s Report
DELEGATE’S REPORT
Pre-Conference Assembly
September 25, 2005
At the registration table are copies of the new group sheets I received from GSO since our last meeting. There are some for which GSO needs the district number. Please review these sheets and take the time to welcome these new groups to your district and to Area 75.
Group Contributions
I received the second quarter 2005 group contribution report for our Area from GSO. If you are interested in seeing which groups have made contributions, I have the sheets with me today. We had 31% of our groups donating to our General Service Office for that period, up from 23% for the previous quarter, and up from 19% for that quarter in 2004. This is a wonderful trend and we must continue to inform the groups in our Area of our Seventh Tradition responsibility.
The trustees’ Literature Committee of the General Service Board has an opening for a nontrustee appointed committee member. Resumes should be submitted to the General Service Office by November 5, 2005. If you would like more information, please see me for a copy of the requirements letter and resume form.
There are copies of information distributed by GSO regarding aid to AA members in the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina available today. There was a lot of misinformation floating around via email. I also have copies of an email I received from the Delegate for Area 27 (Louisiana). It is very interesting and a worthwhile read. I would be happy to email either of these reports to you.
The General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous met over the July 30 weekend in New York. If anyone wants to review the minutes of the various committee meetings, please let me know.
I have been asked by members in our Area to submit to GSO requests for permanent staff assignments for both Special Needs and Bridging the Gap as agenda items for the 2006 General Service Conference. I will now read those proposed letters to you and ask for a sense of the meeting as approval for making these requests on your behalf.
Regional Forum
The East Central Regional Forum will be held November 4-6, 2005 in Houghton, MI. There is no registration fee for the Forum. You may register by mail or on-line at aa.org. These weekend sharing sessions are designed to improve communication and participation among A.A. service workers in a region and your trusted servants at the General Service Office. Come and meet trustees and staff members; ask questions; be part of A.A. as a whole.
Thank you for allowing me to serve as your Delegate. God bless.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy G
Letter to New York Regarding Bridging the Gap
September 25, 2005
Mr. Rick W
General Service Office
Box 459
New York, NY 10163
Dear Rick:
Members of the Area 75 (Southern Wisconsin) Bridging the Gap Committee, with the support of the Area 75 assembly, respectfully request that the General Service Office explore the feasibility of a permanent staff assignment/committee for Bridging the Gap (BTG).
We believe that such a committee would help to unify the efforts of BTG programs as a whole, would be helpful with communication and cooperation among the local BTG, Treatment and Corrections Committees, and could help generate more interest in BTG in Districts and Areas throughout our conference. The Area 75 BTG Chair has found that many Areas and Districts feel they do not need a BTG chair because there is not a BTG Committee at the GSO level.
Although we do not know what the cost to the fellowship for this expanded service would be, we believe that the service provided would outweigh the expense.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
In service,
Nancy G
Panel 55/Area 75 Delegate
cc: Eva S
Letter to New York Regarding Special Needs
September 25, 2005
Mr. Rick W
General Service Office
Box 459
Dear Rick:
Members of the Area 75 (Southern Wisconsin) Special Needs Committee, with the support of the Area 75 Assembly, respectfully request that the General Service Office explore the feasibility of a permanent staff assignment/committee for Special Needs.
There are approximately 40 million people in the United States who are classified as having a disability. Data indicate that people with disabilities abuse alcohol at three times the rate of those without disabilities. When speaking of disabilities, we refer to all physical and sensory impairments and mental illness.
Unfortunately, alcoholics who have a disability do not have equal access to treatment or recovery programs. All treatment programs are not fully accessible to those who use wheelchairs, are deaf and need an Interpreter, or are blind and require media adaptations. Additionally, all AA meetings are not fully accessible to these people. If we take a minute to think about some of our meeting locations, we may remember stairs but no elevators, and bathrooms without Braille writing for identification.
People with disabilities do not have equal access to our AA program. Bill Wilson said, "If it makes sense, we ought to do it." It makes sense to raise the awareness of the fellowship that there are people with a disability who want and need our program and to whom it is not accessible.
Although we do not know what the cost to the fellowship for this expanded service would be, we believe that the service provided would outweigh the expense.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
In service,
Nancy G
Panel 55/Area 75 Delegate
cc: Eva S
Chairperson’s Report
Sept. 25th Pre-Conference Assembly
Howard P
Area 75 Chairperson
20860 George Hunt Circle #335
Waukesha, WI 53186
(262) 798-3583
atsasptr@execpc. com
Dear Fellowship
I want to thank those Districts who have been sending me you District minutes. Please keep me on your respective District mailing list.
Knowing that at the end of this year approximately one half of Area 75 Districts will be rotating. I would ask those rotating DCM's please have your new District Officers and Standing Committee chairs send their address information to our Area 75 Secretary. Please note that information on our current confidential Area 75 Directory for our Area's Secretary and Officers.
For those of you who will be rotating and who will not, 1 wish to thank you very much for your input and dedication to your District and to our Area. You have left an example of fulfilling a commitment to Alcoholics Anonymous Fellowship. Please keep leading in our primary purpose of caring our message of Recovery. Thanks again.
I hope to see you all at our Area 75 Fall Conference, Oct. 14,15 and 16,2005 in Waukesha. Just a reminder that the Agenda for our Area Assembly, at the Fall Conference will be our Area inventory.
Before leaving here today please make sure you pick up a copy of the Fall Conference Assembly Agenda and the 2006 calendar year Area 75 schedule.
I thank those Districts for your giving me time in my visits. In keeping with my Duties as our Area 75
Chairperson, as described in our Service manual, I need to make a stronger effort in going to each and
every District meeting within Area 75.
In assisting me and our other Area 75 Standing Committee Chairs and Officers in fulfilling this duties,
please pass on your time and location of your respective District Meeting information. Please contact
our Area PI Chair George P. and we will have your District information placed on our Area 75 Web Sight.
May your Higher Power continue to bless you with sobriety serenity.
Yours in Service and Fellowship
Chairperson’s Letter
Howard P
Area 75 Chairperson
20860 George Hunt Circle #335
Waukesha, WI. 53186
(262) 798-3583
Cell (262) 224-3306
Dear Standing Committee Chairperson
As some of you who have email access I had sent out the Agenda for our Sept. 25th Pre-Conference Assembly on Sunday Sept. 25th - Madison Senior Center.
My reason for this second mailing is to ask you to make sure you all have your respective Committee reports in writing prior to the Assembly meeting. Please feel free to mail ahead your reports to our Area 75 Secretary. This is not a requirement but John had asked if at all possible, he would appreciate it.
John B
W29083 Winzer Rd.
Hartland WI. 53029-9125
(262) 538-3829
I have another request to ask of you. In giving your respective reports please keep them in a reasonable time. I have not time limit requirements in mind. In no way am I attempting to restrict your reports. I am a firm believer that our Fellowship needs to hear what functions and work your Committee has been doing.
As you all know at our Pre-Conference Assemblies we allow each attending DCM / District to give a 2 minute report of the activities which are taking place within their respective District.
I would ask you to give reference to Page S35 / The A.A. Service Manual. “A Typical Non-Election Assembly”, keep agendas lively and meaningful (on page S35)
I have written to each our Intergroups and Central Offices within our Area 75 boundaries.
Noting line item #13 Reports from central offices or intergroups. Those attending Central Offices and Intergroups will be given 2 minutes for their reports.
I thank your for the great job you and your Committee members have been doing. Area 75 has been blessed with a Fellowship who understands, and performs our Tradition of our Primary Purpose.
Looking forward see you all on Saturday, Sept. 25th .
Yours in Service and Fellowship
Treatment Committee Report
TREATMENT CHAIR REPORT
Sept. 25, 2005
Madison Sr. Center
Madison, WI
Good Morning, my name is Marian B, and I am an alcoholic, and your Treatment Chairperson in this rotation. I hope everyone here had a good summer.
I note, with great interest, that the General Service Conference for Treatment Facilities is taking a look it changing the name, i.e.: “Treatment Facilities” and the scope of our Committee. This comes as no surprise after reading the Treatment Survey (sent out in early ’04), and it’s results, completed in ’05. To no one’s surprise, the bottom line is what we have been seeing for quite some time in Area 75.
Perhaps it would be helpful to know that until the early ‘80’s, Corrections and Treatment were together under the umbrella of “Hospitals and Institutions”. In the early ‘80’s, this changed, partly due to the growing trend of hospitals to initiate 30- day inpatient “substance abuse” programs. In its heyday, the hospital’s 30-day inpatient program brought fort some interesting results. Hospitals asked for AA meetings to be brought to their facilities. Vanloads of patients, fresh out of detox, descended on AA meetings, announcing themselves as “chemically dependent alcoholic adult child’, at which point old-timers started pulling their hair out and everybody learned a great deal about “singleness of purpose”.
At the same time, our valiant Corrections people were taking the message into jails and prisons, with very little “treatment” being offered to those who were incarcerated.
Fast forward to today. The 30-day inpatient treatment is, for all practical purposes, no more. Hospital detox, followed by outpatient treatment, either community based, or private pay is the norm. For the “hard to treat”, 90 residential treatment is available to some, but not all. Some of these programs have strong AA ties: some do not. We need to reach those who do not. These programs, for what I call the civilian population, meet a great need, and they need to be served by us, not only the Treatment Committees, but also by P.I. and BTG.
In Corrections there is more treatment available than ever. I think there is confusion, also. Do we, in AA, expect the Corrections Committees for our Districts and Groups to “take care” of these treatment facilities behind the walls? Or do our Districts and Groups work together with BTG to carry the message?
In other Areas, Treatment Committees at the Group and District level have been carrying the message into homeless shelters and shelters for victims of domestic violence? Have we been doing that?
I am asking these questions for a reason. Please let me know what your Group and District has been doing. I want to pass your experience, strength and hope on to Mary Clare, at the Treatment Desk at GSO, to help the Conference Committee come to some helpful recommendations for the next General Service Conference.
I will have a few more of the “Substance Abuse Directories” available at the Fall Conference. Hopefully, with our Delegate’s help, I will have copies of the background information and the survey I mentioned at the beginning of my report. I had made quite a few copies of that material, and people were quite interested and asked for copies. I forgot to retain one for myself. Silly me.
A big thank you to all the Districts who send minutes. Now, just one request: Could your Treatment people drop me a line (email or snail) and let me know what they are up to?
Any Questions?
Respectfully Submitted:
Marian B.
Treatment Chairperson
Bridging the Gap Committee Report
Area 75 Bridge Gap Report September 25 2005
All referrals are made in a timely manner (Less than eight hours).
I think that part of the Bridge the Gap chair service commitment is to visit the Districts. I have visited every active District as of August 28, 2005 and I plan to do this next year also.
The Fifteenth Annual Bridge the Gap Workshop:
I had the honor to be invited to be on the panel for Bridge the Gap.
When it was my turn I talked about the things we've done in Area 75
(1) the volunteer sign up sheet
(2) the treatment Letter to all treatment centers
(3) the letter we wrote to G.S.O.
(4) the Bridge The Gap district workbook (that was done by the Ad-hoc Committee).
They liked all we are doing in Area 75, and asked if they could take it all back to their area. Of course I said yes. The ones they liked the most
was the letter to G.S.O. and the new workbook.
Business Meeting:
There were three proposals brought up for 2007 site.
New Hampshire, San Fransisco, California, and Madison, Wisconsin.
New Hampshire won ( actually will be held in Vermont).
In the business meeting I brought up to expand the workshop
and make a committee instead of one person doing it all. This is not working. They didn't like the idea. So I guess they will keep having trouble.
They suggested starting a National Temp. Contact Data Base, I see alot of problems in this. They would give part of this to correction and treatment centers. I told them I was going put this on hold until I talk to Area 75. I don't speak for the fellowship, I serve the fellowship.
Let me know what you want me to do. The next workshop will be held
in Salt Lake, Utah on September 8-10, 2006.
The Bridge the Gap Committee will send out sign up sheets for Temp Contact on 12-28-05. Let's get a better response than 9 districts. It
would be nice if we got a 100% response.
Every one on the Area Committee will get a new District Bridge the Gap Workbook. If you want to make copies at your own expense go ahead.
In Loving Service
Kenneth Y.
Area 75 Bridge the Gap Chair
Special Needs Committee Report
Special Needs Report 9/23
Here are the events and/or actions that have happened since our last meeting:
1. I spoke on a Special Needs panel at the Toronto International Conference. At that time, I presented to the GSO (Julio), on behalf of Area #75, a tape recorded version of the AA Service Manual. GSO has never had one. Now, they can make duplicates when asked. (I made two copies of this taped version for Jo and Cathy. I have to get them the copies).
2. I've collected about 6-7 names of district special needs chairs and have talked to most of them. I will contact them all and encourage them to attend the October meeting.
3. I have shared the Area #75 Accessibility Self-Evaluation Survey with three special needs dist4rict chars encouraging them to share it with their districts GSR's.
4. I spoke at the Milwaukee Central Office meeting in July. I handed out thirty of the Area #75 Accessibility Self-Evaluation Surveys to the AA meeting representatives who were present. I also spoke at the District #12 annual picnic.
5. I spoke with Dave, program chair for the spring conference, and we agreed that we would get 3-4 people with disabilities to serve on panels. I need to contact El Buss. I will try to have these people secured prior to their next planning meeting on October 8.
6. In Toronto many people at the special needs meeting were concerned and frustrated that GSO did not have a permanent special needs desk. I've discussed this with our delegate. Toronto folks said we need to ask this to be an agenda item for the April national assembly in New York.
7. (Unfortunately, I'm forgetting the gentleman’s name, however...) I spoke with the gentleman from Canada who is the chair of the GSO board about the need for a special needs permanent chair. He encouraged that a letter be sent asking for it to be an agenda item.
Yours In Service - Michael N, chair, Area #75 Special Needs
Cooperation with the Professional Community Committee Report
Report to Area 75 Pre-Conference Assembly
September 25, 2005
Our Area 75 Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC) Committee met most recently at the June Agenda Planning Meeting. We will next meet on Saturday afternoon, October 15th, during the Area 75 Fall Conference. Our committee continues to grow, and it continues to be very participatory. I am much impressed at the energy and achievements of our district CPC chairs and their committees. Hearing about those accomplishments is one of the high points of our committee meetings for me and, I expect, for many of those who come. Any district CPC chair, DCM, or any interested AA member is welcome to attend.
At our Spring Conference meeting, our time slot was cut into by an earlier committee meeting in the same room which ran over and by hotel staff who evicted us early in order to set the room up for either the banquet or the Al-Anon speaker. A very significant number of our members did not get an opportunity to share during our round-the-table portion of the meeting. If there is anybody here who could not participate in that session because of those circumstances, I want to assure you now that I have recently communicated that problem to our Area 75 Chairperson. Howard has assured me it will be brought to the attention of the Fall Conference Chair so as to prevent a re-occurrence.
Members of Area 75’s Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC) Committee and volunteers principally from District 27 worked an exhibit booth at the NAACP National Convention from July 9-12 at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee, WI. Attendees included some 4,000 local NAACP delegates and a few more than 4,000 additional members. Total attendance had not yet been tabulated when I visited the convention Press Room on the afternoon of the 12th. During the convention, the friendliness and helpfulness of the Exhibit Coordinator and her staff left an immediate and lasting favorable impression on me. It was clear that the organization definitely wanted us there. Of the estimated 450 who visited our booth, very few were professionals. Most of the professionals who did come by with questions and a need for information were educators and school officials. The next largest group was young people, usually in their mid-teens. Their questions were very intuitive; this was a sharp group of responsible young people. Next most frequent were individuals who knew somebody with an alcohol problem. Literature in great demand included “Message to Teenagers”, “44 Questions”, “It Happened to Joe”, and “Can AA Help Me Too?”. My co-chair for this exhibit effort was David W, DCM of District 27 and a regular member of the Area 75 CPC Committee. The local co-chair schedules and arranges space for a training session for our booth volunteers before the convention. He/she recruits most of our volunteers. I coordinate GSO support, lay out the objectives for our participation, participate in that training session and handle liaison with the sponsor organization up until convention time. Once the convention begins, the co-chair and I share responsibility and contact with the sponsoring organization. With good preparation, this setup works very well. Because this was the NAACP Convention, we did make an effort to man the booth with a significant number of black AA members solid in their sobriety. As it wound up, 68% of our booth-people hours were covered by black AA members. That exceeded my personal goal of 60%. In terms of requests for future contact with AA either by literature or through a subscription to “About AA”, the quarterly newsletter for professionals and because of other feedback I provided the CPC Desk at GSO, that desk views this as a very successful national convention for Alcoholics Anonymous.
My other recent activities included several contacts with professionals, usually outpatient counseling agencies. Tom R, CPC Chairman for D34 and I will soon be addressing a group of 45 probation and parole officers in a one and one half hour training session. We both are looking very much forward to that. I will also be supporting with video and literature resources. And I plan on attending a number of district functions, principally workshops in the coming months.
Finally, the Executive Director of WAAODA and I were in touch this past week concerning our participation in their 2006 convention in May. I am hoping to have some particulars for you in January.
Many, many thanks for the trust you have reposed in me in this current position. I realize now more than ever before in my AA life that AA’s public “face”—what professionals and other non-members see of us as a Fellowship—is a commodity that does need continual tending and nurturing. Otherwise, we have little hope of motivating these professional to refer to us the alcoholics in their care.
Yours in Recovery and Service,
Stu E, Area 75 CPC Chairman
Public Information Committee Report
Public Information Committee Chair Report – 9/25/2005
It’s been so long since we’ve had a meeting, I can’t remember where to start. I did attend several sessions at the International Convention in Toronto in early July. Judging by what I heard about websites, we in Area 75 are doing quite well. The International, my first, was an unforgettable experience. San Antonio in 2010 is a GIVEN!
A week later, I attended the NAACP convention in Milwaukee. We didn’t see a lot of people at our booth but we were a visible presence and did have many people stop by and fill out forms to receive information about AA. I’d like to thank David W., District 27 DCM for organizing the volunteers and making us all feel comfortable and welcome.
There have been several improvements in the Area 75 website since we last met.
There is now a link to provide a “printer friendly page” so that a meeting list can be printed.
There is now a District Meetings page where you can find the location, day and time of each District GSR meeting.
You may send your announcements to events@area75.org for inclusion on the calendar page.
More districts have taken responsibility for posting their meetings. If your district does not have any meetings posted, ask your DCM. Once a responsible person has been identified, our webmaster, Al B., will send them a login name and password via email so that they can enter their meeting information. Meetings must be entered one at a time. We regret that our committee does not have the resources to enter all your meetings for you.
We hope you will vote in favor of our proposal to allow us to link to sites other than aa.org. This will enable us to provide more help to those who want to learn more about AA.
On September 13, I was invited to present at the Milwaukee Central Office Secretary’s meeting. I want to thank Gene P. for the invitation. I developed a very simple PowerPoint presentation based on the Public Information Workbook. I would be most happy to present it at your District meeting. Thus far, I have been unable to motivate myself to take the initiative and begin attending District Meetings. I hope to progress in this area but you could help by just asking me to attend.
I have brought lots of literature which was given to me by the previous chair. Please take whatever you can use in your district.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Public Information Chair and please contact me if I can be of any assistance as you do PI work in your District.
Respectfully submitted,
George P, Area 75 Public Information Chair
Grapevine Committee Report
Pre Conference Assembly Grapevine Report September 25, 2005
In my January 2005 Grapevine report I shared some term goals with you. I now offer you updates on these goals.
Create a sponsorship program which will help groups and/or individuals sponsor the facility or entity of their choice.
The new “Count on Us” donation forms are now on the sign-in table. These forms address the concept of combining our resources for the greatest good of all. Larger Grapevine orders generate larger discounts that will give all of us more literature for any and all type of facilities within Area 75 correctional or not.
$100 donations will put 12 Grapevine books (10 English-2 Spanish) into a library.
$125 donations will add 50 back issues of the Grapevine or LaVina to each order.
Orders over $500 receive a 20% discount. $100 saved will buy another set of books.
Any donation will make a difference when it is combined with others. Donate what you can when you can. Team work is essential in our effort to Carry Our Message.
Donations can be earmarked for any type of facility within Area 75.
Hold Grapevine writings workshops within the area to share our wit, wisdom, experiences & have some fun while we do it.
a) I created suggested guidelines for hosting Grapevine writing sessions. I have some copies with me for anyone that would like one. The Grapevine committee will be discussing this idea today & at the Fall Conference at 1 PM in whatever area the conference committee assigns us. I will email them to anyone that gives me their email address.
Work closely with our Corrections Chair Paul H. to create and maintain an accurate list of all Department of Corrections facilities in our area from jails to maximum security prisons. We need to be sure that the Grapevine literature is going to the active outside or inside sponsors of these facilities at their correct address.
Create a new “Count on Us” mailing and renewal file system so that address and sponsor updates can be made easily.
a) This will be a combined updated record system. The updates have begun but they will take some time. The GSO and area records are very out-of-date. We will need the cooperation of all DCMs, outside sponsors and volunteers to complete this project. More will be revealed as our efforts continue.
Additional goals to be reviewed by the Grapevine Committee will be:
Create a Wisconsin style Grapevine play that will show our true talents. I have 3 plays available as guides. I will also send them to anyone that gives me an e-mail address.
Update the collection of Grapevine articles written by Wisconsinites for the fellowship. We have been working with our archivist Nancy S to give her any missing Grapevines, La Vinas or PO Box 459 magazines for our Area 75 collection. Notice I said OUR collection! I hope to have a few dedicated Grapevine volunteers to go to our new archives location to sit down, relax and look through the Area 75 Grapevine collection to find any and all submissions by Wisconsin alcoholics-duplicate them and make them available for you.
All Area 75 Grapevine reps have been registered and have (hopefully) received their welcome packets so they can begin their efforts to share the exciting news about the Grapevine Digital Archives and Mp3 downloads that are available at www.grapevine.org.
I hope many of you have checked out the digital archives. They allow us to research over 60 years of Grapevine material on any subject we want for only $2 a month, $10 for Grapevine subscribers and $15 for those that are not subscribing YET! Not expensive.
I tried the new Mp3 downloads that are available on a free trial basis at the Grapevine web site. I enjoyed being able to listen to Grapevine stories while I checked my emails. It made it so much easier to delete the spam that way-without an attitude. I have to tell you that I still don’t understand what an Mp3 is. All I know is that I clicked on the link and the story started playing. If it works for me it will work for you.
The Grapevine and La Vina resources are not just for computer literate people. The Grapevine and La Vina material is available in many forms including books, cd’s and audio cassettes. The cd’s and audio cassettes offer the alcoholic with Special Needs the opportunity to hear the hope of other alcoholics on a daily basis.
Upcoming issues of the Grapevine and laVina will be discussing – October Overcoming Depression in Sobriety – November Gratitude and December -- Twelfth-Step Work -- How does your group carry the message? Are we doing enough?
There will be a Grapevine Committee meeting at the Area 75 Fall Conference in Waukesha on Saturday October 15 at 1 PM. The room will be noted on the conference agenda.
There are tremendous opportunities to Carry the Message using the Grapevine/La Vina literature and even plays! I want to hear what is happening in your groups and/or districts. Let's brainstorm some new ideas for the districts in Area 75. Let's have a Grapelet play in our area - in your district! Let's hold our first Grapevine writing session!
I attended the District 32 meeting last Sunday and left with $185 for the Count on Us Fund. A check for $125 from the district and two cash donations of $50 and $10. It supports my belief that if you tell an alcoholic there is a real need they will do what is needed.
I would like to close with a reminder. The literature, audio reproductions and internet options offered by the General Service Office and the Grapevine are wonderful 12 Step tools but please remember that our message is best carried by one alcoholic talking to another alcoholic. It works when all else fails.
Area 75 will also be holding its Area Inventory at the Fall Conference. Please attend and share your true feelings about how your area is operating. Do we meet your expectations? Are we doing a good/poor job? The inventory will take place from 9 AM to noon at the conference.
I remain in service to the still suffering alcoholics, Jo Mc Area 75 Grapevine Chairperson 262-551-7371.
Corrections Committee Report
AREA 75 CORRECTIONS COMMITTEE REPORT [dated 9/22/05]:
Things have gone well over the summer. Here's a recap:
1) About 25-35 prison inmates each month request bridging the gap contacts; I forward this onto the DCM or corrections or BTG chairperson for the district to which the inmate is going. I try to follow up on most of these to confirm a contact person is found.
2) Our Rainbow fund has received about $580 in donations in the past 3 months. Out of this I've ordered 80 soft cover Big Books, costing $421. These will be distributed along with about 2 dozen Rainbow Fund collection cans at the Corrections Comm. meeting on Saturday afternoon of the fall conference.
3) I've been in communication with other Area Corrections Chairpersons. We are helping each other solve difficulties that arise in our areas. I hope to attend Corrections Conferences in other areas to learn more about AA Corrections work.
4) I request that each outside AA contact for a prison check the Bridging the Gap contact request forms you have on hand. Please destroy any forms that list the mail to address as Poynette, WI. This is an old address and forms sent here take a month or more to reach me. The correct mailing address is: Area 75 Corrections, PMB # 170, 5464 N. Port Washington RD., Glendale, WI 53217. If you wish new BTG contact request forms please email me [phapip@wi.rr.com ] or call me at 262-537-2884.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul H.
Corrections Report Addendum
Sept. 6, 2005 A.D.
Our fellowship of A.A. thanks you personally for your service work with the Corrections Committee of Dist. 6. We are grateful that we have such a wonderful group of volunteers, and we appreciate the great job you do in representing A.A.
As we know, jail is not the most pleasant place to hold an A.A. meeting. No coffee/ no socializing, and very restrictive. We always need to remember that many inmates who do attend these meetings are not there for honorable reasons. We all have experienced ones who crosstalk, give advice, complain about the law, etc. When this happens, the facilitator must interrupt that person immediately and get the meeting back on track.
Many inmates will ask us for advice and personal help, however, under NO circumstances ever give out your personal information, nor get caught up in their situations. We must protect ourselves, and the fellowship of A.A. at all costs.
On the other hand, we too, have to steer clear of giving advice, preaching, and joining in on conversations concerning the shortcomings of the law. It is easy to get wrapped up in their sad stories. Keep in mind that we are there for one reason only, and that is "to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers". That is all that is required of us.
Again, thanks for your dedication to do this type of service work, and the many hours that you donate.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Call one of us, we will be happy to hear from you! Fred K: 262-903-7719 or Diane S: 262-248-2872.
Literature Committee Report
The literature chairperson had not submitted a written report at the time the minutes were completed.
18) Archivist/Archives Committee Report
Archivist’s Report
Area 75 Archivist
Pre-Conference Report
September 25, 2005
Nancy S
The Archives has been receiving district meeting minutes from most of the districts now. I want to say thank you for sending them and allowing me to keep your district alive in the history of Area 75. Many districts now are circulating lists of when and where their meetings are and I am concerned that I am not getting copies of these. Please send not only district meeting minutes and meeting lists but also district flyers for mini conferences, workshops, newspaper articles, or any other item that your district wants in their binder. When a flyer is sent; please follow up with a program if one was provided at the function. Put the full date on everything. (Day, Month, Year) From District meeting lists to Area 75 Proposals.
I displayed the archive materials at the Dist. 12’s 9th Annual Open Meeting, Cook Out, at Jansen Family in West Bend September 17, 2005.
October 1st the display will be at the Spanish Conference held at the Sheraton Hotel by the Airport in Milwaukee.
October 14th through the 16th will be Area 75’s Fall Conference at the Marriott hotel in Waukesha. We will now have the 19 inch TV and VCR, which were graciously donated, at our Conferences. Movies such as “A House Full of Miracles” will be able to be viewed during the conferences.
Due to Hurricane Katrina the National Archives Workshop, which was to be held in New Orleans, has been canceled. I had cancelled the hotel reservation to assure that there would not be a charge. I have also been able to cancel the flight for a cash reimbursement. I did get charged however for the ticket reservation service. We will know at a later time if the workshop will be rescheduled. There has been no word at this time concerning the banquet or registration fees.
Area 75 Archives materials are now housed in a rented and secure room located in Holy Assumption’s school building at 1532 S 72nd St. West Allis. One block South of Greenfield Avenue and less than 5 minutes from Milwaukee Central Office. The room is more than adequate and provides a comfortable atmosphere. We pay $100.00 for rent monthly. There is no contract or documentation that has been signed. On behalf of Holy Assumption, Father Massey supports AA and hopes that the room will be satisfactory. The Area 75 Archives budget is limited and is requesting the generous help of the fellowship to provide some of the needed items. As of today we have had a 27 inch and a 19 inch TV donated frames, a couch, and a shelf. If you are ready to discard any of the following items and would like to donate them please contact Nancy.
All donations are greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!
Area Rugs Office supplies
Couch / Living room Chairs Table & Chairs sit 8 – 10 people
Bookcases / Shelves Coffee Maker
Tape Recorders with earplugs Stand for a 19 inch TV
Anything you might think would be helpful??
G
RAND
OPENING of AREA 75 ARCHIVES
Sunday
November 13, 2005
12:00 – 3:00 P.M.
Holy Assumption’s school building 1532 S 72nd St. West Allis
A milestone in Area 75 history!!
Thank you for allowing me to serve you,
Nancy S
Area 75 Archivist
2650 S. 68 St. Milwaukee, WI 53219
(414) 321-8059
Archives Report
Area 75 Archives Report
I was invited to Dist 19 meeting in Baraboo, by their Archives person Bonnie. She is doing a fine job of Dist 19 archives.
Also was invited to Dist 30 mini-Conf. in Janesville Sept 24-25th, 05. With a small part of area 75 archives. Had a nice time there.
Thank’s to Nancy and her help. For moving our Archives from her house to the new place.
Don’t forget our open house on Nov. 13th, 2005.
Nancy will have more in her report.
Thank you.
Your Area 75 Archives Chairperson
Terry R.
19) Coffee Volunteer – District 25 volunteered to make the coffee at the Agenda Planning meeting in January.
20) Fall 2008 Conference Bid – No bid was made at this time. It will be brought up at the upcoming fall conference as emergency business.
Voting and Discussion on Proposal #1
The proposal is to change the guidelines for the area 75 website to allow links to other “related” websites at the discretion of the PI chairperson.
Discussion: We cannot control the nature of the links. Hijack programs may take you to porn sites. Why do we need additional links? George stated that he was specifically thinking about linking to WICCYPA information. We can only protect our own site and cannot control the links that may be suggested on our site. A link implies affiliation regardless of the disclaimer. Area website already links to grapevine website which didn’t exist at the time the website proposal was written. Links to district websites and central offices are not allowed by current guidelines. New York provides links to area websites, which in turn provide additional links. So we are already connected through to non-conference links through GSO. Ask GSO for a list of approved sites or do not provide a hyperlink on our website, only make mention of other organizations. As stated by the service manual: we need to promote communication with other organizations. The web is a changing medium; to dictate what can and can’t be displayed by assembly action will be very tedious and time consuming. It doesn’t make sense that we allow central office reports but won’t allow a link to their website.
Call the question: Unanimous
Vote: 57 in favor, 8 opposed
Minority Opinion: None
Voting and Discussion on Proposal #2
The proposal is to eliminate support for the Unity Conference effective immediately.
Discussion: Less than 300 attended the conference in 2004 and the conference lost approximately $250. The 5 state conference will be held in conjunction with the Unity Conference if this proposal fails. The proposal as written is not fair to area 74. We have too many conferences in area 75 and the funds could be better spent elsewhere. Proposal cannot be amended, as the author of the proposal is not present. Does not preclude holding the conference, merely withdraws financial support (will not pay expenses for area officers to attend). Ad hoc committee should have been formed to discuss the lack of support and nothing was done. The proposal was brought forth because nobody did anything about it.
Motion to table: 34 in favor, 29 against (requires only a simple majority).
The proposal has been tabled, but will automatically be reconsidered at the January 2006 Agenda Planning Meeting.
23) Agenda for Fall Conference
AREA 75 AGENDA
FALL CONFERENCE ASSEMBLY
10/15/2005
Open meeting with Serenity Prayer
Twelve Concepts – Short form
Secretary Roll call and Report
Treasurers report
Accept bids for the 2008 Fall Conference
See attached Area 75 Conference Bid form
ASK IT BASKET: Questions from the Fellowship will be taking place prior to the listed
Inventory items.
We will follow the remaining listed question with allotted time. We may not get through all listed Inventory questions.
What is the basic purpose of the Area Committee?
Are we concentrating on the basic purpose?
Is the Area Committee attracting only a certain kind of alcoholic to serve? Are
we getting a good cross-section of our Area?
Do new DCM’s and GSR’s stick with us? Does turnover seem excessive?
Are Area Officers and Committee Chairs picked with care and consideration, or
are personalities put before principals?
Do we give all members their chance of keeping informed about the whole of
AA-Recovery, Unity and Service?
Are the issues brought to the Committee meetings made clear so we all know
what we are voting on?
Is adequate opportunity given to all members to speak and participate in
Committee activities and to be the actual voice and effective conscience for
our whole Area?
How do we treat the “Right of Appeal” , thus assuring the minority opinion
will be heard and petitions for the readdress of personal grievances will be
carefully considered?
Has our Area become the seat of perilous wealth and power, or do we have
an effective system for accounting and reporting of funds?
Are all important decisions reached by discussion, vote and whenever possible,
substantial unanimity?
12. Is the Committee democratic in thought and action?
The meeting closed with the Lord’s Prayer.
October 14 – 16, 2005 – Fall Conference, Waukesha WI
January 22, 2006 – Agenda Planning Meeting, Madison Senior Center, Madison WI
March 12, 2006 – Delegate’s Workshop, Madison Senior Center, Madison, WI
April 9, 2006 – Pre-Conference Assembly, Madison Senior Center, Madison, WI
May 5 – 7, 2006 – Area 75 Spring Conference, La Crosse, WI
June 11, 2006 – Agenda Planning Meeting, Madison Senior Center, Madison, WI
July 7 – 9, 2006 – Unity Conference, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
September 24, 2006 - Pre-Conference Assembly, Madison Senior Center, Madison, WI
October 20 – 22, 2006 – Area 75 Fall Conference, Beloit, WI (Area Elections)