May 2024 News
May 2024 Newsletter
May is here and soon our rooms will be filled with wonderful sober fellows visiting the beach on vacation. Our community here is recognized by visitors as an amazing, close and dedicated group of recovering alcoholics. We truly are the lucky ones.
So, as we welcome and get to know our out-of-towners this season, let’s offer a hand and support during a time that could be challenging for them, particularly those newly sober, as they navigate group vacation homes shared with drinkers, family interactions and going out to local establishments where alcohol can be pervasive.
Remember the responsibility pledge during this busy season:
I am responsible. When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there. And for that I am responsible.
As it’s May, the fifth month, let’s look at Step 5, Tradition 5 and Concept 5.
Step 5: “Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
All of A.A.’s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires…they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any Step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.
A.A. experience has taught us we cannot live alone with our pressing problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them. If we have swept the searchlight of Step Four back and forth over our careers, and it has revealed in stark relief those experiences we’d rather not remember, if we have come to know how wrong thinking and action have hurt us and others, then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghost of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them.
— Reprinted from The Twelve and Twelve – (page 52), with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
Tradition 5: “Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.”
“Shoemaker, stick to thy last!” … better do one thing supremely well than many badly. That is the central theme of this Tradition. Around it our sobriety gathers in unity. The very life of our Fellowship requires the preservation of this principle.
Reprinted from The Twelve and Twelve – page 151, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
Concept 5: “Throughout our world service structure, a traditional “Right of Appeal” ought to prevail, thus assuring us that minority opinion will be heard and that petitions for the redress of personal grievances will be carefully considered.”
Reprinted from A.A. Service Manual/Twelve Concepts for World Services (with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
Southern Delaware Intergroup Monthly Meeting — Join us on Thursday May 2 at 6PM via Zoom. Meeting ID: 987-8810-5001, Passcode: 914711. Our intergroup is a resource for 12-Step work and Alcoholics Anonymous information in Southern Delaware. Please consider volunteering for a service opportunity, which includes most Intergroup committees. For more information about what each Committee does, see our Service Committees page and plan to attend our next intergroup meeting.
District 13 Monthly Meeting – May 8 at 5:30 p.m. at St. Martha’s Episcopal Church located at 17 Maplewood Street in Bethany Beach.
GENERAL SERVICE OFFICE NEWS
The General Service Office is hard at work and busting with news this month. A quick rundown of the news and activity report includes:
- New guidelines for Intergroups and Central Offices
- A new quarterly report for the 4th Quarter
- New meeting guide App features and much more!
For a closer look at what’s happening, visit Group Services Activity Update April 2024 (aa.org).
Groups of District 13 AA Picnic
Join us! Sunday, May 19 – Noon to 3 p.m.
John West Park, Ocean View
POT LUCK: PLEASE BRING A DISH TO SHARE!
Free Parking
Save the Date
Bash at the Beach! September 15th
Another year of food, fellowship, and fun! More info to come!
A little farther but a lot of fun! Bingo!!
Delaware Area 12 Convention – New Place and New Time!
Organizers are seeking volunteers to lead (small room) breakout sessions. The sessions are 75 minutes and will be held before and/or after the main room events. Some suggested topics are: The Three Legacies, Service Sponsorship, Yoga, Meditation, Safety in A.A., The Home Group, Committees, Archives/History. http://delawareaa.org/
Make plans to attend the 2025 A.A. International Convention scheduled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! An International A.A. Convention is held every five years and this year marks the 90th anniversary of the beginning of our fellowships founding and is titled “90 Years – Language of the Heart. More information will be published in the coming months in this newsletter. Meanwhile, here is a glimpse:
Vancouver will welcome A.A. members from around the world for the 2025 International Convention. The International Convention will take place from July 3 – 6, 2025, at the Vancouver Convention Centre and BC Place Stadium. As the Convention approaches, AA will update the website with registration information. Let’s celebrate sobriety together in Vancouver in 2025! For more information, go to: https://www.aa.org/international-convention
We have been asking for submissions for our newsletter (see below) and our member Ranier S. was kind enough to send a submission to feature here! We have been asking for a favorite slogan, phrase, or prayer. We recently have received many submissions, which we will be featuring in the coming months. Please continue to send us your ideas!
“I found this at a meeting hall in East Dorsett, Vermont which is Bill W’s birthplace: Many meetings – many chances, Few meetings – few chances, No meetings – no chances.”
Thank you Ranier!
Want to be part of this newsletter? We would love to hear from you! We’re always interested in receiving short articles and experiences written by our A.A. members for possible publication. All submissions are subject to review and editing. Send submissions to support@sussexaa.org. Below are some ideas.
- How you worked a specific step.
- A favorite A.A. slogan and how it has helped you.
- Something your sponsor said that impacted you.
Subscribing to this Newsletter via e-mail is very easy. Simply email “subscribe” to support@sussexaa.org or sign up online and you will receive the monthly email on the 1st of each month.