This post contains supplemental news for November, 2020. This includes upcoming events that may be of interest to you, upcoming election of new SDI officers, Box 459 supplement, meeting changes, and GSO vacancy announcement.

Upcoming Events

Please make note of the following virtual events, and consider attending them, as well as sharing about these with others.

Virtual Eastern US/Canada Forum 2020: December 5, 2020

Sponsored by the General Service Board Of Alcoholics Anonymous, this one-day sharing and informational session will feature workshops, special presentations and more, with the participation of your trusted servants in the Northeast, Southeast, East Central and Eastern Canada Regions. One of the main events this year will be a panel discussion with Intergroup/Central office managers from each region on what this year has been like for their office and on all of our continuing efforts to help the alcoholic who still suffers. The forum is free, but registration is required. For more information and to register, please go here.

57th International Women’s Conference: February 18 to 21, 2021

The International Women’s Conference (ICW) is a closed A.A. women’s conference intended as a bridge to a better understanding of the Alcoholics Anonymous philosophy and way of life because of the special needs in sobriety as women. The Language of the Heart will be spoken at the first virtual ICW ever held. Registration is free, but required. Contributions are welcome. For more information and to register, please go here.

Northeast Regional Alcoholics Anonymous Service Assembly 2021: February 26 to 28, 2021

The purpose of the Northeast Regional Alcoholics Anonymous Service Assembly (NERAASA) is for General Service Representatives (GSR’s), District Committee Members (DCM’s), Area Officers, Area Committee Members, District Committee Members, and Intergroup/Central Office Representatives of the Northeast Region to discuss General Service Conference related issues and concerns affecting A.A. as a whole, as well as pertinent aspects of recovery, unity and service common to the areas of the Northeast Region. All A.A. members are welcome and encouraged to attend! The cost for this virtual forum is $21.00. For more information and to register, please go here.

Meeting Changes

We’ve had a number of meeting changes and additions during the past weeks. The meeting schedule can be found on the meetings page which now has sub-menu options for quickly finding upcoming online meetings, all online meetings, outdoor meetings, and the reopened indoor meetings we know about. There’s also a sub-menu link to frequently used meeting materials, such as the text for the Preamble, How it Works, A Vision for You, the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions, and much more.

Currently there are 19 meetings that we do not know the status of. If you can help us keep the meeting schedule accurate, we would appreciate that. This includes any meetings moving from outside to inside, reopened face-to-face meetings, or suspended meetings going live. Please contact us by email so we can make the update. Please include the meeting name, day, and time in your email.

If your meeting is going online via Zoom, consider enabling embed password in the meeting link for one-click join. This way the meeting password will be encrypted and included in the join meeting link to allow participants to join with just one click without having to enter the password. For more information on suggested Zoom settings, please see this article.

And if your group is considering resuming your in-person meetings, please consider reviewing the information contained in this article.

Election for Intergroup Officers

At our next intergroup meeting, elections will be held for Secretary and Treasurer. These two-year positions will begin on January 1, 2021. At the November meeting, we did accept a nomination for treasurer, but no one has been nominated for secretary. Suggested minimum sobriety is two years. Below is an outline of the responsibilities and you can get more information from our bylaws.

• The Secretary is responsible for taking and distributing the monthly minutes.
• The Treasurer receives and records all Seventh Tradition contributions and maintains oversight of the finances. Other duties include paying bills, tracking expenses, reimbursing individuals for miscellaneous expenses, and distributing a monthly report about the finances at each Intergroup meeting.

If you know someone who wants to be of service for these trusted servant positions, please plan to attend the December 3 meeting via Zoom, on Thursday, December 3 at 6:00 PM. Please contact us by email if you have further questions.

Box 459 Online Supplement

Box 4-5-9 is a quarterly news bulletin from the U.S./Canada General Service Office. In late October, they published a supplemental edition celebrating over half a millennium of service at G.S.O. Highlights of the issue, which you can download here are:

• Virtual Retirement Party to celebrate the careers of 20 G.S.O./Grapevine employees whose combined service to Alcoholics Anonymous amounted to an extraordinary 531 years of experience, strength and hope.
• Changes at G.S.O. that include full implementation of the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and open staff positions.
• Opening for General Manager of G.S.O effective February 1, 2021. See below for details about this position.

G.S.O. Vacancy Announcement

The General Service Board has begun the search for a new General Manager as the current General Manager, Greg T., is expected to leave, effective February 1, 2021. Following are the qualifications for the position.

• Ten years minimum sobriety.
• Proven leadership ability and demonstrated track record of building interpersonal relationships to advance and inspire organizational culture.
• Demonstrated executive and strategic level experience to drive the organization’s mission, including leveraging technology to accomplish those aims; experience in managing organizations of comparable size and kind.
• A.A. service experience; knowledge of General Service structure and A.A. history.
• Effective communicator, both verbal and written, to work with the appropriate boards, the General Service Conference and the Fellowship at large; command of organizational details and the ability to respond effectively to multiple constituencies.
• Demonstrated understanding of the unique nature of A.A., the structure and balances of authority in A.A. services, and the ability to work with and resolve conflicting viewpoints.

For more information on the position, please see the attached letter.