District 17 Newsletter
January 28, 2006
DCM Newsletter January 28th, 2006
Our 2nd District (GSR) meeting of 2006 was held at the Iron Mountain VA, on
Thursday, 1-26-06. We opened with the Lords Prayer. The meeting was attended by
all district officers and quite a few GSR and individuals.
I apologize for not naming individuals and not doing minutes but I will touch on
some key issues.
The following items were discussed:
New contact sheets for meeting and GSR’s need to be filled out and returned to
district. We voted at the previous district meeting process and forward the
completed sheets to GSO as a group. This is a service that the district can do
and keep track of all district information. I will make a current list of all
sheets gathered to date in time for the next district meeting. We are still
short quite a few. Please see me if you need sheets or go to the following link
_ HYPERLINK "http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/e_group.pdf"
_http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/e_group.pdf_ and print them yourselves. This is
important and needs to be done in short order.
We (I) really need a district secretary. The amount of work of processing
paperwork is overwhelming and will tax my ability as the DCM if I have to
continue building mailing lists, filling out forms, mailing , etc. Please ask at
all meetings for someone to help do this job. This is an important job and
requires some definite understanding of communications. Email would be a plus.
Web site creation and an online meeting list were briefly discussed. We need a
volunteer to find out how the rest of districts are hosted and by whom. I have
emailed the webmaster and when I get a reply I will pass on this information.
Is this something that we can do or get done at no cost. Does GSO host the site?
Does Area 74 host the site? We also need to get with district 18 and help them
upgrade the meeting list they have online. For more information please go to _
HYPERLINK "http://www.area74.org" __www.area74.org_ and see district 18 website.
Check out “the rest of the UP” link and see the meeting list.
0900 hotline was discussed at some length. Charlie K. volunteered to gather a
contact numbers list that could be included in the menu on the phone system.
Cliff W. and Charlie have both worked towards the upgrade in the past and their
knowledge and work is appreciated. We will attempt to have the list of contact
numbers in hand at the next district meeting.
District Funding was also discussed. Primarily how do we grow or save funds.
Emailing minutes, newsletters, treasurer reports, etc. will save substantial
funds over a year. By building our credibility as a district committee we may
find ourselves with more contributions, especially if we start explaining the
60, 30, 10 split of group funds. All GSR’s should be approaching their groups
with this in mind and explaining that the district is trying to change to better
serve the groups. Please read the service manual, fund raising is addressed.
Meeting cards were discussed briefly. I need a copy of all meeting on disc so
that we can maintain them and give this to the printers (CJ Graphics). Mckay G.
was present and asked to bring up putting Alanon on the new cards. She also
stated that Alanon was willing to fund their share of the cards. Please bring
this request back to your groups for discussion and a group conscience vote.
This has been done in the past and the real question was where do you say no and
to whom. If the meeting cards were printed outside of AA by a group comprised of
all interested organizations and then just purchased by each organization would
this support the traditions or “not supporting outside enterprises?" Remember
support or affiliation does not just mean money. Something to think about.
Please read the service manual, if anyone finds information pertaining to this
please contact me with a page number. If there is a new group or group changes
please fill out a group change form or contact a district officer or member so
we can register it and get it on the cards.