District 17 Newsletter

                  July 13, 2006

Peace and Serenity to all. I am happy to say that this month I am enclosing the notes from our 7th District Meeting held Monday, 6-26-06 , at the 1st Lutheran Church located at 1210 Stephenson Ave., in Iron Mountain. Jennifer was filling in for Marion the District 17 secretary. Thank you Jennifer.  They are as follows.

District Meeting Minut  - 6/26/06

Opened with The Serenity Prayer

Present were Marion H. (Thursday Night Women’s & district secretary), Jill B. (Norway Monday Night) , Dennis (Monday Night Iron Mountain), Joe C. (Visitor), Jen J. (Wednesday Night Randville), Eric A. (Visitor), Gordie P. (Tuesday Night Florence & Alternate DCM), Cliff W. (Iron Mountain VA Groups & district treasurer), Steve S. (DCM)

1)      Finances - (Cliff) - Balance forward = $ 388.78
             + $ 40.00 IM Monday Night
        - $ 155.00 CJ Graphic’s (meeting cards)
        - $ 23.75 AT & T (Used to be SBC) 0900
        + $ 55.00 Tonight’s new contributions
         _______
       $ 305.03
2) Corrections report (Dennis)
   - 1 can coffee donated by Friday Night Masonic Temple group (Received from Betty) … That makes six cans donated this year.
   - Sent “Thank You” note to Dylan (Corrections Chair) for his swift work on getting our District the corrections workbooks & manual, which have been distributed.
   - Big Books were ordered by Cliff & donated by all the VA groups. These were split between men’s & women’s jail meetings & inscribed with acknowledgement of their generous donation.
   - Good ole Harry got Terry G. going to jail meetings, & Dennis accompanied him for his “first time”. Looks like he’s going to work out great, as soon as the Lt. can fingerprint him. With his help, there are now enough jail meeting volunteers for the Dickinson County Jail. (Five total)
                Submitted by Dennis (re-typed by Jen)

   Gordy - a) What about the other jails in the area?? For example, Bob who does the Florence County Jail meetings is in poor health & needs to be replaced (or at least helped). We need volunteers for an alternate (Yes, MI residents CAN visit WI jails & visa versa)
                 b) How about getting $$$ (&/or books) from Area 74? No $$ left.
   Marion - What should come first ($-wise) when discussing donations with our groups??? General rule … After group expenses are met = District (60%), Area (30%), GSO (10%) … Corrections is more of a “sponsorship”. Dennis hits individual (solvent) groups for “sponsorship”
   Jen - Can Alanon donate $$ to corrections?? Probably would be better to donate Big Books (or other AA literature) to avoid traditions conflict.

3)  0-900 #  (Steve) … Need more #s for the list!
          Jen & Jay added (906)-542-7021
          Jerry J. - (906)-238-4270
          Joe removed (No phone)
4) Cliff - Meeting card expense did not increase from last year. (Thanks CJ Graphics)
5) Steve -  Marion as new secretary & Gordy as new Alternate DCM … Voted in last meeting.
6) Steve - Service sponsorship? Did anyone bring this topic back to their groups? Several people had, with mixed results. Needs to go hand-in-hand with recovery sponsorship.
     Joe - It’s tough to usurp incumbents when people remain in the service position for years & years. How do you get new people to volunteer? Jen, Steve, etc - Didn’t volunteer, but were told to do service work by sponsors.
     Joe - Suggests beginning newcomers as “greeters”, as mentioned in the Big Book.
     Eric - How do we get people for new service positions if we can’t even fill the current ones?
7) Traditions - Re-hashed (Steve)

Closed with The Lord’s Prayer

The following items were again discussed. Remember, the discussion may only involve those at the District meeting, but we need to carry this message to the groups in order to draw them into the subject. Please share what goes on in the meetings with your group. That is our job.


1. We talked about Service Sponsorship. It is important to start talking about sponsorship at meetings even more than what we do now. Have a sponsor, be a sponsor. Continually talk about the benefits of service work. The payoff is good sobriety!

2. Traditions. Please consider in your group discussing one tradition per month, every month. In a year we will have studied all of them. If your group is no interested in doing this then how about setting aside November to study the traditions. It is tradition month!

Thanks to the Cliff  for  making coffee early so it was ready for the meeting. The meeting following the meeting was excellent as usual.

Our next District meeting will be on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 6:15 pm, in Pembine, WI at St. Margaret’s Church located on the left side of the highway just before Pembine. (left side if your heading south) If you need a ride up let me know. I will be staying for the meeting afterwards. Bring a friend.

In Love and Service,
Steve S., District 17 DCM, Area 74
P.O. Box 415, Iron Mountain, MI  49801