2011 INTERGROUP BIDS:

GSR REPORTS / UPDATES:

Appleton, MI 54915

(920) 739-1977 H

(920) 810-6751 C

2010 INTERGROUPS:

Meeting called to order by Mike G. at 5:00 PM open with a moment of silence followed by The Serenity Prayer. (So many of us we had to move into the fellowship/eating area!)

ATTENDEES: Gordon N, Gary G, Kathy L, Kay A, Jim S, Keith A, Sue R, Roy E, Mike G, Mark V, Gary T, Joe P, Brian, Randy S, Julie C, Kenneth L, Derek T, Dale F, Michael C, Jean P, Charlamaine, Harry S, Bruce L, Ken U, Mark B, Tom C, Larry T, & Dawn M = 28!

MINUTES: Last months minutes from the Iron Mountain/Kingsford Intergroup on April 10, 2010 were read by secretary.

GSR REPORTS / UPDATES:

OLD BUSINESS:

NEW BUSINESS:

OTHER:

September: Crystal Falls, Iron River, Amasa

November: Ishpeming

October: Newberry

2010 INTERGROUPS: (Please call me with dates for me to email in a.s.a.p. 906-4949-2529, Thanks!)

Meeting called to order by Bruce L. (DCM) at 5:00 PM with a moment of silence followed by The Serenity Prayer.

Introductions were made by going around the room introducing ourselves. (Along with a sign in sheet to assist the secretary (this one doesn’t type very fast).

ATTENDEES: Gary, Jen, Kim. Clifford, Kathy, Dawn, David, Marion, Mary Jo, Tony, John, Dale, Joanne, Joe, John, Tom, James, Jennifer, Bob and Jeanne = 20!

MINUTES: Last months minutes from the Delta Intergroup on March 6^th, 2010 were read by secretary.

GSR REPORTS / UPDATES:

OLD BUSINESS:

NEW BUSINESS:

OTHER:

October: Newberry

9 AM to 3 PM

New Life Christian Fellowship hall

W8050 County Road C

Wausaukee, WI (Located 2 miles West of Wausaukee on County Road C)

8:30 – 9 AM Registration & Fellowship

9 –10:15 Panel #1: Alanon Round Table Discussion

Panel #2: Getting the Word Out

(Regarding Public information & Cooperating with the professional Community)

10:30 AM – Noon AA panel – Cooperation between levels of service

12 – 1 PM Lunch (provided by Districts 09 & 17)

1 – 3 PM Round Table Discussion

For more information call Gloria: 715-324-5569

2010 INTERGROUPS: (Please call me with dates for me to email in a.s.a.p. 906-4949-2529, Thanks!)

ADJOURNMENT: Bruce closed with the Serenity Prayer around 5:50 PM..

March 6, 2010                                                                                                   DELTA

  January 9, 2010                                                                            Ishpeming

Meeting was chaired by Ken & began with the Serenity Prayer.  In attendance were James B., Jeanne R., Ken, Len D., Mary Jo, Dawn, Kathy, Bill, Jim, Bruce L., Jen J., Jill M., Jimmy, John, Roy, Kevin, Brian, Paul, Kathy, & Chris. Last months minutes were read … Ken: one correction: “…150-200 inmates will be coming out of Marquette (released) each year. Mark would like to get a list of (regular AA members) to volunteer to get them to their first meeting & connected to the recovering community.

Roy: There is an on-line registry for inmates coming out of prison so they can be checked out (kind of like a sex-offender registry). Jimmy: concerned about sex-offenders. Ken: need to use common sense. Like any other twelve step call, shouldn’t go on it alone. Chris: Who’s running this program? Mark from the Marquette area (markmqt@yahoo.com) & Ken (aharleyrider54@yahoo.com) are gathering volunteer names. Jim: at the Fall Assembly there was a vote to form a new committee for this & it was voted down. James: Suggested that each district send a letter to Mark (“Dear parolee”…) which has a meeting list with phone numbers. Len: each district is autonomous, so they can do what they want, but this really isn’t how the “Bridging the Gap” program is set up. It’s a U.P. wide program in which the parolee (prison) gets a hold of Mark who will set him up with an AA contact (gives the AA member the parolee’s number) only if they’re interested in going to AA. Jim: So Mark contacts the volunteer & gives the volunteer the parolee’s name & number. Jeanne: The volunteer’s ONLY responsibility is to get the parolee to their first meeting on the outside. Len: That raises a problem … Where am I being responsible to AA? Bruce: He’s also confused … In his mind, the person getting paroled first comes home, then gets in contact with the parole officer. Then what? Jill: While living in Vermont, was contacted to get the parolee to his meeting, but was never contacted again. Mary Jo does a jail meeting & has offered her services to get them to meetings when they’re released, but has never been contacted. Ken: It’s just to get the parolee to their first meeting … THAT’S it. Kevin: Is confused by Len’s confusion … What “guidelines” is he talking about? Guidelines for AA or guidelines for “Bridging the Gap”? It’s really up to the individual how much he/she does for the parolee. Dawn: What she understands is that your name goes on the list, ONLY IF YOU WANT … & that’s that! Keep it simple, people.

Remember the Delegate’s Workshop beginning at 8-9 AM on March 13th, 1st United Methodist Church, 111 East Ridge St, Marquette. PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS FOR ALL AREA GSRS!!! ($7.50) The new delegate is Steve H. from the Appleton area, & he needs input from the Area’s AA members. He’ll ask us for our input on the questions that will be covered in the General Service Conference.

December 5, 2009                                                                                     Marquette

Jim: Had a District 20 GSR meeting on the 15 ^{at least 75% of the groups now have GSRs so the district is doing pretty well. Prison people include Ken & Jim. Len: Are there any Munising people here? Jim knows that Kathy P. is the alternate DCM but will probably end up being DCM. Jeanne: The district map shows that Munising is in district 19 but some of the meetings are in 19 & some are in 20. Jeanne suggests that they register as part of district 20. Jim has invited Manistique & Munising to the District meetings just so they get active again. Len: The Area delegate’s workshop is planned for March 13. However, Len mentioned that last month it was talked about having a service workshop. Jen & James: Maybe we could hold this in April in Iron Mountain, before the IM/Kingsford Intergroup? Dates for Fall Conference are scheduled for the second weekend in September (Delta Area). We need to contact Kevin J. to schedule Niagara’s Intergroup around the Fall Conference. Mark - District correction chair for District 18 (Larry is the Area Corrections chair)… They are planning to re-institute the Bridge the Gap program … 150-200 inmates will be coming out of Marquette (released) each year. Mark would like to get a list of GSRs to volunteer to get them to their first meeting & connected to the recovering community. He requests a list of volunteers from each district to help with Bridging the Gap. It won’t be known why these inmates have been in prison. Rachel: How would someone for her group who was interested get on the list? Ken is the new DCM so it would be emailed to his email address (aharleyrider54@yahoo.com) James: His district has an 0900 number with volunteer names to call to contact for rides etc. Bruce: James as the PI person has a pamphlet for court-ordered people to introduce them to AA. Mark (Markmqt@yahoo.com): This is for males & females … The idea is to get these people to their first meeting ... Many of them are afraid … to ask for rides, to ask for meeting lists, etc. The inmate will not have your phone number but will be contacted by you. Jim: Instead of each meeting sending a list, have each district send a list. Mark suggests that each list give a town name to help with getting the people together. Derek: From District 19 originally they had a sign-up form. (Mark has this form). Ken: This is really for AA members who are coming out for jail. Not every prisoner coming out will be going to meetings … only those who may want recovery (or to continue with recovery). Len: We do have a lot of autonomy as this program develops. Mark wants lots of input from the whole U.P. Ken: These contacts should be treated as any other twelve step call, & should never be attended alone. Gail: No one in the meeting would (should) know where the person comes from. That information can be volunteered, but will not be asked about. James B. (PI Iron Mountain): Their district has a packet that contains a letter for patients coming out of treatment or detoxication. The letter has a few numbers for the patient to contact if they are interested in attending AA meetings. This has just started & they are learning as they go. Bruce: James also has a packet for the parole officers so they also have a letter with some numbers to call for twelve step work. Len: There’s a similar program in Marquette County that seems to be working well. Brian: Isn’t the one in Marquette targeted towards misdemeanor cases? Len: Depends on who’s doing it. Len will include felons including life-time sentences. The meeting ended with The Our Father.}

NOVEMBER 2009                                                                                          Ishpeming

No Report

October 10, 2009                                                                                                   Newberry

September 12, 2009                       Crystal Falls/Iron River at Sagola

August 15, 2009                                                                          Gwinn

 Last months’ minutes were read.

 Len apologizes for not coming to the last Intergroup & wants to correct some misinformation from last month: (“…We send our Area delegate to GSO to vote for us, but they have no idea about our concerns …”) Delegate goes to the General Service Conference … NOT to GSO as was written in the last minutes. The Delegate then instructs the GS Board & after the conference, there’s a meeting to go over the conference reports. The CONFERENCE is the relationship between the GSO & the board.  We DO need to get back to the basics & come to a consensus as to what that is … He went to two meetings with newcomers & no one talked about the steps until he shared. The steps are what keep us together. He doesn’t think most people even know what’s in the Service Manual. People don’t like to go to district meetings because they’re like mini-governments. We need to talk about the steps & stop talking about our “problems” at the meetings. Len: Jerry has been trying to impress upon us the importance of service. At the assembly they decided to have a Service Workshop on the Friday before the Fall Assembly (October 17^{th in Three Lakes, WI). Brian: Used to be the GSR for Marquette Saturday 9 a.m. underground meeting but stepped down to become GSR for the TGIF group on Fridays. He has mentioned this for months, but no one has stepped up to the plate. The most recent Now & Then has a good article by Dodie on the duties of a GSR. Brian is glad to be part of the service structure. Jerry: Hey, it’s not so bad … He remembers when we had three people at our GSR meetings & look at us now! We have new people & some great enthusiasm. He feels the Area is letting us down … we should be having service workshops closer to home, as was done in the past. We seem to be dropping the ball. Len: If everyone here went to the next assembly, stood up & told them they’re not serving us here in the U.P., it would help. However if we expect a delegate to come talk to us, we’ll have to pay, BUT if anyone comes from the AREA, they’re paid by the AREA. Tom: Only one service workshop that he thought was worth while … that’s the one held in Iron Mountain a few years back. But if we try to hold it during an Intergroup, there’s not enough time … Len thinks there would be plenty of time, if we started early enough. Ken: Aren’t our DCMs supposed to be here? We have two DCMs here … Joe P (alt DCM district 16) & Jim S (district 20). Jim: From Grand Marais …their meetings etc. went to heck for a long while until some really interested people got involved … now they have a really good group which uses the 12X12. Now EVERYONE in their group has a sponsor & it’s really important to them. His sponsor direct from treatment was tough & helped keep him sober. It’s important that people know that the sponsor benefits from the relationship since she/he must study the Big Book to be a good one. Joe: He’s not getting people to volunteer no matter what he does. No one seems to be interested. No one is taking responsibility. Now there are people who want to hold district meeting every two months & not contribute $$ to the District or Area. If we don’t start giving back what’s been given to us, we’re in trouble. We need to get back to “What it was like, what happened, & what it’s like now”. Ken: Did some reading on old AA & they used to take a newcomer through the steps in their first few meetings. It’s not happening now. Dawn: This is just her third Intergroup GSR meeting … When she goes to her meetings, she always discusses a step, her sponsor, the Big Book etc. She’ll be taking her enthusiasm back to her Home Group. Jerry: For some reason, we think we’ve failed if everyone isn’t jumping into service. Remember there is but one ultimate authority & that’s God, as we understand God. Gary: Learned early about the Big Book, Sponsors, etc. Now it seems there are problem with cross addicted, addicts, dual-diagnosed, etc … as long as were talking about AA, who cares? He feels it’s his responsibility to bring things back around to AA when things get off topic.}

       July 11, 2009                                                                                           L’Anse

MANISTIQUE                                                                                                 

We’ll finalize the 2010 Intergroup bids at the August Intergroup in Gwinn … See you there!

Intergroup Contacts: (Please email me with any changes in the contact list!) ^{jljezylo@uplogon.com}