DISTRICT 17 NEWSLETTER

June 30, 2009

The District monthly GSR meeting was held on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at the District 17 Central Office, located at 373 Woodward Ave. in Kingsford. The meeting opened with a moment of silence & The Serenity Prayer. In attendance were Cliff W., Keith K., John R., Todd G., Bruce L., Kevin M., James B., Joanne B., Dennis S., Joe L., Ken W., Dave G., Aaron H., Laura K., & Jen J.

Last months’ newsletter accepted as read. If you want to receive the monthly GSR district minutes, please send Jen your email address (jljezylo@uplogon.com)

Financial Chair Report: Attached June Financial Report provided by District 17 Treasurer, Bruce L. Thanks, Bruce! Note the HUGE balance … won’t see that very often! (Conference balance was $1036.78, & we split that with the Area … our split was $518.39). Joanne: Would like to see some conference $$ set aside for James’ PI stuff. This was voted on & unanimously approved.

Corrections Chair Report: Dennis’s report is attached. Thanks Dennis. Dennis wants to suggest that NA begin their own meeting in the jail. Dennis made a motion to accept Betty S, as she wants to get involved with the women's jail meeting. She was unanimously accepted. Dennis needs pocket Big Books (five copies) for hosts of the corrections meetings. A motion was made that the District support this. Unanimously approved. Ken W. nominates Kevin J. to be one of the hosts for Tuesday night jail meeting. (Ken feels he would be good for the group). Motion made & Kevin was unanimously approved.

DCM report: A new link has been added to the District17 website home page for AA Group contributions to District, Area, & the World Service Board in New York. The new summer 2009 AA/Al-Anon meeting cards (powder blue) have been printed & are located at the District 17 Central Office in Kingsford. Contact a district committee member or your group GSR for a copy.  I ended up performing two proof reads before the new meeting cards went to the press.  I'm disappointed that the printer at CJ Graphics still committed a couple of minor errors in locations.  District 17 should look elsewhere next year for the printing of new cards.

 Unbelievable! On attending the Tuesday night AA Easy Does It Group meeting at 7 p.m. at the Fire Hall in Carney on 6-23-09, was informed that this group meeting had dissolved back in December ‘08 due to lack of support. Then the AA Easy Does It Group started a new meeting in May on Monday 7 p.m. at the Pine Crest in Powers, MI.  No one contacted a district committee member of this action so the changes could be made on meeting cards, district website, & 0900 AA Hotline.

 When there’s a change to be made or a new meeting started, please contact a district committee member or a GSR so the changes can be made on the district website and the 0900 AA Hotline. All new Groups started will have to be in force for one year before they are added to the meeting card. The Monday night meeting in Powers will be added to the District website & the 0900 AA Hotline. However, it will be treated as a new meeting & will be added to the meeting cards in 2010. There is no GSR with the Group, however, there is a contact person with information. If your AA Group does not have a GSR (general service representative), elect someone who would like to represent the group & attend the special monthly GSR meeting held the last Tuesday of each month at the District 17 Central Office at 6:30 p.m. (CST).

 All AA Groups (28) in District 17 that conduct (39) weekly meetings are registered at The General Service Office in New York & have a service number assigned. There are thirteen (13) GSR’s listed including the Pembine Group on Wednesday.

One of the obligations of the DCM (District Committee Member) is to show up at District 17 AA meetings to witness how they are conducted. At the District 17 Central Office there is an AA Group Folder that consists of the Alcoholics Anonymous Group Information Change Form for each AA Group. This form has to be updated as changes are being made at the AA Group level. The DCM reports the changes to the Area 74 secretary, who in turns adds the change to the data base linked to the General Service Office. All new GSR’s elected will receive a welcome packet from the General Service Office in New York.

Living my life 1-day at a time,

Cliff W. DCM, District17

Notes: James suggests that two different people do the proof-reading next time. Dennis: We should do our own cards. John made a motion that we check with the Graphics class at Dickinson-Iron Technical Center next time, since they did such great work on our conference pamphlets. This was unanimously approved.

Remember that elections (Area & District) will be coming up in October.

2009 Intergroup: Saturday, July 11th, 2009, L’Anse, (American Legion) Normal times (EST)

0900 AA Hotline: 124 hits with possible 54 telemarketers. We STILL need to get on the No-Call list. Leslie from Vulcan wants to do the hotline, too. She’ll be our female voice. (Dennis will call Leslie.)

District 17 central website: 166 hits. A new link labeled "DCM notes" has been added on the web page. This is that our DCM can inform AA members in District 17 before the monthly meeting on the last Tuesday of each month.

Archives Chair: John has archives well in-hand. Spring Conference hard copies have been given to John so he can archive them. Our District website has an archives page. John wants to welcome  Laura K from Iron River as a GSR. She is also on the IR Alano Club board & will be an asset to our District.

Public Information Committee Chair: James is working hard. Looking for committee members (Paula possibly). James has been trying to get contact people at different meetings. He attended a meeting in Spaulding & spoke to Rose R. who will be happy to help with library, school, etc. in that area. James also attended a meeting in Crystal Falls & is looking for a contact there as well. James now has a brochure of Conference-Approved literature. He’s been around to area hotels etc. There is interest, & now it’s down to ordering literature & getting it distributed. Welcome to Laura (Maybe she can be his contact in IR?).

Now we need to figure out his budget. Cliff thinks that James should come up with an order & we’ll vote on it next meeting. But James wants to start getting the message out. John made a motion to give James an initial $150.00 to order materials to get started. Unanimously approved. James will bring back all receipts.

New Business: Dave: Funfest in Crivitz (July 11th, 2009). Cliff wants to be reimbursed for the new can of Folgers. ($9.75). Unanimously approved. Bruce: At the June Intergroup we had a discussion on lack of communication between the Area, Districts, & meetings. Our district is doing a good job with intra-district communication, but the communications between the Area & Districts is nil. Shouldn’t the Districts be on the mailing list for the Area minutes? (That’d be the "Now & Then") Area has business meetings (at the conference, etc) & they’re making decisions for our districts, but we aren’t informed about what’s going on. People are getting tired of sending $$ to Area & not getting anything back. This discussion will be continued at the July Intergroup in L’Anse & will be tabled for further discussion next month. PLEASE COME TO BOTH!

.Website: Our website can be viewed at http://district17a74.org. Please check it out for important announcements. Visit the Area website at http://area74.org to stay up to date with all Area business.

Announcements: Please see District Website and Area Website.

Group Change Forms: If you have changes to your groups as far as times, meeting format, GSR’s, etc. please mail to the district at: P.O. Box 415, Iron Mountain, MI 49801

Our next GSR meeting will be Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 6:30 PM at the District Central Office in Kingsford. *****IF YOU ARE A GSR, PLEASE PLAN ON ATTENDING!!!

The meeting closed with The Lord’s Prayer                                PAGE 2

Respectfully submitted,

Jen J., District secretary