Hello Area 72. We have a good start to service work in District 36 with three business meetings under wraps and the fourth coming right after the April Quarterly. We have made room in our business meeting agenda to host hot topics in general service. This was covered by Bud W our Area 72 Accessibility chair in February and Lupita Y-M our Area Alternate Delegate in March. Lupita spent some time talking about pre-conference and preparing our GSR for helping the Delegate in her General Conference Work. Lupita brought Area handbooks and pitched the support that Area gives to our GSR. This meeting was well attended, and I heard a lot of interest from members in what Lupita reported. We are working to increase our participation by GSR in District 36 by contacting the groups and making sure that if no GSR is listed we have a group contact who is willing to get our business e-mails. Our Registrar Tami B updates our contact list and makes sure the meetings schedules are current. You can find out more info about our meeting schedule and upcoming events on our website at snovalleyaa.org. For this month’s newsletter topic, I would say the most successful workshops we have had are joint events with neighboring districts. We get good participation, and planning is easier with multiple districts involved. Everyone can take a role and spreading the work out reduces the burden. Isn’t that true of service in general? Everybody doesn’t have to participate in general service, but the more people who contribute a small amount of time can make it easier for everyone. Last year we put on a Safety in AA workshop with the Eastside Districts. The topic was timely and eye opening. We heard from panelists who experienced traumatic incidents caused by members in our fellowship. I was shocked and disappointed in what can take place in an AA group where everyone should feel safe. The problem does not go away when we refuse to acknowledge it, and I personally never acknowledged it because I was not on the receiving end of negative behavior. I urge every group to review the AA Safety card ( https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/f-211_en_0422.pdf ) and talk about what happens if someone approaches the home group and says they feel unsafe at their meeting.
Grateful to be of service, Mike L.
