February 25, 2023, Area 56 Assembly
On Thursday, January 26, 2023, I flew to New York to attend the General Service Board Weekend. This is an honor given only to Delegate Conference Committee Chairs. The other chairs came from California, Wyoming, Tennessee, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kansas City and three from Canada. We stayed at the Westin Times Square right in the middle of the most exciting area of New York. Friday night the board members treated us to Virgil’s, a BBQ place which served us a family style feast.
The following is a summary of the committees I attended and a few highlights from each:
On Saturday we began joining Trustees’ Committee Meetings. The first meeting I attended was Literature. There were around 2600 story submissions for the 5th Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. They are reading those at the rate of about 100 stories per month and there will be a progress report next year. Some stories not chosen for the Big Book may be used in pamphlets or the Grapevine. There were 89 stories submitted for the updated pamphlet “A.A. for the Black and African American Alcoholic.” These are now in the process of editing. They have finished reading the submitted stories for the 4th Edition Alcoholicos Anonimos-Spanish language Big Book. Regarding the plain and simple language Big Book, there will be a discussion on the conference floor to hear what the fellowship is feeling. Each conference member will also have one hour to read it to see for themselves how the language and format looks.
Next, I attended the Trustees’ Public Information Committee. They reviewed the PI Service Cards which will be downloadable for Areas to use, make QR Codes and blow up in any size they wish. They are developing a GSO Podcast which will be hosted by a GSO staff member. There has been an almost 100% increase in traffic through Google Ads. The Grapevine podcast has made the top 5% of podcasts in the world! PSA distributing was discussed and a report on the Membership Survey process will be sent to the conference committee on PI.
I was given the honor of sitting at the table for the Trustees’ Committee on the General Service Conference as Policy & Admissions goes under that committee. There I was able to answer questions from the trustees regarding the items which will be sent to my conference committee. My committee will be discussing the General Manager’s report regarding GSC site selection, approve an additional observer to the conference, (by the way, my committee met February 13th and approved an additional observer from Peru), also reviewing virtual meeting technology for polling in between conferences, discuss the EDW and discuss the participation of online groups in our General Service Structure.
On Sunday I attended The Trustees’ International Committee. Some of the most recent trips taken were to Chile, Kenya, Bolivia, Baharain, Equidor, Russia, and Poland. These members have been witnesses to the birth of A.A. structures despite unrest happening in these countries. Upcoming trips planned include Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Columbia and Russia trips had to be cancelled. This meeting was actually my favorite.
The last of the committees I attended was the Trustees’ committee on Cooperation with the Professional Community and Treatment and Accessibilities. Among other things they discussed the LinkedIn page and keeping the channel fresh by posting regularly.
Sunday night we Delegate Chairs had dinner at Carmine’s, an incredible Italian restaurant just around the block from us. They brought us platters and platters of food for a feast I have never enjoyed more! We came back to the hotel and discussed some upcoming ideas for Delegate get-togethers coming up.
Monday morning, we were invited to the General Service Board Quarterly Meeting. The meeting was chaired by Jimmy D., who gave us the following statement:
At the request of the General Service Board, Linda Chezem has resigned as a Class A Trustee and Chair of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc., effective January 29, 2023. The General Service Board is grateful for her service.
Jimmy D. will be interim chair until the end of the conference as his term as SW Regional Trustee will end. I sent his letter dated February 3, 2023, to all Area 56 contacts. You can also read it on aa.org in the “What’s New” section.
All the reports which came out of the committees were approved by the board and the meeting adjourned for lunch. The Delegates were dismissed from any further meetings. After our goodbyes I grabbed a cab which got me to LaGuardia in plenty of time for my flight home. I pulled into my driveway at 10:45pm, greeted by my husband Jerry who waited up for me!! (10:45 is way past our normal bedtime!)
The resignation of Linda Chezem is heart breaking. In addition, she was our featured guest for the Ohio State Convention. Linda and I discussed the convention, and she graciously rescinded her acceptance of our invitation.
Trish L., Trustee at Large/Canada will now be our guest at the Ohio State Convention. Trish is the chairperson of the Trustees International Committee. The reports that came out of that committee during the board weekend really affected me emotionally. The work our fellowship is doing to help the service structures around the world is amazing. I can’t wait for you to hear what Trish will share with us!
Speaking of the Ohio State Convention, we are working diligently on the planning of the program. After the Mini-Conference is over and we sweep these things aside we can start accepting volunteers for working at the convention. For those of you who don’t know this, the Radisson closed so we are now contracted with the Holiday Inn Fairborn but had to move the date to August 11-13th. We have a whole wing of the hotel with plenty of privacy and an outdoor area for fellowship and smoking! The theme of the convention is “A.A. – The School of Life…We Never Graduate.”
I received a letter dated February 15, 2023 from AAWS & the General Service Office regarding price changes: This can also be found at: https://www.aa.org/news-and-announcements.
I’ll be going over the Mini-Conference details a little later this morning but I want to address something with you. The resignation of Linda was sad and shocking, and it has also been revealed that Josh E., General Service Trustee, has resigned. I have no firsthand knowledge of the details of either of these resignations. I’ve seen letters and excerpts from Facebook posts along with opinions from a number of people. More will be revealed by conference time but until then I have no plan of action without facts.
In love and service,
Andrea H., Area 56 Delegate
