St. Paul Al‑Anon/Alateen Intergroup
Minutes of Intergroup Meeting August 12, 2014
The meeting opened at 7:02 pm with the Serenity Prayer.
- Introductions
-
Chair, IR, Uptown Tuesday 6:30 pm A
Co-Secretary, IR, Midway Wednesday 6:30 pm
Treasurer, IR, Summit Hill Wednesday 5 pm
Newsletter Chair, IR, Monday Midway Men’s 7:15 pm
Literature Chair, IR, Summit Hill Monday 6 pm Al‑Anon
IR and office volunteer, Compassion Al‑Anon St Paul
IR, Superior Street AFG
IR, New Brighton Thursday Al‑Anon
IR, Uptown Thursday/Saturday Al‑Anon
There were readings on Tradition 8 and Concept 8.
It was noted that a quorum (5% of groups, that is, 6 or more) was
present so substantive business could be done.
Business
- 1. Questions/Concerns
- There was none.
- 2. Additional nominations for 2014 open positions
- The IR from New Brighton Thursday Al‑Anon said he would be willing
to serve as Vice Chair. He was nominated with a second for the
position and elected unanimously. We now have a full slate of officers
for the remainder of 2014!
- 3. Other open service positions
- No one volunteered to serve in any of the other open positions:
Liaison to Minnesota South Area Assembly, Group Liaison, Event Sales,
Alateen, Archives, Public Outreach, and Institutions.
- 4. SPIG inventory: Questions 4 – 8
- We discussed the questions 4 – 8 of the Intergroup inventory
we started on in July
- Question 4 concerned “Communication”, specifically how
well we did on preparing an agenda, notifying members of meetings,
preparing and distributing minutes, and providing reports at meetings.
The general conclusion was that we do quite well.
- Question 5: “Do we have a full slate of officers?” We
do now for the first time this year.
- Question 6: “Are fixed office expenses the best use of
member contributions and income from sale of literature?” This led to
a discussion of whether it was still appropriate that St. Paul and
Minneapolis have separate Al‑Anon Information Services. Might there be
cost savings if they were combined, perhaps maintaining a greatly
scaled back presence for the sale of literature in St. Paul? Or were
we doing well enough financially as to make this irrelevant? We do not
know if combining would help or hurt. Perhaps an ad hoc committee
would be a good idea to learn more. The Chair said she would contact
the Chair of Minneapolis Al‑Anon/Alateen Information Services about the
issue.
- Question 7: “Do we begin and end on time?” Yes, although we sometimes
spill over a few minutes.
- Question 8: “Is a one hour meeting too short
or too long?” The consensus was that one hour was about right.
- The next six questions will be addressed next month.
- 5. Volunteer sheets for hospitality suite at Fellowship Weekend
- The Chair passed around signup sheets. Volunteers are needed on
Friday August 29 from 4 to 9 pm and on Saturday August 30 from a to 11
am. Also needed at the hospitality room will be items like copies of
the newsletter, business cards, volunteer sign up sheets, FAQ, … . It
would also be helpful to have a notebook with responsibility sheets for
Intergroup positions and bylaws.
- 6. Update: Calling groups to update information and invite
Intergroup Representatives
- The directory chair distributed sheets with the current information
of groups that had not been recently called. Most of the sheets were
taken by those present. He also passed around brief instructions on
what to do.
- 7. Report on Al‑Anon meeting at Fellowship Club
- A member reported that the number of attendees was lower than
anticipated, but that the meeting was going well. She reported she had
been reimbursed for start-up literature expense and also for room
rental for the June speaker workshop.
- 8. Report on Hazelfest August 2, 2014
- The Chair reported that the event was “fun.” There was
music and speakers all day, with booths in a big tent. She took about
$50 worth of literature, but brought back more than half, having given
literature to about 15 people. There was a lot of interest in Alateen.
She said Hazelden was very appreciative of Intergroup’s
participation.
- When asked “should Intergroup do it again?” she said we should, if
there are volunteers willing to do it. It was good to have a visible
Al‑Anon presence at recovery events. She will make notes on what to do
and how to improve it. Next time, there should be more Alateen
literature.
- 9. Updating position guidelines
- This was tabled for a future meeting.
- 9. Update on purchasing a copier
- This was tabled for a future meeting.
- 11. Questions/Concerns/Other Business
- None
Reports
- Chair
- The Fourth Step Workshop will be 2 — 4 pm on September 13 at
the Recovery Church. We will pay rent to the church. A question was
raised as to whether we had ever paid the church for last year's
workshop. The Treasurer will check and pay if we still owe. The Chair
will send a flyer to the webmaster for the website. She will also pick
up stuff for the Fellowship Weekend hospitality room.
- Vice Chair
- The newly elected vice chair had no report.
- Secretary
- The co-secretary summarized the minutes of the July meeting. It
was moved, seconded and unanimously voted to approve
the minutes, after correcting some spelling errors.
- Treasurer
- The Treasurer reported total income of $1,346 and total expenses of
$2,007. She had not received details on sales or contributions. The
ending fund balance was $8,239,with $5,000 in the Reserve fund. It was
moved, seconded and voted unanimously to accept the
Treasurer’s report. She said she would not be willing to
be Treasurer in 2015.
- Assistant Treasurer
- She was not present but sent a short note in place of a full
report. The note indicated $1,171 in literature sales, $81 in
medallion sales and $1,008 in contributions for July.
- Office Volunteers
- No report.
- Office manager
- No report.
- Speaker chair
- No report.
- Website.Directory
- The website is up-to-date.
- Newsletter
- A newsletter was mailed and emailed on August 1. Over 150
newsletters were emailed and paper copies went to all groups.
- It was pointed out it would be good to get the next newsletter out
by October 1 to provide timely notification that nominations and
elections of 2015 officers would take place at the November and
December meetings. After a little discussion October 1 was agreed
upon, with a deadline of September 15 for submitting content.
- Event sales
- The position is open.
- Liaison Minnesota South Area
- The position is open.
- Literature
- We ran out of Courage to Change. Two
cases have been ordered.
The meeting closed at 8:04 pm with the Al‑Anon Declaration.
The next meeting will be September 9, 2014 at 7 pm at the Griggs Midway building.
Edited for the web 5 September 2014