St. Paul Al-Anon/Alateen Intergroup
Minutes of Intergroup Meeting March 22, 2014
The meeting was convened 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
Assistant Treasurer, Office Manager, IR, Inner Peace Thursday 11 am
IR, Valley Creek Monday 7:30 pm Al-Anon
Literature Chair, IR, Summit Hill Monday 6 pm
Newsletter Chair, IR, Monday Midway Men’s 7:15 pm
IR, Compassion Al-Anon (St. Paul)
Treasurer, IR, Summit Hill Wednesday 5 pm
IR, Uptown Tuesday 9:30 am
IR, Superior Street AFG
It was noted that a quorum (5% of groups, that is, 6 or more) was
present so substantive business could be done.
There were readings on Tradition 3 and Concept 3.
Business
- 1. Questions/Concerns
- There was none
- 2. Additional nominations for 2014 officers
- There were no nominations for Vice Chair, the only unfilled officer
position.
- 3. Open service positions
- The most important are Vice Chair and Liaison to Minnesota South
Area (MNSA). The Vice Chair serves as program chair and coordinates
events such as workshops and Gratitude Night. The Liaison to MNSA is a
voting member of the Area World Service Committee (AWSC) and is
expected to attend AWSC meetings (1st Saturdays in August and February)
and Area Assemblies (1st Saturdays in April and October) . The liaison
may not be an AA member.
- Other open positions are Group Liaison, Event Sales, Alateen,
Archives, Public Outreach, and Institutions.
- 4. Workshops
- There was discussion of a 4th Step workshop at an earlier
meeting. A member suggested we consider also hosting a workshop for
members interested in speaking. There was consensus that we should not
proceed without members who were willing to be point persons for
organizing them.
- The chair and another member agreed to head up planning for the 4th Step
Workshop. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to have
the workshop.
- The member who made the suggestion volunteered to be point person
for a speakers workshop. A motion was made, seconded and passed with
one abstention to have a speakers workshop.
- Information about workshops and requests for volunteers will go in
the newsletter. We are thinking of June for the speakers workshop and
October for the 4th Step workshop.
- 5. Sale of literature at Gopher State Roundup May 23–25
- Volunteers will be needed to staff the literature table at Gopher
State Roundup. We will try to have the table open 4–9 Friday
(possibly 6–9), 9–9 Saturday and 9–11 Sunday. A
normal shift is two hours. Unless there is a willing volunteer, it will
not be open during talks. We need to pass the word in meetings about
the need for volunteers. They should be able to make change and do
simple arithmetic with a calculator. It's a great way to experience
Gopher.
- A member volunteered to be point person with the Chair as her backup.
- 6. Calling groups to update their information and to invite
Intergroup Representatives
- At the February meeting, a member volunteered to call all the
groups. She reported that she is not yet through. She has been asking
if individuals in groups would like to receive the newsletter by email.
In at least some groups, there was enthusiasm for the idea. She will
email changes in group information to the Directory chair for updating
the group records database.
Reports
- Chair
- No specific report
- Vice Chair
- The position is open
- Secretary
- The co-secretary summarized the minutes of the February meeting.
It was moved, seconded and unanimously voted to approve them. A
request was made to have a roster of officers and service chairs at
Intergroup meetings.
- Treasurer
- The treasurer went through her report as of March 1, 2014. There
was a balance of $8,430 in the checking account and $5,000 in our
prudent reserve Revenue for February (sales, tax, contributions)
totalled $2,772 and expenses totaled $1,119. Expenses were relatively
low since we had no expenditures for literature purchases in February
(orders that had been placed had not been received). It was moved,
seconded and voted unanimously to approve the report.
- A question was raised about getting out an appeal letter. The
Treasurer will try to get one ready; the Directory chair will supply
labels.
- Assistant Treasurer
- She provided income information for January and February. This
showed January and February sales of $1,805 asnd $1,826, repectively,
with sales tax collections of $138 and $150. January and February
group contributions were $413 (10 groups) and $640 (3 groups) with
individual contributions of $34 and $18, including “keep the
change.” It was moved, seconded and voted unanimously to approve
the the Assistant Treasurer's report.
- Office volunteers
- No report, although it was pointed out that currently March has
only one unstaffed day.
- Office manager
- No report
- Speaker chair
- No report
- Website/Directory
- There will shortly be links to maps for each group on the meeting
schedule pages.
- Newsletter
- The editor reported he would be ready to get out a newsletter by
April 1 if wanted. It was moved, seconded and voted that the next
newsletter should be mailed by May 1 and every three months
thereafter. It will contain contact information, a request for
volunteers, information about Gopher State Roundup, a list of
contributing groups. He needs people to provide him with information to go in the newsletter.
- There was some discussion about emailing the newsletter. There was
little support for not having a paper version to be mailed to groups,
but there was general consensus that there should also be an email
edition since it would be likely to be read by more members. It was
suggested that the email list for the newsletter should not be the same
as the list used to mail minutes and other communications to people
involved in or interested in Intergroup.
- A member expressed some discomfort at the idea of the newsletter
being sent in unedited form by email since email is inherently not
confidential. He worries that including personal information such as
phone numbers and email addresses would expose members to loss of
anonymity. No decision was made about how this would be handled. The
Newsletter editor said that any emailed newsletters would be sent using
a BCC list rather than a CC list
- Literature
- She reported that quite a lot of literature had come in but we were
still out of stock of some items. It has been taking up to two months
for orders to be filled. She will be ordering more literature this
week.
- Office Manager
- No report
- Group Liaison
- Open
- Group Liaison
- Open
The meeting closed at 8:10 pm with the Al-Anon Declaration.
The next meeting will be April 8, 2014 at 7 pm at the Griggs Midway building.
Edited for the web 22 March 2014