Sobriety News
November 2002

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The Sobriety News is a publication of the Harrisburg Area Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is written, edited, and read by AA members, and those interested in the AA program of recovery from the disease of alcoholism, linking one alcoholic to another.

Our desperation to find relief from the bondage of alcoholism has led us to this program as a new "design for living". Many members utilize meetings, sponsorship, self examination, amends, prayer, meditation, AA literature, service to fellow alcoholics, and many other tools to maintain their recovery. This publication is intended as one more tool to live a life of recovery. Because each AA member has an individual way of working this program, divergent views to recovery, within the concept of the Program of Alcoholics Anonymous, are welcome. An effort is made to print all viewpoints in this forum. Articles are not intended to be statements of AA policy, nor does publication of any article imply endorsement by AA or the Harrisburg Area Intergroup.

NOVEMBER Calendar of Events*

 

LOOKING AHEAD*

* Look for more information about these events in Sobriety News.
** See links page for flyer

To links and current events

Your Help for the Calendar of Events

A complete Calendar of Events depends on our active members contributing information about their coming events, participation of Intergroups in surrounding Districts, and our ability to gather information. We feel it is worth trying. Let us know what you think. Often, we miss opportunities within the fellowship because the message didn't get out. We all want to carry the message to other alcoholics. This will be one more way we can accomplish that.

OUR FACE IS CHANGING

We now have the capability to update Sobriety News during the course of the month, so events can be added to the Calendar. You may, therefore, find it helpful or informative to check back to the website periodically to see what has been added. Your group has access to a printed copy of Sobriety News through your Intergroup Rep. As changes are made to the Internet copy in http://www.aaharrisburg.org your group will have no way of knowing new information about upcoming events unless a group member with internet access brings the information to the group. This can be another option for service that members can perform to maintain sobriety through action.
    The HAI index page has various links which gradually will become more active. A link has been added to the Meeting Schedule so you can print out the schedule (if you can access Microsoft Word) on a single sheet of 8 1/2X11 paper. This schedule is current with the latest information available. If you see an error, or information for your meeting has been changed, the schedule will be updated if you notify Sobriety News at asdungan@mindspring.com or if you notify an Intergroup Officer or mail the info to HAI, Fellowship House, 1251 S. 19th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17105. This current schedule can be duplicated for group purposes from this link or by clicking on the chip at the right, at any time it is needed, and will be maintained in as current a state as possible to try to minimize the problems of accuracy encountered with the printed schedules of the past, which are updated semi-annually.
    Flyers will be added as they become available and removed when an event passes. If you are looking at this on the Internet, you will see that many of the insert pictures are links you can click on to get added information or flyers. Keep checking.
    The above suggested service opportunity to bring internet information back to the group could also be broadened to include flyers, and current meeting schedules. The printed schedules and flyers will still be available but may continue to have their current disadvantages too. 

 

   

If God brings you to it,
He will bring you through it.

   

"A Great Day to be Alive"

Sunday, October 6, certainly was "A Great Day To Be Alive" according to those who joined the Lykens Winding-it up Group for the hike to the "Love Rock". The hike was not difficult and was the access to an Open Discussion meeting on the rock. There were hikers from far and wide and the exercise apparently stimulated their willingness to share their enthusiasm for the benefits of the AA Program. After the return down the mountain, chili and desserts were served at the church. The day was perfect for hiking, and any day is good for enjoying that kind of fellowship and sharing - looking forward to next year's hike.

Day of Sharing in Lancaster County

The D.O.S. on Oct. 6, 2002 was a complete success. We had around 125 people there. Lari Jo W. from the Living Sober Group was our first speaker. Lari Jo just had 1 year sober and spoke on what it was like to get sober in Lancaster. Then we had the panel discussion on sponsorship with Jane S/L from E-town Step & Trad. Joe C. from E-town Luncheon, and Johnny M from Reading. After that Jane filled in and gave a brief presentation on Bridging The Gap. We then took a short break before our guest speaker, Bill M, from the Bug Light Group in York and the Sunlight Of The spirit.  We had a sobriety count-up which gave us 519 years and 59 days.  We then had a book raffle and gave away 5 different books. Our world famous sloppy joes were on the menu. This was the 2nd annual D.O.S. and we hope to continue it for many years. Everyone had a great time, and love, understanding and hope were freely given away all day long. Tapes by permission are available from Central Service @ 394-3238.

Thanks to Harry R, Lancaster IG Chairperson for contributing this report.

Middletown 13th Anniversary Spaghetti Speaker Meeting Celebration

The Middletown Survivors celebrated their 13th anniversary on October 12, at the Middletown Presbyterian Church. A Spaghetti Dinner was served to a capacity crowd and was followed by those delicious desserts. Some may have been ready for a nap, but two enthusiastic speakers with powerful messages thwarted that plan. 
    April D from the Wrath of Grapes Group of Glen Burnie, MD, shared that she was painfully shy from childhood. She'd thought that everyone else had a manual on life, but she hadn't gotten one. Alcohol relieved her from the bondage of me. Like Bill W's feeling of a need to be #1, she excelled in school and at work (she was managing quite well, thank you), but if she remembered last night, she hadn't had enough to drink. If you could tell her about it, you hadn't either.
    The more deep rooted her self-centeredness became, the more her life became like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. She would awake in the morning with that feeling of guilt, shame, and remorse. Before the day was old, she would be thinking of doing it again. Through chance or God's grace she was able to hear and understand that something was wrong, and it had to do with alcohol.
    April came to Alcoholics Anonymous. She was desperate. She was willing to go to any lengths. She found that those feelings of uselessness and self-pity disappeared when she cleaned up spilled coffee or put chairs away after the meeting. When we take the actions that are suggested to us, something inside of us changes as a result. As a mother and a child of God she knows that He is pleased when one of His kids comes to Him and asks to be snuggled. It is through taking actions in gratitude for this Program, that she gets a daily reprieve from this disease
    There was a short break at 8 o'clock to finish up those yummy desserts, and then the story of Dave D from the Harbor City Group in Baltimore inspired the gathering.
    At age 19, when he didn't have the nerve to pull the trigger on the 357 magnum he held in his mouth, he got the brainstorm that maybe AA would be an easier softer way. The next day, after his first meeting, a grey haired man came up to him and said that if he is really an alcoholic, and he keeps on drinking, it will kill him. Dave thought this guy must have been about 50 when he got sober, so he figured he should be able to drink for another 31 years safely. The keen alcoholic mind kills a lot of keen alcoholics. He saw in the Big Book where it said if you are not convinced that you are alcoholic, try some controlled drinking. Try it more than once. And for the next three years he'd collected a large pile of 24 hour chips and a couple of 30 days.
    Then he woke up in the hospital with blood coming from his ears, and they said he was probably going to die. He was paralyzed, but the bleeding stopped, so since he didn't die, they sent him home. He was bed ridden, but he knew if he could ever get out of there, he would drink again. Then his grandmother told him some people were there to see him. (Experience told him this was probably not a good thing, with the kind of life he'd led.) It turned out they were from Alcoholics Anonymous, and they were there to bring him a meeting. A smiling man with three months sober demonstrated a joy that made him want that too. That 12th Step call saved his life. He finally had a hope that he'd never experienced before. They stopped and took him to meetings every day and he started working the Program.
    After a year he wasn't dead, he wasn't paralyzed, he was inducted into a national engineering honor society, and at his first anniversary there were 14 members of his family there, smiling. Those we hurt the most, are the ones who most see the power of God in the AA Program, when we start to recover. Dave says if you have experienced the inner peace he has found, and are grateful, then he has one piece of advice for you. "Pass It On."
    As enjoyable as these events are, one thing is certain. It kept a bunch of drunks in Middletown sober for one more day. To hear these powerful talks in their entirety, tapes of the speakers are available from the Middletown Groups or from the website http://theprimarypurpose.no-ip.org

Adversity introduces us to ourselves.

New Meetings and CHANGES

There is a new meeting at McCullough Church at 18th & State Street Wednesdays at 7:30PM. The Spirituality Group will feature Twelve and Twelve discussion, and readings from the Serenity Bible. Take the flyer to your group.

The Colonial Park Any Lengths Group has added a Wednesday 7:00PM Men's, Open Discussion, Smoking meeting to the schedule. A correction to the schedule for the Sunday 7:00PM meeting is that it is a Closed, Big Book, Smoking meeting.

The Pine Street Group has added to their Wednesday and Friday noon schedule a Big Book meeting. This meeting is in the Boyd Center at 234 South Street (rear of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church). This meeting has been an important help to alcoholics who work in downtown Harrisburg, and who need to center their program to recover from alcoholism. The closed discussion meeting will continue to meet at the same time.

The Joy of Living Group, which meets at Fellowship House at 6:00PM Wednesdays, needs your support. This is an open discussion meeting, non-smoking. This has been a dynamic meeting since its start in 1998 and is an ideal time for those who work in Harrisburg until 5:00PM, and can wait dinner till later, perhaps with new friends from the meeting.

Leanne C reports that there is a new meeting, Wednesday at 7:00AM, at the Rockville United Methodist Church at 6th St and Linglestown Road, in Susquehanna Twp. It is just two blocks off Front Street and is convenient for many who drive Interstate 81 to get to work. It is a Closed Discussion, with reading from "As Bill Sees It"; it is non-smoking. It is handicap accessible and there is coffee. By Group conscience, the name will be A New Day Dawning Group.

The new Harrisburg Monday Night Men's Meeting by group conscience voted to change their starting time to 7:30PM. This meeting is located at the Susquehanna Free Church, 6433 Union Deposit Road, and is a non-smoking, closed discussion meeting. Come support it and make it a really good one. If you have a question, or need directions, call Simon at 421-5645, or Joe at 579-4405.

The West Shore Area Group which meets at the Trinity Lutheran Church at 20th & Market Sts is changing the format of their Monday evening meeting, which starts at 7:30PM. Beginning in October, Mondays will be a Closed Step Meeting. The final Monday of each month will be a Closed Traditions Meeting.

The Dillsburg Area Group has started a closed Big Book meeting on Wednesday nights, starting at 7:01PM at Saint Paul's Lutheran Church at the top of the hill on South Baltimore Street (Rt74). This is a laid back group, they serve decaf, of course you could always bring your own.

Middletown's "Shot of Enthusiasm"

The Middletown Groups have planned another event to lift the heart and soul of recovering alcoholics by inviting three speakers to share with us on November 16, 2002. The "Shot of Enthusiasm" will start promptly at 7:00PM at the Middletown Presbyterian Church with two ten minute speakers, Hilary M and Joyce F, both from the Sober, Sane and Serene Group of Elizabethtown. Deserts will follow this opening barrage of enthusiasm. The high energy of Clancy I of the Pacific Group will round out the speaking from the stage. Of course there will be the meeting after the meeting, so you can speak with friends. Tape recording of the speakers is planned to be available directly afterwards. Come to Middletown and get your mood altering fellowship on November 16.

ACTS OF RECOVERY IN YORK

The December 7 AOR will be another free Saturday afternoon event from noon till 5:00PM. Like all the other Acts, there are four excellent speakers lined up. At noon, Dave N from Baltimore will talk about The Promises, at 1:15 Valerie S from Ellicott City, MD will talk on The 12 Steps, followed by a light lunch. At 2:45PM The Primary Purpose will be exposed by Doreen S from Baltimore, and then wrapping the afternoon up at 4:00PM will be Billy N from Landing, NJ with his talk on Sponsorship. Directions are from Interstate 83 exit 18, travel East to the first signaled intersection beyond the Interstate and turn left onto Haines Road and go @ a half mile to the Eastminster Presbyterian Church on your right. These are always worthwhile events.
See the flyer on the links page, make a copy and take it to your group. click here

HERSHEY GROUP'S ANNUAL HOLIDAY DINNER

The annual dinner and speaker meeting of the Hershey Group will begin at 6:00PM on December 7th. (Yes, you can make it from York to Hershey in less than an hour.) The Group will provide the main course of Turkey, Ham, and beverages, but you are encouraged to bring a side dish or dessert to share. The event will be at the Derry Presbyterian Church on the corner of Mansion Rd and Derry Street. The speaker Jerry D from Mechanicsburg will begin at about 8:00PM. For the flyer, click here

E-TOWN AA XMAS PARTY

The Elizabethtown Group will have their annual Cristmas Party and Open Speaker Meeting on Thursday, December 12. There will be food and fellowship, beginning at 7:00PM. Two speakers in recovery are the couple, Jack and Priscilla M. See you all at the Christ Lutheran Church at 75 High Street; that's in the first block of High Street north of the E-town Square on Rt 230 (Market St). There is ample parking behind the church, and entrance is from the rear. Click on Santa for the flyer.

BRIDGING THE GAP

The Bridging the Gap program is a worldwide service provided by Alcoholics Anonymous to help anyone who wishes to stay sober upon their release from incarceration. It does this by carefully (protecting anonymity) providing the person being released into society with a contact person who has volunteered to help that person make the transition from institutional life to the AA fellowship, by helping him/her get to their first meeting. For a person re-entering the real and changing world this may not seem as simple as it is. If you would like to help in this endeavor you may wish to talk with Moses B, whom you can reach at (717) 238-3924, or talk to your Intergroup Representative, who can give you more particulars.

Joy of Living Christmas Party

The annual Joy of Living Christmas Party for children of recovering families will be held at Fellowship House on December 22nd. Bring your children to meet both Mr. and Mrs. Claus from 4 to 7:00PM. There will be games and entertainment, and refreshments will be served. Click on Santa for the flyer.

THE BIG BOOK WORKSHOP

The There's More To Life Group will be offering a walk through the Steps as presented in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous on January 17 and 18, 2003. Friday evening at 6:00PM will be a speaker meeting with Bob O from Littleton, CO. To cover expenses they will be charging $5.00, including coffee, snacks, drinks, and lunch for Saturday's workshop, which Bob O will lead from 9:00AM till 5:00PM. Both days will be at the Community United Methodist Church at 16th and Bridge Sts in New Cumberland. Bring your own Big Book, please.

Pearl of the Month contributed by Jim M, c. The Language of the Heart, pages 7 & 8
  
    For one thing, our AA program is spiritually centered. Most of us have found enough humility to believe in and depend upon God. We have found that humility by facing the fact that alcoholism is a fatal malady over which we are individually powerless.  The Washingtonians, on the contrary, thought drinking to be just another strong habit which could be broken by willpower as expressed in pledges, plus the sustaining force of mutual aid through an understanding society of ex-drunks. Apparently they thought little of personality change, and nothing at all of spiritual conversion.
    Mutual aid plus pledges did do a lot for them, but it wasn't enough; their individual egos still ran riot in every channel save alcohol. Self-serving forces having no real humility, having little appreciation that
the penalty for too much self-will is death to the alcoholic, having no greater power to serve, finally destroyed the Washingtonians.
    When, therefore, we AAs look to the future, we must always be asking ourselves if the spirit which now binds us together in our common cause will always be stronger than those personal ambitions and desires which tend to drive us apart. So long as the positive forces are greater we cannot fail. Happily, so far, the ties that bind us have been much stronger than those that might break us. Though the individual AA is under no human coercion, is at almost perfect personal liberty, we have, nevertheless, achieved a wonderful unity on vital essentials.
                                                  
Free Speaker Tapes and other stuff from The Primary Purpose

There is a nifty new website that has free downloads of AA speaker tapes. It also has a free 'streambox ripper' program that you can download so that you can convert the speaker audio file you download to mp3 or wave format. Mp3 is a smaller file for storage on your computer, but if you have a CD burner, you can use wave format to make CDs that are playable on any CD player. The site has flyers for events of interest in PA and NJ, and other recovery related stuff. Check it out!  http://theprimarypurpose.no-ip.org

HALLOWEEN DANCE

The 19th Street Activities Committee presented a Halloween Dance on October 26th at the Fellowship House. It was well attended from 8:30PM till Midnight. DJ Pat Evans provided the sounds for the evening, and refreshments were enjoyed by all. The costumes were judged for Scariest, Funniest, Most Original, and Best Overall. The same categories were used in judging children's costumes, and you wonder who had the most fun. Chances are, it was sober children of all ages. Thanks to the Activities committee and all those who helped make this a fun evening.

Pockets of Enthusiasm

Pockets of Enthusiasm presents "The Problem Has Been Removed. It Does Not Exist For Us." The Conference will be held in Virginia Beach, VA on November 8-10, 2002, at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort at very reasonable rates. The conference is $20. Guest speakers are Don P, Karl M, Michael C, Michael E, Bobby C, Clancy I, and Tom F. Register before October 15. See the Flyer, click here.

Service to another Alcoholic

 We can only stay sober ourselves by reaching out to another alcoholic. We can do that by getting our home group to volunteer for a particular 2 hour period each week, allowing group members a brief opportunity to answer the central office hotline. This will also provide the cell phone operator a two hour break which allows planning those things like going out in public where it is quite inconvenient to answer the phone (to say nothing of damaging to anonymity).
     You can help assure that help is available for the suffering alcoholic, alcoholics needing meeting schedule information, literature, or other assistance by volunteering to operate the central office hotline, or by getting your group to take the cell phone for a month. Why not give Tina H a call at home (238-3545), or Email (spicee308@aol.com), or you can volunteer through your Intergroup Rep. Central Office needs phone volunteers to handle the phone during the day to help reduce the burden on the cell phone volunteer. This is rewarding service work, and Central Office hours are pretty flexible.

SLIP = So Long, I'm Perfect.

Traditions Checklist

TRADITION ELEVEN: Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

1.    Do I sometimes promote AA so fanatically that I make it seem unattractive?

2.    Am I always careful to keep the confidences reposed in me as an AA member?

3.    Am I careful about throwing AA names around --- even within the Fellowship?

4.    Am I ashamed of being a recovered, or recovering, alcoholic?

5.    What would AA be like if we were not guided by the ideas of Tradition Eleven? Where would I be?

6.    Is my AA sobriety attractive enough that a sick drunk would want such a quality for himself?

This-n-That

Don't forget the Harrisburg Area Intergroup meeting Thursday the 5th of December at 6:45pm, and the District 36 General Service Rep meeting on Monday December 9th at 6:30; both meetings need your support. The Intergroup Bookstore is still open for business on Saturday mornings from 10:00 till 11:15 for Groups to restock their literature cabinets with books and pamphlets.

All you have to do
to change your life
is change your mind.

October Intergroup Meeting

At the October meeting of HAI, the Chair, Craig P announced that the Capitol Area Intermediate Unit is having a vendor fair and he and Bill C would go to represent Harrisburg Area Intergroup. Craig was told the Intergroup Office would be painted and carpeted during the month. Representatives from all the prison meetings said that more volunteers would be welcome, but meetings are being attended as scheduled. Warren M reported that the Carlisle Home Group Workshop was successful. The State Hospital meetings were covered by the Millersburg and Winding It Up Groups in October, and the Middletown Groups will visit in November. The October Hot Line was answered by the Bridge Street Group, and Middletown will answer cell phone calls in November.  The October meeting was attended by Reps from 19th Street, 40th Street, Ain't You Had Enough, Al-Anon, Bridge Street, Cumberland Valley IG, District 36, Hershey, Millersburg, Out of the Dark, Rule 62, Survivors, There's More to Life, Trudgers, Up the Creek, West Shore, Winding It Up, and Women's Serenity. Did you and your group have a voice?

 Groups Continue Supporting Intergroup
Group contributions during the month of October to the Intergroup Fund were $550.00. We thank the following 5 groups for their contribution: Unidentified, 19th Street, Concordia, West Shore Area, and the West Shore Women's Groups. If checks do not say which group is contributing, it is difficult to identify from a name in an anonymous organizations, since most have someone named Ed, for example. Of course, we also would like to thank all the groups and members who continue to donate time toward Intergroup's activities. These activities include speaker meetings, picnics, men and women's prison meetings, State Hospital visits, Internet Website, meeting schedules, literature, the AA Hotline, and the many other vital AA functions that help alcoholics recover in our community. Intergroup performs those services for our community which no single group is prepared to handle, and it coordinates activities between the 56 groups it serves. Remember that we can do together what none of us could do alone.

SOBRIETY NEWS is published monthly, and is usually available on the website the Tuesday night before the first Thursday of each month, so paper copies can be distributed to Reps at the Intergroup meeting. You can locate this newsletter, as well as lots of other stuff that would interest members of groups belonging to the Harrisburg Area Intergroup, at http://www.aaharrisburg.org