Sobriety News
January 2003

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.

January 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

    Sobriety News is updated 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.
    The HAI index page has links to flyers of coming events. Also there is a link 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 info@aaharrisburg.org 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.
    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 I always do
What I've always done,
I'll always get
What I've always got.

New Meetings and CHANGES

The Progress Group's Wednesday 8:30PM Mystery Topic Meeting at the Ridgeway Community Church at Elmerton and Progress Avenue is in need of support. Several of the regular members are unable to attend currently for various reasons. Why not join in by helping them weather this storm in practicing the First Tradition.

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.

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. Their 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. Due to a lack of secretaries and Tina's recent illness, the Joy of Living Group will not be holding it's weekly Wednesday night 6:00 pm meeting until further notice. Anyone who wishes to secretary the meeting can contact Tina by email at spicee308@aol.com or phone 503-5814.

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. Also a reminder that all West Shore Area Group meetings have been changed to the 7:30 starting time.

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.

Out of the Dark

The fourth anniversary meeting for Out of the Dark is on Sun, Jan 5 at 9am.... open speaker meeting with Alice D telling her story... and a fabulous brunch to follow. This event is at the Wormleysburg Borough Hall, corner of Market and Second Sts across from City Island. This is always a stimulating and joyous time.

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. On Saturday, 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.

CINCYPAA IN FEBRUARY

It is that time again to start planning a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio for the 21st CINCYPAA.  They will be having speaker meetings, marathon meetings, and panels along with some rocking dances both Friday and Saturday nights.  You can go to their web site http://www.cincypaa.org to get the flyer or registration information, events and contact information.  They look forward to meeting all of you and fellowshipping.  Let's show the "young" people that sobriety rocks!!!

 

The smallest package in the world
is an alcoholic all wrapped up in himself.

 

ACTS OF RECOVERY IN YORK

The December 7 AOR was another free Saturday afternoon event from noon till 5:00PM. Like all the other Acts, there were four excellent speakers lined up.
    Dave N from Baltimore's Harbor City Group incorporated the 5th, 9th, and 10th Step Promises into his story of who he was and who he'd become. He was skeptically working on his eighth step, when he started running into people he'd robbed - without a gun, anyone to back him up, a street reputation, or anything; all he had was a half-written eighth step and an apology. He then became willing to be thorough and honest, and to make amends when he had to slip out the back door of a restaurant, in fear. He'd read, "We will be amazed before we are half way through." And he was amazed, and he was about half way through. He began to be able to look the world in the eye, feel comfortable in his own skin, and to love being involved in AA, because, he realizes "the Promises" were coming true in his life.
    Valerie S from Ellicott City, MD, like Dave, was willing to give up all the things important in her life as she found they interfered with her drinking. She would wake up in strange places without any clothes, so she started carrying bags with a spare change of clothes in her car. Most people don't need to do that. She only had to look at the contrast between the life she had anticipated and the way her life had become, to know that her life was unmanageable. She continued on, incorporating each of the 12 Steps as she unveiled her story with honesty and humor.
    After the free lunch, Doreen S, who's proud to be a greeter at the Harbor City Group in Baltimore, gave a spirited talk on the "primary purpose". She told how her brother was in recovery and she never talked to him, except to invite him to a party; and when he wouldn't come, she'd talk about how 'he's too good to come drink with us'. But when she finally looked at the monster in the mirror, for some reason, she called him, and he came and talked to her out of the Big Book. He 12th Stepped her to her first meeting. After 90 days she got a sponsor who told her 'you carry the message to others as it was carried to you'. Bill W knew that there was something about carrying the message to others, who may die as a result of this disease, that would keep him sober. She knows that you can only keep it by giving it away. There is a way up and a way out.
    With joy in his face and dirt on his hands (from changing a tire on the Turnpike to get to the conference) Billy N from Landing, NJ talked of the importance of sponsorship, because people with unmanageable lives need a manager. When his sister told him his mom was dying of cancer, he was devastated. He lived in Chicago and his mom lived in New York. His sponsor told him that if you ever regret what you have done in this situation, you will drink again. Through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous he was able to sit on her hospice bed and tell her it was alright to go.  He doesn't regret the bills and credit card expense of spending time with her those past few months. And when his dad, a few months later passed from the family liver disease, he was there with an aunt in AA and an aunt in Alanon to do the readings and eulogy at his funeral. He told an analogous story of the Rowers - you row the boat of life, God steers the boat, and a sponsor shouts the instructions. You can take over steering, but remember, God doesn't row.
    You can look forward to other Acts in Falls Church, VA on January 18, Richmond, VA on February 8, and in Hershey in July. See the flyers 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 was well attended again this year. Maybe because of the Turkey, Ham, beverages, side dishes and desserts that were so delicious again, or maybe it was the very moving story of Jerry D from Mechanicsburg. Jerry's touching story of how it was and what happened articulated her unique experiences (which have a remarkable similarity to all of the audience's) and she shared details of how working the steps with a hard task mistress and staying active in the Program of Alcoholics Anonymous has given her self esteem and sobriety. It was an absolutely delightful evening, thank you all.

E-TOWN AA XMAS PARTY

The Elizabethtown Group tries to make each Christmas program just a little different and this year they invited a couple in recovery to share their experience, strength and hope. The annual Christmas Party and Open Speaker Meeting on Thursday, December 12 began with lots of delicious food and desserts. Jack and Priscilla M each shared how they work their program in their relationship, including not working each other's. Jack said she has her program, he has his program, but there really is only one Program. Do you suppose that Program is the one where a bunch of alcoholics (each contributing a part), put forth an effort to see that an event like the E-town Xmas party is a big success?

The only limitations we have
are those we impose upon ourselves.

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 was held at Fellowship House on December 22nd. Children of all ages met both Mr. and Mrs. Claus between 4 and 7:00PM. There were games and entertainment, and refreshments were served. What an opportunity to share an afternoon with families in recovery.

York New Year's Bash

The York Sunlight of the Spirit New Year's Eve Open Speaker Dinner Dance was held at the York Holiday Inn. A group of AA friends from far and wide brought in the New Year in sobriety with delicious food, good fellowship, a message of recovery, prizes, and much noise and laughter. The speaker was Peggy C from Catonsville, MD who delivered a hope giving message of recovery. She recounted an experience of receiving the gift of a message from a bag-lady named Lucy. Lucy mumbled, "If you want to get out of the hole you're in, stop digging". Peggy needed that jewel of wisdom a few minutes later and believes it was God speaking through flesh (Lucy). Thank you SOS Committee for a wonderful evening of joy in sobriety.

Pearl of the Month contributed by Jim M, c. The Language of the Heart, page 38
  
( Who is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous ) August 1946

After a time fear and intolerance subside. The group survives unscathed. Everybody has learned a great deal. So it is that few of us are any longer afraid of what any newcomer can do to our AA reputation or effectiveness. Those who slip, those who panhandle, those who scandalize, those with mental twists, those who rebel at the program, those who trade on the AA reputation-- all such persons seldom harm an AA group for long. Some of these have become our most respected and loved. Some have remained to try our patience, sober nevertheless. Others have drifted away. We have begun to regard these ones not as menaces, but rather as our teachers. They oblige us to cultivate patience, tolerance, and humility. We finally see that they are only people sicker than the rest of us, that we who condemn them are the Pharisees whose false righteousness does our group the deeper spiritual damage.
                              

TO HELP EACH OTHER
IS TO HELP OURSELVES.


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 Although this website was down for several weeks, it is back up - better than ever.

JANUARY SPEAKERS

The 19th Street speakers for Jan 3, Ilene; Jan 10, Kathy P; Jan 17, Karen K; Jan 24, Angie E; and Jan 31 is anniversary night. The Hershey speaker for Saturday Jan 4, 2003, will be Cheryl H from the Middletown Survivors Group at 8:00PM. The 8:00PM Bridge Street Speakers will be: Jan 5, Norm; Jan 12, Suzanne B from the Dillsburg Group; Jan 19, Moses B from the Hershey Group; and Jan 26, Elaine S from Bridge Street. A Higher Power will determine the speakers at the Middletown Survivors 7:00PM meetings on Jan 23, and 30. The Desire Group at 3rd and Woodbine Sts in Harrisburg will have speakers as follows: Jan 1, Frances L; Jan 8, Randy M; Jan 15, Mike B; and Jan 22, Dwayne.

YORK MEETING LISTS

The York District 45 Area Intergroup now has a website for those interested in getting meeting information in the York area. http://www.york-pa-aa.org York has some really active Groups that can safely satisfy your sense of adventure by taking a sojourn with AA friends and making some new friends. Our First Tradition concerns UNITY which includes the concept of carrying the message (and receiving it) near and far.

 

 

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.

Traditions Checklist*

TRADITION ONE: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity.

  1. Am I in my group a healing, mending, integrating person, or am I divisive? What about gossip and taking other members' inventories?
  2. Am I a peacemaker? Or do I, with pious preludes such as "just for the sake of discussion," plunge into argument?
  3. Am I gentle with those who rub me the wrong way, or am I abrasive?
  4. Do I make competitive AA remarks, such as comparing one group with another or contrasting AA in one place with AA in another?
  5. Do I put down some AA activities as if I were superior for not participating in this or that aspect of AA?
  6. Am I informed about AA as a whole? Do I support, in every way I can, AA as a whole, or just the parts I understand and approve of?
  7. Am I as considerate of AA members as I want them to be of me?
  8. Do I spout platitudes about love while indulging in and secretly justifying behavior that bristles with hostility?
  9. Do I go to enough AA meetings or read enough AA literature to really keep in touch?
  10. Do I share with AA all of me, the bad and the good, accepting as well as giving the help of fellowship?

*The Traditions Checklist Questions were originally published in the AA Grapevine in conjunction with a series on the Twelve Traditions that began in November 1969, and ran through September 1971. Sobriety News prints the Checklist for the number of the month that corresponds to the number of the Tradition that it deals with, because of the prohibitive length of all twelve. It is important that we be aware of the Twelve Traditions in our lives of recovery, because they help assure that AA will continue to be here for us, and for others who want it.
Printed by permission. THE AA GRAPEVINE INC., PO BOX 1980, GRAND CENTRAL STATION, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10163-1980

 

GIFT = God Is Forever There.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

    Whenever someone in a meeting said "by the grace of God," I always cringed a little. A practicing agnostic on arrival, I came to believe in God in the rooms, and certainly have been the recipient of many blessings. But I had never done anything to earn God's grace, and it always seemed to me that people who talked openly of receiving it were somehow bragging.
    Then this past Sunday morning I heard an NPR piece about a book by Steve Turner titled Amazing Grace. It's an entire book about the song. The song Amazing Grace was written by John Newton. According to NPR, as a young man, Newton was a ship's captain involved in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In time, he had a conversion experience, married and was ordained in the Church of England. Eventually, he became a vocal advocate of abolishing slavery. Quite a change! According to John Newton, "Grace is God's unmerited favor to lost souls."
    Well then. A lost soul certainly describes me well. I once was lost and now I'm found, was blind but now I see. So here I am. By the grace of God. A happy new year to all...

Contributed by Steve H from Up The Creek

MY JOY
 Contributed by DonnaJean from Fellowship House

My joy comes not from what is outside of me
But what is in my heart.

My joy comes not from what you give to me
But from what you allow me to give to you.

My joy is a song which sings itself
And allows me to dance in harmony to it.

My joy is a cloud, a rainbow, a child’s laugh
Which rings of truth, sorrow, and love.

My joy is this day
Another opportunity to see your smile.

This-n-That

Don't forget the Harrisburg Area Intergroup meeting Thursday the 2nd of January at 6:45pm, and the District 36 General Service Rep meeting on Monday January 13th at 6:30; both meetings need your support. The Intergroup Bookstore is still open for business following the HAI meeting and on Saturday mornings from 10:00 till 11:15 for Groups to restock their literature cabinets with books and pamphlets.

Blessed are those who can give
without remembering
and receive without forgetting.

December Intergroup Meeting

 At the December meeting of HAI, the Chair, Craig P announced that he and Joe C attended a meeting with Gaudenzia on Chambers Hill Road. Joe went on to report that there were a dozen or so youngsters who attended and showed interest. The treatment center expressed the value of continuity to promote identification by the boys. Joe volunteered for the Harrisburg Men's Group to take the first 13 weeks of bringing a meeting Wednesday at 7:00PM, beginning Dec 11. There will be a continuing need for this service work, having groups volunteer for 3 month periods. The State Hospital meetings were covered by the West Shore Group in December, January will be handled by the new Harrisburg Men's Group, and Hershey will do the honors for February. The Hot Line was answered by the new Harrisburg Men's Group in December. Women's Serenity, West Shore Area, and 40th Street will take Jan - March. Warren M announced that a new person will be serving as Treasurer of Area 59, he will get us the new address for sending group contributions. Also, he said that Jared L from Hershey will be the new DCM and Beth H of 40th Street will serve as ACDM for District 36. Brian D of There's More To Life was re-elected Secretary and Fred S also of TMTL is the new Treasurer. Among new business discussion, Elaine S volunteered to explore ways to simplify the cell phone recording procedure, and Bill C volunteered to explore the cost of reproducing an updated meeting list and report next meeting. The December meeting was attended by Reps from 19th Street, 40th Street, Bridge Street, Harrisburg Area Men's, Millersburg, Pine Street, Survivors, There's More to Life, Trudgers, West Shore,  and Winding It Up. Did you and your group have a voice?

Groups Continue Supporting Intergroup
Group contributions during the month of December to the Intergroup Fund were $___. We thank the following __ groups for their contribution: ________________. 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.
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