Sobriety News
MAY 2003

Humility is the soil
In which all other virtues grow.

Memorial Day Chicken Barbeque

The 19th Street Family will be having the annual chicken barbeque at Fellowship House, starting at 2:00PM. The cost for adults will be $4.00 and children $2.00. If you have any names of those who have passed in sobriety, so our list for the Memorial Day remembrance can be updated, please notify Bill P at WildBillP@worldnet.att.net or  phone 717-319-8280. You can get the flyer by clicking here.

NO SMOKING AT MAY INTERGROUP

Cathy S, Chair of the Unity Committee, reported that many groups are not represented at Harrisburg Intergroup Meetings on the first Thursday of the month at 6:45PM, because people can't stand the smoking. A vote was taken, and a resolution was passed, that there would be NO SMOKING at the APRIL Intergroup Meeting. The validity of the effect of non-smoking was not clear and it was decided to try it again in MAY. Persons entering the front door can pass straight into the meeting room, without going through the half measures room.

There's More To Life Group's 14th Anniversary     

The TMTL Group's anniversary meeting Friday April 25th saw a packed fellowship room of the Community United Methodist Church at 16th and Bridge Street, New Cumberland. Fellowship and plentiful cold cuts and other munchables were available from 5:30 till 6:30PM. The speaker Mike C (Irish Mike) from 40th Street via Limerick, Ireland, told a story of his early drinking in Ireland, and getting drunk in 57 different countries. He told of family, friends, and his 21 year career in international sales. He told of losing them one by one until that job that always allowed his excessive drinking finally was gone. He eventually went to an interview to go to treatment. He was scared that he wouldn't qualify. No need to worry. He thinks the only thing he learned was, if you want to stay sober, you have to go to AA. He didn't think the Steps were for him, but he did go to three meetings a week for the first two years. He saw that others were getting better, and he had a debating society loose in his head. He saw a lot of mention of God, which scared him. He talked to an old-timer who advised, 'Just believe in that power which has kept you sober for the past two years'. He had difficulties with God, with getting honest with himself, with dealing with resentments, and with making amends, but he did finally work the steps. He knows that even though the desire to drink has left, his disease is growing inside him, and he is grateful for a recognition of his disease and the gift of people in the rooms. He knows he can't survive without us. Tapes of Mike's talk were available afterwards. You may was to contact a TMTL member to get a tape of this or of the Bob O Walk though the Big Book Tapes. There may be some of these still available.

Note that the contact telephone number for Al-anon has been changed to (877) 501-1205, and that the Alateen Wednesday evening meeting has been discontinued.

Pearl of the Month contributed by Jim M, c. Alcoholics Anonymous (Fourth Edition)..........Pages 72 &73
   
 Time after time new-comers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung onto some of the worst items in stock. They only thought they had lost their egotism and fear; they only thought they had humbled themselves. But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they had told someone else all their life story.

MAY SPEAKERS

The 19th Street speakers for: May 2, Dave; May 9, Mary J; May 16, Nicole; May 23, Skateboard Ray; and May 30 is anniversary night. The May 18 SAM at 19th Street will be Patti M from Gettysburg. The Hershey speaker for Saturday May 3, 2003 is Bill C from Winding It Up at 8:00PM, and June 7 will be Kris K from 19th Street. The 8:00PM Bridge Street Speakers will be: May 4, Bob A from 19th Street; May 11, Barry H from Bridge Street; May 18, Steve Q from There's More To Life; and May 25 will be Doug from the West Sore Group. A Higher Power will determine the speakers at the Middletown Survivors 7:00PM meeting on May 22 and May 29th.

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.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

12 Step Gem
contributed by Botswana Jim MacD
 
 I took Step One, began to moan
 I can't do this one on my own.
 
 I took Step Two, began to pray
 Restore me God, please now, today.
 
 I took Step Three, gave up my will
 Maybe God could love me still.
 
 I took a Fourth, I looked inside
 Nothing more would I hide.
 
 And on the Fifth, I said aloud
 I've done some wrong, and I'm not proud.
 
 I took Step Six, and got prepared
 To lose the defects, I was scared.
 
 Now I'm at Seven, take them away
 My God, for this I do pray.
 
 And on Eight, the list was long
 Amends to make for all the wrongs.
 
 I took Step Nine, put down my pride
 Amends made, I will not hide.
 
 Step Ten I take, each day I pray
 I make amends along the way.
 
 And on Eleven I pray to know
 Each day His Will, which way to go.
 
 I take Step Twelve, I'm like a bird
 To others now, I spread the word....
 

Service to another Alcoholic

We are fortunate to have Bob B volunteer to take over the responsibilities of Central Office Chair, and wish him every success in this difficult endeavor. Bob has already assumed the duties of managing the office and getting our answering service running smoothly, by appointing a committee to study the phone volunteer system to identify changes that could benefit users at both ends of the line. He will certainly appreciate your help in assuring that the hand of AA is there for the struggling alcoholic, or the traveler who needs meeting information. Why not give Bob a call at 838-9117 to offer a helping hand or 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. Are you looking for service work for sponsees, with a year or more of sobriety , to assure them being part of  instead of apart from recovery? Maybe this would be the perfect match.

Traditions Checklist*

TRADITION FIVE: Each group has but one primary purpose -- to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

1. Do I ever cop out by saying, "I'm not a group, so this or that Tradition doesn't apply to me"?
2. Am I willing to explain firmly to a newcomer the limitations of AA help, even if he gets mad at me for not giving him a loan?
3. Have I today imposed on any AA member for a special favor or consideration simply because I am a fellow alcoholic?
4. Am I willing to twelfth-step the next newcomer without regard to who or what is in it for me?
5. Do I help my group in every way I can to fulfill our primary purpose?
6. Do I remember that AA old-timers, too, can be alcoholics who still suffer? Do I try both to help them and to learn from them?
    

*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

An ounce of insight
Is more valuable
Than a pound of Ego.

This-n-That

Don't forget the Harrisburg Area Intergroup meeting Thursday the 5th of June at 6:45pm, and the District 36 General Service Rep meeting on Monday June 9th 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.