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Sobriety News - June 2013
A Service of Harrisburg Area Intergroup

If you would like to add something to the Sobriety News, please send it to info@aaharrisburg.org

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.

Calendar of Events

June 2 Sunday 8:00 pm Bridge Street Group Speaker - Charlie B from 16th and Bridge St
June 6 Thursday 6:30pm Harrisburg Intergroup Meeting - Fellowship House 19th St Harrisburg (1st Thursday of the Month)
June 8 Saturday 5:00pm PENNSCYPAA 2013 Host Committee Summer Fling Dinner/Speaker/Dance http://www.pennscypaa-xxv.org
June 9 Sunday 8:00 pm Bridge Street Group Speaker - Adrianne from 16th and Bridge
June 10 Monday 6:30 pm District 36 Meeting - Fellowship House 19th St Harrisburg (2nd Monday of the Month)
June 14-16 Weekend 2013 Cumberland Valley Intergroup AA Campout-Pine Grove Furnace, Gardners, PA FLYER
June 15 Saturday 12pm-6pm PENNSCYPAA 2013 Host Committee Dodgeball Tournament http://www.pennscypaa-xxv.org
July 19-21 Weekend 2013 PENNSCYPAA XXV-Harrisburg http://www.pennscypaa-xxv.org
June 23 Sunday 8:00 pm Bridge Street Group Speaker - Iris from 19th Street
June 30 Sunday 8:00 pm Bridge Street Group Speaker - Bill C from Out of the Dark
June 16 Sunday 8:00 pm Bridge Street Group Speaker - Jonathan M. from 4th and Bridge

Looking Ahead

July 4 Thursday 6am-10pm 19th Street 4th of July Alcothon-Harrisburg FLYER
July 21 Sunday 9am-12pm Out of the Dark Summer Speaker Brunch - Negley Park, Lemoyne - Speaker Jim P from D.C. FLYER
Aug 2-4 2013 Weekend AA PA State Convention - Harrisburg, PA www.aapastateconvention.com
Aug 17 Saturday 12pm-5pm SAVE THE DATE! Harrisburg Area Intergroup Annual Picnic - New Cumberland Flyer coming soon!
Sept 15 Sunday 2013 Dillsburg Pignic - Flyer Coming Soon!

Out of Town

Jun 13-16 2013 Weekend 43rd Annual Area 29 Maryland State Convention - Hagerstown, MD http://www.mgsconventions.org/
Jun 21-23 2013 Weekend Fellowship of the Spirit Mid Atlantic Speaker Weekend - Richmond, VA www.fotsmidatlantic.org
Jul 12-14 2013 Weekend 61st Annual West Virginia AA Convention - Martinsburg, WV http://www.aawv.org
Aug 16-18 2013 Weekend Sunlight of the Spirit Conference - York, PA http://www.sosyorkpa.org/

Cell Phone (Hotline) Commitment
To ensure that any person that calls our hotline gets a live person and not an answering machine, Intergroup pays for a cell phone (and a hotline number) and asks that groups sign up for one month and pass the cell phone around to their members (who also sign up) to answer this cell phone when someone calls. Out hotline number is 717-234-5390 and is a valuable resource for people looking for meetings or are struggling and have questions about AA.

Month Group
June Dillsburg
July Bridge Street
August Big Book Study Group - West
September Hershey
October There is a Solution
November Out of the Dark
December Hershey Nooner



New Meetings and Changes

CLOSED! The Thursday 7:00PM Any Lengths Group at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3640 Ash Street is no longer meeting. This meeting has been taken off the schedule. They are still meeting on Mondays.

UPDATE! The women's Thursday Morning Gratitude Meeting will start its outdoor meeting again on Thursday May 2 at 7:30 AM at Negley Park - any questions, please call Marilyn Fuller-Smith at 649-4162

UPDATE! The Big Book Study Group East is now providing babysitting. They meet every Thursday at 7pm at 5000 Devonshire Road in Harrisburg. Please check out the flyer for more info!! FLYER

CLOSED. The Children of Chaos group that met on Thursdays in Palmyra at 6pm is no longer meeting. This meeting has been closed.

CLOSED. The Dillburg Women's group held on Thursdays at 7:01PM at St Paul's Lutheran Church 201 S Baltimore St has been closed.

NEW! The "A Vision for You" is a new group of Alcoholics Anonymous starting January 13th at the LGBT Center of Central PA. They are located on 1306 N Third Street in Harrisburg next to the Midtown Scholar Bookstore. They will be meeting every Sunday at 12:00pm. This is an Open Meeting and all are welcome to attend! The format will be a lead speaker for approximately 15-20 minutes, followed by open discussion. FLYER

PLEASE MAKE SURE to notify us via email at info@aaharrisburg.org if you have an update, addition or a cancelled meeting so that we can update the meeting lists.  THANKS



Corrections

Harrisburg Area Intergroup is responsible for bringing meetings to Prisons and Work Release. They provide literature and give the Harrisburg Area Intergroup reports of how they are doing. If you are interested in volunteering for any of these opportunities for service work, send an email to corrections@aaharrisburg.org. There is a great pamphlet from aa.org called AA in Correctional Facilities to learn more about this program.

Prison Day Time Contact Background
Check?
Dauphin County Mens Prison Mon and Fri Mon 6pm and 8pm and Fri 7pm corrections@aaharrisburg.org Y
Dauphin County Women's Prison Fridays 6:30pm corrections@aaharrisburg.org Y
Cumberland County Men's Thurs(temporary) 8:00pm corrections@aaharrisburg.org Y
Cumberland County Women's Tuesday 7:30pm corrections@aaharrisburg.org Y
Camp Hill State Prison Wed 7:00pm corrections@aaharrisburg.org Y
Perry County Prison Wed 6:00pm corrections@aaharrisburg.org Y
Dauphin County Women's Work Release Mon, Tues and Sat Mon 7:30,Tues 6pm,Sat 10:30am Cheryl S - 717-671-5768 N
Dauphin County Men's Work Release Fri and Sat Fri 8pm,Sat 10am Terri Z - 717-215-8282 N


The Corrections Committee Needs Volunteers

Women and men are needed to carry the message of AA at the Prisons and Work Release. One year of continuous sobriety is required. For the prisons - you will be also required to fill out an application for a background check. Volunteer orientation will also be required. No background check is required for work release. Please send an email to corrections@aaharrisburg.org for the application and more information. This is wonderful service work!!!




PENNSCYPAA 2013 Host Committee Summer Fling 6/8/2013

The PENNSCYPAA 2013 Host Committee is having their second summer fling on June 8th. It will be will be held at 421 Bridge Street in New Cumberland and will start at 5:00pm. A spaghetti dinner will be served at 5:00pm and there will be a speaker (Grace) after dinner at 7:00pm with a sobriety countdown. Then there will be dancing at 9:00pm!! Hope to see you there! $10 for the dinner/dance, $3 for children under 12 and $5 if you just want to come to the dance! http://www.pennscypaa-xxv.org.




PENNSCYPAA 2013 Host Committee Dodgeball Tournament 6/15/2013

The PENNSCYPAA 2013 Host Committee is having a dodgeball tournament on June 15th starting at Noon. It's going to take place at the Swatara Church at 811 Keckler Road Harrisburg, PA. Pre-register by mail or online, there are only 16 teams slots available. First come, first serve! Registration at the door will be based on availability. Each team should be made of of 6 people. Winners will host the next tournament, so come and represent AA for your city!! $30/team, $5/spectator. Refreshments will be served. http://www.pennscypaa-xxv.org.




PENNSCYPAA - XXV on July 19th - 21st

The Pennsylvania State Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous will be held at the Park Inn by Radisson Harrisburg West at 5401 Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg. Registration is $15 if you pre-register or $25 at the door. This is a weekend full of speakers and workshops and meetings. It's always a fantanstic time! Hope to see you there! http://www.pennscypaa-xxv.org.




Literature Sales

If you would like to make a literature purchase from HAI, please contact Rick H at 717-554-2382 or email him at literature@aaharrisburg.org. He will not always be at the Fellowship House to receive your orders, so please contact him before visiting the Fellowship House or if you would like to place your order, please contact him directly. Thanks!




Treatment Facilities

Harrisburg Area Intergroup is also responsible for bringing meetings to treatment facilities. They provide literature and get reports of how they are doing. If you are interested in volunteering for any of these opportunities for service work, contact the Person of Contact below.

Institution Day Time Contact Background
Check?
Concept 90 2nd and 4th Thurs 7:00pm John-592-1093 N
Common Ground Friday (bi-weekly) 7:30pm John-592-1093 N

Concept 90 Commitment
Gaudenzia's program called Concept 90 provides non hospital substance abuse services and has requested that 2 AA member's (if possible, 1 male and one female) to stop by on the 2nd and the 4th Thursday to tell their story. Harrisburg Area Intergroup has responded to that commitment by requesting that an AA group take a month and be responsible for sending 2 people to the Harrisburg facility to have an AA meeting and tell their story. The meeting is 1 hour and each person will have 30 minutes to tell their AA story (what it was like, what happen and what it's like now). Concept 90 is located at 128 E Azalea Dr, Harrisburg, PA 17110. Driving Directions. Please contact John at (717) 514-8372 if you have any questions.




"Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect."



TRADITIONS CHECKLIST: Tradition Six: An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
1.Should my fellow group members and I go out and raise money to endow several AA beds in our local hospital?
2.Is it good for a group to lease a small building?
3.Are all the officers and members of our local club for AAs familiar with "Guidelines on Clubs" (which is available free from GSO)?
4.Should the secretary of our group serve on the mayor's advisory committee on alcoholism?
5.Some alcoholics will stay around AA only if we have a TV and card room. If this is what is required to carry the message to them, should we have these facilities?
***Printed by permission. THE AA GRAPEVINE INC., PO BOX 1980, GRAND CENTRAL STATION, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10163-1980


We Are not a Glum Lot!





Harrisburg Area Intergroup (HAI)
1251 S. 19th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17104
May 3, 20123 Meeting Minutes


Representatives Present: 19th Street Group, Alanon, Big Book Study Group - East, Big Book Study Group - West, Bridge Street Group, Camp Hill Prison, Camp Hill Trinity Group, Cumberland County Woman's Prison, Dauphin County Men's Prison, Dauphin County Women's Prison, Dillsburg Group, District 36, Duncannon Group, Fellowship House Group, Harrisburg Men's Group, Hershey Group, Living Sober Group, Lykens Group, Millersburg Group, More To Life Group, Out Of The Dark Group, Some Are Sicker Than Others Group, The Way Out Group, There Is A Solution Group, West Shore Group, West Shore Women's Group
The meeting was opened at 6:30 p.m. with The Serenity Prayer.
The Twelve Traditions were read by Julie T.
Meeting Minutes: were read by Suzanne J. and approved as written.
Treasurer's Report: read by Joyce T. and approved as written. Ed questioned cost of rent. Joyce T. noticed an error after report was accepted. She will correct for next week.
Chairman's Report: Kurt R. asked any new group representatives to introduce themselves. Bill is covering Duncannon, Lykens and Millersburg. Mike from More To Life Group, Stan Alt BBSG-E. Kurt asked everyone to encourage their groups to attend the upcoming events.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Central Office: No report/No chairperson. Karen M. did clarify who had the cell phone next and that there was a representative present for that group.
Month- Group
June- Dillsburg Group
July- Bridge Street Group
August- Big Book Study Group, West
September- Hershey Group
October- There Is A Solution Group
November- Out Of The Dark Group
December- Hershey Nooner Group
Sobriety News: Lisa K reported she put in Sobriety News that the position for Central Office Chair was open. Lisa highlighted upcoming events and had hard copies of Sobriety News available.
Literature: No report
Public Information: Chad reported there are several new PI committee members. They are going to meet to get the word out. Someone at HAI meeting reported they have heard the PSA on the River and it sounded good. Chad is waiting to hear from Wink.
CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES:
Dauphin County Men's: Moses said all is going well but they are still in need of help. They had 1 interview and gave 1 application out.
Dauphin County Women's: Karen M. reported they have 1 new volunteer and she will be ready to schedule her soon. All is going well.
Dauphin County Women's Work Release: Terri Z. reported that Cheryl S. will be heading the Women's Work Release. They have 25 women on a rotating schedule covering the meetings each week.
Dauphin County Men's Work Release: Terri Z. reported that a male is still needed to head the Dauphin County Work Release. They are having a volunteer organizational meeting on May 18th at Café Fresco at noon (flyer provided). They currently only have 4 volunteers doing five meetings a week. Volunteers are desperately needed. Please inform your groups and invite them to the organizational meeting.
Cumberland County Men's: No report
Cumberland County Women's: Lori reported the prison was shut down and no word of when it would reopen.
Perry County Prison: No report
Camp Hill Men's: Charlie reported all is going great. Wednesday night meeting they had a speak on 4/15. The speaker had 40 years sobriety and he gave out a Big Book to each person at the meeting. He is trying to get some guys who did time to talk at the meetings.
Corrections Committee: Karen M. Reported the volunteers were invited to a dinner which was held for their service work. Prizes were awarded and they were informed them of how much their service work is appreciated and needed. The dinner was very nice. There will be an upcoming meeting for prison representatives and there will be training upcoming as well. Karen also asked everyone to go back to their groups and let them know how disparately prison volunteers are needed. This is vital service work and very rewarding. Karen has a volunteer interest form that anyone can sign up on. This does NOT mean the volunteer is committing to bring meetings into prisons. It is simply an interest form so the volunteer can be contacted and it can be determined if this would be something they would be interested and qualified to do.
Treatment Centers: John reported everything is peachy keen.
Activities: Terri Z. reported the Gala sold 224 tickets and made $5.48. The bus trip was awesome. 44 tickets were sold and each person was paid back $2 towards the purchase price of the bus ticket. Intergroup picnic volunteers are needed for the planning committee. Please take this information back to your groups. The Picnic is August 17, 2013.
Unity Committee: Matt reported there has been no response for booker meetings. They have moved onto unity activities. They would like to do a unity event once a quarter. The Traditions Study start will be postponed till July. Matt is asking for volunteers to assist in going to groups who do not participate in Intergroup with the purpose of attending their business meeting and encouraging them to participate in Intergroup.
District 36: Bob B. was elected ADCM. He is trying to encourage groups to participate at the District level. The Traditions Workshop is upcoming and District is looking to do three more workshops this year.
Cumberland Valley Intergroup: No report
Al-Anon: Bonnie B. reported their meetings are going well. Their convention is upcoming and also the Alateen Convention is upcoming. Bonnie asked if anyone would like to personally contribute financially to help an Alateen attend their convention it would be greatly appreciated and they could see her to do so.
Old Business:Debbie S. volunteered to serve as Central Office Chair. She was nominated and approved. The discussion on cell phone plans was tabled till next month.
New Business: Curt C. stated he was interested to see if District could have a person involved in each committee of Intergroup. District would like to become more involved and assist on each Intergroup Committee for unity. Discussion was held and it was agreed that this would be welcomed. Joyce T. reported Max cannot assist with the Literature Committee position. Therefore, co-chair of Literature is open. Please take news of this volunteer position back to your groups. Discussion was held on how much sober time was needed to chair this committee. Kurt R. will look into that and report at the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m.

May HAI Financial Report

Please keep in mind the seventh tradition: Every A. A. group ought to be fully self supporting, declining outside contributions. That means Harrisburg Area Group (which includes Central Office) is supported by your group contributions. Thanks for your support!


District 36 Meeting Minutes - May 13, 2013

The meeting opened at 6:30 pm with the Serenity Prayer and Responsibility Pledge
Introductions and new members: Anthony, Barbara, Curt, Dennis, Elaine, Eric D., Gary, Greg F., Jim W., Kasha, Lisa, Malcolm, Mark A., Mike K., Randee, Richard, Ryan, Stephanie
Concept 5: Curt explained the fifth concept, which was written on the premise that decisions in AA should be made by a group conscience. A two-thirds vote is required for most major decisions but unanimity is preferred. If the two-thirds requirement is not met, the minority opinion should be described in detail prior to another vote. Ryan added that this concept safeguards against hastily made decisions and gives individuals the chance to express their opinions without fear of being regarded as unwelcome dissenters. Although the fifth concept has frequently caused debates to continue for extended periods of time before decisions are made, it serves the purpose of maintaining equality in AA and preventing the program from being dominated by a particular group of people.
Secretary's Report: The secretary provided the minutes from the previous district meeting.
Treasurer's Report: The treasurer provided a current financial summary.
ADCM Report: No report.
DCM's Report: Curt requested the group's approval to attend the North East Regional Forum (NERF) in Connecticut from June 7th until June 9th. Though it is recommended that DCMs attend, Curt prefers to receive a majority vote to attend any event which will require financial reimbursement from the district. Curt intends to suggest the formation of a correspondence program for alcoholics in the corrections system. A motion was made and carried to approve Curt's attendance at NERF, though he will leave early on the 9th to participate in the Area 59 quarterly meeting.
CVI News: No report.
HAI News: Lisa stated that volunteers, especially men, are needed to help Dauphin County inmates who are in the work release program. HAI will welcome any GSRs who have the capacity to help with committee responsibilities, and volunteers are especially needed for literature and in the central office. Barbara also reported that the bus trip to New York was excellent.
News from individual groups: Anthony informed the group that the 2013 Big Meeting in New York City will be held on June 13th, and he offered to email more detailed information to everyone.
Lisa's homegroup ordered birthday plan envelopes, and she will update GSRs on whether or not her group is successful in encouraging members to contribute. Anthony suggested creating a flyer that could be displayed with the envelopes to describe their function to members. Malcolm proposed to spend ten minutes at one of his homegroup's meetings each month to convey the importance of the birthday plan and to gain support for his homegroup's business meetings.
Kasha reported that her homegroup is having trouble with a severely disruptive member. Speaking to the individual outside of the normal meeting has not resulted in any permanent change in his behavior, and her homegroup is seeking a more effective solution. Curt offered to take the matter to the quarterly Area meeting for further input.
Old Business: Eric distributed forms he had prepared, and asked the GSRs to use them to list the workshop topics that were most significant to their homegroups as well as to indicate whether they are willing to help coordinate the remaining three workshops for 2013. Eric intends to schedule one of the workshops during the summer, another in December, and he will most likely hold the annual corrections workshop in September.
Elaine received more than 500 birthday plan envelopes from the GSO, and GSRs were encouraged to take some back to their homegroups.
New Business: Curt announced that on June 23rd, the Area Delegate will be providing a full report on the 2013 General Service Conference, and he encouraged all GSRs to attend.
In response to a request for elaboration on how a violation of the traditions should be handled, Curt emphasized that the reaction to a traditions violation is as important as the violation itself. Curt promoted addressing violations calmly and respectfully. Steph clarified that since there are no rules in AA, an individual group can violate the traditions if the group conscience supports it.
Tradition 5: Malcolm discussed the fifth tradition. In the past, AA has consistently faltered when the fellowship attempts to spread its message to the public, but AA is successful when the focus is on the individual alcoholic. The fifth tradition also prevents AA from engaging in competition with any other alcohol cessation program. AA does not compete with rehabilitation centers, churches, correctional institutions, etc.
The next meeting will be held on June 10th, 2013 at 6:30 pm in the Fellowship House.


DONATIONS - The addresses for group mailings of local contributions are as follows. Please make a note on your check (bottom left memo line) of "Contribution," or "Literature", or whatever other purpose the check is for, so the Treasurers can apply it to the correct account.
Harrisburg Area Intergroup - 1251 S. 19th Street,  Harrisburg, PA. 17104
District 36 -  PO Box 5325, Harrisburg, PA. 17110
Eastern PA General Service Area 59 - Payable to: EPGSA - Mail to: Area Treasurer, 1540 Caroline Drive, Aston PA 19014
General Service Office -  Box # 459, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163


SOBRIETY NEWSis published monthly, and is usually available the day before the first day of each month, so paper copies can be printed and distributed to Reps at the monthly 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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