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."

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 

SOBRIETY NEWS SUBSCRIPTIONSSobriety News is e-mailed monthly to free subscribers who have indicated a desire to receive it. You may subscribe simply by sending and email to info@aaharrisburg.org. It is emailed by BCC (blind copy) to protect the anonymity of recipients. You need to notify us if you change e-mail addresses, and you may not receive it, if your computer or internet service provider screens out mail that does not have your name in the To: box.

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