Document 6: Literature, Phone List, Speaker CDs/MP3s
LITERATURE
FA conference-approved literature, conference-recognized material, and World Service Board-approved material are displayed at all FA meetings. This includes printed FA pamphlets, Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, speaker CDs, connection (our FA magazine), Alcoholics Anonymous, Twenty-Four Hours a Day, The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, and The Little Red Book.
World Service has received many questions from individuals and meetings regarding literature at meetings. Only the materials needed by FA members or necessary for FA service work are displayed. This includes some or all of the books above; telephone lists or directories of registered FA meetings; the literature price list*; notices of FA information sessions; newcomer packets; and materials distributed by boards or committees of World Service Inc., FA intergroups, or FA chapters. Documentation and other materials (i.e. signage, flyers, banners) from other Twelve-Step programs or other outside enterprises being displayed or distributed at meetings (on the literature table or elsewhere) is not in keeping with FA tradition.
Literature for newcomer packets includes “Food Addiction and the FA Solution,” “Are You Having Trouble Controlling the Way You Eat,” “Just for Today,” the meeting’s phone list, and a local meeting directory. You can also add recycled copies of the connection magazine.
World Service provides each new meeting with a starter packet of FA pamphlets, FA CDs, a copy of Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, and copies of both Alcoholics Anonymous and Twenty-Four Hours a Day. Additional FA books and pamphlets are available online through the FA website (www.foodaddicts.org). Alcoholics Anonymous and The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous are available online from Alcoholics Anonymous (www.aa.org) and Twenty-Four Hours a Day and The Little Red Book are available online through their publisher’s website. These books are also available through other commercial vendors.
It is suggested that meetings refrain from photocopying literature to avoid making our material look unprofessional and inconsistent. We also suggest that CDs not be copied and ask that meetings consider the effect that taking much-needed money from WSI (by not purchasing literature and CDs) would have on carrying the message to newcomers.
Suggested readings for Literature Meetings are listed in Document 3: Format Options for FA Meetings.
*Review the Literature Price List for display at FA meetings.
PHONE LISTS
Each meeting has a phone list so that newcomers can connect with FA members committed to the meeting and to their recovery. The phone list is kept up to date so that newcomers are not discouraged by calling people who have left FA or confused by names of people who are not attending the meeting regularly.
While it is tempting to combine phone lists in new, smaller fellowships, it is better to keep individual phone lists for each meeting, so you know who is on the phone list and thus who is attending meetings and still in the program.
While some meetings include their members’ email addresses on their phone lists, email does not take the place of phone calls.
The names of cell phone and long-distance carriers are not listed, as FA does not endorse any outside enterprise.
Copies of the meeting phone list are made available on the literature table.
The World Service Contact receives and prints the Frontier Sponsor List, the Frontier Phone List, and the Universal Language List and ensures an adequate number of copies are always available on the literature table.
SPEAKER CDs/MP3s
Many FA meetings maintain a library of CDs of FA members sharing their experience, strength and hope. These are audio recordings of individual FA members with long-term success in FA, who tell their stories of what it was like while in active addiction, what happened when they found FA, and what life is like now in recovery. Each audio recording is one member's story and is 35 to 45 minutes long. Each is available for sale as a CD or as an MP3 download at www.foodaddicts.org, then “Literature,” then “Audio Recordings.”
While the speaker’s anonymity has been maintained, most speakers have their contact information listed with the World Service office. FA members wishing to contact a speaker may send a request with the number and title of the CD to the office at fa@foodaddicts.org. The office will provide the speaker’s contact information if the speaker has given permission.
CDs in the meeting’s library are made available for a refundable deposit that covers the cost of replacement.
Some meetings use their Seventh Tradition funds to purchase a device with a speaker to play CDs during a CD “Qualification” meeting (see Document 3 – Format Options for FA Meetings). Alternatively, meetings may choose to purchase a “Bluetooth” speaker that can be paired to a device (cell phone/MP3 player) in order that downloaded audio recordings can be played.