Quarterly Report 2011 - July-Sept

Dear FA Members:

Please go to foodaddicts.org to view, in its entirety, this quarter’s report from the World Service Board. Highlights from the last three months, as well as some important action items, are included here.

• The Third Bi-Annual FA Fellowship Convention took place September 23rd to September 25th in Burlingame, CA. Attended by over 800 FA members, from 29 states and six countries, the weekend included meaningful opportunities for FA members to spend time together relaxing, sharing meals, talking, laughing, dancing, singing karaoke, and participating in several FA meetings. Coming together in this way was truly divine--a joyous occasion filled with experience, strength, and hope! Thank you to everyone whose service made this possible!

• Please mark your 2012 calendars. The next annual FA World Service Business Convention will take place from Friday, June 1st through Sunday, June 3rd, in Danvers, Massachusetts at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

• The FA CD library now has recordings from over 80 FA members. In maintaining the valuable tenet of principles before personalities, and in preserving anonymity on the web, speakers are intentionally unidentified. Subtitles that briefly summarize the speaker’s story are used instead. If you ever have a personal need to contact the speaker directly, please call or email the FA office and our secretary will be happy to assist you.

• The FA Meeting Format, also known as Document 4 in the Meeting Guidelines, has been revised. Meeting secretaries, please download and print the new version as soon as possible.

• Please keep the newcomer in mind when making your meeting and AWOL announcements. Keep your announcements short and courteous. 

• Assisted by the WSB Design and Personnel Committees, the WSI Office Committee hired two new firms, DG Communications and the Placemaking Group, respectively, to redesign and develop our website. Many, many thanks to all involved on moving this project forward! For web-related questions or suggestions, please email web@foodaddicts.org.

Thank you to our entire fellowship for all that you do! If you are looking to do more service, please let the board know by sending an email to fa@foodaddicts.org. There is no shortage of ways to be useful! 

With gratitude, Elissa P.

WSI Chair

WSI CHAIR’S REPORT – July/August/September 2011 – Elissa P.

During this quarter, the board held a two-hour conference call on both June 26th and August 28th, and met in-person for four hours on September 23rd (at the FA Fellowship Convention). General business at each meeting included the passing of minutes, the passing of each month’s treasurer report, and monthly checkins from each member. The annual budget and general committee responsibilities were passed as well. New editing procedures were agreed upon to help the board function more smoothly. Committee work was reported on in detail; board input was offered to provide clarity and insight when help was needed. 

A convention summary, the full Convention Report, and an explanation of the 2011 WSBC motions regarding meeting standards were compiled by the board, distributed to the body, and made available online.

The IRC (Inquiry Response Committee) responded to four issues this quarter. The Finance Committee met regularly as well. The BMRC (Board Motions Review Committee) has not yet been charged with any work this year. The Design Committee assisted the Office Committee in choosing two new companies for developing and redesigning the FA website. The Personnel Committee assisted in the hiring process of these two companies. The Personnel Committee has also drafted new hiring procedures to better assist WSI committee chairs responsible for new employees.

WSB PERSONNEL COMMITTEE REPORT – July/August/September 2011

(Dave I., Chair of Personnel and Vice-Chair of WSI)

The Personnel Committee is finishing up a hiring document for chairs who are hiring paid employees or contractors. It will be completed in November.

WSI COMMITTEE REPORTS – July/August/September 2011

Bylaws Committee (Sue H., Chair)

The Bylaws Committee drafted both the WSC Member Manual, as well as two possible motions for the 2012 WSBC. One motion has since been retracted; the other, regarding compliance with meeting standards, is in process.

Chapter and Intergroup Support Committee (Misch E., Chair)

• The Chapter and Intergroup Support Committee [CISC] currently supports three intergroups, three chapters [all with the Eastern Area Intergroup], and four active prechapter areas; the CISC works with intergroup chapter support committees or prechapter liaisons to guide and direct areas that are working towards eventually forming a chapter.
• CISC now has a sub-committee specifically for guiding pre-chapter activities, and the chair is Judie W.
• Work on the Chapter Manual continues. Diane O’H is the chair of the revision committee.
• At each CISC meeting there is a topic discussion. The discussions provide an opportunity to share information and to learn good practices. This quarter the discussions were focused on the current Chapter Manual.
• The minutes of the CISC meetings have become informational documents, and the committee is happy to make them available for anyone who is interested in service at any level. An index may be received by emailing Norma Jean P. at  normajeanp@ameritech.net 

connection Committee (Anna B., chair)

Convention Planning Committee (Adrienne P., Chair)

The third FA Fellowship Convention was held in Burlingame California at the San Francisco Airport Marriott on September 23-25th 2011. There were 809 members in attendance from six different countries. We had fellows from Australia, Canada, Germany, Costa Rica, Kenya and 29 of the United States. The event was more than just fun, (though it was certainly that!), it was also a chance to truly inspire and encourage each other in our recovery.  There were 13 meetings held over the course of the weekend, all modeling the basic formats of regular FA meetings, with the exception of two CD recording sessions, (in which four new speakers told their stories, one in Spanish). There was also a ton of service opportunities that took over 100 volunteers. One fellow described the way things went as ―stellar‖. Clearly God was running the show.

The next Business Convention will be held in Danvers, MA. June 1-3rd, 2012. Information will go out in early November regarding Board Applications. The following WSB positions are up for election: Chair, Vice-Chair, Convention Planning Committee Chair, Connection Committee Chair, Office Committee Chair and Traditions Review Committee Chair.

Literature Committee (Jane M., Chair) 

Accomplishments for Current Quarter 

FA Book

We planned to have a total of 31 stories.  Twenty-eight stories have been transcribed and shaped.  Three stories are remaining to be transcribed or shaped.  One recording is pending (to be scheduled). One storyteller has not yet given permission to use her story.

Pamphlets and New Literature Requests

Eight English pamphlets have been updated and re-printed with the correct FA World Service address, banner language and revision date on the back page: To Our Families and Friends, There is a Solution, The 20 Questions, Teens and Twenties, Some Thoughts on Sponsoring, Men in Recovery, Are You Having Trouble Controlling the Way You Eat,  and Anorexic/Bulimic: There is Hope.

The following new pamphlets have been published: 

• Are You Having Trouble Controlling the Way You Eat (Spanish translation).
• The Spanish Trifold (found under Western Area Intergroup (FA-WAI)/Meeting Trifolds/Spanish Trifold) has been updated.

Translation of the Spanish Meeting Format has been completed and it has been published to the Website (found under Meeting Information/Meeting Format/Spanish).

Three new CDs have been published, two in German and one English speaking CD.

One Spanish language pamphlet ( Are You Having Trouble Controlling the Way You Eat)  has been updated and re-printed with the correct FA World Service address, banner language and revision date on the back page, :

Goals for Next Quarter 

FA Book

The plan is to finish editing in November, to complete work on the introductory chapters by April 2012, to finish final rewrites and editing by mid July 2012, and hopefully to get a professional editor to look at it over the summer. The book should then be in final form by midSeptember, and hopefully  can be published by the 2013 Business Convention.

Pamphlets and New Literature Requests

• The possibility of implementing a standardized Newcomer Packet template is being reviewed,
• The approved German Twenty Questions pamphlet is to be sent to the printer for publishing  Existing Trifolds on the FA Website are to be updated.
• The German Trifold (found under Eastern Area Intergroup (FA-EAI)/Meeting

Trifolds/German Trifold) will be updated to match the German-Twenty Questions pamphlet.

CDs

• In an attempt to make it easier to contact a speaker who has recorded a CD, a notation will be added to the jewel cases of CDs stating ―Anyone wishing to contact a CD speaker can do so by calling or emailing the FA World Service office requesting the speaker's contact information provided the speaker has given permission to be contacted.‖
• While preserving anonymity, the committee continues to develop CD subtitles to make it easier for FA members to distinguish between or identify with CDs. This project will continue for another year or so before it is ready for publication.
• CDs recorded at the Fellowship Convention in September 2011 will be processed.

Language Translation

The Literature Committee will work with the Public Information Committee to update translation of the German website.

Some Thoughts on Sponsoring will be reviewed and published in German.

Twenty Questions will be finalized and published in Spanish.

There is a Solution will be finalized and published in Spanish.

Some Thoughts on Sponsoring will be finalized and published in Spanish.

Office Committee (Ruth M., Chair)

• The office and design committees are making good progress with the design and website projects.
• The office has been working with different potential website companies. This has been extremely helpful in evaluating each company’s strengths and work styles as well as keeping our website functioning. 
• We also wrote a well thought out ―Request for Proposal.‖ This was written to help potential bidders know about FA, and our design and website goals.  We received five bids.
• After careful evaluation of the bids and with consideration of the FA budget, the decision was made to hire two companies. DG Communications will be working with the Design

Committee on FA’s branding, logo, literature and other materials.  The other company is the Placemaking Group and they will be working with the office on FA’s new website design and development.

• Our Office Director, Adrienne C. will be coordinating the projects and keeping everything moving along.
• The target for completion on the website and design is the beginning of March.
• Send an email to web@foodaddicts.org if you have any questions or suggestions about the website.  

Public Information (Kris M., Chair)

The highlights of the past three months (July, August, September) for the Public Information (PI) Committee include the following:  

We participated in the following events either by having a booth or by sending trifolds to be included in the events’ giveaway bags.  National Walk for Obesity in Los Angeles and New York City and the Childhood Obesity Conference, in San Diego.     

The Weblinks team successfully got FA’s website added to Marin.org, Kansas State University, American River College, Folsom Lake College, UC San Diego, San Diego State University with universities being targeted in the Philadelphia area.  

Articles were added to the Media page including a story on KPRC in Houston, New Hampshire Union Leader, TheGrio.com, the TODAY Show, San Francisco Chronicle sfgate.com, ABC Nightline and the UC Berkeley college channel News 21.   

Cision requests increased to provide the lists of local media for regions across the US and some also in Canada.  

Social media is a subject we’ve discussed repeatedly to work on a statement of FA’s current position.  The PI Committee has appealed to the fellowship to refrain from posting anything about FA to their social media profiles or blogs.  Anyone who has FA mentions on their profiles is asked to take them down.  In an effort to respond to relevant posts, a new response mechanism similar to MediaWatch was initiated called Blogwatch@foodaddicts.org so that now FA members who see social media or comments sections on websites where they want FA to be included can send an email to Blogwatch and have our team add an informational comment to that social media site or website comments section. 

The Public Information Committee put the final touches on the upcoming PI rep cheat sheet called ―So You’re a PI Rep, Now What?

The committee also started to develop a classified advertising statement to provide clarity for groups interested in buying ads in local newspapers.  Until the statement is completed, individual meetings are asked to refrain from paying for ads or classifieds.  However, the committee did approve verbiage that can be used for Craigslist postings, which are now being tested in Denver, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Charlotte and San Francisco.    

We have confirmed funding for the translation of the FA website into German.  The PI Committee is working closely with the Literature Committee on the translation. 

Traditions Review Committee (Dan B., Chair)

Process for Consideration of Traditions Issues:

• Issues and concerns are submitted in writing, by email, to traditions@foodaddicts.org by individuals, meetings, chapters, intergroups, or the World Service Board.
• The Traditions Review Committee (TRC) meets on a monthly (or as needed) basis to review and discuss how the Twelve Traditions might guide consideration of issues and concerns and responds to those who have sent inquiries.
• A summary of issues and responses is sent to the general fellowship, when appropriate, through WSB quarterly and annual reports.

Sample Traditions issues reviewed this quarter:

• Issue - A member inquired about the distribution of a survey that was to be used for research purposes for a private health consultation business on the topic of eating disorders. At another meeting, a member was distributing flyers and invitations promoting their business.
• Response – Assuming this survey was sent as a blast to an FA meeting phone/email list, the TRC referred to Tradition Five, as this practice could distract the group from its primary purpose. Also, Tradition Six states that the group ought not endorse any outside enterprise, in these cases, aligning with a private business. Tradition Twelve was also identified, in the first case, as the anonymity of members is breached when a meeting list is used by a business.   
• Issue – A meeting was asked to donate money to a new FA meeting that was struggling. Ensuing discussion at the business meetings resulted in a disagreement and the meeting requested guidance, based on the traditions.
• Response – Tradition Seven says that each meeting should be self-supporting, declining outside contributions. The committee was comfortable with a one time, reasonable donation being acceptable, if it was from another FA meeting and not from outside FA. After this donation, however, this meeting would then be expected to stand on its own. If, however, the meting needs ongoing or substantial help, they should consider if the meeting should close until there is sufficient financial support available from its members. If ―outside contributions‖ were interpreted to be any donations from outside the meeting members, this would also be a reasonable interpretation particularly, if this became a source of disagreement at the business meeting.
• Issue – Meetings asked if putting the name of a specific cell phone company or internet phone service on the phone list would be appropriate, in light of the traditions.
• Response – Listing of the name of a particular service provider/company on an FA meeting phone list could be indirectly endorsing that outside enterprise and is questionable in terms of both Traditions 6 and 10. It is our opinion/suggestion that particular service provider/company names are left off meeting phone lists.

TRC Referrals:

• If the TRC receives inquiries that are not specifically related to the Twelve Traditions, the committee reviews the issue or concern and decides to which other WSB committee the inquiry and the resulting TRC comments should be forwarded.
• Issues that members submit for review to the TRC—that are not traditions related issues—are then forwarded for review to other committees, such as the ones listed below:
  • Inquiry Response, Bylaws, Finance, Literature, Public Information, 12th Step Committees;
  • World Service Executive Board and Intergroup Boards;
  • FA Meeting Guidelines and group conscience at business meetings 

Twelfth Step Committee (Jim S., Chair)

• Gratitude in Action, FA’s e-newsletter with stories of FA news and service, is sent to every FA member who is registered on the website: www.foodaddicts.org.
• The Frontier Phone List is being sent monthly to members with no FA meetings and to FA WSI contacts for distribution on meeting literature tables. The email to members on the Frontier contains a monthly message that supports abstinence without meetings.
• The Frontier Sponsor List is being sent quarterly to members with no FA meetings and to FA WSI contacts for sign-up on meeting literature tables.
• The Universal Language List is being sent quarterly to WSI contacts for distribution and sign-up on meeting literature tables.
• The Meeting Effectiveness, Accessibility, Safety and Effectiveness Sub-Committee is meeting to discuss inquiries on meeting guidelines and requirements and other meeting issues, and to support and encourage EAI’s monthly meeting health messages.
• Conversations between the 12th Step committee chairs of the three Intergroups, and WSI’s 12th Step Committee are encouraged and facilitated.