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Quarterly Report 2015 - Oct-Dec

January 30, 2016

Dear FA Members:

Yesterday I had the good fortune of being part of a wonderful Information Session hosted by our Calgary, Canada fellowship. Not only was our fellowship enriched by the presence of two delightful speakers from our Western Area Intergroup, our whole group benefited greatly by working together to organize this event. In the question and answer part of the session came an inquiry from a newcomer in the audience: “I’ve been weighing and measuring my food for

eighteen years, but I’m still more than three hundred pounds. How is your program of weighing and measuring different?”

What is different about our program is that this is a spiritual program. Putting your food on a scale is just the beginning. We accept our powerlessness over our addiction, and through working the remaining steps we discover, for ourselves, a personal relationship with a God of our individual understanding and experience. It is through that power, humility and personal surrender, the strength of daily sponsor and group support, and the structure and guidelines of the 12 Steps that we find freedom from the addiction that was destroying our lives.

This is a program of HOPE because the foundation of this program is spiritual. This is what sets us apart from the myriad of other options for approaching food that are available today. Not many things in life are more inspiring than being a part of someone’s life who emerges from the darkness of disease and into the light of recovery.

Our June World Service Business Convention is just around the corner. If you can afford the time and have the resources, please join us in Danvers, Massachusetts. Check our website for information on how to register for the Business Convention in June and the Fellowship Convention in the fall. These are wonderful opportunities to do service and celebrate our recovery together.

Business Convention: June 3-5, 2016, Danvers, MA
Fellowship Convention: October 14-16, 2016, Tampa, FL

World Service and Intergroup committees continue to do extensive service to better reach and support newcomers and our fellowship as a whole. Please take the time to read through the valuable committee summaries so you can familiarize yourself with all the work being done on our behalf.

Keep coming, stay abstinent, and continue to put your hand up to do service in whatever way you can. Our program needs everyone to help us continue to grow in our recovery, both individually and collectively. Most importantly, remember to make your personal recovery your most important priority. Everything else in your life flows from this foundation.

With Gratitude, Dave I.,

WSI Chair

Officer Reports

WSB Inquiry Response Committee Quarterly Report (Jamie M., IRC Chair)

The Inquiry Response Committee (IRC) is responsible for handling inquiries made to the FA World Service Board or to the FA World Service Office. Responses are made by telephone to inquiries received from both FA members and non-members. An IRC member attempts to reach the inquirer within two weeks of the initial inquiry. The IRC consists of five FA members with at least seven years of abstinence and the WSB secretary who serves as an ex-officio member of the committee.

The committee often submits Traditions related issues to the Traditions Review Committee (TRC) and meeting related issues to the Meeting Effectiveness, Safety and Accessibility Committee (MESA) for review and response. If necessary, the IRC may ask a member of the TRC or the MESA to make the phone call to the inquirer.

Samples of recent inquiries and responses:

Inquiry: An FA member’s inquiry was referred to the IRC by the FA Office regarding an issue with her meeting. She was concerned about the newcomers in her meeting because many people were using the qualification time to share stories of their abusive past in great detail. This was the second time that we received an inquiry regarding this issue.

Response: We had a good conversation about the need to speak to the newcomer and to have the focus of the sharing on food addiction. We suggested that she share her concerns at her group’s business meeting. We gave her some reference points to use when she brings this up at the business meeting so that it is understood why it is important to emphasize the elements of our experience, hope and strength which would give hope to the newcomer. We talked further about references to our Meeting Guidelines Handout and Document 2 on the FA website and how the information in those documents could help to guide those sharing to the newcomer. She wanted an “official response” in our second phone call but we shared the IRC is not in the position to provide an “official response” on behalf of FA, rather the IRC provides best practice guidance and often refers members to the applicable FA resources.

Inquiry: An inquirer contacted the FA office to find out if there was someone within the FA fellowship who could sponsor a vegan.

Response: We had a discussion suggesting that it may be difficult to find a sponsor but that there were sponsors who would sponsor a vegan and we were able to furnish her with some names and numbers of FA members with long abstinence who could help her.

Inquiry: We received two separate inquiries from a couple of members who had attended a meeting that was attempting to have their business meeting during the 10 minute break when there were no newcomers.

Response: We explained that it wouldn’t be healthy for their meeting to try to condense a business meeting into 10 minutes, and more importantly that there would not be time for newcomers or other members, who may need that break time to have fellowship and use the restrooms. We also pointed out that they wouldn’t know if there were newcomers until after the meeting started and if people were planning to meet during the break they might not leave themselves sufficient time to attend the business meeting after the regular meeting.

Vice Chair (Jamie M.)

I participated in the WSB Executive Committee monthly meetings and the WSB monthly meetings. I provided input for executive decisions and offered help to committee chairs when necessary.
I provided support to the WSB Chair in the ongoing WSB meetings and for board issues.
I provided ongoing support to the chair of the Office Committee in matters regarding the FA office and helped in the process of the hiring of a new part time Office Manager.
I sat on the Finance Committee, in which capacity, I served as the representative of the WSB on finance issues.
I chaired the Personnel Committee, which helps ensure that employees and independent contractors for the organization are being managed appropriately and constructively. We met to determine appropriate salaries and policies regarding salary.
I chaired the Inquiry Response Committee (IRC) and helped to communicate with Inquirers regarding various issues or concerns in or about FA.
Assisted with fielding and answering inquiries to the FA Office regarding various issues.

Treasurer (Holli N.)

No report.

WSI Committee Reports

Bylaws Committee (Marti Mc., Chair)

The Intergroups and Chapter were notified about procedures for submitting motions for the 2016 Business Convention.
No motion proposals were received from the Intergroups or Chapter.
No updates were submitted by the WSB for the WSB Manual.

Service Group Support Committee (SGSC) (Paul B., Chair)

The SGSC continues to support Intergroups, Chapters and Local Service Groups with a bi-monthly conference call
The SGSC has completed a document titled “Local Service Group Guidelines and Recommendations” which is posted to Foddaddicts.org under Local Service Groups
The SGSC maintains a sub-committee: Guidelines and Recommendations Committee that meets quarterly to review new questions to be addressed in the LSG Guidelines and Recommendations
The SGSC core committee meets bimonthly to discuss agenda items
The SGSC held their bi-monthly call on 12/13/2015 with 29 FA members in attendance. LSGs reported
The Guidelines and Recommendations sub-committee met and added question 15. The newest version will be posted to the FA web site under the Service Groups tab

connection Committee (Adrienne P., Chair)

Work on the new connection website is still in progress.
We're hoping to launch as soon as possible, but the date has been moved out a bit further than we'd hoped.
Submissions of both art and articles are always appreciated, thank you for your help and please keep them coming.
We are particularly looking for original cover art, any mediums or styles are welcome and any inspired worked would be great
The bi-monthly connection rep call has been moved to a new time in order to accommodate as many time zones as possible.
Please email connection@foodaddicts.org if you need more information.

Convention Planning Committee (Ebony F., Chair)

The Convention Planning Committee is gearing up for TWO conventions in 2016! More information about both conventions is available on the FA website: http://www.foodaddicts.org/convention

2016 Business Convention

Planning is currently underway to welcome everyone to the 2016 WSI Business Convention taking place Friday, June 3 - Sunday, June 5, 2016 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Danvers, MA.
Hotel, pricing and meal plan information can be found on the Business Convention section of the FA website.
Each year at the World Service Business Convention we hold elections for WSI Officers and Committee Chairs. All those who are interested and meet the qualifications are encouraged to apply by the March 4th deadline. This year we will be accepting nominations for the following positions: Chair, Vice Chair, Bylaws, connection, Convention Planning, Office, and Traditions Review.
Many volunteers are needed to run a smooth convention. If you are interested and have 6+ months of continuous abstinence in FA, please sign up using one of the links below:
- o Registration
- o Greeters/Hospitality
- o Provide a room or a ride

2016 Fellowship Convention

Convention Details:
Dates: Friday, October 14 - Sunday, October 16, 2016
Location: Tampa, Florida at Saddlebrook Resort
Stay tuned for more information!

Public Information Committee (Annie H., Chair)

PI Committee Quarterly Report 4Q 2015

Tools Subcommittee:

Responded to inquiries, adding to FAQs file. Subjects included finding and using health and clergy letters, Public Service Announcements, Press releases, and accessing PI Rep brochure.
Reached out to new PI rep to get her started.
Prepared orientation for media interviews
Prepared community outreach orientation materials to send to health fair volunteers.
Supported Calgary PI Session with pilot mail campaign letter to physicians
Helped line up people to be interviewed in Grand Rapids, Philadelphia, Saginaw, Kalamazoo, and Atlanta, and Florida, following up on press outreach about Thank-a- thons
Selected survey professional
Offered support to person writing newspaper column about FA
Continued to collect testimonials and develop roster of potential interviewees

Healthcare Subcommittee:

Represented FA at:

October 1-3 2015

NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association) – (San Diego)

October 6 2015

KAISER HOSPITAL Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program – (Oakland) Approx. 25-30 clinicians were in attendance

October 17 2015

DIABETES EXPO – Houston Approx. 6000-8000 people attended

October 16-17 2015

2ND ANNUAL FOOD ADDICTION CONFERENCE - U Mass Medical School

Approx. 50-75 people were in Attendance

- The updates to the Health Care Tri Fold were completed in September and were used at the Diabetes Expo, Kaiser Info Session, 2nd Annual Food Addiction Conference, and will be used at future events
- Kaiser Permanente Info Session #2 is being scheduled at San Francisco Chemical Dependency Program
- Exploring Food Addiction Group was added to the curriculum for patients at the Oakland Kaiser Chemical Dependency Program
- Held a planning and strategy session for the development of a suite of brochures
- Eric is coordinating the printing and distribution of HCB. All wanting brochures need to email healthcarebrochure@gmail.com with number of brochures needed and contact person to send them to
- All who distribute brochures will follow up for feedback and collect feedback and pass on to the above email address
- Continue to develop the model for follow-up team to contact people who expressed interest in FA at conventions

Media Watch Subcommittee:

Statistics:

- Sent out 325 contacts
- Received 6 personal responses
- Working on adding more volunteers to Media Watch Core Team
- 5 of 9 Cision (Media Contact Database) attempts successful

Highlights:

Articles Published: 11/25/15

The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC.com) ‘Katherine S.”

“Holidays can be a problem for those with eating disorders, food issues” Shelia Poole-writer

12/17/15

Jerusalem Post “Miriam” & “Abigail”

“A Battle of Body and Mind” Orri J. Avraham

Interviews

11/24/15

Tues morning KUBA-AM radio interview "Anne T."

11/26/15

Thurs morning KGO radio interview "Josh"

Sent FA Book and literature to

- Scott Anderson, MD
- Jocelyn Lebow, PhD (eating disorders fellow) at the Mayo Clinic
- Valerie Taylor, MD
- Helena Boersma, EdD, MS, LMCH, NCC
- Teresa Ambroz, MPH, RD, LD
- Victoria Rideout, MA
- Angela Berrill, NZRD

Centralized a list of potential interviewees Public Relations Specialist (Erin Jay)

- Sent FA approved posts to blogs – working with Shelby (Blogwatch)
- Contacted local media about Thank-a-Thons and arranged interviews
- Working on pitching New Year’s release to select local print and radio markets and arranging interviews
- Used Cision for pitching Thank-a-Thons and New Year’s releases

Weblinks Subcommittee:

- 5 Colleges posted
- 123 other various links (see full list of colleges and other links below).
- 27 schools logged on to the FA site with a total of 76 hits.
- Country Report: TOP 10 countries in this order: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Africa, Israel, Taiwan, Mexico, and India. TOP Cities:

San Francisco, London, New York, Los Angeles

Blog Watch highlights:

- 12 new blog post responses were posted this month, 8 pending.
- Total-to-date:
- Google AdWords Campaign: this QUARTER
- 13,143 people clicked through from our Google AdWords ads to the FA website and our GOOGLE ad showed up 905,043 times.
- Google Analytics: QUARTERLY Data Acquisition Overview
- Average Monthly Hits for this QUARTER: 27,789
- Average Time Spent on the FA site: 3:01 mins
- Weblinks:
- Referral Traffic this QUARTER: 6,031
- Social Network Referrals this QUARTER: 1,146
- Desktop traffic: 37,922; Mobile Traffic: 36,877, Tablet Traffic: 8569
- Bounce Rate: 41%
- Pages per Visit: 4.23
- Visit Duration: 3:01 mins.

Colleges Accessing the FA Website this Quarter:

College	# Clicks
American River College, Sacramento, CA	2
Brooklyn College Health Resources	1
Canada College, Redwood City, CA	1
Canyons College, Santa Clara, CA	4
College of San Mateo, San Mateo, CA	1
Delta College, MI	5
Ithaca College, NY	2
Kansas State University, KS	1
Louisiana State University, LA	2
Loyola University, Chicago, IL	9
Ohlone College, Fremont, CA	1
Peralta Schools, CA	3
San Diego State University, CA	2
Santa Clara University, CA	4
Skyline College, Oakland, CA	1
Solano Jr. College, Fairfield, CA	1
Texas State University, TX	2
Tulane University, LA	2
Universidad Pan Americana, Guadalajara, Mexico	6
University of Bristol, England	2
University of California, Berkeley, CA	4
University of California, San Francisco, CA	3
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO	10
University of Massachusetts at Boston, MA	3
University of San Diego, CA	2
Valdosa State University, GA	1
Wellington Institute of Technology, New Zealand	1

WAI

There were a total of 13 health fairs that were attended by volunteers from two subcommittees: Community Outreach as well as Teens and Twenties. The geographic area served included the San Francisco Bay Area counties and the Sacramento area. Events included campus-sponsored, community nonprofit- sponsored, and corporate-sponsored health fairs.

Literature Committee (LC) (Jennifer N., Chair)

Operations Subcommittee (OC)

In collaboration with the office, the large print FA book was made available on the FA Website.
Ready to print 2 new German pamphlets- Just for Today and Before You Take That Bite.
Offered editing, guidance and support to the new Medical Brochure being used by the PI Committee.

Writing and Editing Subcommittee (WES)

Finalizing Living Abstinently (LA) pamphlet and will be posting online for review by fellowship.
Completed motion for Living Abstinently for 2016 Convention.
Reviewing all pamphlets and in process of revising them for the 2017 convention.

Translation Subcommittee (TC)

Completed Edits on German pamphlets- Just for Today and Before You Take That Bite.
Provided the Office the necessary translations and information to build two new international tabs for Taiwan and Israel.

Audio Recording Subcommittee (ARC)

Identified an initial list of Frontier qualifiers for WSBC.

Projects Committee (PC)

No report

Office Committee (Margaret H., Chair)

The office manager hired in August 2015 submitted her resignation in November. The job was advertised, interviews were conducted, and a new office manager, Norma Mullan, was hired to begin in January 2016.
The office director continued work on a new website for connection that will be linked to the main FA website.
Work continued on getting the Vault system up and running. Once it is ready, any edits made to a document on one web page will automatically be made to that same document everywhere it appears on the website.
Work continued on making the pdf documents on our website searchable.
Informational pages in the Mandarin language were developed for the international section of our website, written in the style of Chinese characters used in Taiwan.
Work continued on the development of a frequently-asked-questions page for the website.
New committee members were recruited to replace members who are going off the committee.
Online registration for the June 2016 business convention was set up.

Traditions Review Committee (Dan B., Chair)

Individuals, meetings, chapters, Intergroups, or the World Service Board may submit Traditions related inquiries by email to the Traditions Review Committee (TRC) at traditions@foodaddicts.org
Since the October Quarterly Report was published, the TRC received eight new issues, referred three others to board committees, and held one conference call (January)
In addition, the TRC subcommittees continued their work on the following projects:
- Historical Index Subcommittee – continued archival of TRC records
- Communication Subcommittee – published TRC content in GIA Newsletter

The following are selected examples of Traditions issues resolved since the Quarterly Report was published in October:

1) Members/Sponsors Promoting Their Business to Members/ Sponsees
2) “Short AWOL” Announcement At FA Meeting

1) Members/Sponsors Promoting Their Business to Members/Sponsees

Issue: Concern was raised regarding a member of a meeting promoting a multi-level marketing business selling a “health product” using the meeting’s phone list and approaching sponsees and other members (including newcomers) with a suggestion to purchase the product and even to buy into the multi-level business plan.

Response: This issue has been raised in the past with the promotion of various products and services. Tradition 5 is called into question here as promoting and selling a product to members of a meeting and/or to one’s sponsees diverts us from our primary purpose, to help the still suffering food addict through the FA program of recovery. The newcomer arrives in these rooms with a desire to stop eating addictively and is highly vulnerable to suggestions. In particular, there is a concern when a sponsor, who can be perceived to be in a position of authority, attempts to involve their sponsees or other fellows in their business or work related matters. The common welfare of FA could be affected (Tradition 1) as this practice may cause discomfort among newcomers and others at meetings when they arrive expecting help from a Twelve Step program, not promotion of commercial products or invitations to join business ventures. Tradition 8 reminds us that FA should remain forever nonprofessional; the solicitation of the Sponsee by a Sponsor (or other member) to become involved in a commercial enterprise, may be perceived to be a requirement to receive help though the FA program. In this situation, in particular, this solicitation could be confusing because the Sponsor is selling “health products” and it could appear that the Sponsee had to become involved in the business in order to receive the “health benefits” of the FA program. The suggestion to buy a product that a member is selling for his/her profit brings Tradition 6 into play as it looks as if the group endorses or is affiliated with an outside product or enterprise. Tradition 10 states that FA has no opinion on outside issues. This practice can easily be interpreted as an endorsement by FA on the use of this “health product."

2) “Short AWOL” Announcement at FA Meeting

Issue: A member inquired as to whether a Tradition issue would arise if an announcement was made at their meeting for an “Introduction to AWOL” meeting. The “Introduction to AWOL” meeting will review only Steps 1, 2 and 3. The member asked if it is appropriate for a member to make this announcement at their FA meeting. They noted that although it may not be a “break” of FA Tradition, would it, nonetheless, be considered an “'FA or AWOL announcement” as set out in Document 4 of the FA Meeting Guidelines.

Response: The TRC agreed that this is not primarily a “Traditions” issue, rather it calls into question other FA documents set out as follows. Assuming the meeting is a registered FA meeting, it has agreed to abide by the FA Meeting Requirements and Standards. As part of this agreement, the meeting has agreed to use Sample FA Meeting Format (Document 4). In addition to the standard announcements already embedded into the Sample Format (Literature & connection), the format asks “Are there any other FA or AWOL Announcements?” Document 5 outlines the Suggested Wording for Service Announcements, including the suggested AWOL announcement. As you describe it, this announcement covers a type of meeting that is not an AWOL based on the AWOL definition in the FA By-laws, which states “A Way of Life, or AWOL, is a comprehensive method of studying and working the Twelve Steps of FA in sequence.” So this announcement does not fit into the criteria your meeting agreed to. It’s neither an FA nor an AWOL announcement. Where the Traditions could come in to play would be if your meeting decided to allow this announcement, notwithstanding the conflict with the Meeting Requirements/Standards. The meeting could do so based on the first part of Tradition 4 which states: Each group is autonomous except in matters affecting FA as a whole. However, the TRC feels that a group making a decision to make announcements in conflict with the Meeting Requirements/Standards and the FA Bylaws could affect FA as a whole.

Twelfth Step Committee (Linda N., Chair)

Organized and hosted the first ever Frontier Support Call, which took place on October 18, 2015. Distributed brief summary to members requesting the summary.
WSI 12th Step Service Council held its bi-monthly meeting on November 1, 2015.
Together with Thank-a-Thon Coordinators, EAI, WAI and Maine Chapter 12th Step Committee Chairs, coordinated 29 Thank-a-thons which were held on November 26, 2015, U.S. Thanksgiving Day.

MESA Subcommittee

Helped a meeting understand the difference between a service dog and an "emotional support" or "therapy" dog. We must allow service dogs, but do not have to allow emotional support dogs.
Helped a meeting with wording about “scents” in their disciplines.

Frontier Subcommittee

The Frontier Subcommittee participated in the coordination of the first Frontier Support Call held in October of 2015. Over100 people throughout the fellowship attended.
The Frontier Phone List was updated and distributed monthly to all Frontier Phone List members and WSI Contacts. WSI contacts were asked to maintain current copies on their meeting’s literature tables.
The Frontier Sponsor List was updated and distributed quarterly via email to WSI Contacts for placement on meeting literature tables. It was also sent to approximately 60 people from October 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. Sign-ups for this list were encouraged via Intergroup and Chapter meetings.
Continued with the creation and distribution process of the E-Communication piece for members on the frontier.
Continued to meet regularly to report the team’s progress and voice concerns and ideas regarding our work of helping FA members on the frontier.
Continued work on developing a frontier tab which will be added to the website.

Communications Subcommittee

Published and distributed Fall Gratitude in Action newsletter. Focus was on tips for staying connected through service during the holiday season and while traveling. It also included the Traditions Review Committee segment, information for upcoming events such as the 2015 Thank-a-thons, the WSI 12th Step Committee Frontier Support Call, upcoming Local Service Group Calls, and the 2016 FA Business and Fellowship Conventions.
Subcommittee held three meetings.
With the addition of several members to the subcommittee, we started the process of how to freshen up the Gratitude in Action newsletter with an effort toward providing a more purposeful and appealing publication for the fellowship.
WSI Universal Language List was updated and distributed quarterly, as scheduled.

Design Committee (Jan B., Chair)

In May, the Design Committee made a presentation to the board, updating members as to the purpose of the Design Committee, projects that we were working on, and recommended actions. We would like to update you on the progress of our recommendations.

FA Website

The refresh of the home page of the five-year-old FA website is almost complete. The Design Committee and the Office Director have worked to balance the needs of the primary audience of the homepage – the newcomer – with the needs of our members to promote conventions, books, Intergroups, literature, events, and the connection.

We have kept the same look and feel of the site while updating the design and coming up with a structure that meets the needs of both the newcomer and the members for communicating information.

**The connection Website**

The refresh of the home page is happening concurrently with the development of the connection website so that the FA brand is consistent and both sites are complimentary.

It has been an interesting journey to think through database, e-commerce, security, format, subscriptions, delivery of monthly issues, architecture, SEO, making sure we do not duplicate efforts on each site, making it easy and seamless for newcomers and members to go from one site to the other, and staying within budget.

We are excited and close to delivering an exciting connection website that meets the connection Committee’s needs and integrates effectively and safely with our current site in handling subscriptions and renewals.

Literature Committee

The Design Committee has worked closely with the Literature Committee on the translation and design of Food Addiction, There is a Solution and the Just for Today pamphlets into German.

Both pamphlets should be available on the FA website soon.

While the PI’s pamphlet to the healthcare community is a work in progress, we have completed the design at this time. As the content changes, we will work with them on updates and re-visit the design if and when appropriate.

The Literature and Design Committees are currently discussing printed materials and websites in other languages, content update and redesign of meeting trifolds, and the EAI waiting room magazine.

Reminder

As we talked about in our May presentation, the Design Committee would like to ask that we continue to use the process that was established with the re-design of the logo, website and literature:

That all print materials go through the Literature and Design
That all digital materials, including copy and structural changes to websites, go through the Office Director and Design Committee.
That committees consult with the Literature and Design Committees and Office Director on projects that involve external audiences and communication (printed and online) so we can
Make sure copy and design meets our literature and design standards,
Figure out how to integrate them into the website and delivery channels,
Meet your deadlines, and provide you with an accurate budget of the cost of implementation.
Committees most impacted: Office, PI and connection
It would be easiest to have the Office Director be the first point of contact as she can bring the necessary committee chairs together -- Design, Literature, PI – to ensure cohesiveness in all aspects of the project.

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