Service Group Support Committee Minutes - Sunday, January 19, 2020

3:30pm – 5:00pm ET

Serenity Prayer

Attendance

Akia W., D.C.; Anita F., Sarasota FL; Christina B., Keller, TX; Daniela P., Sydney, Australia; Deme S., Lafayette, CA; Dorothy B, Temple Hills MD; Erica N., Cupertino, CA; Gracie, T., Sydney, Australia; Hal W., Kent, OH; Holly P., Tacoma, WA; Ida D., Walls Lake, MI; Jackie W., D.C.; ;Jen K., Santa Cruz, CA; Jennie F., Sydney, Australia; Jim D., San Francisco, CA; Joan J., Lacome, Alberta Canada; Kathy M., Orangeboro KY; Kay M., Dallas, TX; Linda P., Camber Australia; Lisa B., Oakland, CA; Loretta C., Toronto Canada; Lou H., Naples, FL; Mac M., San Francisco, CA; Marcia W., Grand Rapids, MI; Nikki B., Wellington, New Zealand; Pam K., Toronto, Canada; Paul B., MA; Reina D., Topsham ME; Rey L, Laurel, MD; Rod B., Melbourne Australia; Roz H., Amelia Beach Island; Ruby J., Wellington, New Zealand; Sarah H., Philadelphia, PA; Shannon T., Dallas, TX; Shirley H., Woolrich, ME; Susanna B., Gold Coast, Australia; Valerie L., Harrisburg, PA; Vicki R., Sacramento, CA

Administrative notes: the call is being recorded for note-taking purposes; reminder to members to mute when they are not speaking. Mac sent an email with document resources for review during the call.

Deme reported out from WAI. Highlights included news about the work of the Digital Outreach committee (Weblinks, Blogwatch, Podcasts, Google Alerts, and Media Watch). These are WAI committees that just happen to meet at EAI; anyone interested in doing service on these committees can email Deme at waisgsc@foodaddicts.org. She also highlighted the work of the 12th step committee, which hosts homebound meetings for members who are unable to attend a regular meeting.

Anita reported out from EAI.

1. We received two motions for the WBC for consideration. Ultimately the author withdrew both motions without action
2. EAI is planning an April, 2020 Fellowship Day in Germany. More detail will be provided in the official minutes.
3. In November 2020, the EAI annual Service Support Weekend will be held in Washington, DC. The program will be hosted by the Greater DC LSG. The selection was awarded based on the Greater Washington fellowship putting together a detailed application detailing their capabilities for hosting the meeting, e.g. location, lodging availability, travel access, volunteer support
4. During our January 12 meeting, the Financial Aid Committee presented an overview of the services they provide to fellows, e.g. WBC scholarships for voting members, Service Support weekend funding, Travel Funds for PI speakers, etc.
5. Elections for EAI Executive Board will be held in May, 2020
6. EAI is currently testing remote voting capabilities
7. EAI currently have at least 11 active LSGs
8. The EAI Quarterly call was held on January 19. The topic, How Service Serves Ourselves. Topics included:
1. Sharing the research results from interview conducted with over 300 meetings (70% response rate) to learn why they don’t send a voting member to the WBC. The top 3 reasons:
1. Expense
2. Value (perceived)
3. Timing (June being an extremely busy month)
2. Focused action plans are being formulated to increase attendance

Shirley reported out from the Maine chapter. For those who don’t know:

• The Maine Chapter was started at the beginning of 2002 when the early members of the first FA meetings in Maine wanted to form a “boots on the ground” service group with the four primary goals:
• Reaching other food addicts through community education
• Supporting existing meetings
• Promoting unity among the meetings
• Assisting in the establishment of new meetings.
• The early members chose to use the chapter structure when they formed the group because it is designed to serve a specific geographic area. And it is affiliated with an intergroup and uses the service structure defined by the intergroup bylaws. So no need to reinvent the wheel
• In Maine we have found the Chapter helps us do together what individual meetings lack the resources and person power to do alone.
• We have a regular rotation of leadership, a formal communication system among meetings and a defined process for collecting and determining how to use 7th Tradition funds.
• The Maine Chapter is made up of 23 meetings located in Maine and Southern NH.
• The Chapter meets monthly for 2 hours. We have a recess during the month of August. When the Chapter first started we met in one room as one group. We were not big enough to have separate committees. So it was kind of fun. The person who was the Office Chair would come to the front of the room and we would all be office committee members focusing on communication among the meetings and creating a community presence that could respond to inquiries. Then the PI Chair would come to the front of the room and presto chango we were all PI committee members and we would focus on activities to carry the message in the community.
• Today we have 3 standing committees that meet separately for 40 minutes during the Chapter Meeting. The Chapter is working on several goals right now:

1. The Office Committee is our communication hub. It has developed a secure online Chapter Workspace and Archive. This allows members to work together on projects and share information more efficiently. The meetings in Maine and Southern New Hampshire can be up to a 6 hour drive from each other, so this workspace has been very helpful. The committee also maintains our presence on the FA website and responds to inquiries and sends them to the appropriate committee for follow-up
2. The PI Committee organized participation in 3 Health Fairs this past fall and is in the process of organizing participation in 2 University Health Fairs and the Maine Nurse Practitioner Annual Meeting. The committee just organized a presentation of the Healthcare Slideshow to the staff at a medical group with five offices and are following up on a college’s request for the slideshow.
3. The 12th Step Committee will be sponsoring a Connection Writing and Art Session on February 16th in Augusta Maine. The committee is also busy organizing the annual Maine Meeting Support Day which will be held on April 19, 2020 in Portland Maine at the Breakwater School. The Theme is: Don’t Eat No Matter What, No Matter What Don’t Eat. It will be an afternoon of fellowship and sharing starting with a skit presented by a group of FA actors.

Roz H. reported on a new spotlight on LSGs that will appear in the Gratitude in Action newsletter, which will next be published in March. We do not yet have firm dates for a final draft of the section but we expect something around mid-February. Thanks to Deme and Anita (who provided EAI and WAI LSG contacts), we now have a global LSG contact list available to anyone who would like to connect with other people doing local service group work. Roz will be looking for someone to help her with this ongoing LSG spotlight. If you are interested in this service or if you would like this contact list, email sgsc@foodaddicts.org.

Lisa B. and Sharon highlighted documents that can help a local service group when planning an info session. These documents are designed to be easier to manage than the large PI kit and include some 
updated material. There are two kinds of info sessions: the info session that occurs when a robust fellowship holds an event to attract new members (when we are the hosts), and an info session that occurs when FA members are invited to speak to a group of health care professionals about FA (when we are the guests). The information session formats have recently been updated and will be posted on the FA website soon. The documents included:

• an individual form to hand out at information sessions for community members to indicate if they want someone to follow up with them with information about FA. People sometimes prefer to request information individually rather than add their name to a large list.
• an individual form to hand out at information sessions for health care providers to indicate if they want someone to follow up with them with information about FA. This is more specific than the form for community members; they can say they want a book or to post a link to the FA website on their website.
• a task list to help organize preparation activities starting 6-8 weeks before the information session
• best practices for information session volunteers

Lisa B. can also be contacted at 510-501-4214, pi@foodaddicts.org (attention Lisa B.), or lisabrndt@gmail.com to provide an evaluation form for after the information session.

Rod B. shared his experience doing information sessions in Australia. Things that worked included having two sessions back to back, one for a large meeting (Saturday) and one for a smaller meeting (Monday). The meetings were able to share resources and literature, which helped put the smaller meeting in a better position than it would have been otherwise. They would have liked to see more FA members attend the information session from other meetings in the area. They made a decision not to charge for pamphlets they handed out at the information session. At the session two years ago, there were 8 newcomers to FA, newer FA members who were attending a new meeting, and returning members. One person came because they saw a newspaper article about the information session. There were people in the session who had prepared questions, and the moderator had a list of questions in case there was a lull in the conversation. They chose speakers as diverse as possible, (man and woman with large weight loss, mother with kids, young person, bulimic, etc.). The information sessions successfully brought people together from different meetings and resulted in more efforts from all meetings in the area instead of just one or two. As a result of the information session the group formed a relationship with a radio station that has continued for years and resulted in multiple shows and podcast recordings. FA is now a regular spot on a radio program. In the 2019 information session, they used an evaluation form the night of the session to get feedback. Newcomer packets had phone lists, connection magazines, and trifolds, which successfully reached people. After the information session, they held a wrap-up call to discuss what worked and what didn’t.

Q&A:

Gracie T. from Sydney (to Rod): You mentioned at the info session a couple of years ago, 8 newcomers came in. Were they all brand new to FA? Answer (from Rod B.): Yes, 8 people were brand new to FA. There were others who were returning or newcomers from other meetings.

Joan J. from Alberta, Canada (to Deme S.): Would you be interested in hearing about the LSG work going on in Alberta, Canada? Answer (from Deme S.): Yes, please email waisgsc@foodaddicts.org.

Joanna from Sydney, Australia (to Pam K.): I heard this call was changed to accommodate India, is there PI work going on in India? Answer (from Gracie T.): That’s actually the Frontier call, the Time Zone 2 call time changed to accommodate India.

Pam K. invited LSGs to share their current activities:

Vicki R., from Sacramento: The LSG meeting meeting is on the 4th Sunday of the month, meeting after the 9am meeting; the last meeting was January 11 because of scheduling conflicts. There were 10 fellows in attendance, and they planned a second connection writing session for Saturday Feb 22, after a successful session last quarter. The group got the idea from people talking about unity within the fellowship as an important goal. They used the previous session to generate submissions for connection magazine but also for newcomers to use the tool of writing. Got the idea from last year’s business convention to read a committee position every month and this month they read the Literature person position. It was good to talk about new literature (pamphlets), there were questions about the newcomer packet and the discussion clarified the job. In the group, there are a few people who are steady attendees and some people who are just looking for fellowship. The LSG will explore other initiatives after the writing session.

Marcia from Michigan: A conference call just started for the Michigan fellowship, and they are planning a Michigan fellowship day. They are asking all of Michigan to come on the conference call meeting once a month on the 2nd Tuesday 8:30-9pm. They never did a LSG conference call before, previous meetings were in person and just for those in Grand Rapids. They are trying to let everyone know that there is a conference call and looking for ways to announce it. They are planning the fellowship day for 2-4pm, having lunch together and 2 topics for 45 mins each. They are currently considering topics: crosstalk skit, growing after years of being in program, contented abstinence, sponsorship, what does a health care information session look like, tools, service positions, etc. Pam recommends emailing sgsc@foodaddicts.org and they can have a call, Anita is also happy to help. There is intergroup work being done and other fellowships who are doing fellowship days.

Jackie W., from D.C.: The D.C. LSG is planning a review of the PI kit. It sounds like the kit is being revised, how should they proceed? Answer (from Lisa B.): They should get in touch with Lisa B. and Sharon C. and they can provide more information.

Christina from Dallas: Does someone have to be in a right-sized body in order to do service at a table at a health fair? Answer (from Pam K. and Shirley H.): The recommendation is to have someone at the table at all times who has at least 2 years of continuous abstinence, but there is no size or time requirement in the best practices for the other person. Follow-up question: Could FA set up outside a grocery store, like Girl Scouts? Answer (from Pam K.): We have to use attraction, not promotion, which is an issue to consider. Joan J. researched this issue in the Traditions Index and found entry number 115: Setting Up a Booth at a Shopping Center or Mall, which references Tradition 11 (Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films). The entry reads:

A member inquired about the possible Traditions issues regarding having a table set upat a s hopping center to distribute and communicate information about FA to the shoppers.

The TRC discussed the issue at two of our meetings and at the second meeting came to the unanimous conclusion that it would not be in keeping with our FA Traditions. We felt that because it was not a part of a community health facility or a health fair, and particularly given the venue, it could be perceived as promotional.