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Service Group Support Committee Minutes - Sunday, September 19, 2021


3:30pm – 5:00pm ET

Serenity Prayer

Attendance

There were 64 people in attendance.

Akia W., Washington DC; Ana O., San Rafael, CA; Andrew L., CA; Annette W., Santa Rosa CA; Barb C.;      Brenda B., GA; Carol LB., Dallas, TX; Catherine L., Charleston, SC; Claire T., UK; Clare G., Sydney, Australia; Claudia, Sacramento, CA; Corinne M., Sydney, Australia; Deb C., Seattle, WA; Debbie H., Ione W., Lakeway, TX Ione W., Lakeway, TX; Jackie W., Juanita R., GA; Ketura, DC;Leah A., MA; Linda B.; Linda C., ON Canada; Linda Y.; Lizangie; Lois R., FL; Lou C., Rochester, NY; Martina A., Brandon, MB; Mary B., OH; Mary F., Greenville, SC; Mary Lou R., New York, NY; Mary M., CO; Mary U., MA; Miriam H; Nancy M., Toronto, ON; Nicole A., Sydney, Australia; Nikki O., Lethbridge, AB; Pam D., TX; Pam K., BC Canada; Pat F., GA; Patriece S., Atlanta, GA; Peggy O., MD; Rebecca; Regina L., MD; Reina D., Topsham, ME; Renee T., FL; Ronnie J., UT; Rosa A., GA; Sandy A.; Sharon C., CA; Shauna P, ON; Sherry W., FL; Shirley B., FL; Shirley H., ME; Susan O., RI; Susan T., ON; Tracey J.; Vena W.; Yaser A., AB; Yasmina M., Huntington Beach, CA

Intergroup and Chapter Updates

Eastern Area Intergroup

  • The SGSC developed four sub-committees for our focus areas:
    • Data & Connection:  how to connect fellows in various virtual meetings from a common geographical area
    • Education:  educating the fellowship about what an LSG is and the benefits to recovery through e-forum talks, art, video, and flyers
    • Programming:  procedures/methods to help areas build their LSGs like mentoring
    • Resources Pot:  a secure, accessible, and easily searchable bank of LSG documents for the fellowship's use

Maine Chapter

The Maine Chapter is affiliated with Eastern Area Intergroup; there are 22 registered meetings from Maine and Southern NH affiliated with the Chapter. Of the 22 meetings, 15 are gathering virtually by phone and/or zoom due to the COVID-19 restrictions. The other groups have decided to either partner with other meetings or attend gatherings around the Chapter and world. The Maine and NH gatherings have really benefited from the members from the frontier, other states and countries who have logged in or called in to the gatherings.

The Chapter meets virtually on the third Sunday of the month. We have three standing committees: Office, PI and 12th Step Committee. Each year we also convene an Ad Hoc Committee to work with the Bylaws Chair, who is preparing and setting timeline dates for possible Motions submitted to the Chapter for consideration at the World Service Business Convention (WSBC).

The Office Committee is the communication hub for the groups and the public in our region. The Committee:

  1. Responds to requests from FA members and the community.
  2. Keeps information up to date on the FA website. This is a big focus right now in preparation for the coming FA website update.
  3. Emails the Chapter Agendas, Minutes and Highlights to all FA members affiliated with the Chapter. The Highlights keep members up to date on events, Chapter resources, and PI and 12th Step service opportunities. The Highlights also include contact information for the 15 virtual gatherings in our region.

The PI Committee educates the community about FA.

  1. The committee is working to raise awareness online and in print papers about FA. The current focus is helping people find the FA website, the Maine Chapter Information Line and online/phone gatherings during the pandemic.
  2. The committee is also planning to staff two in-person FA Booths in October. The first is The Maine Association of Physician Assistants which runs from October 6th to the 8th in Sebasco, Maine, the second is the Maine Nurse Practitioner Associations Annual Conference on Thursday, October 28th and Friday, October 29th at the Samoset in Rockland.
  3. The PI Committee in partnership with regional meetings, is coordinating a second ad-buy for print and online advertising in another region of the Chapter.
  4. Virtual PI Sessions are scheduled for Tuesday, October 5th at 6:30 pm, Saturday, November 6th at 8:30 am, and Monday, January 10, 2022, at 9:00 am. If you are interested in attending, you can text me at 207-504-2154, and I will connect you with the gatherings that are hosting them.
  5. The Committee also coordinates coverage for the Chapter’s phone line and looks for and responds to opportunities to raise awareness about FA.

The 12th Step Committee:

  1. Maintains a Chapter wide service list which is a list of members willing to do service in FA when needs arise and also coordinates literature sales for gathering for the Chapter
  2. The Committee is planning a Fall eSession on Saturday, October 23rd, at 1:00 pm. The topic for discussion will be Cross Talk, along with some lighthearted activities and fellowship. If you are interested in attending, you can text me at 207-504-2154, or the announcement and link will be posted on the FA Website shortly.

Presentation Topics:

Virtual Literature Table

Lou from Upstate NY presented on the virtual literature table, click here to view. Simply create a copy of the document for your use. Lou is available to assist reach out to SGSC@foodaddicts.org for more information. 

In-person meeting use of Virtual Literature Table

Ketura from DC uses the virtual literature table for their local in-person meeting. Modifications to the virtual literature table were made to personalize the experience. They used these platforms, bit.ly and tiny.url, to generate a short URL. They were made available to the meeting fellows.

Roadmap of current literature webpages

Pam D from Texas demonstrated how to find the home page and the many roads one can take to get to the literature webpages on the exiting website. Click on FA in the top left-hand corner to find the home page. Think of the FA webpage as a city; there are many ways to get to your destination. Literature is downloadable and readable within the page. Here are some quick links for the newcomer package and how to get started in FA:

Facelift of the literature webpages

Leah A from MA and many other members have spent three years giving the website a facelift. The links in the virtual literature table should stay the same. Much easier to search for literature as a keyword. The literature will resize itself to accommodate reading from mobile devices.

Questions

  • I would like to see more stories and literature in Spanish.
    • The new website does have quick links to literature in other languages like Spanish, German, French, etc. The Chair of the translation committee is Lisa A. Please reach out and coordinate with her regarding FA materials being translated into languages other than English. 
  • For new meeting registration, where can we find documents and standards that meetings need to have a group conscience?
    • They are at foodaddicts.org > meetings/meeting guidelines > document 1 – Meeting Requirements, Standards and Guidelines. An email will follow when the new website goes live. Registration for the new meetings and to re-register will begin September 30, 2021; meetings will have until December 2021 to re-register.
  • Starting an LSG, the first meeting is this Thursday, asking for support to get started.
    • Suggested to reach out to Akai W EAI SGSC Chair or Pam K WSI SGSC Chair
  • Are apple podcasts/mp3’s available to download when not online.
    • Yes, click on the download button on your device.

Cost of shipping for literature

If your local area/meeting spends a minimum of US$480 of literature, get in touch with the office director to remove your shipping charges. Shipping charges will be reduced to ½ the cost if you spend US$240 or more.

LSG Reporting:

An LSG in Florida passes out old connection magazines to newcomers.

The Western Canada Local Service Group created online announcements on Kijiji, Craigslist and Eventbrite by adding links to the foodaddicts.org website. Kijiji has several replies to postings (45 – Calgary; 100 + inquiries from another site). Healthy Living Expo – Alberta used to have a booth, recently received an invite for 2022 but declined at this time, due to covid.

Additional Information:

We added eight new attendees to the distribution list from the google form requesting more information from you and your LSG. Thank you to all for your response.