World Service Mid-Term Report 2022 July-December
Table of Contents
Officer Reports
WSI Committee Reports
Service Group Support Committee
Letter from our Chair, Lisa S.
Dear Fellows,
I hope this finds you well and that 2023 is off to a good start! I am always grateful at this time of year that I’m not looking for a new diet or making promises to myself that this will be the year that my life will change. My life did change on September 6, 1996 when I found this program and I have been on this amazing journey of recovery from that day forward.
I came into this program in the Washington, DC area and being in a new fellowship, we were very small. I saw firsthand the importance of service from the fellows that brought the program to our area and did all the service positions to keep our meetings going every week. I know that I wouldn’t be here without the service of those early DC fellows and others who shared their experience and encouraged me when I was afraid to make changes in my life.
When I had my 90 days, I was excited to take on a service position to help our fellowship, sadly I had a break shortly after that and had to let go of those positions. I thought I understood the importance of service before that experience, but my break really deepened by understanding. Without service, there would be no meetings, Intergroups, or World Service; there would be no fellowship and we would not be here to help the still suffering food addict. Service has been an important part of my recovery and gives me a great sense of purpose and joy.
The World Service Board has continued to do amazing service for the fellowship these past six months. I hope you will read this report so you can fully see what your fellows, your friends, are doing for FA as a whole. I am grateful to everyone involved in this work for their commitment to service and to our fellowship.
If you are interested in getting involved in service at the WSI level, please visit foodaddicts.org/service-opportunities–there is so much work to do and fellowship to be enjoyed. Of course, the most important service we do is staying abstinent.
I wish you all the best in 2023 and I hope to see you at the Business Conference in June!!
Yours in service,
Lisa S
OFFICER REPORTS
Treasurer Report (Mac M.)
As of December 31, donations from members have fallen approximately 45% this year. From July to December 2022, FA received roughly $43,000 in donations from members compared to $78,000 from July to October 2021.
Since the budget was prepared with the expectation that member contributions would approximate last year’s level, FA is now facing a shortfall in budgeted income.
FA’s World Service, Inc. (WSI) provides significant (and often unseen) services to help our fellowship reach the still-suffering food addict, and your contributions make that work possible.
FA WSI has all the expenses you would expect for a small business. Some of these – like office rent, staff salaries, and utilities – stay relatively stable. However, member donations directly affect whether FA’s WSI committees can take on projects such as literature translations, public information efforts, and podcast recordings. Therefore, FA needs your help to continue to spread the message of recovery.
Here are some reminders of how you can help:
Give what you can when you can. Make a one-time donation to WSI now, or if you can, donate to WSI through a monthly recurring donation. Recurring donations are a best practice because they provide FA with needed financial stability.
If you are a meeting treasurer and the meeting has sufficient funds, seek a group conscience during your business meeting about donating to your intergroup, chapter, and/or WSI.
Subscribe to connection. Whether you’re subscribing in print or electronically, you’re helping to keep this resource available for food addicts who need the message of recovery.
Ask folks if they have read this email on your sponsee and outreach calls. Unfortunately, many FA emails go unopened, so you will be doing service by talking about what you’ve read here.
When we all give what we can, none of us has to give more than we can. Thank you for all you do to support the work of our fellowship. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to wsb@foodaddicts.org.
Vice Chair Report (Jen N.)
The meeting guidelines committee is working on updating the existing service positions and adding new positions to include video-conference-specific positions. In addition, the personnel committee has been consulting with our office committee and office director to continue the great work our office personnel and committee are doing.
WSI COMMITTEE REPORTS
Bylaws Committee (Andrea G.)
Description of Committee:
The Bylaws Committee maintains and clarifies the bylaws and other Governing Documents, recommends changes to the bylaws and reviews proposed amendments to the bylaws for recommendations to the World Service Conference (WSC).
Chair’s Report:
- Intergroups and Chapters have been sent notices and procedures, with a deadline date, for the submission of motions for the 2023 World Service Business Convention (WSBC). The motion submission form will be posted on the website by early February. Intergroups and chapter representatives will need to log onto the website to access the form. The deadline for motion submission is March 3, 2023.
- The WSI Bylaws Committee is discussing four motions to present at the 2023 WSBC.
- World Service Conference (WSC) members will receive an email no later than April 3 listing motions being submitted by WSI committees, Intergroups, and chapters. WSC members will be asked to submit a vote in relation to each motion. The question will be “This motion should be placed on the WSBC agenda. Respond Yes or No.” Please note that WSC members are not indicating if they agree or disagree with any motion. WSC members are voting to determine which motions have enough potential value, for FA as a whole, to merit discussion and vote on the WSBC agenda.
- World Service Conference (WSC) members will receive an email with all motions that have been placed on the 2023 agenda in early May. This will include motions from Intergroups and chapters they agreed should be moved forward with the vote mentioned above along with any motions submitted by the WSB.
- WSC members (voting members of FA) should be elected at your February business meeting. In addition to registering for the convention, WSC members must register as a WSC member by March 3, 2023. All WSC members should read the World Service Conference Member Manual prior to the convention. To locate the manual, go to foodaddicts.org/documents/wsc-member-manual.
connection Committee (Joanna A., Chair)
Description of Committee
The connection Committee is responsible for shepherding the content and production of the fellowship’s magazine, connection. Responsibility for all member writing, editing, illustration and production planning resides with the committee and its various subcommittees..
Chair Report
connection has been primarily focused this term on discussing ways to enhance the reader’s experience, better reach the fellowship, streamline the magazine, and solicit a wider variety of submissions. To this end, we have discussed and refined processes and procedures, and surveyed the fellowship to gain an understanding of what is working and what could be improved.
Subcommittee Reports
Articles (Karen W., Subcommittee Chair)
- Onboarded several new editors
- Selected stories for next five publications
- Conducted numerous writing workshops (3 sponsored by WAI)
- Article reserves are at all time low and many categories have no useable stories in their reserves
- 2023 goal is to generate ideas on how to get quality submissions
Art (Sharon C., Subcommittee Chair)
- Completed subcommittee procedures document
- Onboarded new art archivist
- Organized current Google drive to be more comprehensive and prepare for move to official FA drive
Innovations (Chi Chi E., Subcommittee Chair)
- Conducted survey of fellowship (June 23, 2022 - July 22, 2022)
- 1259 responses
- Narrative “additional thoughts” wielded 311 comments
- Results being considered for new ideas
Administrative (Dierdre H., Subcommittee Chair)
- Took meeting minutes and distributed to committee
- Planned meeting agenda and set meeting calendar
Convention Planning Committee (Cayce K., Chair)
Description of Committee
The Convention Planning Committee organizes our annual business meeting and fellowship conventions that are typically held every other year.
Chair Report
2023 Business Convention
- Planning for the 2023 World Service Business Convention, taking place from June 2-4, 2023 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Danvers, Massachusetts, has been underway for the past several months.
- In order to better plan for the event, online convention registration, including meal plan purchase, will close April 30, 2023. No meal plans will be available for purchase onsite, but onsite registration will be open and will include a late fee.
- Onsite registration will open on Friday afternoon at approx. 11am on June 2, 2023.
- This year we are excited to bring back the Forum which will take place on Friday, June 2nd from 1:00-4:00 PM EST. The Forum gives us all the opportunity to share what has worked and what has not worked in reaching the newcomer, starting and maintaining effective meetings, and maintaining our own recovery from food addiction. Please keep the Friday, June 2nd Forum start time in mind when you plan your travel to the 2023 Business Convention.
- Additional information regarding the tentative convention schedule, a sample food plan, and transportation and lodging information will be posted on our website in the coming weeks and will be emailed to all convention registrants. If you have any questions about the convention, please visit the FA website regularly or contact convention@foodaddicts.org
2023 Fellowship Convention
- On October 27-29 2023, food addicts from all over the world will gather to attend the 8th FA Fellowship Convention. The convention will be held in Phoenix, Arizona at the Grand Resort & Spa. The Fellowship Convention continues to be an opportunity for fellows from around the world to come together to build community and connection and to strengthen their recovery through shared experience, strength and hope.
- Plans are also underway to plan the activities for the Fellowship Convention. Please visit the FA website for updates and contact convention@foodaddicts.org if you would like to help!
Literature Committee (Karen LB., Chair)
Description of Committee
The Literature Committee writes, records, and translates literature for the FA fellowship.
Chair Report (Karen LB., Chair)
The Literature Committee is bringing forth literature in all forms such as written and audio and also increasing the number of pieces of literature produced in the many languages of fellows around the world.
The Writing and Editing Subcommittee (Abigail H.)
- Updated “Food Addiction: Stories of Teens and Twenties in Recovery.” This pamphlet will be shared with the fellowship for feedback in January and a vote at the conference in June 2023.
- Working on updating “Bulimic? Undereating? Underweight?” which will be ready for conference approval in 2024.
Operations Subcommittee (Barbara S.)
Assisted with Literature Committee budget development.
- Updated file names to adhere to FA file naming conventions for website
- Tracking the sales of audiobooks and ebooks via Draft2Digital(47) and FindAway Voices (60)
- Made a GoogleSheet that tracks each piece of FA literature and when each was Conference Approved and Revised.
- Preparing revised Living Abstinently for publication.
Audiorecording Subcommittee (Paula K.)
- Tightened up efforts on providing high quality podcasts with regards to production, reviewing, editing, and titling
- Focused on providing a diverse selection of speakers in regards to culture, experience, and identity
- 13 podcasts uploaded from July-Dec 2022
- 72,100 downloads between July and Dec 2022 (up 63% from the previous 6 months) (source: PodBeam)
Translation Subcommittee (Sherry W.)
- Presence on website for Spanish, Greek, German, Italian, Hebrew, Russian, French and Mandarin Traditional (Taiwan) and Mandarin Simplified (China)
- All languages have their own email address and web page
- Three Spanish pamphlets and two booklets have been translated and are now in the design process.
Office Committee (Stacy T., Chair)
Description of Committee
The Office Committee (or OC) serves as a resource to the fellowship, the World Service Board (WSB) and World Service committees, Intergroups, and Chapters. It facilitates communication between the WSB and the fellowship and its meetings, and maintains the website. The FA website houses all meeting information, informative materials for the general public, as well as materials related to each service body of FA. In addition, the OC provides technical support to the World Service Board and the fellowship through the Tech Subcommittee.
The OC also runs the World Service Office (or WSO) which employs administrative staff and keeps records of all financial transactions, as well as some of the archives of the organization. The WSO also serves as the main point of contact regarding inquiries from the general public and is the central hub of communication with the fellowship, the media, health professionals, and newcomers to FA.
Chair’s Report
The Office Committee had several major accomplishments recently. Here are a few highlights:
- Launched a bi-weekly newsletter to the fellowship to keep everyone informed and cut down the amount of separate emails we were sending out previously
- Supported and managed FA website improvements as suggestions were received from FA’s service bodies, and as needed
- Widened meeting search capability on foodaddicts.org so that fellows can search for meetings by country, state, or city
- Improved the meeting finder to allow for meetings to be search by meeting time and local time
- Improved and updated databases to meet the needs of FA conventions, Intergroups, Chapters, and the WSB
- Solidified the new World Service Tech Subcommittee
Subcommittee Reports
Logistical Support Subcommittee (Kim H., Chair)
- Improved online web forms to enable a more user-friendly work order processing and management system at the organizational level
- Improved backend of website processes to enhance functionality, website management system capabilities, and uplevel tools for use by the WSO
SEO Subcommittee (Margaret L., Chair)
- Supported and managed SEO to improve visibility of the FA website
Tech Subcommittee (Mish R., Chair)
- Fellowship Tech Support Team:
- Starting monthly office hours for the fellowship in February ‘23
- Releasing a phone list of people that can support individual fellows with video meeting tech issues
- WSB Tech Support Team:
- Poised to help, as needed, with the 2023 World Service Business Convention
- Technology Education Team:
- Doing a training in January on best practices for accepting the 7th Tradition online
- Creating additional trainings to help meetings and individuals
Public Information Committee (Lisa B., Chair)
Description of Committee
The PI Committee serves as a resource for the fellowship to carry the message of recovery from food addiction through the Twelve Step program of FA to those who still suffer. The committee provides support and resources to local FA intergroups, chapters, meetings, and individuals for their PI work. Using the Twelve Traditions as a guide, we offer help in discerning the most effective and appropriate means of communication to use for the public and the professional community.
Chair’s Report
In the past 6 months, as more meetings have been finding their footing-- tending to meeting logistics, ensuring welcoming meeting spaces, filling services positions, having available sponsors for newcomers. Once a meeting has these firmly in place, we encourage the simple PI work of publicizing meetings: carrying trifolds and literature, and handing it to someone with our personal phone number on it; posting trifolds or flyers at local businesses, telling our stories and handing Health Care brochures to nurses, medical assistance, therapists, physicians, dentists, hygienists, etc. or offering the link to the health care provider webpage. For an orientation to roles and suggested priorities, PI reps can access "Resources for PI Representatives" on the FA website, or contact pi@foodaddicts.org .
Subcommittee Reports
Media Outreach (Mindy C.)
- Sent out almost 80 responses to various media features brought to the Mediawatch subcommittee by FA members
- FA members were featured in 1 radio interview/podcast in Australia. Podcast focuses on issues of addiction
- Provided names and contact info of several FA members in response to a request from a high school newspaper looking to do an article on male body image
- Reviewed all PI pages on FA website and updated information for clarity and ease of use. Preparing to submit work order to implement changes.
PI Tools (Jim D.)
- Work continues on refining the PI tools on the FA website to ensure consistency of messaging and easy access for members.
- A Social Media task force was formed to explore the possibility of utilizing additional social media sites to reach the still-suffering food addict. After much research and investigation, it was decided to hold off for the time being from moving this forward as a PI priority.
- Webpages related to the Healthcare Professional were updated to provide accurate and consistent information.
Digital Outreach Subcommittee (Margaret L.)
- Completed or ongoing work:
- Continuing to update & improve our Google Ads campaigns, click-through-rate, conversions, & bidding strategies to align with our website pages.
- Created new page content on our website, such as: FA and Diabetes, FA and Weight Loss Surgery, FA and Bulimia, FA and Exercise Bulimia, Stop Overeating in FA, FA and Binge Eating, FA and Anorexia, FA and Sugar Addiction, etc.
- Google Ads Results (in the last 6 months)
- Clicks to FA website up 20%, (104K)
- Impressions (public that is viewing our banner) is up by 298K (1.7M)
- Conversions (when someone does something we want them to do on the site) are up 1.9K (25.4K)
- Website Analytics (in the last 6 months)
- Total users are up by 10% to 173K. Referrals (web-links) are down 14%. Organic searches are up by 6% (43K).
- Find a Meeting searches are up by 47% which shows more people are using the site to find meetings! Good news.
- Both use and engaged-sessions are up on the site.
- Total users are up by 10% to 173K. Referrals (web-links) are down 14%. Organic searches are up by 6% (43K).
FA Facebook Page Pilot Project (Erica R.)
- Serves as a forum for reaching prospective members, and not for internal FA communication. We communicate this distinction at PI calls to Intergroup and Chapter PI chairs, asking them to help make this distinction clear.
- Continued to create and post 2 entries per week to the FA Facebook page.
- New committee member is working on analytics to track effectiveness in outreach
Professional Outreach (Fredrika N.)
- After 10 years of leadership in developing resources for reaching health care providers, Eric W. passed the baton to Thelma W.
- Thelma will curate the Health care media materials. She can be reached at healthcaremedia@foodaddicts.org.
- The Health Care Video is reviewed with an eye for making it more suitable for the healthcare practitioner audience. With more opportunities to use the slide show as we emerge form COVID restrictions, the committee is incorporating feedback from presenters and health care providers to edit the slides to meet different time allotments.
Community Accountability (Elaine L.)
- Consulted with Bay Area meetings about intentionality in devoting concrete resources to outreach efforts in historically underserved areas, by researching media outlets and earning trust in marginalized communities.
- Consulted with PI chair on expanding outreach to community gathering places, places of worship, treatment centers, etc.
PI Committee 2023 Bi-Monthly Phone Conference Calls (1:30pm-3:00pm U.S. Eastern Time):
**held on the 4th Sunday of every other month except for May and November when we meet on the third Sunday.
- January 22
- March 27
- May 21
- July 24
- September 25
- November 20
Service Group Support Committee (SGSC) (Shirley H., Chair)
Description of Committee
The SGSC assists with maintaining and developing local service groups, chapters, and intergroups. It also promotes communication and collaboration among all the service groups and the World Service Inc. (WSI) board. All efforts facilitate the overarching principle of supporting FA recovery practices, strengthening existing recovery and helping others learn that recovery from food addiction exists.
Chair Report
In the past six months the SGSC completed the Chapter and LSG Guidelines. Intergroup Guidelines were drafted and approved previously in the spring of 2022. It is the committee's hope that the guidelines will provide assistance for areas wishing to form an LSG, chapter or intergroup. The Chapter guidelines also offer an inventory checklist for existing chapters to review best practices and evaluate its effectiveness. The SGSC Core meets bi-monthly. SGSC Virtual Global Meetings will be held quarterly beginning in January 2023.
Subcommittee Reports
Forum Planning Subcommittee (Georgia W., Subcommittee Chair)
- The Forum will be held on Friday, June 2, 2023 from 1-4pm at the World Service Business Convention in Danvers MA.
- Forum Subcommittee Members were appointed in December 2022.
- The subcommittee will have its first meeting on January 11, 2023.
Guidelines Subcommittee (Suzanne B., Subcommittee Chair)
- Chapter Guidelines completed and approved by the World Service Board (WSB) in October 2022..
- Chapter Guidelines were posted on the website in December 2022.
- Drafted updated Local Service Group Guidelines which were approved by the WSB in December 2022.
Education and Information Subcommittee (E and I) (Subcommittee Chair Vacant)
- The E and I Subcommittee was suspended in the spring of 2022
Traditions Review Committee (Cheryl W., Chair)
Description of Committee
The TRC’s mandate is to consider how the Twelve Traditions guide us on various issues raised by FA members or groups. Inquiries are submitted to traditions@foodaddicts.org. The committee meets to discuss these issues every other month, then shares their thoughts with the inquirer and with the fellowship (when appropriate) through various WSI reports and the TRC Index. The TRC is not a governing or policing body, nor does it get involved in resolving the issue; rather, it enables the person(s) to deal with the situation or the other person(s) involved.
Chair Report
From July, 2022-December, 2022, the TRC received 8 inquiries at traditions@foodaddicts.org. Of those, 4 inquiries were responded to by the Chair, and 4 were discussed and responded to by the full TRC as follows. In addition, the TRC has been working on a new resource, How the Traditions Impact Meetings for Document 8 on the FA website.
Questions about any of these may be directed to traditions@foodaddicts.org.
Responded by Chair:
- Seeking volunteers for Diabetes Research
- Promotion vs Attraction
- Donating literature from closed meetings to new in-person meetings
- Recording Spanish speaking meetings
Discussed and responded to by the Traditions Review Committee (detailed inquiries and responses below):
- Concerns regarding Compassionate Food Addicts in Recovery
- Exclusion of in-person meetings on area tri-folds
- LSG and Videoconference accounts
- Marketing Herb K Workshops at FA meetings
Inquiries and Responses:
1. INQUIRY:
Does Compassionatefoodaddictsinrecovery.com conflict with traditions?
TRC RESPONSE:
Please note that language taken directly from the compassionatefoodaddictsinrecovery.com website is enclosed in quotation marks.
The members of the WSI Traditions Review Committee appreciate all of the thoughtful work that was put into creating this website. As we reviewed the website, we found several items concerning. We also believe using this website would cause a lot of confusion for the newcomer.
Tradition One: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on FA unity.
“When we say compassionate, what we mean is having an open mind about food plans, food times, number of meals, medications, religious traditions and other lifestyle needs that have made traditional sponsorship impossible.”
The creation of a separate website - especially one with a separate name - combined with the statement quoted above shreds unity. The implication that FA members are not compassionate adds to the divisiveness and disunity. The website refers to a “traditional sponsorship” style that is undefined. The automatic assumption is that if I want a sponsor who is compassionate, I need to look at this website and be wary of any other sponsor who may say they are “traditional” because they will lack compassion. Using such a strong statement and even just stating some sponsors are compassionate and traditional sponsors are not, divides us. The Twelve and Twelve tells us that “Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat. (“Tradition One”. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. Alcoholics Anonymous World Service Inc. 2000. P. 129.)
Tradition Two: For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
In multiple places on the compassionatefoodaddictsinrecovery.com website, the names of specific people are used distinctively and placed above others. To a newcomer, this indicates a leader. We have no experts. We have no leaders.
Tradition Seven: Every FA group ought to be self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
There is a place on this website to accept donations, which appears to go to a personal account. No explanation is given as to the uses of the funds collected. This is concerning.
Tradition Twelve: Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever placing principles before personalities.
Compassion is a personality trait. This Tradition tells us to focus on the principles of recovery, not personalities. The multiple references to specific people also conflicts with the principle of Anonymity.
Recommendations:
Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous has grown significantly since its inception in 1998. With the advent of Covid-19, the past two and a half years has brought forth several major changes related to bylaws, policies, procedures and general culture. It is important now, more than ever, that FA meeting groups and members remain focused on unity/Tradition One.
As such, the Traditions Review Committee suggests that the creator(s) of this new website work within the existing structures of FA, rather than creating a new and external one. Joining an Intergroup and/or WSI committee, to propose and discuss new ways of thinking, guarantees a reliance on group conscience. It also enhances awareness for all FA members. The end result is a strengthened and more unified organization. The TRC also recommends that any reference to FA on the Compassionate Food Addicts in Recovery website needs to be removed to eliminate any confusion. Compassionate Food Addicts in Recovery is not in FA bylaws and, therefore, is not a part of FA.
The promotion of Compassionate Food Addicts in Recovery at FA meetings, including during shares or entering a link in the chat during videoconference meetings is also seen as a conflict with Tradition One.
2. INQUIRY:
A new in-person meeting registered with WSI and on the FA website discovered that other in-person meetings existing in the local area are not updating their tri-folds to include the new meeting’s information. When the inquirer questioned the other meeting rep, they were told, “We aren’t going to add a meeting we aren’t suggesting someone go to.”
TRC RESPONSE:
The TRC feels this type of discrimination when it comes to listing meetings on trifolds conflicts with Tradition 1 (Our common welfare comes first; personal recovery depends on FA unity). Unity is one of our most important principles and this practice is divisive. TRC suggests that geographic location would be a thoughtful and legitimate criterion for listing. If there are too many meetings in an area to fit on a trifold, then a variety of days, times, and locations should be represented.
In addition, this tri-fold issue is not in alignment with Tradition 4. When one meeting excludes another meeting, that decision clearly violates the spirit of “affecting other groups or FA as a whole”. In the past, members of meetings have felt marginalized because of this kind of exclusion. This idea of strong vs weak meetings challenges the unity of FA and growth of the fellowship.
3. INQUIRY:
In December 2021, the WSB sent an email to the fellowship encouraging each meeting to purchase it’s own meeting videoconference accounts based on the 7th Tradition. The SGSC asked the TRC if it was necessary for Local Service Groups to purchase their own videoconference account or if they could use the account of affiliated meetings.
TRC RESPONSE:
The Traditions Review Committee considered whether Local Service Groups need to provide their own videoconference account or use the account of affiliated meetings. Since many LSG do not have a treasury, it is simpler for some other entity to fund their videoconference meetings. Meetings donate extra funds from 7th Tradition collection to Intergroup and WSI. Therefore, the Traditions Review Committee suggests that LSG ask for funds or access for a videoconference account from the intergroup of their region or the SGSC.
The TRC does not see any tradition conflicts with an LSG using the account of an affiliated meeting. However, if an LSG has a treasury, some TRC members felt the LSG should have its own account, so as not to have one meeting's voice (or contribution) be recognized more than another.
4. INQUIRY:
An FA fellow submitted several questions to the Bylaws Committee, one of which was forwarded to the TRC. The question is whether announcement and marketing of Herb K Big Book Study meetings can be made at FA meetings.. For context, Herb K is a for-profit (http://herbk.com/bigbook2022) business that offers books, workshops, CD’s and retreats primarily to alcoholics.
TRC RESPONSE:
The TRC reviewed this inquiry and were clear that even though this workshop uses AA’s 12 steps in its curriculum, there are Traditions-related concerns regarding this outside enterprise and the way it is being marketed to FA members. The issue of promoting outside enterprises has come up many times in the past and the TRC will take this opportunity to reiterate reasons why promoting outside enterprises conflicts with the vital principles of FA.
Tradition 6 states that an FA group ought never endorse or lend the FA name to any related facility or outside enterprise. To do so is confusing to the newcomer and other FA group members. Each 12-step program is a separate enterprise and thus cross-promotion is not in line with Tradition 6. The issue is not the content of the workshop in question, it is that FA group members are linking FA with this outside enterprise because they are learning about the workshop while attending an FA meeting.
The TRC unanimously concurred that non-FA 12-Step studies should not be announced at the meeting level for the reasons cited above. See also the May 2020 response to a similar issue received by the TRC: Twelve Step “Emotional Sobriety” workshop using FA Meeting phone lists to market to FA members by typing Emotional Sobriety into the search field at https://www.foodaddicts.org/trc-index-search.
Subcommittee Report
Traditions eForum Subcommittee (Joan J., Subcommittee Chair)
On June 25 and 26, 2022 we hosted a Tradition Four eForum. Each session was attended by about 40 people. The Saturday session went smoothly and was interesting and informative. On Sunday we had a cancellation of one panelist and we were not able to replace that person. We went ahead with only two panelists but one of those panelists did not show up. Perhaps the emails to this person went to the incorrect email address. Therefore we only had one panelist. There were some TRC members attending the eForum and they stepped up and did some sharing on Tradition 4.
The subcommittee experienced some turnover and has recruited some new members from the fellowship. An eForum on Tradition 5 was scheduled for January 2023.
Twelfth Step Committee (Regina M., Chair)
Description of Committee
During the last six months, the 12th Step Committee carried forward its mission: to help members of the fellowship grow in recovery through service at meetings, intergroups, chapters and World Service; to develop resources for members via phone and internet; and to support those members isolated due to distance, language barriers and physical limitations.
Chair’s Report
- The 12th Step committee continued to meet and collaborate on our committee work.
- The Newcomers Support and Assistance committee has met and will develop resources for newcomers, members on the fringes of FA, and for those returning to FA.
- The Service Opportunity Portal is fully operational, and was presented at Service Group Support Weekend in November 2022.
- The Only Requirement Committee sponsored two Eforums in which the topic was “Courage to Change”.
- MESA continues to meet monthly to discuss issues related to meeting effectiveness and updated meeting effectiveness questions specifically for virtual and in person meetings.
(MESA) (Franny M., Chair)
- MESA has continued to meet monthly to discuss issues related to meeting effectiveness.
- In July 2022, MESA provided newly-updated Meeting Effectiveness Questions for Document 9 drafted by the Writing Team with input from MESA Reps. These included questions specifically for videoconference and telephone meetings, as well as on topics such as sharing, doing service, and leading meetings. The topics generate much discussion.
- MESA has conducted a monthly MESA Resource Call which is often attended by fifty MESA Reps. The topics have ranged from Back to Basics (of meetings) to the Meeting Inventory. MESA also focused on FA meeting service positions, such as Speaker Seeker, Meeting Secretary, and World Service Conference members.
Newcomers Support and Assistance (Lou C., Chair)
- Committee recently formed and clarified its purpose. The purpose of this new committee is to provide support and assistance to the newcomer in a way that helps the newcomer understand what they can do when they first come into FA, helps existing members think about the things they can do to help the newcomer, and helps foster a 'feel good' culture where members want to keep coming back (helps to retain members).
- Generated a list of potential service projects and selected the first activity of developing a resource or process that helps newcomers understand why we do what we do in FA. (Example: Why the 90 day requirement for speaking in a meeting.)
- The committee continues to look for members with five years of back to back experience to share their recovery in this endeavor. Resource needs are posted on the Service Opportunity portal on the FA website.
The Only Requirement (TOR) (Yolanda P., Chair)
- Facilitated two Eforums on October 15 and 16, 2022 with the topic of “Courage to Change”. A discussion followed the panelists sharing their experiences.
- TOR continues to meet to discuss what we can do to make all members feel welcome.
Support Opportunities Platform (SOP) (Brande G., Chair)
- With assistance from the FA office, developed a platform whereby FA fellows can apply for FA service positions. The entrance to the site is on individual FA members profile page.
- Developed two four minute videos for FA members on how to access the platform, and how to upload service positions to the FA website.
- The platform was introduced at the Service Group Support weekend this past November 2022.
- The link to the platform is in the FA office Newsletter, and on the website under For Members and click on 12th Step.
- The SOP Chair provided these statistics: the platform has had 748 page views, 677 unique page views and average time on each view is 3.16 minutes