Announcements:

Please check your group email this month and complete the Annual Membership Survey. Your response helps establish the quorum needed to conduct OIAA business.

The July IGR Service Expo will be held on the July 25 (not the July18⁾ at 2pm ET.  Request interpretation by July 15 by notifying Jen H., unity.chair@aa-intergroup.org.

There was a request for a change to the virtual BBQ menu promised by IGRsteppers Chair, Greg H. Because we are here to serve, we have expanded the menu to include vegan options. Squash, corn, tofu, and beans will join the brisket. Look for IGRsteppers at the Expo!

Open Service Positions –

PIC (Public Information Committee):

• Supporting members willing to answer requests. (Training Provided)
• Committee chair

For more information contact pic.chair@aa-intergroup.org

Alt-Secretary (OIAA board)-contact secretary@aa-intergroup.org

Unity—various positions-contact unity.chair@aa-intergroup.

From Where I Serve

We came together on June 20th at our second quarterly Assembly to tell you how we are being of service.

To be sure, our bylaws require our committees to report annually to the membership. But we do not serve because the bylaws tell us to. We serve because we are grateful for the lives sobriety has given us.

Through our service, we practice AA’s Fifth Tradition: carrying the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Whether answering a request for help, helping a group become listed in the meeting directory, supporting a newcomer, maintaining the website, or serving behind the scenes, we have come to understand that carrying the message is both a privilege and a responsibility.

The mission of an intergroup has always seemed fairly simple to me: to help alcoholics find the meetings and fellowship they need to stop drinking.

For OIAA, that begins with maintaining a meeting directory where alcoholics anywhere in the world can find an AA meeting when they need one.

Of course, this does not happen in a vacuum. As our groups grew and our services expanded, committees formed, consistent with Tradition Nine, to help carry out the work. The annual reports presented at the June Assembly were an opportunity for those committees to tell the membership how they have been supporting that mission.

What struck me most about the Assembly was not any particular report. It was that the reports were given.

Committee chairs came prepared to tell the membership how they had been carrying the message. When a chair could not attend, another trusted servant stepped forward to present the report. Interpreters made participation possible across languages. Technology servants worked behind the scenes. Members attended, listened, and asked questions.

After a year that included significant change, challenges, and transitions throughout OIAA, I found myself grateful simply to see trusted servants continuing to show up for one another and for the work.

Unity does not require that we think alike. It does not require that we always agree. What it does require is a willingness to keep showing up, keep listening, and keep serving together. That is what I saw at the Assembly.

Listening to the reports, I was struck by the many different ways our trusted servants help carry the message. PAC members help new groups become listed and maintain accurate meeting information. Technology servants keep the website and directory operating. The 12 Steppers respond personally to alcoholics seeking help. Public Information answers inquiries from members of the public and professionals. and others seeking information about Alcoholics Anonymous. Unity supports our groups, IGRs, and convention efforts. CPC works to connect professionals with accurate information about Alcoholics Anonymous.

The numbers help tell the story. Thousands of meetings are maintained in the directory. New groups request listings every day. Thousands of requests for help are answered each year. Behind every number is a person seeking help, a group seeking support, or a trusted servant offering time, experience, and hope.

Perhaps the statistic that stayed with me most came from the Technology Committee. On an average day, approximately 40,000 to 50,000 visitors come to the OIAA website, and more than 90 percent of them go directly to the meeting directory. For me, that number brings all of the committee reports together. Every meeting listing updated, every inquiry answered, every newcomer welcomed, every group supported, and every service effort undertaken ultimately supports one simple purpose: helping alcoholics find Alcoholics Anonymous when they need it most.

And so, I am filled with gratitude.

Gratitude to be in this place at this time, holding the reins for a little while alongside so many dedicated trusted servants. Gratitude for committee members who answer emails, update listings, maintain websites, welcome newcomers, support groups, provide interpretation, and quietly carry out the work that makes OIAA possible.

We could not do this without you.

If you have ever wondered whether your experience, your time, or your willingness might be useful in service, the answer is yes.

Join us.

A Note Regarding CPC

Although the CPC Committee’s report was not presented at the June Assembly, the committee’s English and Spanish reports and presentation materials will be posted on the OIAA website for the membership. Members will also have an opportunity to meet CPC trusted servants and learn more about the committee’s work at the Service Expo on July 25.

I Have Been Thinking about Tradition Seven….

As I have been reflecting on the Seventh Tradition, I find myself thinking less about money and more about responsibility.

Certainly, our groups and service entities require financial support. Websites, meeting platforms, literature, interpretation, and other services all carry expenses. The Seventh Tradition reminds us that these services should be supported by those who benefit from them rather than by outside contributions.

But I believe there is a deeper spiritual principle at work.

The Seventh Tradition speaks of self-support. For me, that raises a simple question: Am I willing to help support that which has been freely given to me?

When I came to Alcoholics Anonymous, I found people who took time for me. They explained things I did not understand. They encouraged me when I struggled. They took me to meetings. They shared their experience, strength, and hope. Like all of us, I benefited from countless acts of kindness and service, many of which I never saw and can never repay.

In his farewell talk, Dr. Bob reminded us that “Our Twelve Steps, when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words ‘love’ and ‘service.'” He also reminded us that none of us would be here if someone had not taken time to help us.

I have come to believe that the Seventh Tradition is one way we express our gratitude for that help.

We express it when we contribute financially to support our groups and service entities. We express it when we sponsor. We express it when we make coffee, chair meetings, answer emails, serve on committees, welcome newcomers, or volunteer to do work that may never be noticed by anyone else.

In short, we express it whenever we help carry the message.

The annual committee reports reminded me that OIAA is supported by trusted servants who quietly give their time and energy to help alcoholics and groups around the world. They do not do it because they have to. They do it because someone once did it for them.

That is how the gift is passed on.

That is how we support our fellowship.

That is how we say thank you.

Gratefully submitted,
Susan R., OIAA Chair