MSCA - Mid Southern California Area 09 of Alcoholics Anonymous

Delegate's Bulletin Board

Delegate’s Sharing Session

11 October 2020 Virtual Area Service Assembly

MSCA 09 Rocks!

• I attended our Board meeting on 9/20, where among other things, we begin planning for the virtual Servathon in November. I attended the following District business meetings on the indicated dates: #8 on 9/16, #14 on 9/16, #19 on 9/20, #12 on 10/1, #4 on 10/7, and #1 on 10/8 (where Regional Trustee, Jimmy D, spoke on Concepts). I don’t attend without an invitation, but try to attend all business meetings I’m invited to. District business meetings continue to be a highlight of my service to Area 09! And many feature special speakers before the meeting.

• I attended the DCM School on 9/25 when those in attendance finished revising the DCM School Guidelines, which they’ve been working on since 5/2020. Jim B, our Area 09 Literature Chair, is revising the 2004 guidelines for that committee.

• Attend District 1 & 3’s “Finding Your Niche in AA” workshop on 9/26, immediately followed by District 9’s workshop on Concepts with Hiro, which was a blast!

• I attended three different workshops on 9/27, but the Heritage Day conducted by District 4 was the highlight of the day, with Joan S, who got sober 63 years ago, two years before I was born.

• On 10/3, participate in a Committee Workshop conducted by District 18, with 25 in attendance. Two of these talks, including Parker M’s presentation on Grapevine and my talk on committee structure have been added to the msca09aa.org website, under Featured Items.

• District 18 contributed five Grapevine and five La Viña subscriptions and District 12 contributed $500 through the Carry the Message program, which was so successful in 2020, it is being carried forward into 2021.

• Alex W, District 1, has created GSR and DCM phone apps that have great resources for functioning in these positions. See DCM APP https://dcm-dcmc-school-app.glideapp.io/, GSR APP https://msca-gsr-kit.glideapp.io/.

• As of last week, District 4 now has a fully functioning website that can be accessed at the following link: longbeachaa.org.

• District and our Area websites have been my best sources of workshop information. I’ve also found https://tinyurl.com/AAFlyers to be excellent for General Service-related workshops.

Activities within the Pacific Region

• On September 14, Kathi F gave 14 of 15 Pacific Region delegates a summary of the most recent virtual General Service Board meeting. She shared the following: If you have feedback for how your Corrections committees are functioning in a virtual environment, please contact Brenda B at brendab@aa.org; Grapevine had a net profit of $207,000 by the end of July, La Viña is at a shortfall of $171,000, which is ahead of budget; there were 2,584 new GV subscriptions so far through Carry the Message program in 2020, which will be carried forth into 2021; the West US/CAN intended to function as a substitute for the cancelled Regional Forum will be December 19; and Jeff G said Area 93 is currently planning for both in-person and virtual PRAASA in March 2021 in Burbank.

• On 10/10, I joined three other presenters in a Grapevine writer’s workshop where 55 of us talked about the history of Grapevine and how to write articles, followed by 13 breakout rooms to write. My updated Do’s and Don’ts for writing can be found at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bzqazevxcadj7tn/%23Grapevine%20Writers%20Do%27s%20%26%20Don%27ts.10-10-2020.pdf?dl=0

• I’m working with Teddy B-W in Area 06 on a Grapevine presentation and Cheri S in Area 02 on “Virtual Link in Communication between Groups and General Service Office” for the USCAN, although there is no guarantee either will result in workshops.

• On 9/19/2020, attend interim elections with Area 58 in Oregon, and on 10/10 I attended the Virginia election assembly to see the Panel 71 delegate and alternate delegates be elected.

• On September 28, Kathi F (Pacific Region Trustee) reminded me that Area 09 has the right (responsibility) to nominate someone for Trustee At Large, which is a Class B position, for four one-year terms. After Ryan eblasted notice of this vacancy and the procedure to fill it on 10/3, I reach out to nine past delegates. As a result, there is a vote this morning on our formal nomination, which is past delegate Jeryl T, which will be submitted to the Trustees Nominating Committee before year’s end.

All Things Conference-Related

• All members of the Conference Literature Committee met with new chair, Sheri P and Trustee’s secretary, Steve S, on 9/22 to talk about progress on 28 Literature Agenda Items.

• On 9/22/2020, I provided Ryan (eblast) and Rainer (web posting) a letter and request form in Spanish and English for themes, presentation, and workshop topics to be submitted no later than 12/15/2020 to be considered at the 2021 Panel 71 Conference and to be implemented at the 2022 Panel 72 Conference.

• On 9/24/2020, I received a list of 15 preliminary agenda items for the 71^st General Service Conference, which has been placed in the Confidential Resources link and was eblasted by Ryan. Although some of these are related to Final Agenda Items of the 70^th General Service Conference (like Literature Item E, revising the pamphlet “Young People and A.A.” considered in 2020 compared to Proposed Item 3 “Consider that a pamphlet be published by the General Service Office explaining YPAA (Young People of Alcoholics Anonymous) events, bid committees, state, regional and international conventions, also the ICYPAA Advisory Council”), they are different. They have not been identified as final, formal agenda items, pending further review by pertinent trustees’ committees. Expect more preliminary items throughout 2020, and Final Agenda Items will be available mid-February 2021.

News from New York:

• I participated in one of four two-hour General Service Board Strategic Planning Sessions with about 35 delegates, trustees, and others on 9/23. Main topics were (1) Who is missing from our rooms (remote communities) and how do we reach them? (2) What is the best way for the General Service Office to communicate to all levels of AA? (3) What are some creative ways to engage our Class A Trustees with the Fellowship? I will share the results when available.

• For now, literature sales are still down but not falling lower. Contributions to General Service Office in New York include $838,566 in May, $898,312 in June, $1,124,135 in July, $1,029,757 in August, and $1,030,000 in September. Contributions are now simple and straight forward using “contribution.aa.org.”

• As of September 30^th, there had been only five submissions for the pamphlet, “A.A. and the Older Alcoholic.” A link for submitting new stories, especially relating to diversity, is on the msca09aa.org website, with stories due by mid-December.

• The best contact for General Service Representative (GSR) and District Committee Member (DCM) kits from GSO is records@aa.org.

• On October 2^nd, we received and immediately dispersed a notice from Greg T, General Service Office Manager, as follows: “General Service Board has authorized a drawdown of $1.5 million from the Reserve Fund by A.A. World Services, Inc. to cover cash flow requirements in the 4th quarter of 2020. This will put the Reserve Fund balance at approximately $13.1 million, which reflects a level of approximately 7.8 months of office operating expenses. The Reserve Fund calculation is based on recent actual operating expenses.”

More Will Be Revealed!

• On a personnel note, I accepted responsibilities on September 23^rd of GSR for the 8:30 am Global Men’s Meditation Zoom meeting seven days a week, and may be the only person to have ever served as delegate-GSR simultaneously. After talking to past delegate, Jeryl T, I resigned on 10/2/2020, mainly because I did not want to occupy a position from which a newer person would benefit.

Delegate’s Bulletin Board

• These particular notes will be posted on the Delegate’s Bulletin Board after this meeting.

Miscellaneous

• On 9/27, I joined 1,700+ others at the 69^th Annual Stepping Stones Lois’ Family Group Picnic at 62 Oak Road, Katonah, NY. The official website is: www.steppingstones.org

• On 10/10, I joined 650+ others in a celebration and virtual tour of Dr. Bob’s house at 855 Ardmore Avenue, Akron, OH. The official website is: http://drbobshome.org

Thanks for letting me be of service!

Ed L., MSCA 09 Panel 70 delegate

Cell: (760) 964-0012

Email: msca09delegate70@yahoo.com