Alateen Chat Meeting Info Members were advised at Assembly that the Maritime Provinces Area was one of 9 selected to host a trial Alateen Chat Room.

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1 Maritime Assembly Area 91 Newsletter September 2010 Statement of Purpose News & Views is published in February, April, July, September & November. Subscriptions are $10/yr. The newsletter presents service related news and information to Al-Anon Family Groups in Area 91. Send submissions to: Chairperson s Corner: Summer is almost gone, hoping you all enjoyed it. Back to business. AWSCM and the Al-Anon Day is approaching quickly. Any items to be considered as items on the agenda should be ed to me before Sept 15 as I hope to get the agenda out to all before the meeting takes place. As always try to take travel buddies who can attend the Al-Anon day. Details for both will be in this edition. Looking forward to seeing you all there. As always if there are any questions or concerns feel free to contact me using all methods. Area 91 Chairperson. News and Views The aim of the News and Views committee is to be on time with the publishing of this newsletter. We are committed to follow the guidelines which have been set down for us. All news and views submissions are to be in to the editor by the 1st of the issue month and we are to have the newsletter in the mail by the 15th of that month. That means those receiving via will get their newsletter a few days earlier. I would like all groups to ask if their subscriptions are coming and if not, we d like to know. For the July issue, I ve had only one returned by mail and none rejected by . So, I thank you all for getting your current addresses into the committee. Should someone in your group require a subscription, please print of a renewal form from the area web site. News and Views Coordinator Representing the committee that makes this newsletter possible. Technology Coordinator The information about the Maritime Provinces Alateen Chat Meeting has been posted on the Area Website in the Area Log and on the Calendar for Sept 13 when the meetings start. Feel free to share this with teens in your district. Any questions, ask the Alateen Coordinator. Alateen Chat Meeting Info Members were advised at Assembly that the Maritime Provinces Area was one of 9 selected to host a trial Alateen Chat Room. The Maritime Provinces Alateen Chat Room will be open for our first meeting on Monday September 13, from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The meetings will be held weekly on Mondays at 7:00 pm. If you are an Alateen age 13 to 18, or know one, please share this information with them. For Alateens: To chat, you must first register with WSO to get a login and password. That's really easy. Once you do that, you are free to go to ANY of the Chat meetings on the site, not just the Maritimes Room to participate in the meetings. Just be aware of the time zones. To Register or Chat - go to: If you have any questions, contact your DR or the Alateen Coordinator. Technology Coordinator

2 District Reports District 1 Nelson AFG is celebrating their 31st anniversary at 8:00 PM on October 12, 2010, Wesleyan Church Basement, 72 Nelson Street, Miramichi, N.B. Everyone welcome. Thanks, DR #1 District 7 & 11 District 7 & 11 has an aggressive agenda coming this fall and winter. We start of with the AA assembly with Al- Anon participation the 9th 10th, October. Our AIS Fun raiser and fellowship evening Oct 23rd. Then we gear up for the Al-Anon participation at the Mid Winter Round up in Feb Due to the number of groups and close proximity to each other both districts share their Public Outreach activities. This has proven a very workable solution to many of our tasks. Our Public Outreach committee has put an add on the placemats at the Irving big Stop in Enfield, this will be on approx 80,000 placemats covering the next 3-4 months or until these run out. We showed you the bus signs that are in the Halifax Dartmouth Metro buses, these went on the buses in August Submitted by AIS office coordinator, District 7 & 11 District 8 We hope you all are enjoying the summer and have successfully endured the rather warm temperatures. One of our Groups in District 8 is changing their meeting night from the current Wednesday meeting to a Tuesday meeting. The location and time will remain the same. As of September 7, the Kingston Serenity AFG will meet at 8pm, on Tuesdays at Multi-Addiction Center, 2080 Bishop Mountain Rd. Kingston, NS. Thanks District 15: AREA WORLD SERVICE COMMITTEE MEETING AND AL-ANON DAY AREA 91 MARITIME REGION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 ND, ROTHESAY, NEW BRUNSWICK LOCATION District 15 is pleased to host the 2010 AWSC Meeting at St. Paul s Anglican Church, 4 Church Avenue, Rothesay, NB, on Saturday October 2nd. An Al-Anon Day will be held in an adjacent room at the same location. Rothesay is approximately 15 minutes east of Saint John, NB, or approximately 40 minutes west of Sussex, NB. OVERNIGHT ACCOMMODATIONS For those traveling a distance who require overnight accommodations, the following are available: Amsterdam Inn within 10 minutes of St. Paul s Anglican Church. Newly-renovated facility in Rothesay known as the Rothesay Motel in close proximity to St. Paul s Anglican Church. REGISTRATION FEE The Registration fee for the day will be $5.00 (payable to the Host District) and will cover lunch and a morning break. TIME Meetings start at 9:00 a.m. sharp, and will conclude when business is completed If you have any questions or comments, Contact the District Rep of #15. Looking forward to seeing everyone in October. Fill your cars to ensure we have a great meeting and also a wellattended Al-Anon day. Hugs, District 15 DR. 2

3 ASK-IT BASKET QUESTION-ASSEMBLY 2010 Ask it Basket WSO s reply As promised at the Alateen workshop at Assembly 2010 I sent the 3 questions you asked me and that I was not sure of the answers to off to WSO and received the following answers. 1. When a child contacts WSO and asks to be registered for an online chat room, what information does WSO ask the child for? Answer: All young people interested in the chat meetings are to be directed to the chat room registration page ( That is where they register with a screen name and password of their choice, a valid e- mail address, and indicate their age. We are upgrading our chat database to add the state/province where they reside. 2. If a child says that he or she is abused, who do I contact to report this abuse? Just as in an Alateen face-to-face meeting, if something is shared that you think might need to be reported, the first step is to encourage the teen to report it, to talk to a teacher, counselor, family member, etc. (See page 4 of the Alateen Safety Guidelines, G-24). In the chat meetings, you can do this in a private message. If a teen shares something like this in the chat room meeting, you can encourage the other teens to offer their suggestions, or share their experience. You can give them privately some suggestions for where to go (appropriate hotline numbers, etc.). The next step is to talk about it with another Sponsor, your DR, Delegate, other trusted servants. If you feel something must be reported, as stated in the guideline, you would do so as an individual, not as a representative of Al-Anon and Alateen. We would suggest starting with your local police. 3. If a child really identifies with a particular Alateen Sponsor would it be possible to have further online contact outside the chat room with that sponsor? If yes how could that be arranged? We do not recommend any personal contact outside of the meeting. Alateen Group Sponsors do not serve as personal Sponsors to individual Alateens, and are encouraged to avoid one-on one interactions. The private chat feature of the chat room should only be used as necessary to keep the meeting going, not to have extended private chats with the young people in the meetings. The Sponsor s role is to support the Alateen group. Hope this helps! Assembly Secretary Ask-it-Basket If I attend three meetings a month to my home group, one of the four weeks to visit another group--- Can I do this? Or must I go to my group four weeks and if I want to visit another group as an extra meeting. The meetings I miss do I or must my alternate GR be at that meeting. My group is insisting that I must be at all meetings. Answer Please see our Al-Anon Alateen Service Manual page 44 and and the duties of the Group Representative. During the three year term, GR responsibly include: - acts as liaison between the group and the district and between the group and the Assembly - familiarizes themselves with the Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual and encourages its use among group members - works with the district in helping to initiate Public Outreach - encourages Alateen sponsorship - serves as local representative of The Forum by acquainting members with its usefulness, suggesting personal subscriptions and submitting group subscriptions and encouraging members to write articles - encourages election of an Alternate GR - attends meetings of the Al-Anon Information Services - acts as liaison between the group and the AIS - reports AIS activities to the group - the Alternate GR may serve as the ISR, and the GR serve as the Alternate ISR - deals with questions of policy and local public outreach - deals with any internal problems that arise between the group s regular business meetings. I have never seen the number of attended meetings required listed under any of Al-anon duties. May I suggest that you have your group look up the duties of the GR in your Al-anon Service Manual at a Group Conscious meeting. They will then be able to see what is there and what isn t there. Discussion can ensure that your needs are heard. We are all trusted servants we do not govern. Talk about it and whenever possible resolved issues with unanimity. Concept Four reminds us that Participation is the key to harmony. 3

4 Ask It Basket Question: My question/concern is about my room. I first registered for a double room but was called and told there was none left. So I sent another cheque for $64.00 for a private room. I shared the washroom with 4 other people and I don't consider this a private. I had bunk beds in my room and you would not have put someone else in there anyway. I feel my group deserves their $64.00 back, don't you. The food was great and the experience the best. Answer: At Assembly 2009 and twice in the N&V's District 15 said that rooms were on a first come, first serve basis. For those few who could not find a roommate, District 15 tried to find one for you. Unfortunately, because you were one of the last to register, there were no other members looking for a roommate. BBC rented the rooms to District 15 as double rooms and BBC fully expected us to put 2 people in the room whether the room had bunk beds or not. This also meant that District 15 had to pay BBC for double occupancy whether there was 1 or 2 in the room. District 15 decided to place those members, asking for a single room, in the few rooms that had bunk beds feeling that most of our membership was too old to climb ladders. It would have been nice to only charge double occupancy for those staying in rooms with double beds, but it would have meant that District 15 would have to pay the difference from their own district funds. I would also remind everyone that this was a college campus and we stayed in dorms, not hotel rooms. No member had their own private washroom. As said at Assembly 2009 "these rooms are not hotel rooms but they will meet our needs." I have been attending Assembly, on a continual basis, since 1988 and this has to be one of the least costly assemblies that I have ever attended. I would also remind members that Area 91, with Assembly monies, has had to pay for sound equipment and room rentals, etc. the last few years. This year, Area 91 did not have to incur any expenses; everything was included in the housing registration fee. Thus rates were based on single and double occupancy and had nothing to do with washrooms so your money cannot be refunded. Question: If someone came to a meeting drinking, who is not a member, and the Al-Anon members are not comfortable with this person, what should or could be done? Answer: This is up to group autonomy. My home group had a member come several times and you could smell the liquor. She posed no problems to the group and caused no interruptions. We thought, once she is here for awhile, she will find she is in the wrong 12 Step program. Another group had the same problem but the member was interruptive at their meetings. The GR brought the problem to district and several suggestions were offered. A member or GR might speak to the drinker before or after the meeting and suggest this is not acceptable at an Al- Anon meeting. The group could have a group conscience and ask the person to leave the meeting for the night or permanently. We could also direct the person to AA. A group, in Area 91, tried all these suggestions and nothing worked for them. The group, as a last resort had to ask the police for assistance. Again, this is group autonomy. Question: How could an officer rerun for a position she was voted out of last year? Is it because all the GRs are new? What happened to the opinion of the previous GRs and DRs? Answer: In my many years of Al-Anon I have never known any officer, coordinator or any other trusted servant that was voted out of office. At Assembly level, elections are held every 3 years and with the exception of the delegate, all other officers and coordinators are allowed to offer for a second term. It has been my experience that most officers and coordinators do not offer for the second term because, like me, we believe in the rotation of leadership. The few times I have seen an officer or coordinator reoffer is because after one or two rounds of the Chairperson asking for nominees no one else has offered for the position. Such was the case last year for the secretary s position. The first round no one offered for the position. The second time round I submitted my name. When nominees were announced 3 people, including myself, had offered for the position. I remember asking at the time to withdraw my name, stating I believed in the rotation of leadership. Another person was elected to the position. At the time, I did not feel voted out, in fact quite the opposite. I was quite excited that Assembly had a new/different secretary. Unfortunately, between elections and the New Year, the secretary resigned. Normally the Chairperson would then ask the Alternate Secretary/Group Records Keeper to become Secretary. Then at the next Assembly another Alternate Secretary/Group Records Keeper would have been elected. The Chairperson did not have this option as the Alternate Secretary/Group Records Keeper had already resigned. The Chairperson then appoints someone to fill in, until an election can be held at the next Assembly. See Service Manual. I was allowed to reoffer my name as Secretary since I had only completed one term of office as Secretary. Motion The opinions and votes of all present and past GRs and DRs are always respected unless new information comes forth, Concept 3. 4

5 Ask It Basket Cross Talk: When a person in our group does a reading and then comments on it, we have a certain member who continually comments on the comments and rambles on about it. What do we do about this? We had a program on Cross Talk, to no avail. Answer: Tradition 1 states the importance of unity. If the unity of the group is being affected, one of the following 2 ideas might help. Since you had no luck with a general meeting about cross talk, my suggestion is that 2 or 3 members speak to the offending member in private. One person might seem to be personalities over principles, but if several members tell him/her that he/she is the problem, perhaps the cross talk might stop. If that isn t possible, the group can have a group conscience meeting and as a group inform this person exactly what the problem is. This MUST NOT be left to one person. The whole group must participate to be effective. As the member may be hurt or angry and leave the group, the group needs to decide How important is it to confront him/her. Ask It Basket Question: Fundraising If you are at a AA/Al-Anon Round Up, and a district has an item to raffle, who can buy tickets? Answer: Al-Anon/Alateen members can buy tickets only. See page 86 in Service Manuel "outside Contributions" This addition was ed after the Newsletter was sent out, but added to website version. Editor DELEGATE S CORNER-SEPTEMBER 2011 Greetings to All: First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all the s, cards and telephone calls I received and still receive, since the death of my husband July 16 th. It has been a very stressful, sad time for me and all your support has helped me be able to carry on. It has been difficult at times and am only now starting to be able to carry on my day in a somewhat normal fashion. My Al-Anon Program, friends and my strong Faith in the God of my understanding have carried me when I couldn t seem to get out of my own way. Catching up with things that were put on the back burner is what I am now facing. I am happy to be able to say that little by little I am catching up! However, I did miss the deadline for this month s News & Views. It completely slipped my mind. I had to stop slapping myself up the side of the head for missing it and tell myself, there is always another way! Thus this message! The AWSC Meeting is fast approaching and I would like to just catch up with you since Assembly in June. I have been busy working on a Thought Force Committee for Service with Delegates from different parts of the USA, with fast approaching deadlines. This has been a most rewarding experience and I am now in the process of putting together a PowerPoint presentation of our strategies for presentation at the World Service Conference in April Nothing last minute about this committee! I am sure as the correspondence keeps arriving from WSO I will be glad that it is done! Speaking of WSC, I have copies of the WSC 2010 summaries for all of you. I will bring them to the AWSC Meeting as it would cost a small fortune to mail them to you. If anyone is interested in reading it before then, it is available on-line on the AFG member s Website. Hopefully all districts have had a District meeting by now, or plans in place, with discussions and decisions regarding the Property Ownership question I posed to you at Assembly in June. This question will be put to a vote at WSC 2011 and I would like to be able to leave the AWSC meeting with your decision as to what your wishes are from our Area. I have been receiving District Minutes and have observed that some districts have already had meetings and have made decisions regarding this question. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the districts for sending me their district minutes as this is a great tool for me to keep informed about what is going on in our Area. They are strictly for me to be able to share knowledge of our Area when I attend the WSC. One of the commitments I have is to share highlights from our Area. 5

6 The district minutes help me discern what to share with others in a general way, the great things that are happening in our Area! I have been approached by the Delegate from Alberta, as have all the other Canadian Delegates, to consider support for an upcoming AA Conference in Iqaluit which includes Al-Anon participation. I have asked for this to be on our AWSC Meeting agenda for discussion. So that you will not be blind-sided so to speak, I have attached the letter I received concerning this issue to this message at the end. Have a look at it so you will be a bit familiar with it when we discuss it. I will, hopefully, be able to answer questions at the AWSC and perhaps provide a bit more background. Well, I guess that is all for now. I need to save some for AWSC meeting! Looking forward to seeing all of you there. When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, let the hand of Al-Anon and Alateen always be there, and let it begin with me Love in Service, Delegate Panel 50, Area 91, Maritime Provinces AA IQALUIT CONFERENCE with AL-ANON PARTICIPATION On June 24-26, 2011 there is going to be an AA Conference in Iqaluit, Nunavut. The AA organizers have requested Al-Anon participation and though this is the responsibility of the Alberta/N.W.T. Area, we are asking for the help of the other Canadian Areas. We believe that if we can somehow share the expense, we will be able to provide a much needed Al-Anon presence, literature and outreach at this conference. SOME FACTS FOR CONSIDERATION 1. Flight from Vancouver to Iqaluit is $1934 Return probably plus taxes. This is most likely the furthest and most costly flight. 2. The cost of rooms is $175 per night and includes registration and meals. Minimum 3 nights stay. 3. Requesting a $300 contribution from each of the 10 areas in Canada? 4. Public Outreach literature will be provided by Alberta/N.W.T. 5. We may have representation from WSO there. Claire Ricewasser is working on it. 6. Draw 1 name of an experienced member to attend the conference and represent Al-Anon. (Each area to provide 1 name) 7. Currently do not have the support of the local Al-Anon group but we re still working on it. 8. LET IT BEGIN WITH ME WHEN ANYONE, ANYWHERE Preliminary PROGRAM(Working Copy) Al-Anon participation FRIDAY- 7:00 p.m. - REGISTRATION 7:30 p.m. - Opening comments AA and Al-Anon. 8:00 p.m. - 8:45 p.m. - AA Speaker 8:45 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Coffee break 9:00 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. Al-Anon Speaker SUNDAY Door open at 8:00 a.m. and registration. 9: 00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. AA Speaker 9:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Al Anon Speaker 10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Coffee 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 Closing of Convention SATURDAY 8:00 a.m. - Registration - coffee is available 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. - AA Speaker 9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Coffee 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Phyllis H., GM - AA the Inuit-North American Native Populations & Questions. 11:00 a.m. - 11:45 - Public Information Al Anon LUNCH 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - AA Speaker 2:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. - Public Information and History of AA in the North 3:30 p.m. - 3: 45 p.m. - Coffee break 3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Outside view on problems related to alcoholism (Dept. of Transport or RCMP) DINNER - 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. - Speaker Meeting Inuit Culture Activity - Throat Signers etc. and General Sharing Those present 6

7 ASK-IT-BASKET ASSEMBLY 2010 Q U E S T ION: Can you use Alateen literature at an Al-Anon meeting? This question was asked of me (the GR) by a member who wanted to use some Alateen literature for her topic of discussion. ANSWER: Yes, Alateen literature may be used at an Al-Anon meeting, just as Al-Anon literature may be used at an Alateen meeting. As long as it is Conference Approved, it is OK. Taken from the Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual pages 91-98: Conference Approval What It Is. Conference Approval is the process for development of recovery literature (including recovery literature with a service focus) that reflects the group conscience of the Al-Anon Family Groups through actions taken by the World Service Conference. The conceptual ideas recommended by the World Service Conference are delegated to the WSO Literature Committees for implementation. Each item, when completed, bears the Conference Approval seal. Identification of Al- Anon/Alateen Publications The original seal, with the letters AFG in the circle and the words World Service Conference within the triangle, appears on, and is reserved for, all Al- Anon/Alateen Conference Approved Literature and material with the words Approved by World Service Conference. Service tools carry the Al-Anon logo and indicate production by Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc. (see Symbols ). Use of Material To keep Al-Anon s message in focus, it is suggested that only Al-Anon/Alateen Conference Approved Literature and Al-Anon/Alateen service tools be displayed, distributed, and used at Al-Anon and Alateen meetings, conferences and conventions. These items reflect an informed group conscience. Conference Approved Literature provides a unified view of Al-Anon/Alateen to professionals, other individuals, and outside agencies. Service tools produced by the World Service Office reflect the Al-Anon/Alateen service structure and the shared experiences of our membership. 7