AREA 54 DISTRICT REPORTS submitted to the November 2011 Area World Service Committee and the West Texas Assembly DISTRICT 7 REPORT It has been a spiritually invigorating three years in District 7. We have grown in service and have through attraction involved newer members into our service structure. After hosting the Spring Assembly with District's 4, 5, & 6, we were able to contribute $373.00 to the West Texas Assembly. Hosting is truly an experience and as the district representative, I was fortunate to be able to participate in this activity. Our Spring outreach program consisted of placing At-Anon posters in public places with our district hotline number, and the mailing of pamphlets for professionals and the judicial system with letters to the professional including our meeting list and hotline number. During our October meeting, elections were held and the following offices were filled: District Representative from Clyde, Alt. District Rep. from Abilene, Treasurer from Sweetwater, Public Outreach Coordinator from Abilene and Archivist from Abilene. The willingness and enthusiasm to serve at the meeting was refreshing and greatly appreciated. Our treasury is fiscally sound. We donated three baskets to the Fall Assembly Raffle. Several proposals have been presented on ways to spend the money on outreach in our area and I am confident that our new District Representative will provide guidance and motivation in this area. Thank you to all who have participated in District 7 and I look forward to continuing my service Debbe P., District 7 Representative _ DISTRICT 8 REPORT District 8 covers a wide and diverse area west of I-35W: Fort Worth and surrounding smaller towns: Saginaw, Weatherford, Mineral Wells; Stephenville; Granbury, Acton, Cleburne, and Burleson. The groups of District 8 are busy, enthusiastic and healthy. Recently a new Al-Anon group, Hope AFG, received its WSO registration number. They meet each Monday at 6:30 p.m. We were instrumental in getting that group started. Volunteers from the Fort Worth area have been carrying a Tradition-of-the-Month meeting to the Mineral Wells Hope and Harmony group, last Tuesday of the month. The group is still small, but there is recovery there.
There are plans for District 8 to make special efforts in Public Outreach in the counties surrounding Tarrant County which already contain Al-Anon groups: Johnson, Hood, Erath, Parker, and Palo Pinto. District 8 is still involved with Districts 14, 15, and 10 in planning the All-Texas-Al-Anon- Alateen-Convention that will be held February 17-19, 2012. The theme is Life s a Dance When You Know the Steps. District 8 held a celebration on July 30. The theme was Meeting-Makers Make It and was an Al-Anonathon of sharing meetings, food, raffles, and fun. Our speaker was Kim H, the chair of the 2011 and 2012 ATAAC planning committee. Business was set aside that day; and, we learned more about each other, about the person behind a service position, about the people we represent. We also earned enough money to pay for the hosting of this assembly. District 8 appreciates the opportunity to host this West Texas Assembly. Besides discovering new talents and strengths in ourselves, we have also learned to support each other when faced with learning opportunities. Being involved in service has drawn our district even closer. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. Cheryl C, District 8 Representative DISTRICT 10 REPORT Sunday, September 18 th 2011 Districts 10, 11, 12, and 15 hosted a Fall Into the Concepts workshop at the Addison Family Group. We had 53 participants and great speakers. Thanks to all who helped with this workshop. I certainly got a lot out of the Concepts and how they can work in my daily life. On Saturday, October 8 th, we had our first District meeting since May Assembly. We welcomed three new GR s from The Gift, from Solutions, and from the Stonebench Group. We also welcomed our Pre-Alateen GR from our new Alateen/Pre-Alateen Group in Irving called Opening Doors. The Alateen group donated a basket for the November Assembly, and we, as a group, put two more baskets together. We also had a member from Esperanza Y. Unidad group attend. She is the GR for this group which has been in District 10 and for the first time came to our District 10 meeting. Another member of the group was instrumental in getting her to attend our meeting and the November Assembly. Also a new Spanish speaking group Buscando La Serenidad is part of District 10 and they have a GR who is also attending the Assembly. We now have a liaison between the two Spanish speaking groups who will receive information from me and share it with the two groups. We also at our District 10 meeting voted in a DR, Alternate DR and Treasurer for this upcoming year. I am remaining as DR; a Town South member is the Alternate DR and another member is the new Treasurer. Thanks to past service as Alternate DR and Treasurer for their service. District 10 has 8 active Al-Anon groups and three active Alateen groups. I am looking forward to the next three years and I am grateful for the groups in our District and their GR s and Alateen sponsors who are dedicated and trusted servants. Rene D., District 10 Representative
DISTRICT 11 REPORT We have participated in 2 main events since Spring Assembly. We co-sponsored with Districts 10, 12 and 15 the workshop Fall Into The Concepts: Discovering the Experience, Strength and Hope in Al-Anon s Third Legacy. It was a huge success with 53 members in attendance learning how the Concepts will work in our personal lives. One member called it Speed Dating the Concepts. On October 29 th we hosted Put Your Pen to Paper: An Al-Anon Writing Workshop. Topics covered were: o Writing Out Your 6 th and 7 th Steps o Everyday journaling o How to write and submit sharing s to the Forum, the Pipeline, the Dal- Anon Now, and other Conference Approved literature. Thank you to Steven E., our Alternate District Representative and West Texas Literature Chairperson for chairing the event, and to the wonderful speakers who gave the above presentations. Several members shared their written thoughts to the group from the writing segment of the workshop. Twenty three members attended. District 11 is proud to part of the DFW Metroplex and West Texas Area 54, and we look forward to continue to be of service in 2011. Laura D., District 11 Representative DISTRICT 12 REPORT District 12 has 12 active Al-Anon groups, 2 of which are Spanish speaking. We also have 2 Alateen groups and 1 Preteen group. Our District meetings have been well attended. We have welcomed and encouraged our Spanish Al-Anon groups to attend. It has been refreshing to hear about the service they are involved in throughout the Hispanic community including participating in school fairs, health fairs, and panels. Members also regularly volunteer at the Spanish Intergroup answering the phones. In June, District 12 held a 60th Al-Anon Birthday Celebration/Ice Cream Social fundraiser. Our Delegate was our featured speaker. She spoke on her experiences as a Delegate. Our fundraiser was a success; raising enough money to cover the cost of 2 nights at assembly for struggling groups who do not have the funds to send their GRs. District 12 also participated in a fundraiser with Districts 10, 11 and 15, Fall into the Concepts. We had a great turnout with 50 or more people. The fundraiser raised $160 which was split between West Texas Assembly and Dallas Intergroup. We purchased 100 copies of the Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2012 in English and 100 copies in Spanish. Many of the groups, including the Alateens will be distributing them throughout the district. Some of the groups purchased extra copies for their area. District 12 continues to be very active and service oriented. Members of the Mesquite Big Town AFG, Bruton Terrace AFG, Freedom AFG and Rockwall Serenity AFG take an
Al-Anon meeting to the Nexus Recovery Center, a women s treatment center, on a regular basis on Saturday afternoons. We are checking with them to see if they would like a Spanish Speaking Al-Anon meeting. Members of the Mesquite Big Town AFG and Renacer GFA have recently participated in school fairs and health fairs. Alateens in District 12 are also very active! Freedom Alateens did a Basket Bash which raised money to get them to Abilene for the Fall Assembly. They also participated in providing recovery mugs for the three baskets that District 12 donated for the assembly fundraiser including doing a mug in Spanish. Some Alateens have been dropping off bookmarks at their school libraries by putting them in the books throughout the library. Our district sent $50 worth of Alateen literature and pamphlets to the Promise House, a shelter for teens in crisis. We also donated $50 to the Spanish groups so they could purchase pamphlets to hand out to the schools. We held elections in October and now have a new DR from Bruton Terrace AFG, an Alternate DR from Freedom AFG, a Secretary from Rockwall Serenity AFG and a Treasurer from Freedom AFG. I am very honored to have had the opportunity representing District 12 as their District Representative. Patti Haynes, District 12 Representative DISTRICT 14 REPORT Our District 14 has been so successful through using Al-Anon Traditions and Concepts, and strategically planning for Fundraisers. This year s District 14 Fall Fellowship raised $1000 even. Our goal this weekend, through listening to our Assembly and their experience, strength and hope, will decide how to best put that money to use. District 14 has been extremely supportive in integrating Spanish Speaking Groups and Members, to better utilize our Al-Anon levels of Service. We want to save lives in, not only English Speaking Community, but the Spanish Speaking Community as well. Many of our groups are thriving. A few have successful Alateen and Pre-Teen Groups. We, however, still ponder the way to get Service out there. Groups in our District remain faithful to the Right Step facility, taking meetings, every Saturday. Participation in Public Outreach is fun, and we have enjoyed getting to know one another, through these events. This District has been my lifeline for the past year, and as I roll off and we vote in a new District Representative, I will miss you. Karen F., District 14 Representative.
DISTRICT 15 REPORT District 15 currently has about 800 members with 35 active groups--25 Al-Anon groups and 10 Alateen groups. We have 2 unregistered groups. Our public outreach: * we continue to take meetings to Seay Health Behavioral Center, Caron Treatment Center and the North Texas Job Corp. * we have scheduled an Introduction to Alateen meeting at Frisco Student Opportunity Center. * we ordered 100 How Al-Anon Works paperback books which we are distributing to libraries, schools and other viable resources. * we distributed 400 Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2011 throughout our district. Our membership outreach: * contributed questions and concerns to the Hispanic Task Force. We provided the Task Force a place in Denton for meetings in August and October. * participated in the Multi-District Concept Workshop held in September * sponsored our annual district workshop, Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round in October * submitted an article about our workshop to The Forum, Area Highlights and to Dallalnon Now * conducted a GR Roundtable after our October 22 nd meeting * continued adding to our District 15 Speakers list with over 30 members * Lewisville s Friendship AFG continues their quarterly Ladies Night Out pot luckspeaker meeting. District 15 is grateful for all the service opportunities we have. We realize that service is an important part of our recovery as well as essential to our worldwide Al-Anon family. Marlene O., District 15 Representative The End