hudson mohawk erkshire area 48 february ... · possible and passed on to the area recordskeeper at...

February 2018 Edition

Tradition Two Checklist:

(These questions were originally published in

the AA Grapevine in conjunction with a series

on the Twelve Traditions that began in

November 1969 and ran through September

1971.)

1. Do I criticize or do I trust and

support my group officers, AA

committees, and office workers?

Newcomers? Old-timers?

2. Am I absolutely trustworthy,

even in secret, with any AA

Twelfth Step job or other AA

responsibility?

3. Do I look for credit in my AA

jobs? Praise for my AA ideas?

4. Do I have to save face in group

discussions, or can I yield in good

spirit to the group consensus and

work cheerfully along with it?

5. Although I have been sober a

few years, am I still willing to serve

my turn at AA chores?

6. In group discussions, do I sound

off about matters on which I have

no experience and little

knowledge?

Concept II Checklist:

(Some of these discussion points were origi-

nally developed by an A.A. group and further

developed by the trustees’ Literature Com-

mittee to be distributed by the General

Service Office.)

1. Do we have an understanding of the

history of the General Service Confer-

ence (the “Conference”)?

2. What is a Conference Advisory

Action? Does our home group’s G.S.R.,

D.C.M., Area Delegate report back to

the group on the highlights of the

Conference and Conference Advisory

Actions?

3. Is our group meeting its wider Sev-

enth Tradition responsibilities?

AA Principles of the Month

Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sani-

ty.

Tradition 2 - 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.

Concept II - The General Service Conference of A.A. has become, for nearly every

practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of our whole Society in

its world affairs.

Hudson Mohawk Berkshire Area 48 www.aahmbny.org

In this Issue

Pg 2Schedule of events Pg 10 HMB Delegates Day of Sharing lyer

Pg 3 Delegate and Alternate Chair Report Pg 11 Area PI Report and IS AA for you?

Pg 4 Chair report Pg 12 the GSR

Pg 5 –7 NERRASA Flyer Fellowship day Flyer Pg 13 –14 Approved area Budget

Pg 8 Technology Chairreport Pg 15 End of year 2017 Treasury Report

Pg 9Archives report

Hudson Mohawk Berkshire Area 48 www.aahmbny.org February 2018 Edition


HMB Area Delegate Report As I enter into the second month of this journey as Area 48 Panel 68 Delegate I am full of gratitude for the efforts put forth by Bill, Pat, Keith, Deb & Joan and their predecessors in this position. I now have access to the conference dashboard and am privy to the issues coming before the conference in April, the background material and previous conference material. It is actually, (gasp), ORGANIZED. Then I touch it and try to file it and...so much for organization. What a learning curve. I am ever thankful to the people I have to look to for guidance. In the month of January there were a couple of calls regarding Traditions which were an honor to explore with fellow members. I am truly privileged to be in a position to learn so much from all of you. See you February 10 for our rescheduled Orientation Day. I am very grateful to Tad, Tammie and all other participants for working so hard to reschedule this event. IT IS THAT IMPORTANT to be the first event to my knowledge to get rescheduled after a weather cancellation. In Fellowship and In Service, Don S. Delegate Panel 68, Area 48 HMB

Alternate DCM Report

February 2018

It has been a whirlwind of a month so far, it feels like I’ve been all over the board with tasks and projects. Although I officially stepped into the position on January 1, I began work on both the NYSIW and the 2018 Area Schedule back in October, while still wearing the Treasurer’s hat and carrying out the duties and responsibilities there. I joyfully turned over the reins to the bank ac-count into the capable hands of Diane and can now focus more directly on the Alternate Chair duties.

I was able to participate in the December DCM conference call and look forward to facilitating that over the next couple of years. I have been in contact with most of the DCMs and we will be looking at finalizing the Area Schedule by mid-February. There’s been some confusion in some of the clusters regarding the rotation of the host district so I took the time to go back through old news-letters and input all the information on a spreadsheet dating back to 2007. This should be helpful in determining which district within each cluster is in line to host an event.

Cancellation of Orientation Day was quite disappointing but after having so many requests for a reschedule, Tad and I worked dili-gently and with the help of the host cluster we managed to get another date - most definitely looking forward to this.

Finally, I am pleased to report that I have signed a contract with Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica for the New York State Informational Workshop. It will be held the last weekend of July. Flyers are now coming into circulation. Online registration is not up and running yet, but hopefully next month. I’m very excited for this event – hoping that the change in venue might draw a few more from the Western end of the state as it shortens the travel for them by 1.5 hours. My hope is to have a full committee formed by the end of February so we can begin work on the program.

I believe we have a great slate of trusted servants and committee chairs – and I look forward to a fun-filled, productive 2 years work-ing with everyone here in Area 48.

In love & service,

Tammie E

HMB Area 48 Alternate Chair


Area Chair Report February 2018

Hi all – It’s been a busy January. After all the work that was put into organizing Orientation Day, Mother Nature

brought some strange weather our way, making it necessary to cancel the day for the safety of all. My sincerest

apologies to anyone who did not get the news and made the drive. I went to the facility to post a sign that

morning and met two people who had not heard. Fortunately they were very gracious and understanding. And

wanted to when it was going to be rescheduled!

There were many requests made to reschedule, and so Orientation Day will now be held Saturday, February 10

at the Bethany Reformed Church in Albany, the same location as before.

The purpose of the day is to give people undertaking new positions, or anyone with an interest in service, an

overview of the responsibilities of various positions and hopefully give them a jump start. We’ve enlisted folks

who have had experience to share it briefly in a panel format in the morning. In the afternoon we will break

into roundtables where more in-depth and specific questions can be asked, or ideas can be discussed. All of our

service committees, as well as DCM, GSR, and a few other positions will be covered. It promises to be a busy

and educational day. Or if you, or someone you know, has been wondering what it means to take one of these

positions, please come, bring a friend or sponsee, and hear what people have to share. You’re guaranteed to

learn something!

The remainder of the month has been spent getting things transitioned to our new Panel – email addresses

transferred, contact information shared, and materials for various positions passed along. One of things that

we are discovering is a serious need for our Districts to get their records updated and/or corrected as soon as

possible and passed on to the Area Recordskeeper at [email protected] so we are in contact with the cor-

rect people.

Next on the calendar will be NERAASA, held at the Radisson Hotel in Cromwell, CT this year February 23-25. It is

always a very busy service-based weekend with people from all over the Northeast Region. If you’ve never

been, you should come and find out what it’s all about. I always come away tired but invigorated about the ser-

vice work we in AA do. There is still plenty of time to register – there should be registrations forms available or

visit www.neraasa2018.org

I hope to see a great turnout at Orientation Day and at NERAASA– see you there!

In friendship, fellowship, and service,

Tad J.

HMB Area Chair

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.neraasa2018.org


To register for this event click this Link in the electronic Version of the newsletter

Www.Nerrasa.org

For a Paper registration form see your homegroup GSR

http://www.neraasa.org/neraasa-2018.html

http://www.neraasa.org/neraasa-2018.html


HMB Area Technology Chair Webmaster Greetings! I've recently begun my term as Area 48 Technology Chair and I'm looking forward to the coming two years. Since taking over the website a few weeks ago, I've been focusing on setting up emails for the incoming district and area chair people, getting caught up with all the requests to post flyers on the website and forming a committee. I'm also working closely with the area registrar to make sure the meeting search stays up to date. I personally see the website as one of the best tools that we have to get information into the hands of people who are looking for it. These days, most people start with Google anytime they need infor-mation about anything, especially a topic they may find sensitive, like "Am I an alcoholic?" or "Where do I find an AA meeting?". That said, over the next two years I'd like to improve the website to be a more powerful tool in our 12th step work and as a tool for those in district and area service. Some of the items on our to-do list include: purchasing form builder software and moving our BTG and Area Registrar forms to online forms, researching and transitioning to a new hosting platform that includes staging (so when we try something new, we don't break the whole site), updating the website template (aka website makeover project) which includes re-arranging some of the buttons and tabs on the website, implementing a ticketing system so the web committee can share the work and research-ing options for accepting online donations for the area and whether it is possible to offer this to dis-tricts. If anyone is interested in joining the area website committee I am looking for a few trusted servants who can help. There's various needs, the first being someone (Or several someones) who can help get flyers uploaded and text changes made to the area website when I am unable to be at a laptop. For the website makeover I'd love help from anyone who enjoys graphic design and/or has UX/UI design experience. The website is on WordPress, so it's not hard to help edit, no coding experience required. I know it's a long-shot but I am also looking for someone who codes in Phoenix and/or Elixir who can help with some code maintenance and debugging on the area meeting finder. Committee meetings will be by video call and most of the work will be organized through the ticketing system. If you are a trusted servant in your district or at the area level and you need access to your email address, please reach out to me and I'll send you a link to reset you password. In order to avoid any confusion, please let me know exactly which email address you are asking to be reset. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to the rescheduled area orientation day. However, I do hope to send someone else who can handle requests for password resets. Thanks for letting me serve! Tori Area 48 Technology Chair

HMB Area Archive Report "Let's be friendly to our friends" While setting up the Traveling Archive Displays, this young man from the Hotel Staff, who was helping me, took an interest in the Dioramas depicting milestones in AA History. Each Diorama had a bookmarked to describe the scene. All "Tramp Art" exhibits were made by Jim K. and Micheal L. previous HMB Area 48 Archivists . This round table invited AA's to sit and read the wide selection of Literature, This person is reading "The Book That Started It All" The original working manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous" Special thanks to the District Archivists who assisted with the event. Tim C, Alternate Area 48 Archivists from Glens Falls Jim O'C.from New Paltz Dave G. from Rhinebeck and Bill O'C. from Coeymans Hollow. Together, we had a great time sharing our knowledge with the over 100 visitors to our HMB Area 48 Archives.

Love in Service, Wyatt W. HMB Area 48 Archivist



Area Public Information Report

Hi all, I am Sally K., the newly rotated in Area 48 Public Information Chair. I am excited to get started in meeting all the Public Information Committee Chairs from each district. I am asking for all of the P. I. Chairs to send me via email or phone, their contact information asap. To the DCMs, I ask that theey pass this message on to their Public Information Chairs along with my contact info. I plan on going to Area 48's Orientation Day on Feb 10th in Albany. I hope you all can attend so that we can meet face to face. Love In Service, Area 48 Public Information Sally K [email protected] (845) 332-4548

Is A.A. for You? Only you can decide whether you want to give Alcoholics Anonymous

a try—whether you think it can help you. We who are in A.A. came

because we finally gave up trying to control our drinking. We still hat-

ed to admit that we could never drink safely. Then we heard from oth-

er A.A. members that we were sick. (We thought so for years!) We

found out that many people suffered from the same feelings of guilt

and loneliness and hopelessness that we did. We found out that we

had these feelings because we had the disease of alcoholism. We

decided to try to face up to what alcohol had done to us. Here are

some of the questions we tried to answer honestly. If we answered

YES to four or more questions, we were in deep trouble with our drink-

ing. See how you do. Remember, there is no disgrace in facing up to

the fact that you have a problem.

WILL I FIND PEOPLE LIKE ME IN A.A.?

Like other illnesses, alcoholism strikes all kinds of people. So the men and women in A.A. are of all races and nation-

alities, all religions and no religion at all. They are rich and poor and just average. They work at all occupations, as

lawyers and housewives, teachers and truck drivers, waitresses and members of the clergy.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/h/f5vw4vv6qlcj/?&cs=wh&v=b&[email protected]

tel:(845)%20332-4548

https://www.aa.org/pages/en_US/is-aa-for-you-twelve-questions-only-you-can-answer

Hudson Mohawk Berkshire Area 48 www.aahmbny.org January 2018 Edition

When you’re a GSR You are linking your home group with the whole of A.A. In 1950, a new type of trusted servant, “group representative,” was suggested to help in the selection of delegates to the newly-formed General Service Conference. By 1953, the job of ‘group representative’ was also seen as a good means of exchanging up-to-date information between individual groups and “Headquarters” (now the General Service Office). That’s still an important side of your work. But now, as general service representative, you have an even bigger responsibility: You transmit ideas and opinions, as well as facts; through you, the group con-science becomes a part of “the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship,” as expressed in the General Service Conference. Like everything else in A.A., it works through a series of simple steps. (For the complete picture in detail, read The A.A. Service Manual.)

http://www.aagrapevine.org/grapevine-challenge


Beginning Balance $22,636.87

Income

Area Contributions 45,117.27

Seed Money Returned 4,119.80

Advances Ret 3,345.03

Meeting Schedule Sales 1,200.00

Total Income $53,782.10

Expense Expenses Continued

Delegate 5,125.00 GSO Conference Contribution 2,000.00

Chairperson 3,875.00 Grapevine/AA Svc. Manual Seed 1,098.09

Alternate Chairperson 541.59 HMB Convention Seed Money 2,000.00

Secretary 85.40 HMB Service Manual Updates 197.64

Alternate Secretary/Registrar 244.73 Insurance Costs 528.00

Treasurer 1,392.43 Literature 196.19

Alternate Treasurer 357.39 Mail Box Service 517.38

Accessibilities 74.03 Meeting Books for Com. Chairs 480.00

Archivist 359.60 Newsletter Postage 1,921.85

Bridging The Gap 307.60 Newsletter Printing 2,358.72

Corrections Facility 203.07 Prior Year Expenses 269.61

Cooperation with Prof Community 239.40 Tax Preparation 725.00

Grapevine 451.86 Website 264.54

Newsletter Editor 120.15 AAWS (1/2 of Convention Overage) 2,077.57

Public Information 146.66 Area Event Advances 446.41

Treatment 497.32 Allocation Advances 2,346.30

HMB Convention 3,466.81 Checking Account Adjustment 87.07

NERAASA 3,556.88 Computer & Software

NERF 2,710.51

NYS Informational Workshop 862.13 Total Expense $49,007.26

Area Assemblies 1,915.70

Area Delegate's Day 283.16 Net Income $4,774.84

Area Joy of Service Day 529.54

Area Inventory Day 623.75 Balance $27,411.71

Area Fellowship Days 624.50 Prudent Reserve -$7,000.00

5th Tradition Corrections Workshops 572.68

Add'l HMB Meeting Schedules (for sale) 1,366.00 Available Funds $20,411.71

Archive Storage Fees 960.00

Prepared by: Tammie E.

[email protected]

HMB Area 48

Year-End Treasury Report

Jan-Dec 2017

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