50th Annual meeting of the General Service Conference of A. A.Trusting Our Future to A. A. PrinciplesThe 50th annual meeting of the General Service Conference has been adjourned and the staff of the General Service Office, the Boards of A.A.W.S and Grapevine are now implementing the decisions made there. The 134 members of the conference made those decisions. Each decision was backed by presentations done in groups, districts, and standing committees of the 92 areas represented. There were many excellent presentations given throughout the weeklong conference. You should receive a copy of them in the final conference report at the September Assembly. I hope that you share them with your groups. I have asked our SCAAN editor to print some in future newsletters. Because of the amount of work we try to accomplish in one week, the beginning of the conference was moved up one day to Sunday this year. But many wonderful things transpired prior to the opening of the conference. I arrived in New York City on Thursday evening. Friday morning I visited the General Service Office to meet with my conference secretary, Eva to go through the agenda one final time. Having scheduled this for early in the day, I was able to attend the 11:00 am A. A. meeting which is held in the building each Friday. The conference agenda chair, Mickey H., delegate from Utah, gave the opening lead for the meeting. Many conference members arrived early just to attend this meeting. Saturday morning our Regional Trustee, Jim, organized a bus tour through Manhattan and Brooklyn to visits many of the original sites of A. A. history. Our former general manager, George D., and our Archivist, Judit, acted as guides. In the early evening there was an open meeting called “1728” (12 X 12 X 12). The non-alcoholic trustees originated this meeting in an effort to learn more about our program and how they can better use it in their lives. This year I again attended the “Remote Communities” meeting prior to the conference. This committee is dedicated to bringing our message to “any community to which it is difficult to carry the message because of language, culture or geography.” It is not hard to believe that we may have many alcoholics in our area, which meet these criteria. The minutes of this meeting are available at the handout table and available upon request. Thanks to the efforts of many delegates, an informal meeting to discuss problems concerning the Spanish language translation of A. A. literature was held prior to the opening of the Conference. Over 75 people including members of the Board of Trustees, AAWS, GSO staff, Grapevine and La Vina staff as well as many delegates attended the meeting. A great deal of information was exchanged and several delegates continued to voice many concerns. The outcome of the meeting was positive and I have provided minutes from this meeting at the handout table. For a complete set of background material, please call me. This will be one of the topics addressed at the Pacific Region Forum in August 2000. Saturday evening was a delegate’s only meeting when the panel 49 delegates share their experience, strength and hope with the panel 50 delegates. Sunday lunch we began with orientations by the regional trustee. In our region, this is a very comfortable meeting. Our region does an excellent job of preparing each new delegate at PRAASA. In some regions this may be the first time that delegates meet each other and their trustee. Sunday afternoon we began our first full session with a keynote address by Dennis M., past GSO Controller. Dennis has attended all fifty conferences as he was hired by Bill W. as a young accountant. Dennis reported that he thought he was going to interview with a book publishing company!! We then went over the mechanics of the conference and under what rules we would all agree to operate. We are given a large box of spiritual tools to conduct our discussions and votes during the week. Little did we know that we would use them all prior to the adjournment of the conference. This year, the lengths of the committee meetings were longer. It provided an opportunity to spend more time in thoughtful discussion on each item. I think this thoughtfulness carried over to the floor discussions more so than last year. There was the usual talk about trusting the committee process. That each committee does the best job it can for Alcoholics Anonymous and each delegate should trust and respect that process. I know that in the committees that I served on this year I found that to be true. We were also reminded that we were to set policy recommendations for the office staff and trustees to work from for the next year. We then began the work of the committees. We would meet once a day for the first three days of the conference. Interspersed with those meetings were reports from the various staff members and presentations on the conference theme. We also heard area highlights from the panel 50 delegates and discussed topics at workshops that were suggested by last year’s agenda committee. You can read about those in the early bird edition of Box 459. It was a valuable way to set our mind to the important business at hand. The Mid-Southern California, Nevada, Oregon and Southern California areas made the presentations Wednesday lunch for the PRAASA bid for 2003. The 2003 PRAASA was granted to the Nevada area, which will host it in Reno. The delegates also voted on who would host the 2004 Regional Forum. The Mid-Southern CA, Oregon and Alaska put forward bids. Oregon area will host us in 2004. Wednesday we began the general session on the committee recommendations. The committee reports are drawn randomly from the hat with the same committee not starting two years in a row. Committee recommendations are offered when a committee reaches substantial unanimity on a topic. These recommendations serve as the policy direction for the next year. The trustees’ committees and staff members work from this list to accomplish the work of the conference. Additional considerations are subjects discussed; majority may be reached but not substantial unanimity. These are considered the items most likely to appear on next year’s conference agenda for further consideration and possible recommendation. Some of the recommendations and considerations are listed in the SCAAN. A complete set of recommendations and considerations are available at the handout table at the Assembly and within the final conference report to be received in September. Today the agenda item I wish to spend the most time on is our application for an additional delegate area. It indicates so many concepts in action and the conference process as well. Keep in mind that most items discussed at the Conference arrive through the same process -- a group, district or area advises the conference that there is a need that needs to be addressed. As you may remember, we applied for an additional delegate area last December. Our application was sent to Susan U., the Conference Coordinator. She forwarded that application to Joanie M. who acts as the staff secretary to the Policy and Admissions committee. She sent our application to all the members of the committee to read, question and pray about before arriving at the Conference. She included additional background information she felt would be appropriate. Any delegate who requests the background for all committees also received our application for study and thoughtful discussion at their pre-conference assemblies and workshops. Members from all over the U. S. and Canada were talking about our needs in the Southern California Area just as we discussed the various items sent in by other areas from around the Conference. The Conference Committee on Policy/Admissions met three times prior to the general session on Wednesday night. It recommended that the 53rd General service Conference be held April 27 – May 3, 2003 since these dates do not conflict with any major religious holidays. Under additional considerations:
After the committee chair read his report we voted on the Committee recommendation. Then the floor was open for discussion on the additional considerations with a two-minute limit per item per member until everyone who wished could speak at the microphone. I went to the microphone first to address the additional considerations. I explained that we have been through the application process two previous times (1993 and 1994) and asked for the thoughts of this committee considering “what more does our area need to do to remedy the application” and to please clarify “could not reach consensus.” The chair said the application was more than adequate we submitted 12 pages of information for a three page application. He said the committee did not recommend one addition item of information that could be needed. He went on to explain that “could not reach consensus,” meant that they were evenly divided as a committee on whether to grant the application or not. For over two hours we discussed these considerations. The conference heard that we had fulfilled all the requirement for an additional delegate area, that some members of the committee felt we should address future growth of the conference prior to granting any additional delegate area, the need to look at Conference restructuring and re-balancing the region first. People said that they felt SCA was being held hostage because the Conference failed to act during the five-year moratorium on growth and said it was personally punitive. Delegates suggested that the trustees ‘ committee should begin work immediately and not wait for a workshop next year. Some members of the conference felt that requesting for a change in application while we were in the process would not be fair to the people we serve in Southern California. All in all, fifty-seven people spoke at the microphones to address these issues. What I want to bring to you is the incredible feeling of love and support offered this area and me from our conference members. Delegates, GSO staff members, and trustees all spoke with nothing but positive praise for the work we try to do in impossible circumstances. All fourteen delegates from the Pacific Region went to the mic to express support for us and tell the conference about all the years of our coming to PRAASA roundtables looking for solutions to serve alcoholics better. At the end of the discussion I went to the microphone and introduced a floor motion. The purpose of a floor motion at the conference is to bring something to the floor of the conference that the committee did not bring out. This allows everyone to speak on the issue and vote. I said, “ I truly believe in the committee process. I have not yet heard what my area needs to do to improve our application not have I heard how we can remedy our area without an additional delegate area. Because the committee could not reach consensus and was evenly divided, I believe my area needs to hear the voice of our Fellowship and the collective conscience of this body. I feel the issue is of the gravest nature and we cannot wait another year. I wish to submit the following motion: ’ After careful consideration and having met the requirements of application, I move that the Southern California Area 05 be granted an additional delegate area.’ We adjourned for the evening. It was the night that the Pacific Region Trustee buys ice cream for everyone in our region. The loving support I continued to receive was an incredible experience. I felt that I was wrapped in the loving hands of a power greater than myself. The entire time I had no idea of the outcome, but knew our area was loved, supported and God was in charge. I had no need for worry or fear. It was an amazing experience for this alcoholic. Friday, I presented the work of the committee I chaired this year at the conference. I walked through that day feeling the love and support or my higher power and that conference. Still with no idea what would happen. By the end of all the committee reports, our conference had received seven floor actions. An incredible number of actions to discuss. The conference passed two floor actions, failed two floor actions, two floor actions were withdrawn and one the conference refused to consider. Our area was granted an additional delegate area in a vote 100 to 23. The minority opinion addressed the conference and said that they felt the growth of the conference should be addressed first, that in principle they could not vote for any floor action, but at no time did the minority opinion express that the application should not be approved. I tried to keep notes on all the discussions during the conference week so if you would like to hear exactly some of the opinions expressed please ask me at your district reports. I can not express the overwhelming gratitude I felt and continue to feel as a result of this process. I watched our concepts come alive and work at the conference. I have the privilege of experiencing the concepts in action – the first – final responsibility and ultimate authority in our collective conscience of the Fellowship, second – the conference being the active voice and effective conscience of our whole Society, third – ‘traditional right of decision’, fourth – ‘right of participation’, fifth – ‘ right of appeal’, tenth –every service responsibility be matched by equal service authority’ and twelfth – reach all important decisions by discussion, vote and whenever possible, by substantial unanimity, that its actions never be personally punitive … and remains democratic in thought and action. Now we come to the end of the conference week and cycle. The report to the membership and the work begins anew. We passed many items of interest to many members within our area. I hope that you have time to read them all. The new Delegate Area was granted on May 5th. It’s called Central California Area 93. Now Central California Area 93 can decide in the next 12 months if they want to change the name. I would like all the AA members of the new Area to stand. (Members stood from 1, 11, 12, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 44, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 59, and 60). That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have a lot of work to do. I received a cautionary tale from the Bert the delegate from Washington when this happened. He said “Please, if you tell them nothing else that you tell them they do mot have one delegate area, you have two.” Western Washington didn’t change. They kept everything exactly the same. And a year and a half later they had a lot of trouble. Because what they were doing no longer fit who they were. And so he urged me to have you both realize that you are about to create two new brand new areas that meet two completely different kinds of needs. The conference closed Saturday morning with talks given by the rotating trustees and Lois Fisher, senior staff member who will retire after attending our Regional Forum in August. Lois served AA well at GSO for over 23 years. Saturday afternoon, the delegates and their guests traveled to Bedford Hills where we were given a tour of Bill and Lois’ final home. It was an amazing journey. One I will never forget. Once again, my debt of gratitude has increased. I will never adequately express the gift this area has given me. I know that I have grown spiritually because of my commitment to you. I thank you for my life. With love and service, Marita, Delegate Panel 49, Area 05 Southern California |