Supporting Grapevine "our meeting in print".

May is Support Grapevine Month, following is some really interesting information on the Grapevine. Did you know that the traditions were first introduced in the Grapevine, so were other items that have become standard materials in our fellowship. The following information was kindly supplied by Jim S, our Area 83 Grapevine Chairperson


OUR GRAPEVINE

The Grapevine has been continuously published since 1944, and it preceded all AA literature except for the Big Book. Because of a problem with anonymity and a conflict with the FBI’s in-house magazine called “The Grapevine”, we changed our name to “The AA Grapevine.” The legal name is Box 1980 which appears on the shipping label as the return address. So you can see how it does protect a member’s anonymity.

Bill W used it to communicate with the Fellowship of AA. He used it to get new ideas out to the membership as a whole. For example the Twelve Traditions were first seen in The Grapevine in an article called “Twelve Suggested Points for AA Tradition.” A number of the stories in the back of the Big Book appeared in The Grapevine first. It is now considered “The Voice of the AA Fellowship.” The articles are written by the membership for the membership. In 1986 the General Service Conference issued a blanket approval for the magazine since each issue could not be approved in advance. So it is Conference approved.

The Grapevine has a history of dealing with many controversial issues within the Fellowship of AA. There have been articles covering the God thing, AA and other substances, Singleness of Purpose, Character Defects, Working with Others and many more. It also has books such as Language of the Heart, Best of Bill and the new one Emotional Sobriety. CD’s, pictures and other items concerning AA, such as the picture The Man on the Bed and the Serenity Prayer are also available from the Grapevine.

It is called the Meeting in Print because it has in it, The Preamble,( this is where The Preamble was first seen), The Steps, The Traditions and, it always has a meeting topic for Discussion Meetings.

It is a wonderful 12th Step Tool. It can be used both within and outside the Fellowship. Inside the Fellowship it can be used for members who cannot attend meetings regularly because of illness or location. Also it is a good tool for the hearing impaired Alcoholic. Gift subscriptions can be given to a sponsee, or given to the newcomer at his or her fist meeting, or even before. Gift subscriptions can be given to Treatment and Correctional Facilities. They can be loaned out for members to read.

Outside the Fellowship Older issues can be used in Correctional and Treatment Facilities, to be left there for the people to read. They can be left in Doctors and Hospital waiting rooms and in Police Stations. Of course approval should be received before leaving magazines in these places.

On The Grapevine Website www.aagrapevine.org you can do anything that can be done by phone or postal mail. You can subscribe to the Magazine, renew a subscription, purchase other Grapevine books or materials or submit an article. The Digital Archive lets you look at more than 60 years of experience, strength and hope. Also the audio version of the Magazine can be downloaded from here.
The Grapevine does not receive any funding or financial support from the GSO. It is totally self supporting through the sale of literature and the magazine. This is why we should try and support it in any way we can. Things like, having a personal subscription to the magazine, possibly purchasing items for gifts at medallions, gift subscriptions for sponsee’s , Correctional or Treatment Institutions. One of the ways we all can support it is in the purchase of a Pocket Planner and or Calendars. The ordering process is starting now.

In the DCM’s mail slots at the Area Committee Meeting in June will be an order form for each respective District. The price here will reflect the latest price from the Grapevine, the current exchange rate, GST and any discounts we may be entitled to. The Districts will compile their order over the summer months and the completed order forms along with the payment will be given back to the Area Grapevine Chair at the Area Committee Meeting in Sept. He or she will compile these into one order and send it off to the Grapevine. The DCM’s will pick up their Districts order at the Fall Assembly at Kingston in October. Most of us do buy a pocket calendar of some sort so why not support the Grapevine in this.

Self Support Update

Dear Self Support Chairs/Alternate DCM’s, I hope your presentations are going well and I look forward to hearing from you. Part of what I believe the Self Support Role should be, is, to encourage participation in all areas of service, one of the ways to do this is too support the many service days and information days held in our Area.



One that is important and may have wide interest is the Archives Workshop being held in Kingston. The information is below and you may want to mention this in your presentations, we can learn a lot by listening to the wisdom and experience of those that have come before us. Preserving our history is critical to our fellowship. I will post this on our Blog as well. The Area 83 Archivist has a new Blog that she will be updating periodically with interesting information; already on the Blog is information on how to do an Oral History. Here is the link http://area83archivist.blogspot.com/



Please also note that our Registrar has a helpful Blog with group information forms etc… this makes it easy for the groups in your districts, here is the link to his Blog http://area83registrar.blogspot.com/



We have all linked our Blogs together which makes it easy for Area 83 members to access information.



A call letter requesting resumes of those interested in being considered for the role of Area 83 Webmaster and Area 83 Alternate Webmaster has been sent out to the DCMs, please help spread the message. A copy of these call letters is available if you would like one, however because full names are used I won’t be posted it on the Blog.



I also have some interesting “Ask It Basket” topics coming up…… so keep coming back to the Blog for more information.

April Self Support

April 2, 2007


Dear Self Support Chair,


Thanks again for taking on this important role in your District; I enjoyed meeting many of you at the Area Assembly. If you were unable to attend feel free to contact me directly at area83iamresponsible@yahoo.ca if I can be of any help to you.


I have already posted an April Self Support Tidbit, that could be included in your presentations as well as a Concepts Checklist In my experience. The Concepts are rarely discussed at group or District level but you will see by the questions, they could provide an interesting and a valuable discussion topic for all levels of service.

I have contacted a few of the District Chairs to help me prepare for the Fall Assembly, at this time we will have an open forum workshop where we review and discuss guidelines that will help us present the Self Support Message. The following Guidelines are being worked on by District Chairs;

1) District Role in Self Support – Guidelines for District Self Support Chair
2) Presentation Guidelines
3) The Groups Role in Self Support

Yours in Love and Service,

Sheree
Area 83 International Self Support Chairperson