GREATER TORONTO AREA INTERGROUP

GENERAL MEETING TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2009

The meeting convened at 8 p.m. with a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer. John C. (Half Century) read the Twelve Traditions. THOSE MEMBERS PRESENT: A Place To Share, Aurora, Beaches, Beverly Hills, Birds of a Feather, Bloordale, Credit Valley, Daily Relections, Danforth, Erin Mills, Fellowship, Fifth Tradition (Scarborough), Glenholme, Golden Mile, Half Century, High Park, Keep It Simple (Scarborough), Keys To Serenity, King City, Leslie, Markham Village, Markland Wood, Midtown, Mississauga, Mount Royal-York, Nova Vida (Portuguese), Open Hands, Orleta (Polish), Port Credit, Principles Before Personalities, Prince Edward, Rainbow, Recovery, Richmond Hill, Royal York, Saturday Morning Discussion, Shepherd, Sunday Northwestern, Sunnyside, Thornhill, Twelfth Tradition, U of T, Unionville, Wanstead, Westmoreland, and Willowdale. District Liaisons: Districts 06, 14, 18, and 22. Subcommittee Chairs: Access Ability and Archives.

ADOPTION OF MINUTES – July 2009: MOTION to accept Minutes as presented moved by Derek (Beverly Hills) and seconded by Glen B. (Recovery). MOTION IS CARRIED.

CHAIRPERSON’S OPENING REMARKS – Florence B. (Noon Rap), Operating Committee Chair: Florence mentioned that the number of 12 Step calls has decreased in the last while. She also shared that our phone helpline is open 365 days a year, and is manned by dedicated phone greeter volunteers. With this, she opined that “the phone lines run pretty well”. The task at hand is this: the current Twelfth Step Committee (which historically/ideally consists of around 12-14 members who take turns serving as monthly Phone Greeter Schedulers for each month of the year) has unfortunately become a very small committee. Part of the recent task of these individuals is to go through the updated 12 Step volunteer list (around 450-480 members) and contact each and every person that has volunteered to a) thank them for their service; and b) confirm/update contact information. This in part will hopefully “invigorate” the 12 Step initiatives. However, Florence emphasized that this will be ‘too big a job for such a small committee…we will be overstretched!”. One idea to meet this objective would be for the Operating Committee members to meet for an evening and contact all the current/new 12 Step volunteers. She stated that “we need people to come forward [to be a part of the Twelfth Step Committee] and help us with this task, as we want to inspire more members to do 12 Step work”. Florence informed members that the Twelfth Step Committee meets twice a month: the meeting held every 2^nd Wednesday at 7 p.m. at 234 is for the purpose of looking at the new phones/12 Step initiative and implementing this; the second meeting held on the last Friday of the month (also at 7 p.m. at 234) is for the Greeter Captains to share information, implement monthly phone schedule changes, and schedule phone greeters for upcoming months.

At this time, Florence asked members present for feedback on the above information; a long discussion ensued. A Floor inquired as to whether these requests should come from the Twelfth Step Chair; she answered that perhaps it should. Gerry M. (Fellowship) shared that he is a monthly phone greeter, and that it was his experience that the requests for 12 Step calls “don’t happen very often”; mostly it is meeting locations that calls ask for. Carolyn R. (Thornhill) stated that she is currently on the 12 Step Contact List; as a member for over 35 years, she is contacted at least once a month to do 12 Step calls. Wendy (Willowdale) shared with Floor members that members from her group who had volunteered for the list hadn’t even been contacted.

Florence thanked all those for their valuable feedback. Glenn G. (East York), Operating Committee member, also asked for monthly phone greeter volunteers (one year of continuous sobriety and a phone training session are needed to work the phones). Again, volunteers for the Twelfth Step Committee are needed! Next meeting: Wed., Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at 234.

Collection of the 7^th Tradition, which totaled $117.66.

FINANCE REPORT: No report this month, as the Finance Committee meeting was cancelled (therefore no quorum).

ACCESS ABILITY – Donna MacQ. (Sunnyside), Chairperson: Old Business: We received a letter a thanks from GSO for People in Motion. We are in the process of giving some of our excess pamphlets and racks to other committees (we receive a lot of literature from New York for People In Motion, and some of it is more useful to other committees than to us). A large-print Big Book and a12 & 12 have been given to a contact made at P.I.M. We also did the table roster for District 22 Service Day. Bob [committee member] has been contacted again by the caregiver for the patient he had been asked to work with; he will get in touch. New Business: We discussed the Committee Budget for 2010. Donna will submit it at the August General Meeting. The person who has been transporting our literature to different events is no longer able to do this task. There were some positive suggestions at this meeting, and we will continue to work on it. Next meeting: Sun.Sept.20 at 11 a.m. at 234.

ARCHIVES – Roy R. (Trial & Error), Chairperson: This committee is in the process of going through two longtime members’ (Tommy H., and Bob D.) boxes of archival materials; this process is ongoing. The next Archives Breakfast will be held on Sun. Nov 8 at the Oasis Convention Centre (Mississauga). This is the 25^th Anniversary of the event. Cost is $25. Tickets are available through Archives Committee members. Flyers for the event were made available to members at this meeting. Speakers are Joy (St. Catherines) and Pete W. (Oakville). Next meeting: Fri. Sept.11 at 7 p.m. at 234.

CORRECTIONS – no report. Next meeting: Mon. Sept.7 at 7:30 p.m. at 234.

COOPERATION WITH THE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY – no report given at this meeting. The following is a report submitted later by Dist.18 CPC Chair, Victoria B. (Steps to Serenity): CPC Report August 11, 2009: 9 persons attended; 6 were acting as district reps. Reports: Dist.14: a reminder of Unity Day Sept.26. Dist.22: A reminder of Service Day Sept. 12. Dist. 18 reported events of Intergroup regarding CPC budget information. Budgets for 2010 will need to be in by October. Events: The American Psychological Association was recently held at the Metro Convention Center in Toronto. All went well with scheduling and set up. Professionals were eager for info and either filled out cards for info or took pamphlets. Many existing friends of AA stopped by for GTA info and to chat. Interests extended to Al-Anon and youth programs. Ed R. of the Intergroup Operating Committee provided us with a beautiful map that outlined the 9 Districts in the GTA, and it is being utilized on our web site. Some changes are still in process....The interest CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) brought to our table last month has been diverted to the Public Information committee and is in their hands. Yours in gratitude, Victoria. Next meeting: Mon. Sept.14 at 7 p.m. at 234.

INFORMATION AA DAY 2010 – no report. Next meeting: Mon. Sept.28 at 7:30 p.m. at 234.

ONTARIO REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2010 - Jim A. (Leslie): Committee meetings of will start on Sept. 8.

PUBLIC INFORMATION – no report. Next meeting: Mon. Sept.21 at 7:30 p.m. at 234.

RECEPTION – Rick McC. (Six Points), Operating Committee 1^st Vice Chair: 50 reps were present at this meeting.

TREATMENT FACILITIES – no report. Next meeting: Thurs. Sept.17 at 7:30 p.m. at 234.

TWELFTH STEP – Deborah W. (Port Credit), Committee member: Florence had covered most of the committee objectives in her Opening Remarks. Deborah reiterated her request on behalf of this committee of the need for more Greeter Captain volunteers for this committee, which meets on the last Friday of the month (Next meeting: Sept.25 at 7 p.m. at 234). Monthly Phone Shifts: it was reported that the monthly night shifts have been having problems with attendance. The new phone system is slated for installation on Sept.15. This will take approximately two weeks to install. Training Sessions will be made available for basic use; this will begin after October 1^st. Twelfth Step will also hold an upcoming Appreciation Day for all phone volunteers. Next Phone Training Session: Sun. Sept.20 at 1:30 p.m. at 234. Members wanting to volunteer for the phones need one year of continuous sobriety.

Better Times/WEBSITE – Brian T. (Twelve Traditions), Webmaster: Brian thanked committee members Elaine G. and Ciara for their editing/article-writing contributions to this committee. Better Times is looking for a co-editor. Next meeting: Sat. Sept.12 at 1 p.m. at 234.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Florence mentioned that Floor members need to elect a Chairperson for the upcoming Winter Season Open House event; an event sponsored by GTAI that happens on Christmas Day (featuring a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, speakers, music, meetings, fellowship, etc. – location for 2009 to be determined).

MOTION that we nominate a WSOH 2009 Chair moved by Mike (?) and seconded by Harvey H. (Principles Before Personalities). MOTION IS CARRIED.

After a brief discussion, nominations began. Vlad G. (Mississauga) is the new Winter Season Open House Chair (by acclamation). The first meeting of the WSOH 2009 committee will be scheduled later.

NEW BUSINESS: no new business.

CLOSING REMARKS: Florence reminded members to stack the chairs on the dollies provided.

MOTION TO ADJOURN moved by Craig (Prince Edward) and seconded by Brock H. (Welcome). CARRIED.

The meeting adjourned with the Responsibility Pledge.

NEXT GENERAL MEETING: Tues. Sept.29 at 8 p.m. at Lansing United Church (49 Bogert Ave, near Yonge and Sheppard subway).