Meeting Minutes
July 8, 2006, 10:15 a.m.-12 noon
1. The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m.
2. The Serenity prayer was said.
3. The Twelve Traditions were read.
4. Introductions and Meeting Reports
Joyce
D., Grass Valley: Sacramento meetings want to become a “district” with 12 at
the meeting. They want to continue to be part of Intergroup, but also formally
organize within their area of Sacramento.
Catherine
C.: Thursday Albany meeting is small, but we get lots of newcomers.
John
A.: Alameda meeting Monday: core group of 6 people with lots of visitors. The
newspaper ads have been most successful for getting people at the meeting. Also
is a member of a closed step study group.
Keith
M.: Monday night Petaluma: about 8 core members, newcomers do come; Tuesday
night Santa Rosa, about 10-18 people, very healthy, lots of people with less
than 6 months
Ed
T.: Monday Oakland, recently changed rooms as meeting was growing, core group
of 6-8 people, but meeting can get as big as 12-15. Meeting time has changed to
6:15-7:15.
Claudia:
Monday Sacramento meeting is small but helping a few people get abstinent. It
is feeding people into the other meetings. Tuesday meeting can be 2–6 people.
Wednesday meeting is still open, Thursday night meeting can be up to 15 people.
They are fighting the other addiction programs to live in the Alano Club.
5. Reading
and approval of minutes from May 13. Minutes were approved as written.
6. Reports
a. Ed,
Treasurer. Balance of treasury is $272.77, although there is a cash contribution
of $30 that has yet to be recorded. Delegate fund balance forward is $53.17;
and Conference registration receipts are $75.00
b. Meeting
Schedule: Joyce has sent out the summer schedule. Fall winter will go out the
first of September. Then a new meeting schedule coordinator is necessary. She
has updated the World Services meeting list.
c. Hotline:
Catherine called the 408 hotline and asked them to put the NorCal website on
their outgoing message. Joyce called the Sacramento hotline and did the same.
Keith can still use more volunteers on the national hotline.
d. John
A: Web site. In the past year almost 40,000 pages have been viewed. The biggest
month of traffic is in January. Most popular pages are 1) Meetings page, 2)
Literature page and 3) FAQ. Search terms used: “Nicotine Anonymous,” “smokers
anonymous,” “quitting smoking,” “the serenity prayer,” “smoking slogan.” Google
is the top referring site; Yahoo and MSN second and third. The three most
popular greeting cards are 1) the virtual chip (the total number of days sent
so far is 36,119 days), 2) “One day at a time, one minute at a time,” and 3) “I
put my hand in yours…” A new database for the meeting contacts is in place;
people will be able to sign up for the newsletter on the web site. The names
and addresses are not public, each person can create or edit their own
profiles. John Can set up some more customized newsletters, if necessary.
Catherine asked
if it was possible to set up registration and payment for the 2007 conference
through the web site. John said that would be no problem, and people can also
receive bills if they don’t want to pay by credit card.
MOTION: To
include online registration and payment via PayPal and any fees incurred are
authorized. MSP
e. Conference
committee: Catherine. All is going well. They’re still working on deciding what
the after-conference activity will be; looking into what merchandise is
available to sell, getting prices on various things, etc. They decided to hold
the meetings on the second Saturday of odd months from 1:00-3:00 to coincide with the intergroup meetings, and on even months from 10:00-12:00.
e. Outreach
Committee: Catherine reported that the Outreach committee had chosen to support
the San Francisco meetings. They’ve developed flyers with tear-off tabs, and
small, business-card sized posters with local meeting times and locations on
the back. Since Catherine and Ani are visiting the meetings to talk about the
conference, they’ve been bringing the flyers and posters to each meeting as
well and told them about the Outreach committee.
Intergroup
requested a template of the mailing the Outreach committee did to institutions,
as well as the tear-off flyers and biz card posters, with the idea that they
could be sent to new meetings as an aid. One person reported that Kaiser quit
smoking has been promoting NicA.
f. Newsletter:
no report
g. Retreat:
no report
i. Chips:
no report
j. World
Services Liaison: Ed T. The next quarterly World Services Board Meeting will be
July 22 in San Leandro. Ed has found places for the members to stay and is also
arranging for transportation to and from the airport. All are welcome to attend
this one-day business meeting. Contact Ed T for more information.
7. Old
Business:
a. Elect
new officers
MOTION:
to accept Joyce D. as chair by acclamation. MSP. Joyce did say that sometimes
she can’t come to the meeting for personal reasons, and wanted to have someone
else hold the key. Catherine agreed to keep the keys to the Mandana House.
Joyce asked for a someone to volunteer as vice-chair and Keith volunteered.
Secretary:
(takes and minutes and the meeting and reads them at the next meeting) John A.
agreed to take the position.
Treasurer:
Ed T agreed to remain treasurer of Intergroup.
Welcome
to our new and returning officers!
b. 2006
WS conference inquiry. Judy wasn’t present and couldn’t report on whether she
has received a response to her inquiry to World Services regarding issues with
Pen Pals, status of orders and new meeting information.
8. New
Business
a. The
Sacramento meetings are very active and wanted to organize in their area, while
remaining part of Intergroup, so they requested that they become a “District”
of our local Intergroup. The purpose behind this request is the need to
strengthen their view of themselves and also their relationship to Intergroup.
MOTION: Intergroup start in motion whatever it takes to make Sacramento a
district of Northern California Intergroup. MSP. No one has a copy of our
bylaws, and Ed will make a search of his archives. Once the bylaws are found,
Intergroup can then amend the bylaws to include a district. Joyce will send an
e-mail to WS chair Kate W. asking for guidelines on doing this.
Does it make
sense to have other districts? It was suggested that perhaps different areas of
the Bay Area might want to meet locally and then send a District rep. to the
bi-monthly Intergroup meetings. Some possible districts might be, Santa
Clara-Santa Cruz, Alameda-Contra Costa; San Francisco-Peninsula; Marin-Sonoma.
Since this is a new concept we want to throw it out to all meetings. Joyce
suggested that we send out an e-mail saying Intergroup has adopted a District
and perhaps other meetings might wish to form a district and then send one
district representative to the Intergroup meeting and then have their own
district meetings for the groups in their areas. The Sacramento area meetings
meet regularly in Sacramento, pay dues to the district, and Intergroup.
Sacramento district meetings are the last Tuesday of every month at 7:00 at the sun river meeting for the Sacramento district meetings.
b. Having
Intergroup meetings in other locations. Discussion. Claudia said she would ask
Sacramento if they would be willing to host a meeting. Question as to whether
we will lose our core of people, and will we get the work done? Will we pick up
people or will we lose people? Will it be difficult to actually schedule
meetings in different locations? Suggestion to have most meetings in Oakland
but an occasional meeting elsewhere, or possibly adding an extra meeting in
another location. It was agreed that we would keep things as they are.
c. The
Marin Hotline message has been updated.
9. Announcements
a. Service
Opportunities. Northern California Intergroup is looking for volunteers to do
outreach, participate in Intergroup, take on service positions, etc. Contact
any Intergroup member for more information.
b. Book
of Daily Meditations. People are being sought to help contribute to a Book of
Daily Meditations for the fellowship. Contact Judy at DailyMeditations@nicotine-anonymous.org
c. Literature.
Reminder from World Services that literature should be bought from WSO, not
copied. Literature sales is the primary revenue source for World Services.
d. Committee
Reports for Intergroup Meetings. Committee heads for Intergroup please e-mail
or send a report to John A. if you will not be attending the meeting. Thanks
for your help.
e. Chips
are available for purchase in small quantities at the Intergroup meeting.
10. The meeting was closed at 12:00 p.m.: The Unity Prayer was said.
The next Intergroup meeting is September 9, 2006 from 10:00
a.m. until 12:00 noon with fellowship afterward at Mandana Community Recovery
Center, 3989 Howe Street (enter on 40th), Oakland in the Serenity Room, first
floor of the Old House.
