Nicotine Anonymous- A 12 Step Program offering support to those who want to stop smoking and other forms of tobacco and nicotine addiction.

Print versions - Acrobat .pdf file | Treasurers Report .pdf file
Northern CA Intergroup Questionnaire Responses .pdf file

Meeting Minutes
September 10, 2005, 10 a.m.-12 noon

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by John L.
The Serenity Prayer was said.
The purpose of the meeting is to foster the unity of the group, conduct business, and exchange information.
Introductions: John L. (Walnut Creek/Rockridge, Oakland); Catherine C. (Monday Rockridge, Oakland); Keith M. (Santa Rosa); Judy D. (San Francisco); Joseph L. (Palo Alto); Wes (Monday Oakland, Thursday Albany); Amanda (Wednesday Alameda), Sabrina S. (Monday, Livermore) and Glynn B. (Last Drag(Tuesday) and Thursday, San Francisco) were present.
Timekeeper: Catherine
The 12 Traditions were read.
The minutes of the July meeting were read and approved.
Treasurer's Report: Ed (read by Catherine in Ed's absence)

Here are the highlights: Intergroup received generous donations from Alameda ($37.45) and Marin($75). The regular fund balance is $514.53. The delegates fund balance is $495.95.

Committee Reports:

Web Site Coordinator: John A.
Due to a well earned vacation John was unable to report.
Meeting List Coordinators: John A. and Joyce

John A. and Joyce could not make the meeting. The group had a general discussion of how to keep the meeting list and contact list up-to-date. We decided we needed Joyce's experience and input before going further with the discussion. As a result, further discussion was held over until the next meeting. Glynn volunteered to work with Joyce and John A. on keeping the PDF of the meeting list up-to-date.

Outreach: Wes

The Outreach Committee has done the following since the last meeting:

A draft of the cover letter for an informational mailing to smoking cessation programs has been completed. Many thanks go to the person who drafted the letter and compiled the groups comments, Melissa E. from the San Francisco meetings.
Wes and Judy have contacted most of the Northern California groups to get the mailing and email addresses of the group contact. These contacts will be put into a database that can be used to produce mailing labels for our new newsletter and for other mailings.
Wes and Catherine created a "Basic Working Guidelines for Bring Nicotine Anonymous into Hospitals and Institutions". They also compiled the outreach committee's comments into the draft guidelines to be presented to the Intergroup.
Joyce put together "Working With Others Who Still Suffer". Catherine and Wes provided additional input to the final form of the document being presented to Intergroup.

Other outreach activity includes the following:

Keith, Catherine and Wes are going to visit the Monday night Sacramento meeting to learn about their concerns and needs.
Keith continues to visit the Saint Helena stop smoking program.
Keith has arranged for a Nicotine Anonymous booth at the American Lung Association Walkathon and at the the Sonoma Harvest Festival. He needs help manning these booths. He can also use an October speaker at St. Helena and help with answering the World Services helpline. (For complete info on these, please see the announcements section. Thanks Keith for all your work on all of this. You are phenomenal.)
Sabrina is starting a meeting Monday meeting in Livermore beginning October 3. (She would definitely appreciate visits from old timers in the program so check the Web site for details of the meeting and go visit.)
Glynn has volunteered to be the co-secretary of the new Walden House meeting in San Francisco. He has also had feelers from the San Francisco Salvation Army about setting up a meeting there.

Wes presented "Basic Working Guidelines for Bringing Nicotine Anonymous Meetings into Hospitals and Institutions" and "Working With Others Who Still Suffer" to the meeting for approval.

Chips: Doug and Amanda
Doug brought the chips in and asked that someone take over his position until he recovers. Amanda very kindly offered to take over from Doug. The group gave Doug a big round of applause for all his effort. (Secretary's Note: Doug is the founder of the Intergroup chip program. His determination and vision took it from an idea to a thriving program. Because of Doug's hard work every meeting, no matter how small, can easily provide chips to its members. Thanks for your vision and your work Doug. Get well soon because we really miss you at Intergroup.)

A motion to make Amanda chip coordinator was seconded and passed.

Retreat: Catherine and Wes
This year's retreat did not happen. Reservations were made for 15 people but only a few people sent in money. The group discussed the retreat and these recommendations were made:

We need a retreat committee.
We need to create a meaningful event that people will want to return to year after year.
A weekend retreat requires considerably more planning and forethought than we thought it would.
A successful retreat requires a well thought out program.
We may want to consider a date other than the third weekend in August.

Amanda very kindly offered to become the chair of the new retreat committee. A resolution to make Amanda the new chair of the retreat committee was moved, seconded and passed.

World Services Conference: Catherine and Ed

A resolution to make Catherine the chair of the 2007 World Services Conference committee was moved, seconded and passed.
The World Services board was given a choice between San Jose and Oakland for the 2007 conference. The board chose Oakland.
Catherine and Ed are negotiating with the Oakland hotel on the final contract.
Catherine handed out flyers to the meeting seeking volunteers for the World Services Conference committee.

New Business:

Daily Meditations. A motion to strike daily meditation from the agenda was seconded and passed. An announcement of the need for meditations for the new Nicotine Anonymous meditations book will continue to appear in the Service Opportunities section.
Intergroup Role. A motion to strike the discussion of the Intergroup's role from the agenda was seconded and passed.
Bringing NicA to Institutions. Wes passed out two documents: "Basic Working Guidelines for Bringing Nicotine Anonymous Meetings into Hospitals and Institutions" and "Working with Others Who Still Suffer." These two documents were put together by Wes, Catherine and Joyce.

There was some discussion of how these documents should be disseminated locally and to World Services. As a first step, a motion was made to distribute these documents as a working draft with feedback to the next Intergroup meeting. This motion was seconded and passed.

Questionnaire. Catherine passed out a summary of the responses to a questionnaire about what our member groups and members views on Intergroup matters. Some of the conclusions drawn from the questionnaire that came up in the discussion are the following:
(Northern CA Intergroup Questionairre Resonses .pdf file)

Many members do not know about Intergroup.
There is a range of interests from nothing to very involved.
Some things work for some people and don't work for other people.
All we can really do is offer people the opportunity for service.

Please note that Catherine's full report is available on the Web site.

Newsletter. Judy passed out a sample newsletter. A motion was made to send out a newsletter after each Intergroup meeting on a trial basis. The newsletter will not be reviewed by the Intergroup before it is sent out. The motion was seconded and passed.

Service Opportunities.

Asthma Walk. NicA will be represented at the American Lung Associations Asthma Walk in Santa Rosa on 9/22. Volunteers are needed to man the booth. Please contact Keith to volunteer.
Harvest Festival Volunteers. NicA will be represented at the Sonoma County Harvest Festival 9/30-10/2 in Santa Rosa. Volunteers are needed to man the booth. Please contact Keith to volunteer.
St. Helena Volunteers. Members of NicA have been speaking at the St. Helena's residential stop smoking program for a number of years. Terry and Keith from Sonoma County are working on this commitment. If you'd like to help, please contact them. The dates for the rest of 2005 are the following: Aug 16, Sept. 13, Oct. 11, Nov. TBA, Dec. 6th.
Intergroup. Northern California Intergroup is looking for volunteers to do outreach, participate in Intergroup, take on service positions, etc. Contact John L. or any Intergroup member for more information.
World Services Help Line. Help is needed to answer calls from the World Services Helpline. Please contact Keith for details.
Book of Daily Meditations. Meditations are being sought for a Book of Daily Meditations for the fellowship. Contact Ani for details or write to Kate W. at DailyMeditations@nicotine-anonymous.org

Announcements.

Chips. Chips are available for purchase in small quantities at the Intergroup meeting.
Literature. World Services reminds us that literature should be bought from WSO, not copied. Literature sales are the primary revenue source for World Services.

The meeting was closed at 12:00 p.m.. The Unity Prayer was said.
The next Intergroup meeting is November 12, 2005 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. All NicA members are encouraged to attend.