St. Paul Al-Anon Intergroup Service Meeting
Minutes – April 10, 2012
The meeting opened at 7:00 pm with the Serenity Prayer.
- Introductions
- Chair, IR Seekers of Compassion Al-Anon
Treasurer, Summit Hill Wednesday 5 pm Al-Anon
Assistant Treasurer, Alternate IR for Midway Wednesday 6:30 pm
Al-Anon
Secretary, Redeemer Family Al-Anon
IR for Inner Peace Al-Anon
Literature Chair, Summit Hill Monday 6 pm Al-Anon
Tradition Four and Concept Four There were
readings on both. Tradition Four (Each group should
be autonomous, except in matters affecting another group or Al-Anon or AA
as a whole.) is about how allowing others to make choices is the
respectful thing to do. Concept Four reads Participation
is the key to harmony..
Reports
- Chair
- The Chair asked for information about the Inver Grove Heights
Health Fair on 4/18 from 11am to 1pm. A couple of members volunteered
to help out.
- Vice Chair
- There is no date conflict with AA with respect to Gratitude
Night. Ours will be 11/10/12. Presbyterian Church of Way in Shoreview has
been confirmed as the location.
- Secretary
- The minutes of the March meeting were reviewed. The secretary was
reminded that it is desirable to include a list of those present at
the meeting. She will do this in the future.
- Treasurer
- The report presented was incomplete because the Treasurer had not
received an emailed report from the Assistant Treasurer. She is
concerned that Intergroup is spending more than it has been taken in.
She will call US Bank to find out how to redeem reward money from the
check card, if in fact that is possible. She reported there had been
a returned check. The Assistant Treasurer will try to get it made
good. The report was approved.
- Assistant Treasurer
- He had no copies of his report because of an email glitch. He said
he believes that income is comparable to what it has been in the recent
past. At the request of the chair, he and the Treasurer will write an
appeal letter to be sent out. It will include a thanks to the groups
that do contribute. The letter should contain the information that
Intergroup primarily depends on contributions for its income. Only 15%
to 20$ comes form literature sales. We hope to get the prudent reserve
up to about $9,000 which would represent about six month's fixed
expenses plus a cushion for large literature orders. With more funds,
Intergroup could do more publie outreach.
- Event sales
- Gopher State Roundup is May 25, 26, 27 of this year. In the past
we have had sales of $3,000 to $4,000 there. Since there is no event
sales chair, the Chair will coordinate volunteer staffing of the
literature table at Gopher State.
- Group Liaison
- No report because the position is open
- Liaison to Minnesota South Area
- This important position is still open. It involves representing
Intergroup at meetings of the AWSC (Area World Service Committee) twice
a year as a voting member, and at the Area Assembly twice a year.
Talk it up in your group in hopes someone will step forward to do the
job. There was no report on the March 29 Assembly since no one active
in Intergroup was able to attend. Minutes will appear in the Area
newsletter.
- Literature
- The Literature Chair will be placing a large order. Delivery of
the last order was very slow.
- Newsletter
- The Newsletter Editor is moving back to St. Paul soon. She needs
content contributions from members. There will probably be a
Newsletter out in May.
- Office Volunteers
- We need more volunteers. In particular, Wednesdays have been
particularly hard to staff the office.
- Speaker Chair
- He is coordinating with the Minneapolis Information Services
speaker chair to fill the need for speakers. This is a hopeful
development. More cooperation is good.
- Web site/Directory
- The Web site/Directory chair has added a note on the office volunteer page indicating the calendar my not be
up-to-date and that people should call before they come to buy
literature.
- He pointed out that there had not been a printed directory in a
long time, but that there was less need for one that formerly. He is
willing to put one out if volunteers are willing to make calls to
verify group information. He also said that, even if a printed
directory was not produced, a PDF version could be posted on the
website.
Business
- Audit
- The Treasurer completed an audit of last year's finances and found
no significant problems.
- Insurance
- The Treasurer found that our business insurance had lapsed. She
will try to get it reinstated.
- Spring Open House
- As one means of attracting more people to Intergroup, it was
suggested we have an open house, possibly with a discount on
literature purchases. The Chair will coordinate a June open house
with flyers.
- Bylaws review
- This is ongoing.
- Reserve (ample/prudent)
- This is ongoing.
- Open service positions
- The open positions are chairs for Alateen, Archives,
Liaison to Minnesota South Area, Public Outreach, Institutions, Group
Liaison and Event Sales. A member said she was considering
volunteering to be Group Liaison Chair.
The meeting adjourned with the Al-Anon Declaration at 8:00 pm.
Edited for the web 3 May 2012