[Businessmtg] Pittsburgh Convention

[Dawn Werezak]

Hello Everyone,

>From our web site home page:

A Serenity Place is a closed online Al-Anon meeting. We meet twenty-hours a day, seven days a week. The meeting format at A Serenity Place is a daily meeting; a new meeting every day of the week. Each day of the week is chaired by a different member. Some days of the week are structured topics; for instance on Mondays the meeting is on the Twelve Steps. Some days are Open Topic--the chair will announce the topic that day. 
We consider ourselves an Al-Anon group in every sense of the word; we follow the Twelve Traditions of Al-Anon and conduct business like any other group. Our communication with the greater fellowship of Al-Anon Family Groups is through our Meeting Contact, our trusted servant who handles liaison with the World Service Office. This meeting pays particular attention to the "Obstacles to Success" also known as the "Practical Application of the Twelve Traditions."

Please note that the first sentence states that we are "closed Al-Anon meeting."  The second paragraph starts with "we consider ourselves an Al-Anon group in every sense of the word;" and it continues on.

ASP has always identified itself as an Al-Anon group.  We meet the very definition of an Al-Anon group as stated in the Service Manual put together and published by WSO.  

In no way, shape or form have we ever identified ourselves as anything other than an Al-Anon group.  It is WSO that has given us the label of Al-Anon meeting and stripped us of any voice within the Service Structure of Al-Anon by labeling us as such.  By doing so they have relegated all on line meetings to the outer realms to be forgotten and ignored.  Any attempts by on line meetings to reach out to WSO are met with silence unless it suits WSO to respond.  Point in case, my questions to WSO (two different people and two different email addresses) regarding the KBDM process; the attempts by members of the online communities Pittsburgh in 2008 committee have gone unanswered for two years that I am aware of.  When I was part of the process of starting a new f2f meeting all I had to do to get help for our "new" group was send out an email and I received a reply back within 48 hours and if I called on the phone service was almost instantaneous.  And before you ask, no I have not tried to call WSO regarding the KBDM process...yet!

I agree with Steve...there is an insane loop that goes on here....we are only a meeting but we are expected to follow the rules imposed on the on line community by WSO.  We are only a meeting therefore cannot have a GR or belong to an area or have someone who can represent us beyond a group level, BUT and it is a big BUT here, they will take any money that we send to them without question.

And if the convention is simply for FUN then why are we funding WSO staff to attend?  Why are we as a fellowship underwriting the costs of this FUN event.  If this is strictly for FUN then there ought to be a better way to pay for it.  I have seen absolutely no fundraising done by WSO to pay for the costs of this FUN event.  

You might all want to check out WSO's Tax Filings for the past couple of years.  You might be interested to know that WSO's net assets at the end of the year in 2006 were $8 273 829.00, total functional expenses were $4 321 646.00, total liabilities and net assets/fund balances were $10 107 607.00.  We have 19 board members, 18 of which get no financial compensation for the 5 hours a week the invest in WSO activities.  You can look at it all by going to http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/members/index.html and put in ASerenityPlaceafg for the password and click on financial statements.  I found it quite interesting to go through and see what the financial picture of WSO looks like.  BTW - Canada's WSO also files taxes and you can view those statements as well.

We are an Al-Anon group through and through no matter how WSO continues to label us or ignore our requests.  As an Al-Anon group we need to function as such because WE want to and we need to do things that we would do as a f2f group does.  By continuing to do so we are demonstrating our strength and health as a group.  As an Al-Anon group it is my opinion that we participate to the best of our abilities and within the means presented to us and right now that means the Pittsburgh Convention.

When Steve turned the reins of ASP over to the elected Trusted Servants of ASP in May of 2006 we agreed that our Prudent Reserve should be one years expenses...this meeting has since agreed with that and voted on it.  

When we took over we did not have a years expenses so all the money that was sent in for the 7th Tradition went towards meeting that goal.  Now we have met that goal and we will continue to add to it to pay for the expense of newcomers packets, should that motion pass.  

If we decide to send someone to the Convention, then we will continue to add to the Prudent Reserve to do that too...and perhaps we can find a creative way to do a fundraiser.  My second home group always did fundraisers to send the GR to Assemblies and so on.  We simply had no extra money.  It was amazing to see how we all pulled together to raise money to make sure we could pay for our GR and Alternate GR's expenses.  Somehow we always made just enough.  I have faith in this meeting's ability to do so as well.

As an Al-Anon group we have the option to help the online world of Al-Anon make a quantum leap by letting one of our members to the Convention and meet with other on line group members and share ESH and offer support to each other and exchange ideas and perhaps add some new fire to the online world to continue to forge ahead and take our due place in the world of Al-Anon.  Online meetings are a genuine example of connecting people around the world.

Thanks for listening.

Love and Serenity,
Dawn