[Businessmtg] [Chairman Newcomers

[List Administrator]

> > Another thought I had, which is directed to everyone, is that recently in a
> meeting I noticed that new members were shuffled under some so called
> leader person’s wing so they could sponsor them.  Other members were
> speaking about it saying that that leader was practicing the disease 
> and
> not working on their own recovery.  Seemed like some kind of control 
> issue
> that leader had.  Idk.
> 
> Has anyone else experienced/seen this?  Working with newcomers and 
> finding
> shifting the focus over to the newcomers recovery instead of their own
> recovery?
> 
> This makes me uncomfortable and awkward to even speak about.  I would 
> hope
> that would not happen if we decided to have a newcomers committee
> rebirthed.
> 
> Thanks for your understanding.
> 
> Beverly
> 
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Beverly and all,

Yes, there are sponsee seekers. Anyone who has been around Al-Anon long 
enough has seen occasions where this particular habit raises its ugly 
head. In my district there was an older volunteer for our phone 
answering service who collected long strings of sponsees. Then this 
person affected the whole bunch with her own sometimes peculiar idea of 
what Al-Anon should be. So all should be ever vigilant. Same goes for 
long-term members, or even relative newcomers who are still in the 
throws of being "overly helpful" and go about building a following.

 From the WSO I've heard there is a trend within some goegraphic areas of 
having a system of sponsees, sponsors, grandsponsors, and 
greatgrandsponsors, greatgreatgrandsponsors, etc. which self promotes 
this sponsor-oriented slant rather than newcomers choosing their own 
sponsors according to their personal choices. Also, there are those who 
would "pack" decision-making bodies in order to get their way at many 
levels within Al-Anon which seems to be somewhat related to this.

As they say, "We aren't perfect..." - how true is that?
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Okay, back to the focus on a Newcomers Committee!....

Let's not get too far off track. Yes there seems to be many ideas which 
might be beneficial, but, no, we aren't focused on any one of them in 
particular right now. The first question, perhaps the only question is 
this:

Do we continue the Newcomers Committee or do we not?

Discussions about the merits of different ideas are a bit premature. As 
of now there is a GC in place which created this temporary committee. 
That it didn't have a chance to perform well is not the fault of its 
former members, but of events which distracted committee members 
attentions toward critical problems which had cropped up. I feel there 
is much merit to starting the thing up again with a group of volunteers 
who would be willing to take a new look at the root problems which 
prompted the committee's creation in the first place - problems which 
have not disappeared in the many months since, but have increased with 
our swift growth. But it's up to the BM to affirm or deny this.

And, please, let's not get confused by the difference between this 
Newcomer Committee and the possibility of a Newcomer's Meeting and what 
it should or should not be. That's cart before the horse. As an 
autonomous Al-Anon meeting we can decide on the details of any choices 
we make down the road.

Right now we have to decide whether to reform this committee or let it 
wither away.

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Soon we will be tabling this discussion for continuation in future BM's. 
Please include any comments, thoughts, ideas, etc. you may have in the 
next day or two after which we will be moving to the next agenda item.

In service,
Jerry H., BM Chair
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