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The 69Th General Service Conference No. 593 - June 2019 South Eastern New York General Service - Area 49 of Alcoholics Anonymous The 69th General Service Conference (GSC)- a spiritual experience “Our Big Book- 80 Years, 71 Languages” Hello SENY! The 69th GSC held in Manhattan May 19-25 was exhilarating, and with heartfelt gratitude, I thank you for allowing me to serve as your delegate. Our daysThe first started time Iat came 9 am to aor SENY earlier Assembly and ended I didn’t after know 9pm. what All an Assemblyfirst-year was, delegates but what haveI found two was minutesthrilling. to So, present I wenttheir to “Area my group Highlights”, and asked tofound be allowed in the to back serve. of Our each District year’s Committee Final ConferenceMember (DCM) Report picked (hard me up copies for the nextwill Assemblybe at the and service sponsored me on the way in. He told me that in order for my group’s voice to be heard at the General Service Con- ference,September I was Assembly- to come to Assemblies. anonymized He said e copies that the will county be meetingson the “From were important, the Delegate” but the pagecounty on and aaseny.org district did asnot soon carry as mythey group’s are available). voice to the Conference. The entire Ensuring conference that mywas group’s spiritual. voice Iis had heard many at the awakenings, General Service one Conference of which was happened my job as right GSR.after At presenting Area Assemblies, our Area’s the DCMC Highlights. had one voteI thought for the youCounty, might the DCMwant hadto read one voteours, for as the presented district, but at only the a 69th GSR couldGSC of voteAlcoholics for a Group. Anonymous. We meet area wide six times a year (I had more hangovers than that in two weeks!). All AAs are welcome at all of our Assemblies. In love with service, Jane OnE., March Area 16th49 Panel the background 69 Delegate information for the Delegate’s Questionnaire was presented by AA members at the Del- egate’s Day of Sharing. In case you were unable to attend, the slides of background information are available on aaseny.org. You canArea fill out 49, the SoutheasternDelegate’s Questionnaire NY, SENY, online. is comprisedOtherwise, the of completed 1,991 AA questionnaire groups from must 104 be emaileddistricts. or postalIn addition mailed toto me the byfive May boroughs 4. If your groupof New does York not haveCity, an GSO,active GSR,Bill’s you last can drink, bring andup the 182 questionnaire Clinton Street, to your we group. are homeIf there to are seven question nationals yourwildlife group refuges, does not the feel Hamptons,strongly about, Montauk, you do not Fire have Island, to answer Stepping them. AtStones, the Pre the-Conference Catskills, Assembly the lower on May Hudson 4, you’ll Valley, haveand countlessthe opportunity bars. to share your Group’s conscience regarding the questionnaire. SENYThere is arecomprised 641 pages of of full12 backgroundculturally materialdiverse forcounties the General and Service an area-wide Conference Hispanic as of this writing.District. This All confidential 13 service info.entities has hadhave four their revisions own Generalsince I received Services it. By meetings April 1, I’ll and be reasonablyofficers, includingcertain that athere DCMC. won’t beIn manyfour furtherof our revisions.counties, the I’m happy to share the full background materials, or the background materials for one particular Conference Committee with any AAcounty here initself Area serves 49 who as emails the District.me at [email protected] . The following statement will be in my emailed response: We have three robust YPAA Committees; meetings in English, Spanish, Korean, Polish and Russian; some meetings with ASL translation; meetings for men, women, GLBTQ, and atheist and agnostic members. The 69th GSC Background is confidential for AA members only and not to be posted on any publicly accessible website, on Our urban,any social suburban, media (including and rural"secret" transportation groups), in newsletters, diversities or publications. present accessibility opportunities for our members to attend five annual Area Assemblies and one Delegate’s Day of Sharing, all of which rotate throughout SENY. All have Spanish translation, as do our seven annual committee meetings hosted in the Bronx, a central location. Our calendarI’m thrilled is on to ourbe your website, delegate! www.aaseny.org SENY elects five officers, and our area chair appoints the committee chairs, subject to approval by the SENY Committee. We hold an Area Inventory and revise the SENY Handbook every rotation. Like many other areas, In love, with service, (and in love with service) our biggest opportunity for improvement is to increase participation at our Assemblies. We’reJane excited E. to be hosting the Northeast Regional Forum May 31- June 2 and invite you to join us at the GSO road show. Your voice in The Link Your SENY Office AreAre you you willing to to share share your you're experience, experience, strength strength and hope and Visit: 1231 Lafayette Ave. Suite L2 Bronx, NY, 10474 about your service in A.A. at the group, district, county or hope about your service in A.A. at the group, district, county 1231 Lafayette ave. , Suite L2 , Bronx, NY 10474 area level? The Link is published ten times per year and Visit: Send mail: P.O. Box 571, New York, NY 10116 or areawelcomes level? articles The link from isall published AAs in our area. ten Please times limit per your year and Send mail: GeneralP.O. Box inquiries: 571, New [email protected] York, NY 10116 welcomesarticle to articles 300 words, from and all email AAs it to in [email protected] our area. Please or maillimit your articleit c/o to The 300 Link words, Editor, and P.O. emailBox 571, it toNY, [email protected] NY 10116. Thanks! or mail it General Inquirys:Call: [email protected] 718-665-1253 c/o The Link Editor, P.O. Box 571, NY, NY 10116. Thanks! Call: 718-665-1253 The Link | No. 593- june -2019 1 The Voice - The Finale June Historical Dates Over the past several months, I’ve shared with - June 10, 1935 - Dr. Bob’s last drink and the you about the voice of the group, and the voice official founding date of AA. of the individual AA member. Perhaps you’re - June 11, 1945 - Twenty five hundred people wondering where these voices ultimately lead. Well, attended AA’s 10th Anniversary in Cleveland, Ohio. your wait is over! - June 16, 1938 - Jim Burwell, “The Vicious Cycle” The 69th annual meeting of the General Service in The Big Book, had his last drink. Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous concluded - June 18, 1940 - One hundred people on Saturday, May 25th. Our delegate, Jane E., will attended the first meeting in the first AA clubhouse have reported back to you at the Post-Conference at 334 & ½ West 24th St., New York City. Assembly on June 15th (the scheduled date of release - June 21, 1944 - The first issue of the AA for this issue of The Link). She will have touched Grapevine was published. on a number of actions which are of interest to our area. So those doing service below the group and - June 28, 1935 - Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson visited attending the assembly will leave well informed. Bill Dotson at Akron’s City Hospital. - June 30, 1941- Ruth Hock showed Bill Wilson But you say “what about the rest of our area”? The Serenity Prayer and it was adopted by AA. Over the summer your General Service Office will compile and publish a mysterious and wonderful book. It will be called the 2019 Final Report. Some Concept of The Month of you may have taken one in past years (they’re Concept VI - The Conference recognizes that the chief free), flipped through it briefly, and then relegated initiative and active responsibility in most world service it to a shelf. Some of you took it into your group matters should be exercised by the trustee members of where it was relegated to a shelf; and that’s a shame the Conference acting as the General Service Board. because this book contains your voices, as expressed SENY is hosting the Northeast Regional Forum in by your delegate, and by other delegates and trusted Tarrytown May 31 to June 2. servants from all over the US and Canada. Regional forums originated in 1975 by Dr. Jack Norris and were to be weekend sharing and information The Final Report will detail actions that made it sessions designed to help the General Service Board, AA out of committee to be voted on by the entire body, World Services, Inc., the Grapevine Corporate Board, and actions that didn’t. It will give an account of the Grapevine staff, and the General Service Office trustee’s reports, presentations made, committee staff stay in touch with AA members, trusted servants reports given, GSO department reports, and of and newcomers to service throughout the AA service course everyone’s favorite: financial data. In short, structure. It is a chance to spend the weekend with the you can see not only what was discussed and people that work in the General Service Office and the accomplished, but also how the General Service Grapevine. It should be a great time. Conference works. As I write this article I am thinking about our delegate having the gift of representing our Area 49 at the The online copy (redacted for anonymity) should Conference and bringing our conscience and the be available at aaseny.org late in the summer; the consciences of the other delegates from the US and printed copies are usually available a few weeks Canada as they help to guide AA in the best spiritual later.
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