Happy New Year! At your Central Office, we are bringing in the New Year with some changes to our Board of Trustees and Standing Chair positions. In November and December the Central Office representatives voted to replace the outgoing Board positions and Standing Chair positions. I will serve as Chair, Wendy W. as Co Chair, Meg G. as Trustee, Betty H. as Trustee and Mike O. as Alternate Trustee while Kent S., Adam U., Jeremy C. and Rich W. will return for one more year! I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing Chair, Nick R. and Trustees, Kimmie S., Al L. and Sean B. We will benefit from their contributions for a long time. We were able to amend our bylaws and implement those changes successfully and without much turmoil because of their commitment and desire to create a successful, service oriented Central Office.
One of the major amendments to the bylaws was the addition of the Standing Committees. We’ve had a full year of active involvement from those committees. These committees were designed to plan and implement all the services that Central Office offers. This allows AA members the opportunity to get involved and provide service to our community. Here’s a little review of what the Committees accomplished this year:
The Archives Committee was approved after the bylaws were amended and Meg G. led that committee to go through the task of sorting through old papers, Grapevines, books, pictures, tapes, ad infinitum. We now have Grapevines catalogued and available from the 1950’s to current issues. Digital copies of old speaker tapes were made and are available at the office and online. Please come by and view their hard work. John N. will be assuming the position of Archives Standing Chair and if you’d like to participate, please call Central Office for his contact information.
Shar C. led the Activities Committee with the help of Kimmie S. This committee has the responsibility of planning our fellowship events during the year. Thanks to these ladies, Joel and Penny R. and many more that helped with our picnic, garage sale, chili cook off, etc. The Standing Chair position is open for this year Happy New Year! At your Central Office, we are bringing in the New Year with some changes to our Board of Trustees and Standing Chair positions. In November and December the Central Office representatives voted to replace the outgoing Board positions and Standing Chair positions. I will serve as Chair, Wendy W. as Co Chair, Meg G. as Trustee, Betty H. as Trustee and Mike O. as Alternate Trustee while Kent S., Adam U., Jeremy C. and Rich W. will return for one more year! I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing Chair, Nick R. and Trustees, Kimmie S., Al L. and Sean B. We will benefit from their contributions for a long time. We were able to amend our bylaws and implement those changes successfully and without much turmoil because of their commitment and desire to create a successful, service oriented Central Office.
One of the major amendments to the bylaws was the addition of the Standing Committees. We’ve had a full year of active involvement from those committees. These committees were designed to plan and implement all the services that Central Office offers. This allows AA members the opportunity to get involved and provide service to our community. Here’s a little review of what the Committees accomplished this year:
The Archives Committee was approved after the bylaws were amended and Meg G. led that committee to go through the task of sorting through old papers, Grapevines, books, pictures, tapes, ad infinitum. We now have Grapevines catalogued and available from the 1950’s to current issues. Digital copies of old speaker tapes were made and are available at the office and online. Please come by and view their hard work. John N. will be assuming the position of Archives Standing Chair and if you’d like to participate, please call Central Office for his contact information.
Shar C. led the Activities Committee with the help of Kimmie S. This committee has the responsibility of planning our fellowship events during the year. Thanks to these ladies, Joel and Penny R. and many more that helped with our picnic, garage sale, chili cook off, etc. The Standing Chair position is open for this year. If you would like to stand for the position, please come to the Rep meeting on January 8th at 6:30 pm at Central Office
The Bylaws Committee was led by Linda B. and she will continue serving in this position. The Bylaws Committee has the responsibility of overseeing review and changes to the current Bylaws. It is a tedious job but Linda takes it on with gusto!
Another important function of our Central Office is the Hotline. This phone service is available 24/7 for people searching for a solution, a meeting, a ride to a meeting and contacts. Volunteers answer the phone during office hours but, after office hours, our goal is to have alcoholics living in the solution answer those calls rather than an answering service. Tim H. organized the effort this year and did a great job. Melinda A. will be taking over for Tim – if you’d like to give her a hand, please call Central Office for her contact information.
Doug R. has been the editor of our newsletter, The LIFELINE, for the past 3 years and has done an incredible job. His attention to detail and dedication to a quality publication will provide an easy transition for Gina F. She will chair the Newsletter Committee for the New Year. Doug will continue to serve Central Office as the Volunteer Coordinator on Fridays and as a resource to our newsletter. Once again, please contact Central Office if you would like to help out with the newsletter.
If you’ve been to Central Office lately you will have noticed some big changes in our literature stock. While we have many new titles and are always stocked, our prices have been reduced across the board to better serve the needs of our members and groups. Chris H. has been responsible for all of our strides made in this area. He will continue on as our Literature Chair for the New Year. He is always in need of help during inventory.
Wendy W. led the Outreach Committee this year. Her committee has worked extremely hard at contacting our groups listed on our meeting schedule to ensure they are open and represented at Central Office. This is important, especially to newcomers, that a meeting listed on the schedule is there. The All Groups meeting commenced this year, as well. Groups from around the valley sign up to host a meeting and provide a potluck dinner. All Groups meets on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 6 pm and it’s a great way to meet people from different groups and share the message. Wendy also has a teleconference meeting once a month with our Delegate and other Central Offices in the state of Utah to enhance communication with all branches of service. She will serve Central Office as Co Chair and the Area as Secretary. The Outreach Standing Chair position for the New Year is open.
The reason Central Office has been able to operate on less money and provide more services is in large part due to the volunteers. Central Office is staffed by all volunteers. We have a paid bookkeeper that comes in for a couple of hours each day to ensure our books are up to date and our bills are paid. Karen S. does an awesome job. But, everything else is done by volunteers. Betty H. chaired the first ever Volunteer Committee and we owe great thanks to her for getting us started on the path of self-support. Betty will serve on the Board this year as Trustee and Susan L. will assume her responsibilities as Volunteer Chair. Please contact Central Office if you are interested in service in this capacity.
Last, but certainly, not least is our Website Committee. Jonathan H. has totally reinvented our website to provide easy access to meeting schedules and information pertinent to alcoholics in the area, as well as, nationally. Please visit our website at www.saltlakeaa.org. Jonathan will serve us again this year as our webservant. If you have any talents to give in this area, please contact Jonathan at webservant@saltlakeaa.org.
If you have any questions and/or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to email me at board@saltlakeaa.org.
Once again, Happy New Year!
Christy R.
Chairperson, Board of Trustees