Category: News

Firstly, a motion was made to modify the service position commitments from ONE YEAR to SIX MONTHS.

The motion passed unanimously.

These are the new officers:

Secretary: Mike S.

Key Master: John H.

Sponsorship Coordinator: Bob F.

Phone List: Bill

Literature: Bill

Intergroup Rep: Tow Bar Bob

Treasurer: Gabriel

Timer: Lyman

The meeting format and phone list will be updated accordingly.

After discussion, the group decided unanimously to adopt the changes to format outlined in last week’s post, with the amendment that an additional point be added to acknowledge those who are recommitting.

Regarding the question of using group funds to purchase a laptop for the group (to continue to allow our hybrid meetings), some members wanted to ensure that our ability to pay rent would not be impeded (to which we replied that the group still has a $150 prudent reserve). Additionally, some members wanted to have a separate basket future to allow members to donate more than usual.

John A. offered to check with Bill M. to get an estimate of what a used laptop would cause, so that we could have a second and final vote once some of the details had been solidified.

First Point of Order:

John A proposed a business meeting to change a portion of our format:

In the leader’s format, rather than grouping newcomers/fewer than 30 days and then separating out 1 year or more, John proposes that the leader’s format be revised to the following:

After the Serenity Prayer is said, the leader would say the following:

• Do we have any newcomers or visitors from outside the area? Please introduce yourself.
• We also celebrate milestones: is anyone celebrating their first 24 hours?
  • 30 days?
  • 90 days?
  • A year or more?
  • Are there any SAA birthdays?

If the true purpose of identifying newcomers is to get to know them better, then it doesn’t make sense to group them with people who have been coming but are still working on getting 30 days of sobriety together. Also, it may be helpful for newcomers to see brothers in a variety of stages of sobriety.

Second Point of Order:

Bill M. proposed that we vote on an amount to allocate towards purchasing a laptop for the group, so that people don’t have to bring their personal laptops in to coordinate the Zoom component of our meetings.

The proposed topic was what to do with excess funds collected from our weekly collections.

The proposal is that quarterly the secretary would divide the excess into 30%/30%/40% or something similar, going to the Intergroup, ISO, and the church. 

One person pointed out that typically we’ve reserved basket 2 for Intergroup; Basket 1 is for rent and literature. Any excess would then be sent along to either the ISO. That same person further pointed out that ISO has been struggling financially lately and that it would be beneficial to share with them as much as we can. 

A proposal was put forward that, in keeping with a tradition that heretofore has served us well, we would divide the collections as follows: 

• Basket #2 continues to be purely for Intergroup. (Another member pointed out that the Intergroup regularly sends portions of their proceeds to ISO.) 
• Basket #1 will be for rent, as our tradition states, and any excess will, on a quarterly basis, be divided into equal parts with 50% going to the church and 50% going to ISO directly. 

The motion passed unanimously, and this will be the tradition for the future until such time as the group conscience dictates otherwise.

In the interests of preserving anonymity the names of participants will not be published here but for more information email admin@thursdaynewhope.org with questions.

Tonight we had elections and we have new officers for every position (including a provisional Intergroup rep, which we haven’t had for quite a while).

John A will be working with the phone list coordinator to ensure that information on all positions and who’s volunteering for what is made clear to all members.

In the interests of preserving anonymity the names of our new officers will not be published here but for more information email admin@thursdaynewhope.org with questions.

Today’s business meeting resulted in two resolutions:

1. Immediately following our Thursday, June 29 meeting, we will have elections. Bill offered to remind folks in next week’s announcements.
2. It was suggested that we have a backup person to collect any cash donations when the serving treasurer cannot be present in the room. It was proposed that perhaps it would be simpler if we simply stopped accepting cash, but discussion decided that such a move would prevent some members from contributing. Therefore it was agreed upon that, until further notice, Jon will serve as backup treasurer and collect any cash donations, which he will then arrange to get to our serving treasurer.

At a business meeting held on Thursday, November 10, 2022, the group voted on a proposal to remove the following from the stated requirements for someone to serve as secretary for the meeting:

• Must have at least one year of sobriety.

The reason for this proposal was that this might unfairly preclude newcomers from volunteering to serve, which is a core part of working a successful program. After brief discussion, there was no dissent and the motion passed with a unanimous vote; the group literature has been updated and, while we won’t have elections for several months yet, this paves the way for new members to take more active roles in our meeting. Find the updated verbiage in the secretary’s format.

Current meeting needs:

Intergroup Representative: We are still gathering specifics, but this position requires attending monthly intergroup meetings (currently available on Zoom) and reporting back to the group.

Sponsors: We’re always in need of people willing to sponsor others!

If you’re interested in either of these positions, reach out to admin@thursdaynewhope.org.