December 2024
Hello Area 78! I hope you all have had a Holiday Season complete with memories to cherish, its not always an easy season for us, especially in early recovery. So my hope is that you have not found yourself alone and have found new ways to share in the spirit of giving in brotherly love. One day at a Time. Each Day at a Time. Stay sober and help others. Grateful for such a simple design for living that really works.
My wish for us all in 2025 is to have just enough challenges to help us grow personally. Just enough spiritual pain to help us all seek the peace. We know happiness comes from right action and that we only have a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. May God bless us all. To have a Happy New Year – we only have to live by spiritual principles. Progress not perfection!
I wish to meet you all as we trudge the road of happy destiny, as we work together in service to protect this beautiful way of life.
This past month has been busy! I was asked to organize the volunteer list and set-up of our Western Region Hospitality suite for the upcoming International Convention in Vancouver, July 3-6 2025!
Our Western Regional Trustee, Gail P, myself and the other three Western Delegates, have met on line to put into action the ideas on how to make our Hospitality Suite a welcoming and fun place for all members to go to during the Convention. It will be a room to connect with others with a variety of resources fro enhance the event for the membership. This room is in the Fairfield Waterfront in MacKenzie Room II. A nice bright space to connect and relax, a place to get or give a hug!
We hope to have a fun photo opportunity for you and your friends. There will be a white board with space to communicate with each other and suggestions for those who would like to sit with friends, Districts or even Area’s during the Big Meetings!
I hope you have purchased your registration through aa.org and have found accommodation, there is a continual release of spaces to accommodate us, so please do register! We have not met as a fellowship for 10 years! My hope is you get to experience the incredible feeling of sharing an event with around 60,000 members in sobriety.
Also, January 17-18 is the Area Committee Meeting being held in Calgary! This service meeting is mostly for the Area Officers, Committee Chairs and DCM’s to come together to share information on issues and concerns in Area 78. Among other business, we will also be reviewing the Budget to be put forward in March, as well as the Pre-Conference Agenda, looking at ways for your committees to best serve our Area. GSR’s and visitors are encouraged to join us, especially for the Saturday evening for a banquet dinner and then Daryl D past Area 78 Delegate will share his recovery and service story. Please check out area78.org for further details on registration and location.
Also upcoming February 7-9 2025, is the WRAASA (Western Region Alcoholics Anonymous Service Assembly). It will be held this year in Winnipeg! And I’m super excited to be going to Winnipeg in February! They have winter fun down pat!
This event has a full agenda discussing some of the issues that are common to us all. For example one of the Topics is “It’s OK To Ask For Help!” The four Area Delegates will each have 10 minutes to share on this topic. The Full Agenda can be found on the WRAASA.org website where you can register and find out any further information on the event.
I have personally attended many of the WRAASA’s over my years of being of service to this program that has saved my life. To meet with like minded people and be supported as we learn together how to best carry the message to each other and to those who still suffer has helped me tremendously. You can foster leadership by sending your District Committee Member, who will in turn bring back a report and enthusiasm to share!
The revised Service Manual is now available for purchase in Print! Carolyn B (Trustee for AAWS) is hosting a Service Manual study many people have found to be a really interesting way to study the changes made as we evolve our service Structure.
We have completed the review of the concepts since September and so starting in January join us as we learn together! Presenters will give an overview and then there is a Q and A portion! Log onto 870 8376 8965 Passcode 414768 – Monday’s evenings at 7 MST. See you there!
As Delegate Chair to the 75th Conference coming up April 27-May 3 2025, I get to attend the January Board meeting in New York this January 30 – February 3. What an incredible privilege and honour this is! I am looking forward to reporting back to you on this. This is the Board meeting that confirms the Items that will be coming forward for the membership to discuss, review and recommend at Spring Assemblies across our whole Conference Area. All 93 Delegates will receive the same information in all three Conference Area languages along with all the background information so that the Delegates can be informed with the voice of each Area. This process is similar to the groups business meetings where we make decisions through the process of Tradition Two. And your groups voice is an important part of this process!
The PAI’s (Proposed Agenda Items) will be available by February 21,2025. These items will be immediately put on-line under the private members section of our Area 78.org website. As directed by a newly carried motion to make Agenda Items Available to any member interested in studying the Agenda Items and the background information. Inclusion!
Our Area 78 Pre-Conference Assembly to discuss the agenda items for the 75th Conference will be April 11-13 in Red Deer. Make sure your group has a GSR, as this is the manner that your group has a say in the direction that Alcoholics Anonymous evolves. The General Service Rep (GSR) is really the most important service role in the whole structure as this is how our voices are discussed and heard. Make room for your GSR to give a report during your business meetings! Part of your 7th Tradition contributions go to supporting your GSR to attend the Assemblies in Area 78. I remember my first time attending an Assembly, I was fortunate to sit with Doug W, who helped me understand what the heck was going on! I saw how AA is so much bigger than just my little group. I well remember that feeling of amazing wonder as I learned that this is how we protect our 12 step work.
Again, I hope this holiday season has been full of gentle growth towards healing for us all as we learn how to be honest enough to forgive and accept each other with kindliness and love. To support each other as we learn how to simply be our best selves in our recovery journeys.
My husband and I got to spend this season celebrating the love and growth of not only my family, kids, and grandkids with laughter and love, but we also were able to attend many fellowship events that surrounds and supports us as we practice progress not perfection.
Warm Regards and Loving Service,
Karen O’C
Area 78, Panel 74 Delegate
delegate@area78.org
cklinservice@icloud.com
403-479-6883
November 2024
Hello to you all in Area 78! Most of us, I imagine, are covered in white! Skiers love it, sun worshippers maybe not so much! But there is absolutely nothing we can do to change that weather! Snow tires, warm clothes, early bed times, snuggled in with a good read or go skiing!
Personally I love the cold, the contrast between our blue sky, black limbed trees and white snow accented with the red berries of our Mountain Ash trees. Its beautiful out there! Dress for it and then … Enjoy!
There has been much on the go this month coming from GSO (General Service Office), the biggest deal is the Plain Language Big Book, published and its first printing of 70,000 copies sold out in two weeks! However there were a couple of errors in that copy so the publisher has to make those adjustments before reprinting – next run will not be until early January. An apology letter from GSO is on our website under private members downloads.
The Digital Version of the Service Manual has just been released and is available to download at aa.org ! I’m looking forward to discovering the changes as I transfer my notes into my new Service Manual from my old one! I have been enjoying the Service Manual Study Monday nights from 7-8 PM on-line, so good to see so many Area 78 members participating!
The Zoom Address is 870 8376 8965 Passcode 414768 – Mondays at 7 PM.
New on our Area Website and sent out to all the DCM’s is also the preliminary Pre-Agenda Items (PAI’s) for the 75th Conference. The Trustees went through the submitted Agenda Items at the October Board meeting and of the 145 submitted items the workload at present looks to be around 85. Adjustments will happen with the evenly distributed workload (EDW) added at the January Board meeting. Also some items will dropped and others added – please note – this is NOT the Final Conference Agenda that will be posted mid February.
As Delegate Chair I get to attend the January Board meeting as an observer! I am really looking forward to seeing how our Trustees and Committee Chairs determine the final Agenda to be sent out in all three languages mid February. I also look forward to sharing and discussing that process with you!
I attended the Western Region Meeting November 22 on-line and heard our Canada/US Trustee report on his experience while attending the World Service Meeting this past October 27-31. Robert from Quebec, talked about how AA is in 195 Countries! This year the World Service meeting was held in New York, and 49 Countries attended with 75 Delegates speaking 31 different languages! There were presentations and topics to address concerns like “The Home Group – Where Service Starts, How to Reach the Young People, Anonymity-The Spiritual Principle.
I find it interesting that the challenges we face are faced world wide. Now 2.85 million members and we all strive to carry the message in the best possible way.
I also chaired my second All Conference on line meeting November 24th. The topic was Protecting the Integrity of the Conference! Integrity – honest, compassionate, courageous, and wise. The principles that guides the Conference are Unity and Function. We are an incredibly diverse group and we seek to be unifying and inclusive. An incredible task that falls on the shoulders of each and every Delegate. Communications back and forth are essential, just like in our homes, our home groups, districts and Area’s.
Area 78 Table Officers and Committee Chairs spent several hours tougher on a snowy Saturday
doing an Area Inventory – Irma V from Saskatchewan facilitated the discussion and sharing sessions. Several ideas came for us to talk about implementing to help our Area evolve to better serve you so that we can all serve AA together in the best Unity, Fellowship and Leadership that we can.
From that Inventory several of the Committee Chairs have invited me to participate in their discussions. With the pre-agenda Agenda out we can begin to talk about them in Committee Meetings. Also our Western Regional Trustee Gail P attended the October Board weekend and sent back a very detailed report on the work being done and movement forward of Recommendations from the 74th Conference.
Our Area Treasurer sent out a communication regarding the mail strike and as our year end is the end of December, we are still working toward the goal of having a no-deficit budget, we are getting close! Thank you for supporting your Area service Structure as we endeavor to foster strong leadership in the structure and culture of Area 78’s services. The new Budget will be discussed at the January ACM in preparation for ratification at the March Assembly.
Upcoming is the Area Committee Meeting being held January 17 and 18th in Calgary and then our Spring Pre-Conference Assembly being held April 11, 12, and 13th in Red Deer.
Make sure you group is represented! Your voice is the voice of AA! And your groups right of participation! Without the Group taking an active role in the decisions that effect AA as a whole, well I don’t need to tell you what the outcome of that could be! Yikes!
We already saw that with Covid and changes made to some literature in our 12×12 and preamble! Those changes if we did not like them are on us. A good lesson here that we can learn from.
Take a moment and look at the Area 78 Website, it is continually being updated with new information.
Want something really adventuresome and not to terribly expensive to do in February? Plan to attend the Western Region Alcoholics Anonymous Service Assembly (WRAASA) in Winnipeg! Like its cheap to fly there! And the hotel is pretty reasonable! Freezing weather maybe – but warm hearts more than make up for it! Type in WRAASA in your search engine and up will come a poster with all the information you need to register and book your room!
Take care all of you courageous people, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!
Warm Regards and Loving Service,
Karen🌞
Karen OC
Area 78, Panel 74 Delegate
delegate@area78.org
cklinservice@icloud.com
403-479-6883
Public Information Committee
International/Regional Forum Committee
75th GSC Delegate Chair
“Forget me, but go you and do likewise. Add your own link to our chain. With God’s help, forge that chain, well and truly.” Dr Bob “AA Comes Of Age”
October 2024
Hello Area 78! The month of October means Thanks Giving to me. And this year has unfolded with so much to be thankful for! Even the difficult stuff helps me grow and practice my program of letting go. This year at our family Turkey dinner we went around the table and each of us shared what we are thankful for. Earth, life, home, family love, natures beauty to name a few.
Personally I am so thankful for our Program! All I have I owe to AA. I am honoured and privileged to be happily of service to you.
I can only imagine what my life might have been had members not brought the message of recovery to me. Only through the eyes of newcomers who come to my meeting with the stories of terror, bewilderment, frustration and despair do I understand how I almost missed it.
We have a solution that has worked a miracle in my life! And as I attend the meetings, service Assemblies, Workshops as well as Fellowship events I see for myself that this solution is working for many others as well! AA is in over 180 countries with over 2.5 million members world-wide!!
I am responsible when anyone reaches out for help I want the hand of AA to be there. Your hand and mine. Together we each do what we can to keep our fellowship strong and united. All the different ways we can be of service! I am so Thankful for all the contributions each of you make in your own unique way.
In the beginning of sobriety, I was on the receiving end of the “We”, I wasn’t alone anymore. I could call people, or more often, people would call me. They asked how I was doing, usually at opportune times when the “loop” thinking, the obsession of not only drinking but thinking was driving me crazy! I always felt better after talking, after being picked up and taken to meetings.
We spent a lot of time in the meetings after the meetings and around kitchen tables talking about what a Higher Power could possibly be! Sober members played an active role in my day to day finding sobriety. At four months sober I moved “just for the winter” to Calgary where I attended meetings and got to go on my first 12 Step call. I started giving back what was so freely given to me, my heart warmed up a bit and my self-esteem grew.
Since then I have always been doing something for this program that has changed my life. Now instead of the four horsemen of terror, bewilderment, frustration and despair, I live a life with peace, love, acceptance and self respect. Its not always a walk in the park but it is always real, and I evolve.
Just like our program! Evolving still after all these years! As Delegate I am in communication with all the other 92 Delegates, half of them have been holding Election Assemblies to vote in their new Panel 75 Delegate! I get to send each one of them a welcome and congratulation’s letter just like was sent to me when I became Delegate.
There will be approximately 45 new Delegates to participate in the Conference this coming April! Where all of us who have experienced the miracle of sobriety get together to help AA continue to evolve to help the still suffering. There is a way out. We have that solution and we guard it with our very lives.
Faith without works is dead. Action and more Action. Share what we find and we shall meet you as we trudge the road of happy destiny.
In January District 85 is hosting the Area Committee Meeting! This is where the Area 78 District Committee Members, Committee Chairs and Table Officers discuss and plan for the Area Budget, Agenda and new business to be brought to you in March. March Assembly will be in Red Deer this year!
So what’s new? November 1st the Plain Language Big Book will be put on sale! Pick it up wherever you get your literature from! Check out aa.org the quarterly report is available, new young peoples videos, new Public Information videos for use on TV’s and social media. Informing the Public of our solution is a big part of where your group contributions go!
The International Convention coming up July 3-6 in Vancouver BC has already 30,000 registrations! Hotel rooms are being released as they come available so if you are struggling finding housing just keep going on the aa.org website. The Western Region will be hosting a hospitality suite in the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel – we are still planning some fun stuff to go on there – it will also be a place to come and regroup during all the busy activities of the celebration.
The deadline for the upcoming 75th Conference PAI’s ( Pre Agenda Items) passed by September 30. Area 78 voted on one item to be considered for an Agenda Item to be discussed at the Conference, that the Daily Reflections book be printed in Large Print for the French speaking population!
This item along with all the other PIA’s will be looked at and discussed at the Trustees and Committee Chairs meeting in January. The AAWS staff will go through them all to search out and add to the background materials so that we can make informed decisions – this is the exciting part of our Conference where you give your delegate your voice to take to the Conference. The other 92 Delegates will also add their voice and together we will vote until a 2/3rds majority is reached. Nothing happens without that 2/3rds majority. And after a vote, we trust that the best decisions was made for the good of AA.
There is a Service Manual Study being put on by Carolyn W, current Trustee at Large of the AAWS Board, please plan to attend! Monday nights at 7 PM MST. zoom address 87083768965 code 414768 Currently we are going through the concepts as a new Service Manual will be on sale mid November – then we will go through the rest of that amazing book!
If you are interested in writing a book about your District or group or your experience with culture in Area 78 please email me as I have a format to follow! Area 79 wrote three books “Pioneer Skirts in AA”, Our Stories, First Nations, Inuit and Metis in Recovery as well as The Bottle Book AA comes to BC/Yukon.
Karen OC
Area 78, Panel 74 Delegate
delegate@area78.org
cklinservice@icloud.com
403-479-6883
Public Information Committee
International/Regional Forum Committee
75th GSC Delegate Chair
“Forget me, but go you and do likewise. Add your own link to our chain. With God’s help, forge that chain, well and truly.” Dr Bob “AA Comes Of Age”
September 2024
I love fall with all the color and cooler temperatures, harvesting my garden, grandkids back to school, so many rituals that mark the passing of the seasons. Fall for me is also a time of introspection, of going within, sorting things out, the business of summer behind me, I prepare for the winter ahead. Eyes and heart wide open. Blankets nearby!
So as I reflect on the all the goings on this past summer I feel so very much alive and a part of something wonderful in Area 78. All the people who put on Roundups to strengthen the connections of our fellowship. All the workshops to increase awareness and understanding on how our service structure works. The holiday time with family that is still evolving into less of that old disfunction! Healing and unity is taking place however slowly.
The September Assembly held in Edmonton was an inspiration! To see the level of dedication and love for our fellowship that you all have. Thank you again. We voted on several motions put forward and one of them to make the Daily Reflections large print available in French! It passed and has been forwarded for consideration to be included for discussion as a Pre-Agenda Item at the 75th Conference next April!
We also voted to provide on our website, under the Members section – private downloads, all the Pre Agenda Items (PAI’s) as they come available to the Delegate. Usually late February. Members can begin to look and discuss these items in their committees and groups as they come available to the membership across the US and Canada! Helping us be more informed through discussions starting at the group and committee level.
We voted to make our Area Committee Meetings Hybrid and to see how that worked! anyone can participate in the Area Committee Meetings and it is a good way to learn about the service structure. Hope to see you there!
The individual cannot survive without the group. The group cannot survive without the principles that the individual places, however hauntingly, into their lives.
The group needs to find a way to express its voice, and experience has shown us that way is through the Group Conscience. This is the best path for us toward Unity and Selfless love, as we saw in our voting, thank you again for your voice and vulnerability. And thank you also to all those who allowed the voting to take place with tolerance and love. All voices are important as we discuss each matter, as we find our way to the best agreement for AA as a whole.
Group Conscience is said 44 times in our Service Manual. So we know this is important! We opened our Service Manuals to pages 166-168 and followed that procedure to conduct our voting discussions, Jeff (Area 78 Chair) did a fantastic job. This is how the voting is conducted at the Conference! We are giving our future Delegates good experience here!
Group Contributions is another important way we express our voice as an Area. We are responsible to those we serve! And the services provided by Area 78 are listed in our budget, Lynn (Area 78 Treasurer)did an awesome job job of showing that we are on track for the budget you vot ed on last March. We still need contributions of $20,000 by January to close with no deficit! Very do-able!
Your trusted servants practice prudence! So thank you for supporting us as we carry out your wishes.
One of the motions we discussed was should we increase funding the Area 78 delegate to go to the Conference. It is a big portion of the General Service Board (GSB) Budget to put on the Conference each year so that our voices can be heard and our structure that keeps our solution safe.
Area 78 in trying to be more self supporting contributes more than GSB asks of the 94 Area’s. The motion was declined as the membership believes this is a group responsibility. Your splits to the General Service Office (GSO) go towards covering the Conference budget item and in this way each group is responsible for supporting the Structure.
The only reason for the service structure is to protect the solution that has saved our lives. It is our great responsibility to keep it safe for those yet to come!
When being of service to AA we are never out of pocket in expenses. As Delegate all my expenses were fully covered. We do this so that anyone who wants to show their love for AA can be of service. Not just those who can afford it!
The servant is responsible to those they serve. But being of service is an act of love that those they serve cover any cost incurred.
The Final Report arrived at my doorstep yesterday! I will be sending several boxes to Calgary and Edmonton’s Central Office this weekend. You can arrange to pick up for your Districts from there. Also please let me know if you are coming to Calgary so that I can assist in distributing them throughout the Area.
Thank you again for your love and commitment to keeping our structure strong and healthy as together in Unity we protect our solution.
Warm Regards and Loving Service,
Karen O’S C
Area 78, Panel 74 Delegate
delegate@area78.org
cklinservice@icloud.com
403-479-6883
Public Information Committee
International/Regional Forum Committee
75th GSC Delegate Chair
“Forget me, but go you and do likewise. Add your own link to our chain. With God’s help, forge that chain, well and truly.” Dr Bob “AA Comes Of Age”
August 2024
Hello Area 78!
Your Area Committee sends our thoughts and prayers to all those who have experienced loss due to the fires and storms that have been so active in our Area this summer.
As Bill W writes on page three of As Bill Sees It – “Believe more deeply. Hold your face to the Light, even for the moment you do not see.”
“Problems are like washing machines, they twist, they spin knock us around a whole lot, but in the end we come out cleaner and brighter and softer than before.” I guess that is what is meant in our Big Book by capitalizing on problems as an opportunity for God to show his omnipresence.
So news from your Delegate!
On our Area Website at area78aa.org you will find some new information!
There is a Flyer that announces the Conference Advisory Action to publish our newest book – The Plain Language Big Book: A Tool for Reading Alcoholics Anonymous! This will be available November 1st for $11.00 or by e-reader for $8.95.
There were two new PSA’s regarding Young People in AA that were released and are now being shown during option times on several media outlets across our Conference Area. You can view those on our website as well. You will also be ale to find several Area and Western Region events are coming up.
The GSO financial quarterly report has been posted. As well as our 2024 Final Report on Connecting with Love, Service and Unity is out as a PDF file you can take a look at it, I hopefully will have the report available in published form at our Area Assembly September 13, 14 and 15th in Edmonton.
The Agenda and full information for the Area Assembly is also on our Area 78 Website.
This is our business Assembly where we discuss some of the findings of the Ad-hoc committees on Insurance coverage for our Area and Hybrid Assemblies.
If you have any issue you would like to be discussed at the Assembly please send our Area Chair a written motion. Those forms can also be found on our Area 78 website under the information heading – Forms.
Agenda Items to be considered for the 75th Conference will also be considered at this Assembly. If you have something you want discussed by the conference its best to first vet it through the thoughtful process of the Area Group Conscience. We love having these kind of discussions!
Group Conscious votes are the best way to discuss any issue at all! All voices are needed for us to find the path forward on any issue facing us. Please know it is your responsibility to help us find that path by speaking up on things you hold dear to your heart.
We are not afraid nor are we intolerant of all the voices as they help us come to the most informed decision possible. And once the vote is taken and the results in we all share in the glory or share the stink…together as Rio Delegate in Area 79 likes to say!
After the Assembly in September there are many District events to participate in keeping our fellowship engaged, continually growing and evolving towards that ever elusive goal of being the best we possibly can be. It seems the work of recovery is never done.
We have our Area ACM January 17, 18, 19 in Calgary. Then I go to New York as Delegate Chair Jan 31- Feb 3 for the January Board meeting where we will look at all the Pre-Agenda Items and discuss which ones will be on the Agenda for the 75th Conference!
Then February 7, 8, and 9th 2025 is the WRAASA in Winnipeg! It will be held at the Sandman Hotel and registration will be $40.
Then in April 11-13 will be our Pre-Conference Assembly in Red Deer! Before I head off back to New York with our voice April 27- May 3.
I will be taking part in the Area 79 Election Assembly this September 6-8th and afterwards meeting with our Western Regional Trustee to discuss ideas for the Hospitality room that we will take an active role in decorating and hosting for the International Convention coming up next June 2-6 in Vancouver BC Registration opens September 10 at 10 AM MST. Once you are registered you will be directed to the house page where you can request the type of housing that will fit your needs.
Please check out the “News” section on your Meeting Guide Ap as it has highlights from GSO and the most up to date releases coming out of GSO.
I feel so fortunate to be able to participate in in some of the events that promote the Unity in our Area, all of us are now free to be able to live full and busy lives, with purpose and meaning! How incredibly blessed we are. I have been listening to Amanda Marshall’s “Believe in You”. Fills my heart! Give it a listen and fill your heart as well.
Warm Regards and Loving Service,
Karen🌞
Karen O’S C
Area 78, Panel 74 Delegate
delegate@area78.org
cklinservice@icloud.com
403-479-6883
Public Information Committee
International/Regional Forum Committee
75th GSC Delegate Chair
“Forget me, but go you and do likewise. Add your own link to our chain. With God’s help, forge that chain, well and truly.” Dr Bob “AA Comes Of Age”
August 2024
Hello Area 78!
Your Area Committee sends our thoughts and prayers to all those who have experienced loss due to the fires and storms that have been so active in our Area this summer.
As Bill W writes on page three of As Bill Sees It – “Believe more deeply. Hold your face to the Light, even for the moment you do not see.”
“Problems are like washing machines, they twist, they spin knock us around a whole lot, but in the end we come out cleaner and brighter and softer than before.” I guess that is what is meant in our Big Book by capitalizing on problems as an opportunity for God to show his omnipresence.
So news from your Delegate!
On our Area Website at area78aa.org you will find some new information!
There is a Flyer that announces the Conference Advisory Action to publish our newest book – The Plain Language Big Book: A Tool for Reading Alcoholics Anonymous! This will be available November 1st for $11.00 or by e-reader for $8.95.
There were two new PSA’s regarding Young People in AA that were released and are now being shown during option times on several media outlets across our Conference Area. You can view those on our website as well. You will also be ale to find several Area and Western Region events are coming up.
The GSO financial quarterly report has been posted. As well as our 2024 Final Report on Connecting with Love, Service and Unity is out as a PDF file you can take a look at it, I hopefully will have the report available in published form at our Area Assembly September 13, 14 and 15th in Edmonton.
The Agenda and full information for the Area Assembly is also on our Area 78 Website.
This is our business Assembly where we discuss some of the findings of the Ad-hoc committees on Insurance coverage for our Area and Hybrid Assemblies.
If you have any issue you would like to be discussed at the Assembly please send our Area Chair a written motion. Those forms can also be found on our Area 78 website under the information heading – Forms.
Agenda Items to be considered for the 75th Conference will also be considered at this Assembly. If you have something you want discussed by the conference its best to first vet it through the thoughtful process of the Area Group Conscience. We love having these kind of discussions!
Group Conscious votes are the best way to discuss any issue at all! All voices are needed for us to find the path forward on any issue facing us. Please know it is your responsibility to help us find that path by speaking up on things you hold dear to your heart.
We are not afraid nor are we intolerant of all the voices as they help us come to the most informed decision possible. And once the vote is taken and the results in we all share in the glory or share the stink…together as Rio Delegate in Area 79 likes to say!
After the Assembly in September there are many District events to participate in keeping our fellowship engaged, continually growing and evolving towards that ever elusive goal of being the best we possibly can be. It seems the work of recovery is never done.
We have our Area ACM January 17, 18, 19 in Calgary. Then I go to New York as Delegate Chair Jan 31- Feb 3 for the January Board meeting where we will look at all the Pre-Agenda Items and discuss which ones will be on the Agenda for the 75th Conference!
Then February 7, 8, and 9th 2025 is the WRAASA in Winnipeg! It will be held at the Sandman Hotel and registration will be $40.
Then in April 11-13 will be our Pre-Conference Assembly in Red Deer! Before I head off back to New York with our voice April 27- May 3.
I will be taking part in the Area 79 Election Assembly this September 6-8th and afterwards meeting with our Western Regional Trustee to discuss ideas for the Hospitality room that we will take an active role in decorating and hosting for the International Convention coming up next June 2-6 in Vancouver BC Registration opens September 10 at 10 AM MST. Once you are registered you will be directed to the house page where you can request the type of housing that will fit your needs.
Please check out the “News” section on your Meeting Guide Ap as it has highlights from GSO and the most up to date releases coming out of GSO.
I feel so fortunate to be able to participate in in some of the events that promote the Unity in our Area, all of us are now free to be able to live full and busy lives, with purpose and meaning! How incredibly blessed we are. I have been listening to Amanda Marshall’s “Believe in You”. Fills my heart! Give it a listen and fill your heart as well.
Warm Regards and Loving Service,
Karen🌞
Karen O’S C
Area 78, Panel 74 Delegate
delegate@area78.org
cklinservice@icloud.com
403-479-6883
Public Information Committee
International/Regional Forum Committee
75th GSC Delegate Chair
“Forget me, but go you and do likewise. Add your own link to our chain. With God’s help, forge that chain, well and truly.” Dr Bob “AA Comes Of Age”
March 2024
Hello fellow members seeking to be of joyful service to our program of miricles! Well, all the Background Information for the Pre-Conference Assembly has been sent out to the 93 Delegates and now we all prepare our Area’s to take part in the amazing process of how we communicate our wishes and ideas to the fellowship as a whole!
In the pamphlet the Home Group there is a beautiful line “By helping to insure the sobriety of others yet to come, we insure our own sobriety today!” The home group insures the sobriety of those yet to come by participating in the service Structure.
Simple like that!
The Pre-Conference Assembly will be held this year in Calgary March 15-17. This is where the Group Service Reps take part in discussion of the Agenda Items to inform me, your Delegate, of your voice and the direction you believe we need to take to keep our structure strong, healthy and united.
Anyone can attend and everyone gets to participate as sense of the room votes are taken. Your voice is needed in this process!
The Pre-Conference Assembly is the structure ratified 74 years ago as Bill and Bob gave us the responsibility of protecting our solution. This year, on Panel 74, there are 83 Agenda Items to discuss. The work is broken down into the 10 committee’s and the chairs of these committees will lead all those who participate in seeing all the background information so that each of those committees can make informed decisions.
When you register at the Assembly you will be assigned a committee to sit on. If you would like to know which committee you get to sit on earlier than March 15, please email our Registrar and he will let you know which committee you are assigned to. The background information has been put on our area78.org website if you would like to take a look! Please do! It is fascinating!
I’ll give you a wee sample of some of the Agenda Items that will be discussed over the course of the weekend. Public Information at the committee level looks at Analytics, at where your contribution is being spent as we inform those yet to come. Suggestions and ideas on how we can better do this are being asked for. Good ideas can come from anywhere!
One of the committees will be looking at the background information on the ongoing discussion about changing our founders writings. Your voice is really important here, how do you feel? The Assembly is an awesome place for our loving God to express himself through our collective consciousness. Don’t miss out on being a part of our future.
Another Agenda item is to discuss the idea of developing new pamphlets for minority’s in AA, for example, the unhoused, the transgender, the Asian population. Looking at the whole idea of inclusiveness, we want those who think they are different to be able to find us open and welcoming. But how do we do that? Again good ideas can come from anywhere and perhaps your experience can guide us.
We will be looking at the GSO budget and how to develop supplemental reporting focused on the actual and evolving costs of the services our General Service Office provides. For example, exploring ways that the Grapevine and La Vina can be sustainable.
This is just a taste, there is something for everyone for sure! So plan to attend. Saturday night there is a banquet and speaker from Panel 46, Area 91. Wendy Z is a powerhouse of experience and strength in our service structure and without doubt, further inspiring you to take part with enthusiasm and light.
Please take part in the Sharing Question portion by answering the following four questions. You can send your answers to me or Dave your Alternate Delegate and we will compile the answers for inclusion in the minutes of this Pre-Conference Assembly.
This will be all of Panel 74’s first time being together, our first Assembly on our two year rotation. I look forward to meeting you all there, please come up and introduce yourself to me.
Sharing Questions:
- What is an Agenda Item? Does your group understand what an agenda item is? How can you inform yourself and them?
- If you or your group had an opinion, thought or idea, describe the pathway for it to become a future Agenda item. (pg 164 of Service Manual)
- Does our Group, District, Area and General Service Office have a Prudent reserve? Why is it necessary to have a Prudent Reserve?
- Does your group have a budget that includes supporting the Service Structure of Alcoholics Anonymous?
February 2024
Hello Area 78! I’m hoping with all the cold we had recently that you found lots of warm hearts!
I sure did when got to attend the Area 78 Committee Meeting (ACM) January 19th and 20th in Stettler, Alberta. Thank you District 19 for looking after us so very well! There were 24 District Committee members from around our Area in attendance as well as some GSR’s and Visitors.
Area 78 is the biggest Geographical Area in the US/Canada Conference, stretching all the way across Alberta, the northeastern and southeastern corners of BC, all of the North West Territories and the western part of Nunavut as well as Maidstone Saskatchewan! Your District Committee Members, the Table officer and Committee Chairs worked on fostering leadership and creating unity, the room was buzzing with enthusiasm and excitement. It is a humbling and beautiful process the way we communicate our three legacies of Recovery, Unity and Service. Trusting and engaging with the membership who love AA so much they are willing to give freely of their time to keep our service structure healthy for those yet to come. Warms my heart so much my eyes water!
Why do we even have a Service Structure? Simply to protect our Big Book. We have a solution that really works. This is why we let our names stand for the rotation of service. It’s not a vocation, it’s a giving back time and we all take our turn. Love in action!
The Trustees Literature Committee at GSO is seeking our thoughts, opinions and solutions regarding if we should or should not and if so how to change our Founders Writings. Please mark your calendar for February 17 from 1-2:30 for an on line opportunity to voice your opinion. There is a poster on the area78.org website with the zoom address.
I mentioned in my last chat that I was appointed to two committees, Public Information and the International Convention/Regional Forum committees. There is humility in being appointed, in discovery and asking for help, it builds the “we” instead of “me” and brings about the opportunity to practice trusting God, the process, open-mindedness and acceptance. Powerful stuff! The 24 DCM’s that were present in Stettler picked from a hat a number that represented the 10 committees, random appointment. Their first assignment was to go meet their committee chairs. Magical!
If you are an acting DCM or GSR and would like to get your committee assignment before the Pre-Conference Assembly March 15-17, please email registrar@area78.org or you can just wait till you register and be assigned at that time.
We listened to the reports of the Table Officers, fostering leadership and inclusiveness. Then the Committee Chairs got the opportunity to talk about the service roles they were assigned in September. The DCM’s had a couple of sessions to talk about joys, concerns and ideas that they can implement over the next two years. Bringing awareness and inclusion to their
Districts and General Service Reps.
The agenda Items will be coming out at the End of February and will be posted on the Area website just prior to the March Pre-Conference Assembly likely March 11. You will be able to go take a look at the Agenda items to familiarize yourself on what will be discussed at our Assembly, informing me, to carry your voices to New York.
The Meeting Guide App, is mostly used for finding a meeting near you, but click on “news” and you will find a bunch of updates and information about what is happing at your General Service Office. Take a look and stay informed!
Young People in AA bring so much to our structure and meet up across the world. This summer is the 64th ICYPAA (International Convention for Young People in AA) will be happening in Austin Texas! Details on the aa.org website.
We want our Area 78 Young people to get a committee together to report at our Area 78 Assemblies! Your excitement for sobriety and zest for life can add to the fire of enthusiasm! Please contact me!
Starting at 7 PM MST, Mondays Feb 5- May 6 an on-line Concepts study hosted by Carolyn W starts, I’ve been taking part in her Service Manual Study since September, its very interesting and fun. Meeting address is 87083768965 password 414768.
The Grapevine is not only our meeting in print anymore, now with downloading the Grapevine App there is a whole bunch of interactive and audio opportunities, on my way home from the ACM I listened to a few Pod-casts, informative and fun!
In Love and grateful Service,
Karen OC
Area 78 Panel 74 Delegate
cklinservice@icloud.com
delegate@area78.org
403-479-6883
February 17 – 1-2:30 Our Founders Writings Open Discussion
hosted by Vera F Trustees Literature Committee.
March 15-17 Area Pre-Conference Assembly – Calgary
May 24 – 25 Area 78 Committee Meeting – Yellowknife
January 2024
Hello Area 78!
Happy New Years to you all! May you find Joy in the Journey!
I am so excited to begin my two year rotation as your Panel 74 Delegate! This is a big honour and privilege so I will do my very best to carry your voices and to bring information to you as I possibly can.
Please make sure you send your Group Service Rep and District Committee Chairs to the Area Assembly’s and Area Committee Meetings so that we can be connected and I can hear your voice! You can also reach me through the Area 78 webpage! area78.org or cklinservice@icloud.com
I just re-read AA Comes of Age to rediscover our remarkable collective history. Bill and Bob, a couple of drunks just like you or me, found sobriety by simply helping each other stay sober. So began our legacy; one drunk helping another. Our founders wrote the 12 Steps to help with carrying that message and to share with others how to get sober! My goodness – it grew! Soon there were 100 members and so a book was written, and in just 3 years afterwards our membership had expanded to 8000! A foundation was established in an office to answer the calls for help. Traditions were hammered out on the experiences of us hot heads and egomaniacs!
Then Bob got sick and our founders realized they would need a way to keep this thing growing for those yet to come. Discussions began and in 1950 a trial run started to give the responsibility of our program to us!
Insight and wisdom prevailed and the Foundation became the General Service Board. Regional delegates and Trustees both alcoholic and non-alcoholic were elected to serve the Fellowship in two or four year terms! So on July 3 1955, at 4 PM the three Legacies of Recovery, Unity and Service were turned over to you and me! That was 74 years ago!
By 1957 Great Britain, Ireland and Australia had their own General Service Boards growing AA’s message of recovery consistently over the world! They too elect a GSR to attend Area Assemblies to give their Delegates their voice to carry!
All I can say is AMAZING! We are so blessed to be a part of this!
There was foresight and wisdom with Spirit of Rotation! All service positions are elected only as term positions with a limit of the amount of time a person can serve. Generally two years. This protects us from becoming entrenched in politics and popularity contests.
Best of all the groups lead. You lead this thing. Ensure that your group has a GSR so that your voice is heard. Your group pays the cost for their elected member to attend the Area Assemblies twice a year to carry the groups voice to the Delegate and then bring back the information of what’s going on in AA. Ensure your GSR has time during your business meeting to share the enthusiasm of what was learned and so this is how we are connected to AA world wide!
The Agenda Items will be coming out the end of February for our March Pre-Conference Assembly (March 15, 16 and 17) and right now it’s quite interesting as a fifth Edition is being finalized for distribution in 2025. Another Agenda Item is in answer to a request sent in by a member in 2017 to look at making a piece of literature that will help make our Big Book more accessible to those who struggle with a variety of reasons to comprehend our Beloved Big Book. What has grown from that request is a book like Came to Believe or Living Sober that I will get the chance to review and vote on. Please let me know your thoughts on this! I put on the area 78 website the presentation from an online forum December 2. It’s called Plain Language, take a look so you can be informed.
I’ve been busy already being of service when requested. Tami and I did a Unity workshop. I attended a few on line sessions for example a Remote Communities workshop that was so informative! Gosh the struggles some members have! Far away, or incarcerated or that they do not speak English. Or their culture actually makes it not only illegal to drink but then oddly enough – illegal to get sober! Imagine that!
I look forward to my term as your Delegate, I have been appointed to sit on two committees, Public Information and International Convention and Regional Forum’s. I will be Delegate for the 2025 International Convention!
In Love and Grateful Service to you all,
Karen OC,
cklinservice@icloud.com
area78.org
403-479-6883
December 2023
As Panel 72 bids a fond farewell, I reflect on the last two years. The dedication, passion and kindness from our A.A. community warmed our hearts. To the incoming DCMs (District Committee Members), GSRs (General Service Reps) and Committee members of all kinds, I want to tell you how this journey can fill you with the most amazing relationships and experiences. These bonds you will mold you. Embrace it all – the gentle and harsh – as a Higher Power builds you into who you can BE.
I invite every member to join a Committee that feeds your soul. Something that allows you to give something of you back. It’s where you will find your closest ‘peeps’ and touch hearts. You will not see it until you look back, or share the journey with others. I urge you to never quit through a rotation. Just a little secret here – there was never a position I didn’t want to quit part way through and I did one time. Quitting did not serve me, I stayed the same. Working through the challenges of time constraints, balancing life, work and AA, that difficult personality – mine, and my own insecurities – is what changed me. My HP grew me a backbone these last two years, while getting me ready the years before. 
Miracles happen here and its through our adversities we grow. Tough? Hell, yeah! Discouraging? Often. Cried? Buckets! Angry at times? Very! I’ve lost sleep, couldn’t eat, sometimes I couldn’t breathe. Yet, here I am, more centered, clearer on ALL our Principles. Full of more tolerance, patience, and love because of the experiences, not in spite of them.
I’m sad to be moving out of touch with you. Each of you, whether we met or not, you touched me directly or through someone I did meet. You, my friend, are a special light that shines in this darkness of alcoholism. We are the Big Book personified. What do people see when they see us?
One of the most loving books from our stacks of A.A. literature is, “AA Comes of Age”. The endearing journey of Bill W and Dr. Bob as they unfolded this program through the challenges of giving the members the responsibility of directing A.A. as a whole It touched my soul and left me so grateful to be part of your community. There are a million things I wish I could leave with you. Thoughts, ideas, great things I’ve heard or learned about A.A.. But how can I share it all, when it truly is the experience itself of serving that I want to cut out of me to give to you. Go with goodness and grace. Be part of the bigger solution and never allow any person, place, thing, or situation push you out. Be your own advocate because god is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Be well. Thank you for this gift. I owe you big time! And love you all!
Many Blessings,
Tami
Your outgoing Panel 72 Delegate 💜
PS: remember to check out aa.org/what’s new and Area78.org website / events for action in your area!
UPDATES:
- Membership Survey: Will be seeing the results the first quarter of 2024.
- Grapevine App is available now – download from your APP store.
- Meeting App – It is critical to ensure your meetings are listed on the websites correctly – because this is where the information for the Meeting App is sourced. Please check all websites you may be listed (local, city, intergroup, and Area)
- The General Service Board (GSB) Inventory is progressing.
- General Service Conference Inventory is progressing
- Pamphlet, A.A. for the Native North American is still searching for stories to include in the updated version. The new deadline for story submission is Dec 31st, 2023.
- Speakers for Area 78 SOTN (Spirit of the North) ID: 942 603 2414 pc: billw
4th Sunday of every month at 7:00 pm mst.- Sun, Dec. 24 – Rio D., Area 79 Delegate, BC/Yukon
- Sun, Jan. 28 – Janet F. Area 23 P72 Delegate, Indiana
- Sun, Feb. 25 – Trish L – Past Trustee at Large Canada
- Sun, Mar. 24 – Irma V – Current Western Canada Regional Trustee
- Join us every Sunday and Wednesday with a Big Book Study every Monday!
November 2023
Winter came quickly upon us. Like the hibernating animals of the forest, this is the opportune time for reflection on our recovery, physically and emotionally. When reviewing our day we learn from our Twelve Concepts of World Service, found in the last section of the Service Manual, that we may be further transformed. We uncover the importance our voice, sharing leadership strengths, and to truly hold space for others in their evolution. Let us not miss the genius of our 3rd Legacy revealed in these 12 principles. Let us take these into our personal reflection with steps 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Apply them in our daily lives and in our group, district, area, or committee work. Be amazed as our belief systems morph and change.
Both Mike M, Alternate Delegate, and I attended the Area 80 assembly in Winnipeg Oct 8 – 10. They mentioned the Officers sitting at the “Foot table” rather than a Head Table lol. Also, I received an email letting me know I am now serving on the Conference Inventory AdHoc Committee for the G.S.B.
UPDATES:
§ Plain & Simple Language Big Book translation online session with Clint M, AdHoc Chair
Saturday, December 2, 2023 10:00 am – noon MST ID: 708 555 5414 pc: area78
§ Remote Communities Forum
Sunday, December 3, 2023 12:00 pm – 3:00 MST ID: 8184471 6180 pc: 1935
§ Membership Survey Notice from the G.S.O. : “We are still working on building the website… Once they are all ready, the work on the website can be completed. After the website launches, we will bring the pamphlet to the AAWS board meeting (October) for final approval and pricing. We should see these in the first quarter of 2024.”
§ Grapevine App is quickly becoming a member favorite. Can download from any APP store.
§ Meeting App – It is critical your meetings are listed on the websites correctly (city, intergroup, and Area) – this is where the Meeting App sourced their information. Please check/verify.
§ The General Service Board (GSB) Inventory is still in process. The selection of additional questions, discussed at the October Board Meeting will make the final question list complete.
§ A.A. for the Native North American Pamphlet still needs stories to include in the updated version. The new deadline for story submission is Dec 31st, 2023.
§ Pieces of Area 78 Archivist Report, Regan M: Just a quick report to let you know what has transpired since Red Deer! The Archives collection was packed, then transported to Edmonton, with the enormous task of putting together the industrial shelving in both units at Henday Self Storage. Computer, monitor, speakers, camera, and printer/scanner/copiers are all set up.
§ Grapevine Project – are there health providers willing to receive a free subscription?
§ Speakers for Area 78 SOTN (Spirit of the North) meeting ID: 942 603 2414 pc: billw
o November 26 @ 7:00 pm (mst) – Ken T., Area 47 Delegate, South New Jersey
o December 24 @ 7:00 pm (mst) – Rio D., Area 79 Delegate, BC/Yukon
o Join us every Sunday and Wednesday and a Big Book Study every Monday!
As we trudge the road of happy destiny my fellow members, you are a blessing. May we give a moment to remember those who went before us when we pause on Nov 11th for our soldiers. 
Serving as your P72 Delegate, with much Love, Tami 💜
PS: remember to check out aa.org/what’s new and Area78.org website / events for action in your area!
October 2023
“Alcoholics Anonymous was nurtured in its early days around a kitchen table … True, we have progressed materially to better furniture and more comfortable surroundings. Yet the kitchen table must ever be appropriate for us. It is the perfect symbol of simplicity.” ~AA Co-Founder, Dr. Bob, September 1948, “The Fundamentals in Retrospect”, Spiritual Awakenings: Journeys of the Spirit
As the days get shorter and the mornings chillier, sitting around a kitchen table with our AA friends replaces the summer fellowship around the campfires. The more we gather, the more we learn and grow in love and tolerance. The magic of our unity evolves organically, usually without us even knowing what’s happening.
Autumn brings us to our Assembly time as well. Being an even-numbered panel (2-year term) the elections for Groups, Districts and our Area are happening all around us. I encourage one and all to step into the light of service. None of us are prepared for the job, but a wise person once said, “God does not choose the qualified; God qualifies the chosen.” Be brave! You’ll be amazed. (I promise)
Congratulations to all the new Group GSRs (General Service Reps) and DCMs (District Committee Members), to our newly appointed Committee Chairs (10 Committees + a new Archivist) and to our recently elected Table Officers. The Area Assembly was full of great sharing/reporting, ideas, discussions, and man, those elections were very educational with so many positions going right through the Third Legacy election process, decided by one of two names being drawn from a hat. A special ‘thank-you’ goes out to those loving members who thoughtfully raised their hand to serve, without being selected. This can hurt the heart while it reveals even more, how anonymity truly is our spiritual principle. Being willing to serve, in whatever capacity our HP guides us to. We love you all!
Many thanks to all the trusted servants and visitors who suited up and showed up in Red Deer! I would have to look through our past assembly minutes to see when last we had 200 attendees at the fall assembly. At my first assembly (I think a fall one), there were over 300 people. Let us keep putting one foot in front of the other so more members discover their joy in the 4th dimension as they live within the three legacies – recovery, unity and service. I shall be seeing more of you in the coming months at your exciting and loving events.
As we trudge the road of happy destiny my fellow members, you are blessed with a strong leadership in this panel. As always, the leadership directed by Concept 9 does so with great respect to always remain democratic in thought and action.
Serving you with much Love,
Tami
Your Delegate 
PS: remember to check out aa.org/what’s new and Area78.org website for action in your area!
September 2023
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It’s that time…for Area 78, and many of our Groups and Districts, to elect our new trusted servants:
For groups, it means electing a GSR (General Service Rep) along with other important positions with the group. For District, it means choosing a DCM (District Committee Chair) and other positions for the District.
All members are welcome to come to the Area 78 Assembly in Red Deer on September 15 – 17. We will be attending to business, finding out what happened at the 73rd G.S.C. (General Service Conference), and electing five of the six Table Officers: Delegate, Alternate Delegate, Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. The past delegate position is automatic. From current and past DCMs who apply, these folks with the past table officers, will select the 10 Chairs for the Committees: Archives, Cooperating with the Professional Community (CPC), Corrections, E-Services, Grapevine, Group Records/Registrar, Literature, Public Information (PI), Remote Communities (RC), and Treatment/Accessibilities (TA). The DCMs (District Committee Members) elected by their GSRs and the GSRs (General Service Representatives) elected by their members will make up your Area 78 trusted servants for Panel 74.
Each panel serves for 2 years. Panel 74 is the 74th year since this structure was adopted by the Fellowship in 1950 (1950 + 72 = 2024). Everyone elected to a role now as a GSR, DCM, or ACO (Area Table Officers and Committee Chairs) serve from January 1st, 2024 to December 31st, 2025, giving a bit of time for the transition of leadership. Outgoing and incoming Area officers will do a transition meeting in November.
Our area is one of 93 Areas in our Canada/US Conference. The word ‘conference’ refers to our entire Canada/US Membership in the A.A. Service Structure. Through all these roles in all these areas, information is gathered and shared so informed decisions can be made for A.A. as a whole.
The 93 areas are split into two groups, each serving a 2-year term. We have ‘even-numbered-panels’ and ‘odd-numbered-panels’. We are always start our term in an even-numbered-panel. Every year at the conference meeting in NY half the delegates coming are fairly new in their positions.
This Principle of Rotation (AA Service Manual p.107, the AA Group pamphlet, Tradition II, Concepts IX, XI and XII) is a structural anomaly and is ingenious! It provides layers of change personally and organizationally. It builds confidence and leadership in our spiritual development, forcing us to delve deeper into using ALL our principles. It evolves Alcoholics Anonymous with new solutions, diversity, and opportunity for growth.
I am aware there are folks who believe this type of service is not for them. I truly appreciate all the ways members give back for it takes a village. I am also aware some see this as the “politics” of AA. In my experience, I see behaviours that look political. But we have a process that always offers a spiritual solution to our human actions. Sometimes, we must be patient as the process unfolds. Very patient at times….
Although some groups do, in Alcoholics Anonymous we seldom nominate people to serve. Instead, we ask them to be willing. It is by carefully and thoughtfully allowing your hand to rise for service (perhaps with guidance from our service sponsor). It can be a hard thing to do and hard to know if we are ready. Every position for us is new, challenging and one that takes us 2 years to learn! We sit with our HP, move as directed to raise our hand – with the most humility we can muster – to be willing to accept the outcome as guided by a Higher Power.
In choosing our leadership, it is not by ‘what we should’ or by ‘popularity’ or by those who ‘grandstand’ – that’s political. With our Higher Power we discern, get informed, listen to how people say what they say, and watch behaviours so we choose who we think could best serve. It is by choosing someone who has what you want for yourself, your group, district, and area. Choose carefully for these are your trusted servants.
What I notice most in our process of rotation, elections and serving, is how our program gives everyone an equal opportunity to deepen and enlarge their spiritual program. It offers understanding and the gift as we apply all 36 principles found in our Three Legacies – Recovery with our 12 Steps, Unity in our 12 Traditions and Service through our 12 Concepts: all important parts of this life-saving fellowship. I invite you to get in the middle. As our Big Book says, “… obviously, you cannot transmit something you haven’t got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.”
Here to Love and Serve,
Tami
Your Delegate
August 2023
Thank you for the invitations to share the longer, warmer summer days at campouts, roundups, workshops, seminars, unity and gratitude events, and to your in-person or online group meetings – all the things that extend the hand to our ever-evolving fellowship. During my travels I witness a Higher Power’s light shining in so many eyes because of what Alcoholics Anonymous does for them and for others. I’m overjoyed at the excitement of recovery, the real-ness and connection happening when members, groups, and districts share the secret ingredient of Service, our Third Legacy.
Oh, the wonder of paradoxes in our program. All these fantastic activities mix in with our continued challenges with other people, or perhaps our group, or district, maybe the area, or even with all things AA in New York. All this because we are spirits having a human experience!
This brings me to my noodling on Tradition Twelve … “Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.” What exactly is anonymity? How is it spiritual? How is anonymity connected to our personalities? Who’s personality anyways, theirs or mine? How does the spirituality of anonymity guide all our traditions, thereby serve as our very foundation?
Reading through the pamphlet “A.A. Tradition How it Developed” by Bill W., “A.A. Come of Age”, “Our Great Responsibility” and throughout our “Service Manual and Twelve Concepts of World Service” we find the answers. In short, ‘anonymity’ allows our pride and egoic instincts to become right sized so we may gain enough humility to truly serve humanity.
With our desired 12 Steps, the first legacy of recovery, anonymity can look like confidentiality, respect, hope, and safety when our inner world is falling apart. We come in suffering and get relief. From humiliation to becoming humble enough to be willing to change our thinking and actions. Then day by day, we stay sober. A miracle in the making.
In our needed 12 Traditions, our second legacy of unity, anonymity insists we put the group before what “I” want, think, or believe is right for others or the group. It cloaks itself in tolerance, open-mindedness, love, and acceptance so we can look past the problems to find the solution to any difficulty. These actions ensure the very existence and continuity of Alcoholics Anonymous, guaranteeing a place for us and for others to come to when their world is falling apart.
Through our beloved 12 Concepts, our third legacy of service a whole new world explodes into our hearts and actions. Our own sobriety is treasured, and we care so deeply for those who come into our program. They show us how God works in wonderous and mysterious ways. Anonymity asks us to sacrifice many comforts, extending ourselves to others in ways we had never known. This is where the rubber meets the road! Here we find the power and grace of Alcoholics Anonymous to live life on life’s terms in a principled, loving, accepting, kind-hearted manner. It is here we practice anonymity and humility, sometimes painfully, as we replace our instincts of our personalities with spiritual principles that build our character, and the character of Alcoholics Anonymous.
We do not do it merely for ourselves, but in the wise words of GSB Chairperson, Bernard Smith, in his 1954 talk: “We do need to ensure the recovery of the alcoholic who still stumbles in the darkness one short block from this room. We need it to ensure the recovery of a child being born tonight, destined for alcoholism. … to provide, in keeping with our Twelfth Step, a permanent haven for all alcoholics…. because we, more than all others, are conscious of the devastating effect of the human urge for power and prestige which we must ensure can never invade A.A…. to ensure A.A. against government, while insulating it against anarchy; … to protect A.A. against disintegration while preventing over integration. …. that is the ultimate repository of its Twelve Steps, its Twelve Traditions, and all of its services. (Full talk – 2021 Service Manual pg. 40)
In our world, we are not one individual acting out alcoholically, we are a spiritual program, uniquely (and successfully) reliant on “an ultimate authority – a loving God as he may express himself in our group conscience.” We grow to realize the paradox of challenges and grace as we humbly apply our 36 principles (12 steps, 12 traditions and 12 concepts) in all situations in our daily lives.
We have a few weeks before the Fall Assembly where we will elect the Table Officers and select the Committee Chairs for Panel 74. We hope everyone comes to Red Deer! Share your thoughts, ask your questions, and be fully enveloped in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Here to Love and Serve,
Tami
Your Delegate
July 2023
Here we are welcoming summer… going to campouts, roundups, picnics in the park!! Hugging, laughing, enjoying sobriety. Together, such a wonderful gift within the gift.
I would like to thank all the members who are charged up about the conference report this year. It has been an absolute pleasure seeing the spark get lit for service. All because of your love and commitment to a program that saves lives. Learning more about the decisions being made for our fellowship through our unique structure asks us to grow beyond our wildest dreams.
How do we do that? How do we get rocketed into the 4th dimension? Simple -by our common solution – our Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service. Sobriety through the Steps, our first legacy, ‘Recovery’. We gain a fellowship that holds, loves, accepts, and nurtures us (as we do for others) is the second legacy of ‘Unity’ by applying our Traditions. Engaging the Concepts, giving back, celebrating our autonomy allows us to grow beyond our limitations, all thanks to the third legacy, ‘Service’.
We encourage you to welcome a turn at serving a rotation in the service structure. This is where we are built into our true selves. Sometimes people miss this treasure. The one truly within our souls.
Wishing you a very special journey of discovery as you raise your hand so a Loving Creator may guide your service. You will never regret the gifts, the growth and the grace.
Here to Love and Serve,
Tami
Your Delegate
Announcements:
1. The results of all 73rd Conference Agenda Items will be on the Area 78 website shortly -see the Delegate’s Corner!!
2. The 2023 Remote Communities Communicator Newsletter is on our website! So Cool!
3. Some speakers you won’t want to miss are coming to the Spirit of the North Meetings on the 4th Sunday of each month. Zoom: 942 603 2414 pc: billw @ 7 pm.
4. Area Assembly:
a. September 15 – 17 in Red Deer
b. Elections for the next Area Table Officers and all the business of A78! Come one; Come all!
c. Plus, nominee selection for the Western Regional Trustee
5. Oodles of exciting activities around our Area
June 2023
Many thanks to all who attended the Pre-Conference Assembly in April. It was great seeing so many members show up in Edmonton. Three days after the Assembly, my sister from Regina and I were off to New York.
A few of the committee results from the 73rd General Service Conference are included here. I invite you to hear the full details. You could:
- Have me share the Delegate Report at a meeting or event
- Come to online report on June 17 (or 26
- Attend the Assembly in Red Deer in Sept
- Read the written report posted on the website (soon)
A full written report of the Conference, the list of Advisory Actions, and all Considerations put forward by each Committee at the Conference will be ready soon and will be on our website. For today, this is a brief overview.
All AA members are invited to the online Delegate’s Corner for Q & A and discussion on A.A. Service, the General Service Conference, Service work, our GSO (General Service Office in NY), or whatever is ‘On Your Mind’ Click to Join the Meeting
All Mondays in June from 7:00 – 8:00 pm, starting June 5, 2023.
Tami
Your Delegate
PS: If the above link doesn’t work, click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7085555414?pwd=NC85SXhNdUZWZEpvVWRkT09vNWl6dz09
April 2023
It took me a long time to understand and fully appreciate the uniqueness and wholeness of our AA structure. Many people have shared they feel the same. I hope oodles of members come to the upcoming Area 78 Assembly being held at the Edmonton Inn on April 14 – 16 to learn lots more. EVERYONE has a voice. Join your favorite committee to share your thoughts.
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Sample Agenda Items for members’ discussion & share at the Assembly’s Committee meeting:
All the following options for reviewing the Conference Agenda Items are on our website. Being confidential for AA members only, they are password protected:
- The Agenda Items: List of 85 Items on the Conference – asking for members’ input.
- Background information: lots of pages of all the background on each of the items – one document or individually by Committee (Agenda Items + Background).
- Summaries (Summaries): condensed summary of each agenda item by Committee.
Contact your DCM or Cliff H. eservices.72@area78.org for password to open the docs.
I can’t tell you what a feeling it is to understand our AA Structure and give your thoughts and direction for Alcoholics Anonymous in Canada/US.
Additionally, three letters were sent by the Acting Chair for the General Service Board (GSB) which I forwarded to our DCMs:
- Advising the resignation of the GSB Chair, at the request of the Board
- Advising the resignation of Josh E, Past Class B Trustee
- Advising an explanation on the request for the resignation of the GSB Chair.
Another letter was forwarded to DCMs from Josh E, Past Class B Trustee explaining his decision.
I do believe there will be some discussion at the 73rd General Service Conference on this matter.
All AA members are invited to the online Delegate’s Corner to learn about / discuss Agenda Items, or to ask questions about our structure or the Conference: Click to Join the Meeting
7:00 – 8:00 pm on March 28, April 4 & 11 And after the Conference: May 9, 16 & 23.
With Love and Service,
Tami
Your Delegate
If the link doesn’t work, click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7085555414?pwd=NC85SXhNdUZWZEpvVWRkT09vNWl6dz09
March 2023
Many thanks to all the wonderful folks who put on an amazing WRAASA (Western Region A.A. Service Assembly) Feb 24-26 in Edmonton. Members from Manitoba (Area 80), Saskatchewan (Area 91), BC (Area 79) and our own from Alberta, NWT, parts of BC, NV and SK (Area 78) came to share and learn more about our 3rd Legacy, Service. An inspiring and motivating time for ALL!
Area 79 will be hosting our Regional Forum – May 2024 in Vernon, BC.
Come to meet the staff from your General Service Office and Boards. Learn more! Celebrate AA and recovery!
March and April are busy months for our Pre–Conference Assembly – April 14 – 16, 2023 at the Edmonton Inn. The Assembly is when our Area’s membership gathers to discuss the upcoming agenda for all the ways our General Service office carry the message to address the agenda items.
The many Agenda Items are posted on the Area 78 website. I invite you to participate in the whole of AA. My role is to carry our members’ thoughts and wishes to the Conference.
There will be Delegate’s Corner offered online Wednesday, Mar 22 and Tuesdays Mar 7 – April 11 and May 9 – 23 @ 7:00 – 8:00 pm for any questions, comments, or discussions about the Agenda Items, the Conference, General Service, or about the Area.
Will be on zoom ID 708 555 5414 password: area78
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7085555414 (Passcode: area78) With Love and Service,
Tami
Your Delegate
February 2023
Oh, how brightly you shine!! Quick announcements (more at the end):
1. WRAASA (Western Region A.A. Service Assembly) is an entire weekend of inspiration and motivation
for ALL MEMBERS! See you there J https://wraasa.org
Feb 24-26, 2023, at the Edmonton Inn
2. Our Pre-Conference Assembly this year is April 14 – 16, 2023 at the Edmonton Inn.
a. Our ‘March’ Assembly is in APRIL
b. The membership is quickly gearing up to address the agenda items. What interests you??
c. Submitting an agenda item for the 2024 Conference is Sept 15th
We are one body and one mind moving toward solutions and unity within our Area 78 community. The only difference between you and me is our current role, merely a temporary one. You are wise in the ways of AA, in the ways of being sober and reaching out your hand. And you are here, reading this!
Together we do this work to keep A.A. alive and well.There are deepening levels of our evolution as we give of ourselves to others. In AA language, we
call this Service, and refer to it as our Third Legacy in our recovery journey. THIS is the work of ‘general service’. It IS the reason we have Districts and an Area.
Since the General Service structure started in 1951, YOU, the membership has been guiding and determining the direction of A.A. Many thought that having the membership make all the decisions wouldn’t work. But for the last 73 years it has been stupendous. Area 78’s first Delegate was George Dunaway. George served on Panel 2 for 1952 & 1953. Come be a part of history. There are deepening levels of our evolution as we give of ourselves to others.
Thank you for allowing me to serve. My understanding is clear that the Area Committee Officers are to take direction from you, the membership of Alcoholics Anonymous. Your thoughts come through your GSRs to your DCM, to the Area, and on to the Conference in NYC. None of us govern, but we are all leaders (refer to Concept 9), working together by sharing our experiences, our strengths, and much hope for one another. The Area’s job is like the Trustees and subsequently, the staff at the General Service Office, who take their direction from the Conference members’ advisory actions (decisions) and committee considerations (suggestions) and all the discussions that happen over the annual week-long meeting.
We rely on you to raise issues, open discussion, make suggestions or motions at your business, district, or Area meetings so we can all listen to the differing ideas that lead to the decisions. Then we get busy working on those solutions as our Area moves forward with our primary purpose,
while supporting one another with love, tolerance, kindness, and acceptance.
Why do we need a Conference?
Well, Bill Wilson’s dear friend and confident, Bernard Smith (fondly referred to as Bern), non-alcoholic, was our GSB Chair for many years. He was ‘a principal architect’ in creating our Conference Structure. He answered this question in his opening remarks at the 1954 meeting. An excerpt of it for today:
“…We need it to ensure that changes within A.A. come only as a response to the needs and the wants of all A.A., and not of only a few. We need it to ensure that the doors of the halls of A.A. never
have locks on them, so that all people for all time who have an alcoholic problem may enter these halls unasked and feel welcome. We need it to ensure that Alcoholics Anonymous never asks of anyone who needs us what his or her race is, what his or her creed is, what his or her social position is.” (Bern’s very moving, spiritual talk can be found in the Service Manual pg 40).
We are open to all who need and want us. This is true! So, I ask you, “Do we believe all who need and want to be sober ARE in our rooms? Could any be missing? Are we attractive, welcoming, inclusive, and available to those who may be missing – unsure, scared, or confused about us? With this in mind, we prepare for the 73rd General Service Conference.
An update on my activities: January was busy! I was flat out with Area meetings, ConferenceDelegate Chair meetings, Western Regional meetings including WRAASA, speaking at groups, districts and events, and lots of Conference preparations.
The dashboard, our conference communications tool, opened Jan 10th. Lots to ‘find’, then read! All the new Panel 73rd Delegates are elected. In our Western Canada Region, we have new Delegates Rio D, Area 79, BC/Yukon and Lori R, Area 91, SK. Honestly, ours is the best of all 8 regions.
January 26 – 31 has me in New York for the January Board Meetings. I had a challenge concerning the 1-year term as the Conference Delegate Chair. The past Delegate Chair (and the 4 before her) confirmed the term is Jan to Dec – made sense to me. However, conversations with the Trustees and GSO folks since August indicated they thought I knew things I didn’t and expected things I wasn’t to do yet. The term for Conference Committee Chairs, Trustees and Directors runs conference to conference (April to April). All will be corrected this year. Ben N, Alt Delegate Chair/Mailman and I will serve January to end of April. See! ‘STUFF’ happens everywhere. And just cuz it’s always been done that way, doesn’t mean it has to, or that it’s right. Ben and I will offer regular online Delegates-only discussion meetings till then.
I encourage all members to be part of the agenda discussions in your groups. Talk to your GSR or DCM to see about the committees and see where your heart lies in carrying the message to those who suffer. Which committee do you want to know more about? Make decisions for? Suggest materials about? Have an opinion about?
At the conference, 135 of us from all over Canada and US discuss these same items again to see what is best for AA as a whole body. You are welcome to come to the pre-conference Assembly April 14 – 16 at the Edmonton Inn. Join in the discussions, listen to other members from other districts across our Area share their thoughts and needs. Learn more and share your thoughts.
My role is to carry members’ thoughts to the Conference. I cannot if your voice is silent. Quick GSO update – check with your DCM for the detailed update from GSO – tons of stuff!!
– Contributions & literature sales were lower than expected/budgeted so redoing budget
– Jacketless Big Book is now being sold
– Mixed title ordering is continuing
– Box 4-5-9: picture of the White Bear meeting room in SK
– Online 7th Contributions to GSB – working on a solution to ensure groups are identified as
the contributor vs individual
– Sections of the Plain and Simple Language BB translation will be at the Conference to study
by voting members
With Love and Service,
Tami
Your Delegate
January 2023
A new year dawns…yet, not so different than the day just before it 
Kinda like a birthday. We don’t feel much different until in retrospect we see the growth, the overcoming of challenges and the gifts the year has offered. Noodling about our upcoming ACM (Area Committee Meeting), I realized both alcoholism and recovery progress in a downward direction. Alcoholism fueled by the ego and recovery fueled by our spirit. One plummets us into self-centeredness while the other creates humility by serving others. In a sense, we grow in being anonymous – of humbly doing from a place of grace. The more we do, the more our Higher Power builds us into the person we can become if we are so bold as to abandon ourselves to this process.
The process is what our 73rd General Conference theme – “A.A.’s Three Legacies: Our Common Solution” – is all about. It offers a focus for the year to reflect on how our three legacies are our common solution from a baffling, powerful and cunning disease. I’ve often heard how our three legacies are like a three-legged stool. If all legs are the same length, we are balanced. If one is too long, we aren’t. If any are too short…same! Before we can truly evolve, we must be sober. Then, we need one another in a way to become, and stay connected. Then, we deepen into that humility, where our twelfth tradition bears its fruit where “anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.”
All four Area meetings each year are open to all members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Although the DCMs &/or GSRs make up the Area Committee, all of us are invited to go, learn, share, enjoy and grow our personal program by ensuring A.A. is here for our future – for our children, grandbabies, family and all the friends we are yet to meet.
With love in the Spirit,
Tami L. delegate.72@area78.org
PS: AREA NEWS
- Area Committee Meeting (ACM) on January 20 & 21, 2023 in Calgary. Please come! https://area78aa.org/event/area-78-2023-area-committee-meeting/
- Welcoming Susan G, newly appointed Treatment & Accessibilities Chair for the remaining of Panel 72
- 72nd Conference Final Reports. Please note the reports are confidential because they are not anonymity protected. Please shred if not wanted and please refrain from leaving it in any public spaces. They are available at the Calgary & Edmonton Central Office and will also be available at the ACM in January. Or you can contact me directly.
- WRAASA (Western Regional AA Service Assembly) in Edmonton on February 24 – 26, 2023. Hope to see you there. To register https://wraasa.org/registration/
- 7th Contributions report: in the 3rd quarter of 2022, 48 Groups (out of ~450) within 27 Districts contributed to our General Service Board. Many many thanks to those who were able to give.
There were some contributions that didn’t have a group # associated but did say Area 78. If you need to find your Group #, please contact 72@area78.org.
(PS: If it goes in without a group or area, it is included as an individual contribution – and appreciated)
PPS: News from our General Service Office (GSO)
- OPENING (ASAP): NON-TRUSTEE DIRECTOR (NTD) FOR GRAPEVINE BOARD https://www.aagrapevine.org/vacancy-NTD-AAGV-Board-2023
Any member can apply – please see what is required and an application form - Stories from our young members! There’s a call out to hear your stories…. https://www.aa.org/young-peoples-video-project
- Grapevine News!! https://www.aagrapevine.org/important-updates Some important updates!
- International A.A. Convention: Make plans to join members from around the world at the next International A.A. Convention in Vancouver July 3 – 6, 2025. First time ever in our Region! Share the info! https://www.aa.org/international-convention Stay tuned for Registration and hotel info.
- Great reads on Box 4-5-9. Can sign up to get it sent to your email. https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/newsletters/F-36_Box_4-5-9_Fall_2022.pdf
- Literature update https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/EN%20-%20Nov%20update%20on%20printing%20delays%20and%20backorders.pdf
- Jobs at G.S.O https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/EN%20-%20GSO%20Staff%20Recruitment%20Announcement%20October%202022_0.pdf
- New cover for our Big Book – now with a new jacket cover which makes it possible to get them printed and printed quicker… https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/Jacketless%20BB%20-%20EN.pdf
- Reminder of the contributions address:
Box 2407
James A Farley Station
New York, NY 10116-2407
or online: https://www.aa.org/aa-contributions-self-support
And more…. https://www.aa.org/news-and-announcements