Chairperson's Report - May 2003

I want to apologize again for not being in attendance at the Area Committee meeting on 5/17. My son was testing for, and received, his black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I felt it was important to be there for him. I felt confident that the Area Committee meeting was in the good hands of our Alternate Chairperson, Sonja. From all reports she did an excellent job of chairing the meeting.

I also want to thank the Area Committee for setting the agenda for the June 21st Area Assembly. You can find the agenda in this newsletter. It includes decisions to be made about reimbursing past delegates to attend area functions and having a group locater on our website (area36.org). The decision to reimburse the past two delegates has been made a while back but our financial policy was not updated to reflect the changes. My understanding for the decision to reimburse was because our past delegates provide a wealth of experience to our Area. By having a group locator on the website it will allow people in have a easy way to find meetings in their area.

Also on the agenda at the Area Assembly are two discussion topics. One is “anonymity in the 21st century”. Which in this discussion will be how anonymity works with new media such as the internet. The other discussion topic will be on the process in determining Conference Approved Literature.

I had the opportunity to attend the West Central Regional Service Conference in Bemidji in early March. As always it was a fun and good learning experience to get together with people from our region and get others perspective on the discussion topics and conference agenda items. Being from the largest metropolitan area in our region it is interesting getting perspective from AA members in more rural areas. Some of them remind me of the people in the small town in western Minnesota where I grow up. It was also great to get to meet Elaine Johnson, the Chairperson of the General Service Board of AA. Her story was very moving and powerful. It always amazes me the love and dedication our non-alcoholic trustees have more Alcoholics Anonymous. I can understand how alcoholics like me love AA it saved my life. But these are people who can lead happy successful lives with out AA and yet they are very devoted to our program and fellowship.

I look forward to seeing you all at the Area. If you have any questions, suggestions or concerns about our Area that you would like to talk to me about I can be reached at chairperson@area36.org. Please feel free to call or email me. Also I am willing to visit any group or district if you would like to meet with me in person.

Yours in Love and Service,
Mark M.
Area 36 Chairperson