GSA Phone Bridge Intergroup Meeting Minutes June 9, 2024

GSA Phone Bridge Intergroup Meeting Minutes
June 9, 2024 3 p.m. ET

Meeting ID: 841 9614 5542 Passcode: Universal passcode

The call in number is: 6694449171,,84196145542#,,,,*426098#

CJ opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer and a 2 minute meditation after which the 12 Traditions were read.

Attendance: 10

ISR – not present

GSR – Jessica D., Relapse and Recovery

Trustees – CJ H. – Chair, Kris W.- Sec., Joyce S. – Treas., Shaaron M.- Moderator Liaison, Jessica K.- Website Liaison, Wanda S. – Dashboard Liaison, Lynn C. – P.M. Marathon Liaison

GSAWS Liaison – Debra L.

Listeners – Lori

Meeting attendees identify themselves and give their service position: Trustee, GSR, listener, or person who is carrying their group’s vote.

Motion to accept the May minutes with this correction: A motion was made, seconded and passed to accept the yearly donation and bequest limits of $1,000 and $1,500 respectively.

Motion to accept the March Treasurer’s Report as posted on the www.greysheetmeetings.org website was made, seconded and passed.

Old Business:

From the March tabled discussion of Phone Bridge annual donation limits and bequest limits per person: the suggested donation limit is $1,000.00 per person. The bequest limit is suggested to be $1,500.00 per person. Lori questioned whether this motion passed and it was confirmed that it had passed.
- During the discussion a question was asked from whom we can accept donations. Debra has offered to research this so we tabled this matter (directly after the meeting she sent us an email stating that AA.org states that they accept donations from members only). We then discussed who was a member. Lynn said that you are a member if you say you are a member. After discussion Lynn made a motion to accept donations and bequests from members only. Shaaron seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
GSAWS requested that we consider changing our URL for our website from greysheetmeetings.org to another less confusing address. Our address is not clear that it is for the Phone Bridge only which causes problems for GSAWS, www.greysheet.org, and the Phone Bridge. CJ researched this with our webmaster and received feedback regarding changes including suggestions and costs to be discussed at our June PBIG Meeting. All of this information is in an email that has been sent to all trustees and will be forwarded to our GSRs for discussion in future meetings. CJ read some options for this discussion sent to her by our webmaster that was also forwarded to all Trustees and GSRs.

Here are some of the particulars and considerations:

Purchasing a new URL- These are some of the available names. We are not recommending these, only showing you some options:

GreysheetPhoneBridge
GSAPhoneBridge
GreysheetPhoneMeetings

New connections and email accounts will need to be created. Any connections to emails accounts will need to be updated. Current email accounts include:

All forms will need to be recreated and updated. New links will need to be sent to current members of the news distribution. This means you will need to login and change the URL link within PayPal and MailChimp. This includes these current forms:

Request Phonebridge Number and Pin
Add New Meeting or Change Current Meeting
Contact the Board of Trustees
Donations
Comments for Service Manual Committee
Request Marathon Coordinator Contact Information
Forwarding emails will need to be re-established. Current safety protocols do not allow forwarding to gmail accounts and soon Yahoo. Trustees will either use different email accounts or we may need to create a manual and/ or training video to support trustees ability to check new website email accounts. Current Trustees with forwarding to gmail and Yahoo accounts include:

All of the links on the website will need to be replaced and updated. This may mean that some of the functionality or layouts of the webpages may change due to moving to a new URL.

We estimate this will take approximately 25 hours to complete at your current additional contract rate of $100 an hour or approximately $2,500. Assuming there are no significant changes that may need to be made to the current website pages.

After reading the notes sent to PhoneBridge by GSA, here are some other considerations:

We do not necessarily agree that changing the PhoneBridge URL is the best solution to clear-up any confusion when searching for GSA Meetings. There are many other options, including making the notice on the current website more prominent. This is the message at the top of your Home Page:

This website contains information about Phone Bridge meetings only. For information on other GSA meetings (face-to-face, Zoom, or phone meetings not held on the Phone Bridge line), please go to org.

PhoneBridge is currently serving as an immediate connection for new comers. They do not have to wade through all of the details and many pages on the GSA website. The PhoneBridge will lose the opportunity to serve new comers by changing their established URL.

Lynn made a motion to change our URL to a name that is less confusing, seconded by Kris. Jessica and CJ suggested leaving our website the same but clarifying it by highlighting in bold our statement already on our website: “This website contains information about Phone Bridge meetings only. For information on other GSA meetings (face-to-face, Zoom, or phone meetings not held on the Phone Bridge line), please go to greysheet.org.” and making it a more prominent display. Joyce S., our Treasurer confirmed that if we should vote for these changes, our Treasury can support the $2,500 investment. Debra L., our GSAWS Liaison clarified reasons why some of our suggestions wouldn’t work, instance, changes to GSAWS website (bypassing their contacts and going directly to a link to our website). Concerns rose as to our GSRs needing to field many inquiries from the GSAWS website. Many ways were discussed as to how our Phone Bridge website could more productively ‘link’ with GSAWS website and vise versa. Pros and Cons were discussed of whether or not to make changes and how to accomplish these changes. CJ requested that all Trustees and GSRs familiarize themselves with both websites. This will be discussed further at our July meeting

Recording Marathon Speakers. GSR feedback was a resounding yes! The discussion that followed was how to address anonymity. Jessica (PM Marathon Liaison) took this situation to Joanie (AM Marathon Liaison0 and the proposal is: AM and PM Marathon Coordinators will ask the speaker/leaders if they are willing to be recorded for the GS YouTube Channel. Please note that if the motion passes the PB will need to discuss the specifics with the Southern States Intergroup who are in charge of the channel. To be discussed at the July meeting.
A proposal was made to change our format to read: We do not mention specific foods by name and we only refer to them using generic terms such as sugars, grains, starches and carbohydrates. To be further discussed at our next meeting.

New Business: None.

Announcements:

Lynn C. introduced Jessica D. from Pennsylvania as our new Relapse and Recovery meetings GSR. Thank you Jessica for volunteering for this important position!

GSRs are needed. The Phone Bridge Intergroup and Greysheet World Service need to hear our meeting’s voices.

Our next meeting will be July 14, 2024 at 3 p.m.

If you have additional new business, please e-mail us at phonebridgetrustees@greysheetmeetings.org 2 weeks PRIOR to the IG meeting with any new items you would like to discuss. Only items that affect the Phone Bridge are discussed at the Intergroup level.

Close with the Responsibility Pledge & the “We” version of the Serenity Prayer.

Responsibility Pledge “When anyone, anywhere, realizes they have a problem with food, I want them to think of the GreySheet solution. For that, I am responsible.”

Serenity Prayer