GSA Phone Bridge Intergroup Meeting
Intergroup Meeting Minutes January 2021
January 10, 2021; 3-4 pm EST; 712-432-5229; 4320188#
“This we owe to GSA’s future; to place our common welfare first, to keep our Fellowship united. For on GSA unity depend our lives, and the lives of those to come.”
Opened at 3:00 pm with the Unity Pledge (above), Serenity Prayer and reading of the 12 Traditions.
Attendance: 8-10 GSRs, 2 proxies (members who are not GSRs but who were asked by their groups to represent them at the IG meeting); 5 PBIG Trustees (Kathleen, Phyllis, Cathy, Debra, Eunice), and 6-8 listeners
Meeting led by: Phone Bridge Reporting Treasurer Cathy B.
Minutes taken by: Kristin from NJ
MOTION made, seconded, and passed: to approve the minutes from our October 11, 2020 meeting with one correction regarding closing time of the meeting.
MOTION made, seconded, and passed: to approve the most recent (November 2020) treasurer’s report as posted on the website.
Brief Announcements
- INFORMATION: The trustees are currently looking to fill one remaining position on our Board: someone willing to become the Chairperson in 2021. For more information contact the trustees at: phonebridgetrustees@greysheetmeetings.org. GSRs should continue to make this announcement at their group’s business meetings and this announcement can also be made at any meeting.
- Kathleen has stepped down as PB Chairperson as of January 2021, but she is willing to continue as the Intergroup ISR until the WSC (October 17, 2021 via Zoom). However, in the meantime she would not be able to fulfill any other obligations except to prepare for WSC. Is that OK with members?
Discussion of the option to have others help Kathleen to meet all the obligations (about 5 meetings per month for all ISRs). Perhaps proxies could attend some of these meetings.
Questions about the ISR position and that people were not aware the position was open, members did not hear the opening announced. Cathy acknowledged that was an oversight; the Chairperson position had been announced, but not the ISR position. This omission occurred due to confusion about the Chair/ISR positions: in fact, they are two separate positions, but when WSC happened in 2019 Kathleen volunteered to be the ISR in addition to being the PB Chair. Mary P-H said she might be interested in taking on the position of ISR but needs to learn more about it; is there information on the website? (It is not listed currently since there was no PB ISR position prior to the 2019 WSC but Trustees will make sure the position and description is added). Kathleen offered to inform Mary about the position and gave her phone number.
Kathleen said that in the meantime she is willing to continue until WSC and consider others to help. Motion was made to approve Kathleen as the ISR through the WSC, seconded, and passed.
Old Business
- At October meeting, the 2021 slate of PB Board of Trustees and 2021 PB Budget was provided to GSRs to bring to their meetings for a vote. All GSRs except two reported that the motions had passed. One GSR was new and not aware of the motion so we directed her to the website and her group will vote at their next business meeting. Another GSR had a question about the budget, which was answered by Kathleen; that GSR will bring that response to the group at their next business meeting. There were also several more questions about the budget, which were addressed by the Trustees.
- Status of new Relapse/Recovery meeting, at midnight on Friday, that was started by Steve from Chicago in summer 2020. At October IG meeting Steve requested to have the meeting listed on the PB meetings list. Concerns expressed at IG mtg about rotation of service and how many members would actually attend; both issues were the reasons that past 1 AM PB meetings had been discontinued. Motion was shelved until next IG meeting.
Steve and Mary P-H have since then started two additional R/R meetings at midnight (Monday and Saturday) and are each leading one of these three meetings rotating along with another member. They will announce need for volunteers to rotate service. Attendance has been as many as 30 people. The motion was made and seconded and passed to allow all three meetings to be listed on the Phone Bridge website.
Other Business
- Secretary position: Cathy asked if someone would take notes at the meeting since there is no one doing the Secretary job. This PB Board of Trustees position was not filled in 2020 so the Chair or other member took notes and wrote the minutes for each of the four IG meetings in 2020. Question at meeting as to why there was no Secretary, because it is listed as a Trustees position on the website. Shouldn’t the position be announced at meetings so someone can be recruited? There was no conclusion made but it is something that the Trustees can discuss at next week’s PB Trustees meeting.
- The 2021 World Service Conference will be held virtually via Zoom on Sunday, October 17, 2021. It is a 5.5 hour long conference. Registration for GSRs is $100 and can be made at greysheet.org.
- Cathy reminded everyone that the Trustees can be contacted with questions or comments at phonebridgetrustees@greysheetmeetings.org.
Business tabled until January, was not covered at January meeting so tabled for April meeting:
- Discussion of adding a page to our website on the history of the Phone Bridge Intergroup.
- Discussion of announcing the GS Daily Reflections workshops. [these workshops are not currently being held]
- Using the newly adopted GSA Responsibility Pledge rather than the AA Responsibility Pledge. (AA Responsibility Pledge is at the bottom of these minutes. GS World Service has recently adopted the following Responsibility Pledge specific to GSA: “When anyone, anywhere, realizes they have a problem with food I want them to think of the GreySheet solution, and for that I am responsible. “This needs to be approved by PB groups)
Next Trustee Meeting will be January 17, 2020 at 5-6 PM on the IG line – focus will be PB Trustees roles and responsibilities. [This meeting delayed due to scheduling conflicts and was held on January 24]
Next Intergroup meeting is Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 3 PM EST. All are welcome.
Closed at 4:05 pm with the Responsibility Pledge and the “We” version of the Serenity Prayer.
“I am responsible…when anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help I want the hand of GSA always to be there. And for that – I am responsible.”