New Zealand Al-Anon General Service Board Newsletter
NZAGSB Newsletter – March 2023
NZASC Theme for 2023: “Moving Forward with Unity, Courage and Perseverance”
Dear Al-Anon and Alateen members
The purpose of this newsletter is to share with you some of the highlights from the Board’s Quarterly Meeting held on 4th & 5th March 2023.
Please enjoy and share these highlights, it is important for the democracy of Al-Anon that our fellow members know what we are working on, and we rely on our service structure for this to happen.
The Board met at the New Zealand Al-Anon General Service Office, Six Board members and a minute taker were present.
NZ Al-Anon General Service Office
NZ Al-Anon General Service Office remains open to Visitors. Volunteers are now regularly attending the office to assist the Office Manager with literature orders and other tasks.
We are always looking for volunteers to help the Office Manager with literature orders and other tasks. Please contact the New Zealand Al-Anon General Service Office to register your interest in participating in this awesome service opportunity. Email office@al-anon.org.nz.
Please remember to check the Al-Anon website for the closure dates of our General Service Office and any Al-Anon Family Group meetings open during public holidays though-out the year.
New Zealand Al-Anon Service Conference June 2023
The NZ Al-Anon Service Conference (NZASC) will be held at St Francis Retreat Centre, Hillsborough, Auckland on 16-18 June 2023. This is reduced to three days with the Conference Task Force getting the preparations underway. Delegate reports are due to the GSO by 20 March to be included in the NZASC Brochure. If an Area does not have a Delegate they may vote and approve to send an observer with voice and no vote, notification to NZAGSO by 31 March, this will enable the Area to be fully informed. Please refer to the NZ Al-Anon – Alateen Service Handbook 2022 page 118.
Alateen
On the 17th of March 2023 there was a International Town Hall meeting to discuss the Alateen electronic groups conceptual process. All international structures were invited to attend.
This is exciting news, and we look forward to sharing more information around this with the fellowship in coming months.
Board Road Trip
The Board is excited to announce that some members of the Board will be doing a road trip to Hamilton on 28th October 2023. A task force has been created and more information regarding this event will be advised over the coming months.
Board Development Day
In our service roles we are always learning and growing. The Board will be having a “Board Development Day” on the 6th of August 2023 around two of our legacies the Traditions and Concepts of Service. A task force has been formed and we are all excited to attend this day.
Literature – Membership Survey
The Board has initiated a membership survey, a draft of which will go to Conference this year. The last membership survey was in 2006 and this survey covers similar questions so information can be compared. The survey will take members a few minutes to complete and provide much valuable information about how members find and come to Al-Anon, who is referring to Al-Anon, and if first meetings were virtual or face-to-face. The Literature Committee has worked on the survey with the help of the Area Seven public outreach coordinator.
AA Convention 2023
The AA Convention held in Christchurch this year was fantastic event. Wonderful venue, great meetings, awesome fundraising table and fabulous fellowship. The Board wishes to thank the Convention Chair and committee for all their hard work that they put in to make this event a success.
Punctuation Corrections
Following the World Service Office decision at the 2019 World Service Conference the following punctuation corrections will be made to our Website, New Zealand Service Handbook and banners moving forward.
- The comma between ‘discussion” and “vote” has been reinstated back into Warranty Three to read: that all decisions be reach by discussion, vote and whenever possible by unanimity.
- Al-Anon and Alateen Tradition Six are punctuated differently but will remain the same.
- The spelling of centres to centers as it is American English in Tradition Eight.
Please note the information below recently received from the World Service Office.
Please use the following language:
By registering as an Al-Anon Family Group with [GSO legal name], a group is granted permission to use the Al-Anon trademarked name and logo without modification for the purposes of Public Outreach as well as AFG, Inc. copyrighted materials for the sole purpose of conducting its meetings. Al-Anon copyrighted materials are limited to:
- Suggested Welcome, Suggested Closing, Suggested Preambles to the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of Service as they are found in the current version of the Al‑Anon/Alateen Service Manual (P-24/27), without alteration or modification.
- Conference Approved Literature (CAL) screenshots or printouts, when accompanied by copyright acknowledgment and limited in scope to content possible to be shared and discussed during one meeting.
This permission is granted for as long as the group continues to hold meetings; remains in compliance with AFG, Inc. intellectual property policies and instructions; refrains from distributing or posting permanently, in a public forum, copyrighted materials; and remains an
permission to use these materials may not be transferred to anyone without prior written approval. The group shall not use the materials in any way that could damage the reputation and goodwill that has been established in the materials.
Board RBM Contact
In the absence of all RBM’s each Board member has been keeping in contact with nominated Delegates on a regular basis to support them and stay informed. To streamline this process Paula B has been nominated to be the Board contact for all Delegates in New Zealand in the interim. The Board wishes to thank Paula for doing this service role.
IAGSM & Regional Board Members nominations
With Conference coming up in June, nominations have now been called for IAGSM and all 3 Regional Board members. These need to be in by the 30th of April. If you wish to join us on the New Zealand Al-Anon Service Board, please complete and submit a Board Profile Form which can be found in the Members section on our website.
Thank you for taking the time to be informed.
Yours in Service,
New Zealand Al-Anon Service Board
INTERNATIONAL AL-ANON EVENTS
2023 – Al-Anon Family Group International Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 29 June-2 July 2023
2023 – World Service Conference on 20-23 April in Virginia Beach
Progress, Not Perfection – together we can make it
Past Board Newsletters
NZAGSB Newsletter March 2023 – Current newsletter
NZAGSB Newsletter September 2022
NZAGSB Newsletter June 2022
NZAGSB Interim Newsletter April 2022
NZAGSB Newsletter March 2022
NZAGSB Newsletter Sept 2021
NZAGSB Newsletter June 2021