December Newsletter
Dear Members,
The purpose of this newsletter is to share with you some of the highlights from the NZ Al-Anon General Service Board’s (NZAGSB) Quarterly Meeting held on 2nd to 3rd March 2024.
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.
We are facing serious challenges in the fellowship and we have taken the opportunity to consider these in the recent bi-annual appeal letter. We are asking everyone to look at stepping into service, no service is too small, set up a meeting, chairing a meeting, talking to a newcomer, doing some public outreach or service at the Area level and beyond and importantly, service provides new opportunities for growth.
The Board is excited to welcome Sally-ann M, who is joining the Board as a Board Member. We look forward to working alongside Sally-ann in the coming year as we continue to grow the Board.
At the Board level we are seeking members to potentially fill the Southern, Northern and Central Regional Board Members and General Secretary roles.
Alateen
It continues to be a focus for the NZAGSB to foster growth in Alateen and it has been great to see members responding.
One of the quickest and best ways to kick off is to ensure there is an Alateen meeting available at any AA Assemblies with Al-Anon Participation, we are encouraging Areas to look at having everything ready for the next AA event with Al-Anon participation.
Remember to put your “horses before the cart” – have you got AMIAS and an advertised meeting time and space?
Board Road Trip
The Board had the first Board Road Trip on the 24 February 2024 in Tamahere. The NZAGSB were delighted to see so many come out to the day with attendees from Areas Four, Five, Seven, Eight and Six (of course). There was a total of 46 attendees with lots of great participation and questions around service at all levels, plus lovely personal sharing’s. It was great to come out and meet with old and new friends and renew links in our service structure.
We would like to thank the Taskforce for planning and hosting this day they worked hard to make it a success for everyone.
The Board will be reviewing this day and looking at the possibility of running similar days in the future.
Public Outreach
The primary focus for the 2024 year has been set at utilising the existing social media channels (eg community Facebook groups and Neighbourly) with anonymous posts of either the road sign or the bottle images from the website. This is an easy piece of service, have you considered getting your group to look into doing it in your group?
2024 AA Convention with Al-Anon/Alateen participation
The New Zealand 61st AA Convention with Al-Anon / Alateen participation for 19-21 January 2024 in Havelock North, Hawkes Bay was a fantastic event with 65 registered Al-Anon members attending. It was hosted by a committee headed up in Hawkes Bay who worked hard to make a warm and welcoming event at a stunning venue. The merchandise was excellent, and it was good to see AA members slipping into the room to get a different flavour of recovery as did some of our members.
The Board is very grateful to the entire committee for all the work they put into the weekend and looks forward to seeing them at the next convention.
A big thank you to all the members who donated funds for Alateens to attend Convention. We were fortunate to have one Alateen attend. The balance of the funds will be held for those Alateens who wish to attend future AA Conventions with Al-Anon/Alateen participation.
The next 62nd AA Convention with Al-Anon /Alateen participation will be held in 17-19 January 2025, in Waitangi, Bay of Islands, time to start saving for the next major boost in your recovery.
NZ Al-Anon Service Conference 2024
The March 2024 Board meeting was very focussed on the preparations for the NZ Al-Anon Service Conference on from 13-16 June 2024 in Auckland. All delegates have been asked to book their travel and contact NZAGSO for reimbursement.
Don’t forget you want to be thinking about sending a card to your Delegates at Conference – these need to be with NZAGSO by 1 June 2024 to make sure you delegate will receive them in time.
World Service Office (WSO)
A final note the World Service Office (WSO) have started a new initiative of Global Gatherings. These are electronic meetings with specific topics for anyone to attend and submit questions to the WSO to support international structures (like ours!), these are recorded. There have been two so far and they have been very revealing and interesting. As more of these are expected to be scheduled, we will let you know they are coming up so that you may attend – watch out for it in the NZ Al-Anon News.
Thank you for taking the time to be informed.
Yours in Service,
New Zealand Al-Anon Service Board
Progress, Not Perfection – together we can make it.
NZAGSB Newsletter March 2024 – Current Newsletter