MANGE BULLETIN OTES ON ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLDWIDE

Volume

6

Published by General Service Office of A.A., P. 0. Box 459, Grand Central Station, New York 17 INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIPTION $1 A YEAR

Number

September, 1961

AN INVITATION To out-of-town members, families, and friends who may be in New York City for Bill W,’s anniversary dinner on September 30th, there is a reception before the dinner at the Astor Hotel from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. You are cordially invited to be there. Bill and Lois will be on hand to greet you. GSO Staff Members and Board Trustees will be looking forward to meeting you. We regret there isn’t room for all, but of necessity the invitation must be limited to members outside the New York Metropolitan area. We hope to see many of you there.

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A NEW ALL-GERMAN GROUP1

From Walt B,, in Munich: “Dear Ann: As I wrote you, I attend both the American and German A.A. Group meetings in Munich. Until recently I had thought the all-German A.A. Group here was the only one of its kind in existence. But the secretary of this group recentlyreceived notice that a similar group had been founded in Karlsruhe. This was important news to all of us. So Max, Richard, Harry and Willi of the Munich all-German Group, and Chuck and I from the American Group here lost no time in arranging to drive up to one of their Saturday night meetings. “We made the trip last week’end. Needless to say, our arrival caused quite a sensation. This was the first visit between two all-German A.A. groups, There were seven regular members of the Karlsruhe present, although they have had as many as twenty. Our visit was a surprise to them and they treated us royally, “After the Saturday night meeting we talked until 2 a.m., met for breakfast on Sunday, and kept talking until noon when we had to return to Munich I think a great deal was accomplished. They were very happy to get the literature we brought, including the one German translation you had sent roe. We also left a German translation of a stateside A.A. talk. They apparently have been having difficulty in corresponding with your office and they haven’t had much guidance. You can address this group care of Heinz K. “Well, that’s thirty for now, Sincerely,” (Thanks, Walt, The Karlsruhe all-German Group is now registered with GSO,)

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INSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE SURVEY

In June, GSO mailed a questionnaire to Institutional Committees throughout A.A. and now has, for the first time, valuable information on the composition, operation and services of these committees. The returns were excellent more than 140 replies and Eve, who handled this service then, added 16 new committees to our GSO listing. From the new information, mimeographed material, ’Suggestions for Institutional Committees’’, has been prepared and is now available for any group or individual who is interested in this special type of sponsorship. Just write Beth, who is now on the Institutional Desk, and she’ll be glad to send it to you. The survey revealed a general ignorance of the fact that GSO has 3 discount literature packages for Institutional groups. (One package is for groups in hospitals, one for groups in men’s prisons, and the third for groups in women’s prisons. The pam phlets in each package have been carefully selected with the special needs in mind. If you’d like to know exactly what each one contains, we have a sheet listing the contents and will be glad to send it to you.) These packages are priced at $3.00 each and contain approximately forty pamphlets which are regularly listed at $4.50. In addition, each package can be combined with a special Grapevine subscription for only $6. ($6.50 in all countries outside U.S. and possessions, and Canada,) When ordering be sure to give the name and address of the institutional group that’s to receive the package. Many Committees reported that Al-Anon Family Groups are cooperating and helping the families of inmates and patients gain a better understanding of A.A. This, of course, is very helpful when the member is released and goes back home.

NEW NAVY GROUP

From Clyde, U.S,S, SIERRA, Norfolk, Virginia – “Most of the time our ship stays here in port. She seldom goes to sea. Several other Navy A.A.’s and I are starting a group here in the Navy Yard, With the Chaplain’s assistance we have obtained permission from the Commanding Officer to use a quonset hut, located on the pier, as a meeting place. This group will be of service to some twenty to thirty ships which are in port, off and on, for repairs. The group will meet Mondays at twelve noon. We will appreciate what literature you can send us and all the information necessary to help us get started.” (The group is now listed and has received the complimentary package of literature which is sent to all new groups.)

FROM THE A.A. GRAPEVINE – The GV has received several good articles from overseas members which arrived too late for inclusion in the October International issue, The editors have long wished to have more overseas contributors and are grateful for these dividends, The GV staff hopes in time to be able to print at least one full length article each month from one of A. A, Is family overseas. The idea of giving gift subscriptions to non-A. A. friends (ministers, priests, doctors, librarians and so forth) has caught on with individual A,A,’s. Since the first of the year, 350 gift subscriptions have been sent by individuals to these outside friends -more than ever in the history of the GV. FULL CUP From Jesse C., Lone Pine, California: “Last month the youngest of my four kids came with her husband and spent three days with me. I hadn’t seen her since she was five years old. When she left she said, ’Daddy, I am so glad we came to see you. You are a different person from what I had been told’. The other two girls and their husbands have been here with their kids, too. My only son has phoned that he would like to come here deer hunting this fall. As the Good Book says, ’My cup runnith over.’ Me believe in A. A.? Well, you guess,”

GENERAL SERVICE CONFERENCE NEW

The 1962 General Service Conference will be held April 25 29, 1962, at the Hotel Roosevelt, New York City. We welcome three new Delegates who have been selected to service during 19621963: ALASKA Vic K.

MISSISSIPPI – John E.

WESTERN NEW YORK – Maynard A.

A GSR REPORTS

DRUID HILL GROUP, Baltimore, Md. – “Dear Friends: We received our edition of the Exchange Bulletin at the most opportune time this month. It arrived yesterday morning and last night, at the Harlem Park Group meeting, Tom H., Maryland Delegate to the General Service Conference, showed some very interesting color slides of the Conference last April, including a guided tour of GSO. The slides were excellent because they showed how the General Service Office operates. “As General Service Representative for the Druid Hill Group, I think the new leaflet, ’What Happens When You Put $3.00 in the Hat for GSO’ sums the whole thing up very well. As you may know, it is not an easy job to get money from us ex-drunks. But between Tom’s slides and these leaflets I think we can do a little better. “I would like to request 25 copies of this leaflet for our group and I am sure they will help boost our kitty for GSO, “Our group is growing so fast at the present time it is hard to keep up with the names of the newcomers.”

CONTRIBUTIONS TO GSO from SPECIAL A. A. MEETINGS and AT A. COMMITTEES 7/15/61 CALIFORNIA GEORGIA IOWA NEW JERSEY NEW YORK

PENNSYLVANIA

8/4/61

Manhattan Beach – Class of 51 Georgia State Assembly Council Bluffs Groups New Jersey All State Convention Central New York Area Conference Hudson-Mohawk-Berkshire Area Groups that meet at The Alanon House, N. Y. Cooks Forest Conference

$ 15,00 38,83 10,00 140.00 200,00 50,00 12.00 50,00

September is the customary time for rotating Staff assignments. This year all six of us undertake new services and new areas of group corre spondence. Here’s the pic ture for the coming year:

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COORDINATOR

Group Relations ,Director AA World Services,Sec’ty GSB and GSC Policy Committees,As s tt Sec tty of GSB,Group Correspondence: Southern U.S.

1962 WORLD DIRECTORY AND GROUP RECORDS

Sec’ty, GSB Finance and Budgetary Committee .GSC Finance Committee .Group Correspondence: Western U.S. (including Alaksa and Hawaii) and Western Canada >

M Avin

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INSTITUTIONAL SERVICES Hospital and Prison Services. Internationalists and Internation alist Bulletin.Sec’ty, GSB and GSC Literature Committees ,Group Corres pondence: New England and Eastern Canada

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OVERSEAS SERVICES PUBLIC INFORMATION SERVICE ’0 Overseas Group CorresSec’ty, GSB Public Information pondence,Spanish BulleCommittee and GSC Committee on tin and Spanish CorresRelations with Outside Agencies. pondence,Loners and AA Exchange Bulletin,Group Cor Hazel Loners Sponsors,Loners respondence: Michigan, Ohio, Meeting Bulletin Pennsylvania and Wisconsin 1962 GENERAL SERVICE CONFERENCE Sec sty, AA World Services,Secty Conference Committees-Agenda, Admissions, Report and Charter and Trustees.Secty, Nominating Committee of GSB Group Correspondence: North Central U.S.

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