August  Intergroup Minutes

GREATER CHICAGO/MILWAUKEE SLAA INTERGROUP Agenda for August 24,, 2024 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM 

Name, Home Group, Intergroup Position

Caitlyn, Ravenswood Fellowship Group, Inreach Chair, ABM Delegate

Hannah K, Ravenswood Fellowship Group, Fiduciary Committee

Chris, Ravenswood Fellowship Group, Facilitation Chair

Abby, RFG, Tuesday Keep Coming Back, Summer Retreat Co-chair, Website facilitator, ABM Delegate, IG Rep

Anthony, Tuesday Keep Coming Back, ABM Delegate, Inreach Vice-Chair

Burke, 12x12 Living in the Solution, Events Co-Chair

Chris V, Sunday Night Women’s Meeting, Fall Gathering Co-Chair

Ryan, Tuesday Night Priceless Gift of Sobriety, Newsletter Editor

Zane, Ravenswood Fellowship Group, Fiduciary Chair

Trevor, Ravenswood Fellowship Group, Summer Retreat Co-chair

Crystal, Ravenswood Fellowship Group, SLAA Member

Dave Sch, Friday/Sunday Beverly Serenity MeetingsIG Rep 

Larry, Saturday Morning Grace Episcopal Meeting IG Rep

Tony, Tuesday Priceless Gift of Sobriety, IG Rep

Victor, Saturday 12x12 Living in the Solution, IG Rep

Andrew, Saturday 12x12 Living in the Solution, Events Co-Chair

READINGS & INTRODUCTIONS (10 Minutes) 

• Prayer for a Trusted Servant 

• Traditions 

• Introductions (name, group affiliation and position) 

• Greater Chicago/Milwaukee SLAA IG Statement of Purpose 

• Review Agenda 

• Concept 9 - Zane, September Concept 10 - Ryan

Facilitation (5 Minutes) 

• General Report: Chris 

  • Approve Minutes: July minutes approved 

    • Chris to add Chris V, Victor, Dave Sch. to the distribution list

  • Website Facilitation: Abby 

    • Web Facilitation: 

      • Sunday Spanish meeting added? Meeting is added to the website, need to update the name.

      • Special Projects: 

        • Drop Down Menu Project Zane and Abby to meet, still need a second website facilitator

        • Google Drive Access and Privacy- Chris Found the original policy, will be writing up a new version but won’t change significantly, the main change will be asking personal information be stored on their personal drive and deleted right after. Chris has removed files that have personal information from the drive and will delete the information or files completely if no longer needed. Policy will be circulated shortly. Personal info will be kept for 1) event mailing lists 2) newsletters 3)  permissions list for google drive 4) IG google group membership list

        • Personal information - name, email address, phone number

        • Officers to discuss if we should have all google files viewable (not editable) to anyone vs only limiting certain files/folders for viewable access (minutes, fiduciary, etc) 

Fiduciary (5 Minutes)

• General Treasurer Report: Zane 

  • August Report approved

  • 1 retreat payment registered Venmo as fraudulent, $330 that was suspended, an appeal was submitted

  • Prudent reserve includes future retreat first checks (submitted before payments have been collected) and 2 years of retreat deposits.

  • Do we include a line item for hosting ABM?

  • Request for final retreat financials before next month’s meeting

• New debit cards received 

• Report Financials: General 

• Q and A 

OutReach (5 Minutes) 

● General Report: Ian W Continuing to answer emails/phone calls, no updates from Kimmy, still working on direct asks for speakers

○ Inreach/Outreach team up - outreach to far suburban meetings 

○ SLAA Speakers for Treatment Centers - direct asks 

○ Q and A 

Inreach General Report (25 Minutes) 

• General Report: Caitlyn K 

  • Newsletter Report (Production Editor Ryan W) September Theme, “Faith without works is dead” deadline is September 21st

    • Other announcements to be included: Fall Gathering, 2025 Summer Retreat Save the Date

    • Outreach around newsletter, get people sign up

  • Summer Retreat 2024 

    • Brief report 38 participants, 5 people with scholarships. Positive feedback so far, will be sending out the official survey after the meeting for more feedback. The relationship with DeKoven and Jennifer is very positive.

    • 2025 Summer Retreat: August 14-17, 2025 - Abby to add dates for 2025/2026

      • We have the form to sign up, we would like to include the sign up form in with the survey. Can we offer an incentive to get people to sign up early? Discount off price or deposit? Do not send out a price yet

      • Feedback on the business meeting - do we do 2 vs the 1 at the end where we had less people attend; showing up is part of recovery and helpful for people to sign up. Request to look at retreat guide for guidance around issues in gender/housing

      • Literature for Intergroup Events

    • Financials report to come next month - co report with financial chair 

      • Both co-chairs and fiduciary chair to separately review financials and reconcile, be clear what the rollover is for 2025 

  • Event Coordinator: Burke and Andrew C 

    • Movie Night in Oak Park, Saturday August 24. afternoon - 2pm to 4:30 pm Oak Park is covering the rental fee (Thank you Oak Park!) Switching to in-kind donations

      • Event guide - proposed budget to the Intergroup, no budget sent to the Intergroup for this event, request for budgets to be sent out prior to events

    • Looking ahead at another event for December, more to come!

    • Q and A 

  • Fall Gathering 

    • Save the dates are ready, digital blasts to be coming out this week, registration link is open, going to meetings to make direct asks. Going to Milwaukee to engage the meeting and look for a speaker. 

    • Theme: A new freedom and a new happiness.

    • Will partner with Chris S to sign the contract.

    • Date: October 26, 2024

    • Budget will be sent to Fiduciary for approval, will send to google group for officer vote.

    • Sign up form asks people to “opt-in” for future communications.

    • Election of co chair- Chris V voted as new co-chair

    • Progress update 

  • Inreach to our zoom meetings and previously in person meetings - gathering contact information

Annual Business Meeting Delegates (25 min)

• ABM Delegates: Anthony, caitlyn, Abby, Cristian 

  • Brief report on ABM Written report to come; 73 voting members, 7 items were discussed/voted on, 25% of the agenda

  • Fiduciary report will be sent out, concern that contributions are down, need to maintain % of donations to keep non-profit status

  • Potential for Valparaiso as a convention site. 

New Business (5 min.) As Possible 

● Intergroup Representatives Feedback 

SUGGESTED ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR MEETING REPS: 

• Submissions to newsletter - September theme: “Faith without works is dead” due September 21st

• SLAA Summer Retreat August 14-17, 2025

• Fall Gathering October 26, 2024 

• Subscribe to the newsletter on the slaachicago website 

• Encourage donations to IG via Venmo (@Augustine-Fellowship) 

• Please submit Meeting Updates via the Meeting Update Function on the Website (reopening, etc.) 

Proposed Next Meeting: September 21, 2024 

8:00am – 9:15 am 

Hybrid both In-Person (preferred) and OnLine (Zoom ID Above) 

3326 N Ashland Ave. 

Visit us at www.slaachicago.org 

Higher Power, 

We ask your guidance in carrying out this work in service to the Fellowship. Relieve us of the burdens of our egos and perfectionism. 

Grant us the grace of humility. 

Remind us to place principles before personalities. 

Help us to focus only on the greater good of the group. 

Let us know that we are responsible only for doing the leg work, not the outcome. Give us the faith to trust in You and the Group Conscience. 

And grant us the serenity to accept the things we can not change the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference.