Greater Chicago/Milwaukee SLAA Intergroup

Meeting Minutes- Saturday, December 20, 2023

8:00AM - 9:15 AM

In Person and Zoom (Hybrid): NTAC 3326 N. Ashland 

Name, Home Group, Position

Hannah K, RFG, Fiduciary Chair

Zane,RFG, Co-Website Facilitator

Caitlyn K, RFG, Inreach Chair, ABM Delegate, Intergroup Rep

Abby, RFG/Tuesday KCB, Co-Website Facilitator

Christie, Friday Night Into Action, Retreat Co-Chair

Ryan, Tuesday PGS, Newsletter co-editor

Simon, Thursday Noon, Member

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

Jeremy, RFG, Fall Gathering Co-Chair

Dave, RFG, Newsletter Co-Editor

Dave Sch, Friday/Sunday Beverly Serenity, Intergroup Rep

Pat, Friday Night Into Action, Intergroup Rep

Trevor, RFG, Events Co-Chair

Anthony, Tuesday KCB, Vice Chair Inreach, ABM Delegate

Chris, RFG, Facilitation Chair

Jim, 12x12 Living in the Solution, Intergroup Rep

Larry R, Saturday Oak Park, Intergroup Rep

Andrew, 12x12 Living in the Solution, SLAA Member

Cecilia, Oak Park Sunday 5:30pm, Intergroup Rep

Ian, RFG, Tuesday KCB, Outreach Chair

Lauren, RFG, SLAA Member

Nathan H, RFG, Tuesday KCB, Intergroup Rep

Papa, RFG, Vice-fiduciary Chair

READINGS & INTRODUCTIONS (12 Minutes) 

• Prayer for a Trusted Servant 

• Traditions 

• Introductions (name, group affiliation and position) 

• Greater Chicago/Milwaukee SLAA IG Statement of Purpose 

• Review Agenda 

• Concept 2: Hannah K  February Meeting - Concept 3 - Caitlyn K

Voting Member: Elected Officers, IG Reps, those holding IG positions

Facilitation (5 Minutes.) 

• General Report: Chris 

  • Approve Minutes: December Minutes Approved 

  • Website Facilitation: Zane, Abby 

    • Web Facilitation:  

    • New permanent page for SLAA Summer Retreat Will work with new co-chairs to continue this work with 

    • Drop Down Menu Project Made some progress, the list that was being used had a lot of mistakes so Zane/Abby will be checking the list before continuing with the external page

  • Special Projects: 

    • Intergroup Position Responsibilities (Review All Positions and Edit/Add ABM Delegate and Event Coordinator positions) send to board (treasurer, inreach, facilitation chair) This is done, Hannah to be shared with the IG for final approval.

    • Trevor/Hannah/Anthony - event coordinator position description This is done, can be removed from next agenda.

    • New IG Reps to be added to distro list - Chris

Fiduciary (5 Minutes) 

• General Treasurer Report: Hannah Chair/Treasurer, Papa vice chair 

• December Report Approval December and January reports have been sent out; simplified approach is working with all; December financial report has $1400 in income but only $300 in income details in the email, Hannah and Caitlyn looking into what to $1,100 is coming from; Hannah and Papa to look into December income and handle approval via email.

• January income and expenses to be looked at again, starting vs ending balances seem off

• Events - Events are self supporting and not fundraisers, is there a way to have these be more fundraising events than just self supporting (last event netted $5). Prior focus was on connection vs raising money.

• Request to break out money for the retreat to see if underwriting the cost is possible again to make it more affordable and offer more scholarships. Hannah to work with retreat and events co-chair. Insight from outside retreat showed price resistance at $365.

• ABM costs will be reduced this year, can we repurpose some of the prudent reserve to the summer retreat.

• Do we ensure that all meetings know or are doing a 40/60 split? Of excess money of prudent reserve, 60% goes to the local Intergroup and 40% goes to FWS.

• $1228.67 is the summer retreat cash rollover from 2023, after the retreat deposit has been paid.

• Fiduciary -need to store reports on the drive. Chris to work with Anthony

• Report Financials: General

• Q and A

OutReach (5 Minutes) 

• General Report: Ian W 

  • Inreach/Outreach team up - outreach to far suburban meetings Ongoing project, great to see more IG reps here today.

  • SLAA Speakers for Suncloud Working on a core document with a list of speakers that are ready for speaking at Suncloud, working to have this ready by next IG; will ease things with both us and Suncloud. After this, looking to talk about other Outreach opportunities.

  • Ongoing issues with meeting’s zoom links? Intergroup zoom link? Sean M and Anthony are still receiving google voice calls from Outreach number; Ian to work with Chris on this.

  • Q and A 

Inreach General Report (10 Minutes) 

• General Report: Caitlyn K

  • Newsletter Report (Production Editor Dave S, Ryan W) February newsletter theme is “Came to Believe” and is due Feb 15th; add list of emails for new IG reps to list, add new summer retreat page. Estimated 1 week between sending out draft and approving/publishing. Newsletter uses minutes from prior month’s meeting

  • Dave to transition off of newsletter committee, will finish term ending in March

  • Update on Group Reps including suburban/oak park groups

  • Summer Retreat 2024 - proposed co retreat chair - Trevor Majority voted in favor, Trevor elected as retreat co-char.

    • Trevor and Christie to set up time registration will go live, cost needs to be determined, work with Hannah/Papa

    • Fall Gathering Post Event Report: Abby, Jeremy - ongoing search for female co-chair

    • Update FG Guide - Anthony Anthony to work with Jeremy, Trevor, Abby, and Caitlyn to get finished up

    • Q and A 

  • Event Coordinator: Trevor 

    • Event Coordinator Position Description - sent and reviewed? Done, can be removed from agenda

    • Event/s Proposed - 

    • Upcoming Events (In the works) 

    • Q and A 

    • Fellows Giving Event Recap:

      • Over 45 attendees

      • Income: $225 donations

      • Net expenses: $219

      • Net income: $5.09

      • Overall positive feedback on the lead and event

    • Valentine’s Day Event:

      • Ask IG reps to announce

      • Saturday February 10th, Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church

      • Event is closed

      • Main dish will be provided by IG, the rest is potluck

      • Budget to be sent out for IG for approval - Trevor and Burke to send via email

  • Sponsorship workshop (tabled) 

Annual Business Meeting Delegates (25 min) 

• ABM Delegates: Anthony and Caitlyn, 2023 ABM Delegates 

  • SLAA Life Saver Program Abby/Zane to look at adding this to the website, maybe under the donations section

  • Additional Delegate Search. Testing of Dekoven for 2025 ABM Bid/2024 ABM meeting. 

    • Online ABM this year. 

    • Bid for Chicago 2026: cost effective plan and plenty of service needed.

    • Looking to have ABM delegates get together for virtual ABM, looking at DeKoven as potential spot, would give us a chance to look at DeKoven’s capabilities of hosting ABM for our bid in 2025/2026

    • Anthony/Caitlyn to bring proposal of cost to have delegates be together at DeKoven or other location for 2024 ABM

    • Looking to add at least 2 more delegates, dates are August 8-10 2024

    • Min of 10 people needed for hosting 2025 ABM

    • Basic Text Revisions - concern with the level of revisions, will look to regroup on this to express our concerns

Old Business (10 min.) 

• Advisory Vote on the question: “Do we delist the meeting discussed last month?” Please see previous two emails from recovery12.service@gmail.com for a summary of last month’s discussion and the nature of this vote. 

• Advisory Vote: In favor: 10, abstain: 2, opposed: 8 - substantial unanimity is not met

• The vote is to delist the meeting as it is currently listed; the request was to have the meeting take a second group conscience, the vote will be taken under advisement in conjunction with the request to the group

New Business (10 min.) As Possible 

• Intergroup Representatives Feedback 

SUGGESTED ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR MEETING REPS: 

• Submissions to newsletter - February Theme: “Came to Believe”

  • Deadline for Submissions: February 15th

• 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: February 17, 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