​The meeting was convened at 8:00 a.m.

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 7 lead by Zane​​

  • Concept 7 7/18/26 “The Articles of Incorporation and the By-Laws of the
    Fellowship are legal instruments, empowering the trustees to manage and
    conduct world service affairs. Although the Conference Charter is a legal
    document; it also relies on tradition and the power of the S.L.A.A. purse for final
    effectiveness.”

  • Zane W: Zane said this concept draws from Tradition 2, which
    states there is one authority, which is God as God may be expressed in our
    group conscience. Guided by this one authority, the purse, that is, money, is
    granted to or withdrawn from the trustees by members and groups. While this
    does not diminish the trustees’ legal authority, the S.L.A.A. purse does affect the
    range or effectiveness of their actions.

  • Concept 8 8/15/26 Dave Sch reconfirmed  (The GCMSI meeting date was changed, as per motion below).

  • Concept 9 9/19/26 Tim L volunteered

Facilitation (10 Minutes.) 

• General Report: Caitlyn​​

• June 20, 2026 Minutes: No discussion. Approved 12 ayes, 0 nays.
  ○ August Intergroup Meeting – The GCMSI Summer Retreat will take place from
  Thursday, August 13 to Sunday, August 16, 2026. Caitlyn proposed a motion to
  schedule the GCMSI monthly meeting to the following Saturday, August 22. The
  motion passed, 12 ayes, 0 nays.
  ○ FWS Intergroup Forum – https://fws.slaafws.org/gigforum26/
  ■ 7/25 9-11 AM CST
  ■ 7/26 1:30-3:30 AM CST
  Caitlyn reported that SLAA FWS encourages all Group Reps and IG Officers to
  attend a listening session on one of the above days and times to hear about
  important decisions that will be considered at the ABM this August 6 to 9. She
  said at the forum there will be an opportunity for group and intergroup members
  from the worldwide fellowship to share a bit of news from their areas.
  o Permanent website page for summer retreat Caitlyn reported along with Abby H
  that they would like to invite discussion about a stand-alone GCMSI Summer
  Retreat website. One motivation for this is that we are required by the Dekoven
  Center to set a date for the retreat two years in advance (our 2027 Summer
  Retreat is August 19-22, 2027), so why not have this published on a separate
  website along with interesting and helpful information about the DeKoven Center
  retreat site? Caitlyn and Abby ask us to gather our ideas for a possible new
  website to share with GCMSI.
  S.L.A.A. Member Survey 2025 Results https://slaafws.org/s2025r/ This is an
  analysis of the 2025 survey of Augustine Fellowship members around the world.
  Caitlyn encouraged GCMSI officers and IG reps to read it. Likewise, Caitlyn
  recommended that we talk to other group members, encouraging them to read it.
  o Website - Tim
   Drop down menu project Tim withdrew a motion proposing to skip a
  report to the membership that GCMSI has installed a drop-down feature
  for meetings allowing searches by location (including an interactive map),
  day, time of day and meeting type (in person, remote or hybrid) after
  other GCMSI members described some of the new, practical ways they
  have used it. Dave said he wanted to use an announcement to
  acknowledge the members who put many hours in service to get the
  feature installed. Tim led a discussion on how a report or announcement
  could be done. He favored an announcement of some length in the
  GCMSI newsletter, “The Great Fact.” Tim made remarks on the online
  effectiveness of promoting the retreat using Mailchimp. He said the
  “open” rate was about twenty percent and the click-through rate was
  about half of what is usually expected. Zane joined the discussion to
  assure us that the privacy of recipients’ email addresses is first in
  importance. Even though email is private, Tim asked if it is the most
  effective way to reach the membership. What other media, even social
  media, may be effective while safeguarding the anonymity of each
  member?

​

Fiduciary (10 Minutes)

• General Treasurer Report: Chase & Zane

  • ​Chase said that GCMSI deposited a check for $4,610.00 received from payments and donations to the 2026 Summer Retreat on July 16th, after its registration deadline (now extended, see below). He said the deposit of this money will be recorded in the August 2026 Greater Chicago Milwaukee S.L.A.A. Intergroup Treasury Report. Zane explained that this money will be used in pre-payment
    for the 2027 Summer Retreat because the 2026 retreat has already been expensed,
    according to our accounting practices and the Dekoven Center rules for booking.

• July Fiduciary report Chase said he is still waiting to get a debit card issued for his use
  as our fiduciary. There seems to be carryover of accounts from previous GCMSI
  Fiduciary officers owning the Venmo account, Zane said. This is a requirement of
  Venmo customers, he explained, and will be fixed. Chris S. commented that even
  though a previous account with Google pay has been discontinued, we need to look into
  that too, to protect both privacy and security.

• Report Financials: General​

  • ​A motion to approve the July 2026 financials passed, 11 ayes, 0 nays, 1 abstention.

​

OutReach (10 Minutes)​

• General Report: Hannah K & Trevor V

  • ​Hannah K reported a heavier than usual number of emails. Most dealt with the Summer Retreat and were forwarded to Chris V and Nathan H. One caller did not leave a message: Hannah followed up with no result.

• Outreach to addiction recovery centers and religious institutions

  • Trevor said that Outreach has prioritized about five institutions to support with our program. He said the focus is on quality interactions between SLAA and these places rather than spreading
    ourselves thin with little result.

• Outreach to meetings for Intergroup Reps - partner with Inreach

  • Dave said he has updated the list of meetings and their IG reps or contacts (if present). He invites GCMSI officers and IG reps to go to meetings other than their home group and share about the
    benefits of our Intergroup. Find the spreadsheet on the GCMSI Google Drive GCMSI
    Meetings_IG Reps or Contacts Look for any meeting you can give time for with a few
    visits. Trevor explained that newcomers who contact Outreach may have a meeting
    recommended to them and that Outreach would benefit from an IG rep or contact at
    every meeting to convey accurate and up-to-date details as needed by newcomers.

​

Inreach General Report (15Minutes)

• General Report: Dave Sch & Nathan

  • Newsletter Report (Production Editor Ian)

    • Ian questions whether our emails announcing the GCMSI newsletter are more cumbersome than they need to be. He said he will check the newsletters at other S
      fellowships to learn how they dispense their newsletters to members.
      Hannah said the minutes of the monthly GCMSI meeting may continue to
      be included but wondered if the newsletter would benefit also from a
      quick summary of current matters that are of particular importance to
      groups.

    • August Theme Step 8: “What experience, strength and hope can you
      share about making amends to someone you thought you would never
      make amends to?”

  • Event Coordinator: 2 trusted servants needed​

  • Fall gathering: Chris S & Anthony P

    • Chris said they will create a registration window before the 2026 Summer Retreat.

    • Save the date: October 24, 2026 Chris said members and IG reps are encouraged to announce this date at meetings.

    • Update on professional speaker​

  • Summer retreat (Nathan, Chris V):​

    • August 13-16, 2026: "Set Free to Live and Love"

      • Cost: $360 ($340 early bird registration)​​​

    • ​Update on registration #, donations, scholarships, service needed Nathan
      said that 32 registrations have come in, with two yet to be paid.
      Registration will continue for a week past the Monday, July 13 closing
      date. Zane said we should create some urgency for these late
      registrations by putting a cap, say seven, on the number of registrants
      accepted. In respect to the unpaid registrations and adding days to the
      registration deadline, Caitlyn has an idea for controlling these and will
      work with the 2027 Summer Retreat chairs to put in place. hard He said
      planning is going smoothly. Nathan and Chris have a list of speakers and
      will discuss them with the committee as well as the topics they would like
      speakers to address in keeping with the theme of the retreat. They will
      ask a member to facilitate ride coordination to Racine. Anthony said a
      prospective registration from outside the U.S. has changed their plans
      and will not necessitate ride coordination.

    • 2027 date

      • Save the Date: August 19-22, 2027

​

Annual Business Meeting Delegates (10 min)

​​

• ABM Delegates: Anthony, Caitlyn, Abby, Zane, Ian​

  • 2026 ABM Dates: August 6-9th 2026

  • 2026 International Recovery Convention https://irc.slaafws.org/

    • ​Request for 2027 retreat access/scholarship The IRC will be holding a silent
      auction for free registration to program retreats in 2027 sponsored by various
      world intergroups. Caitlyn introduced a motion that GCMSI expense the cost of
      two scholarships in 2027 to the Summer Retreat August 19-22. The motion
      passed 11 ayes, no abstentions.​

• ABM 1st Agenda - ask for meetings to help review items - ask for update from meeting reps to review items: Anthony said more than likely he will be speaking on the IFDrelated to the sobriety requirements for members of the Conference Literature Committee. He commented on the cost-saving of recent Virtual ABMs and how it has put money in the budget to again accept bids for host sites.
  ○ 26o01/19-02: That the 'HOW Step and Sponsorship Guide' be approved and
  published
  ○ 26o03/25-18: This IFD seeks Conference discussion on whether to approve
  SLAA Hopes and Promises to become one of SLAAs Core Documents - Dave Sch
  said that the Serenity on Friday/Sunday meetings will be discussing this measure
  at its weekend meetings, July 24 and 26 and will give its recommendations to our
  delegates on Monday, July 27.
  ○ 26o07/25-22: This IFD seeks Conference discussion on "How should an
  Intergroup be Defined or Limited?"
  ○ 26o09/25-24: Conference Service Manual - Eliminate Conference Committee
  Conflict Resolution Process
  ○ 26o10/25-25 IFD: Conference Service Manual Review Process Revision

New Business:

• No new business

​

SUGGESTED ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR MEETING REPS: 

• Submissions to newsletter - August 15, theme: Step 8: “What experience, strength
  and hope can you share about making amends to someone you thought you would
  never make amends to?”

• Subscribe to the newsletter on the slaachicago website 

• Encourage donations to IG via Venmo (@Augustine-Fellowship) and to the GCMSI Summer Retreat.

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

• SLAA Summer Retreat Save the Date August 13-16, 2026

• SLAA Fall Gathering – Save-the-Date: Saturday, October 24, 2026

​​

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 a.m.

Proposed Next Meeting:  Aug 22, 2026 (Change of date. Agreed to as above).
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.