​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 6 lead by Anthony​​

  • Concept 6 6/20/26 “The Conference recognizes that the chief initiative and active responsibility in most world service matters should be exercised by the trustee members of the Conference acting as the Board of Trustees.”

  • Anthony P: Trustees have increased responsibility, different than members working their individual recovery. They deal with the difficult matters of copyrights and adherence to the laws of the land. This concept suggests a spiritual challenge where only the hand of God gives success.

  • Concept 7 7/18/26 Zane W reconfirmed.

  • Concept 8 8/15/26 Dave Sch volunteered.

Facilitation (10 Minutes.) 

• General Report: Caitlyn

  • Approve Minutes: May

    • Approved​

  • Website - Tim

    • Drop down menu project - No report

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Fiduciary (10 Minutes)

• General Treasurer Report: Chase & Zane

• Note: The fiduciary report is published at the GCMSI Google docs page. Chase reported a very active month of disbursements, for both the 2026 (final payment) and 2027 (initial payment) Summer retreats, and the registration and housing fees for our five ABM delegates to the ABM August 6-9, 2026. Zane and Chase asked IG reps to explain this has put our working balance in the red by $727.11, and in order to reduce the need to meet expenses using the prudent reserve account to please devote a portion of groups’ 7th tradition receipts to GCMSI. Still awaiting new Debit Cards after account transfer was finalized.

• Report Financials: General​

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OutReach (10 Minutes)​

• General Report: Hannah K & Trevor V

• Outreach to addiction recovery centers and religious institutions

  • Hannah and Trevor have built a robust list of places to reach out to. They are working to get the list to a number that will give the best result and with decision-makers out front.

• Outreach to meetings for Intergroup Reps - partner with inreach

  • Discussion of GCMSI officers and members available to drop in at meetings. Dave Sch said he will update the list of who is talking to our groups without reps at this time, encouraging them to report in at the July 18th meeting. Dave Sch asked members to consider this a moment for listening as we did on May 31st (below). Dave Sch will ask Tim L if the website has a contact from each of our groups to reach if needed (the contact need not be a published contact). He will put Tim’s answer on the spreadsheet. For an updated list of members available to drop in, please go to the GCMSI Google drive link as follows

  • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jP387GDxNHVtspRcSrdGJkwfJa66O5YItMrPGUvpDmw/edit?gid=532094878#gid=532094878

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Inreach General Report (15Minutes)

• General Report: Dave Sch & Nathan

  • Newsletter Report (Production Editor Ian)

    • June Theme 

    • July newsletter submissions are due on July 18th. Chris and Nathan, as well as Caitlyn are encouraging supportive essays from attendees at past retreats to encourage members to sign up for the 2026 Summer Retreat. Ian will compile them into a form to publish online. Zane raised the question of how many newsletter readers we’re getting. Discussion ensued about whether MailChimp can be tweaked to get these counts. 

  • Event Coordinator: 2 trusted servants needed

    • No fellowship events are scheduled at this time. GCMSI has written guidelines helpful in planning and in meeting costs. Caitlyn asks that group reps encourage members in their groups to serve as event coordinators/suggest an event they could coordinate.

  • Fall gathering: Chris S & Anthony P

    • 2026 date planning 

      • Chris said that Grace Episcopal is housing a community event on October 16th so we are booking the date of Saturday, October 24th. He and Anthony think we are safe to ignore the notion of previous years not to publish the date until after the GCMSI Summer Retreat. Group reps are urged to share the date now and Chris and Anthony will put out an email blast with handouts saving the date with a QR code for registration when it opens.

    • Update on professional speaker

      • Anthony is in conversation with a professional speaker on the treatment of addiction who is recovering from addiction themselves. He is impressed with their willingness to learn more about SLAA and the local recovery community.

  • Summer retreat (Nathan, Chris V):

    • Nathan and Chris report that effectively 15 have registered at this point. They said an email blast will launch early next week reminding of the $20 discount for early registration ending on Wednesday, July 25th. They said some members have agreed to give leads but still more are needed. Group reps are requested to report not only on the Retreat date but to ask for contributions to the Retreat scholarship fund.

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

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

    • 2027 date

      • Save the Date: August 19-22, 2027

  • Intergroup Listening Meeting - 5/31/26

    • Members are invited to read some notes that Dave Sch wrote about the meeting. The notes are summarized below and can be read on the GCMSI Google Drive at

    • https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TDfqIYSrrwVkmQBIoBiI7XM8PFp6BVgCtmRRgKGjrJQ/edit?tab=t.0

    • Zane W commented that some points in the notes were overstated or understated but that overall they were fair. Anthony recalled from Al-Anon its Fourth Concept of Service, viz., “Participation is the key to harmony.” He said bringing in members through GCMSI’s many ways of supporting recovery should be our priority, while not dismissing conversation as meaningful. While another listening meeting has not been scheduled, Dave Sch thought that all of us dropping in at meetings without IG reps (see Outreach to Meetings, above) can find opportunities not only to explain the great benefits of GCMSI but also to hear from group members their views about GCMSI and to bring those views back to this space.

    • One non-Intergroup member in attendance

    • Feedback was shared regarding Intergroup culture, inclusivity, and openness to differing perspectives.

    • Questions were raised about Intergroup voting practices and opportunities for member participation in decision-making and time for new business items to be discussed.

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Annual Business Meeting Delegates (10 min)

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

  • Anthony and Caitlyn will confirm with meeting representatives which of the following Agenda Items for Discussion (IFDs) they will give reviews about. Dave Sch said that his Beverly Serenity meetings are reviewing IFD 26o03/25-18 (see below). Anthony stressed the importance of our delegates to the ABM for getting our Item 6o02/23-23 to the table for a decision at the ABM: “That Authors/Writers of Literature submitted for Conference Approval or review by IFD, must confirm along with their literature submission that they meet a sobriety requirement of 2 continuous years of self-defined sobriety, along with the definition of their self-defined sobriety.”

  • 2026 ABM Dates: August 6-9th 2026

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

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• ABM 1st Agenda - ask for meetings to help review items - ask for update from
  meeting reps to review items:
  ○ 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
  ○ 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

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SUGGESTED ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR MEETING REPS: 

• Submissions to newsletter - July 15, theme: “What is a character defect that I’m not fully willing to have removed and what is the payoff?” Prior to the July 15 deadline, Ian will assemble personal reflections on attending the GCMSI Summer Retreat.

• 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

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

Proposed Next Meeting:  July 18th, 2026
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.