Business Meeting Minutes

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: January 4th, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Welcome to the business meeting for the Never Alone Again Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.  My name is Julie, and I am an alcoholic.  I’m also the Secretary for NAAG. Would you please join me for a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer?

The Twelve Traditions are to the group what the Twelve Steps are to the individual.  I’ve asked Kerstin to read them for us.

Our standard practice is to publish the meeting minutes to our website within 1 week following the Business meeting for member review.  The floor is now open for corrections to the December 7, 2023, business meeting minutes.  Please raise your hand if you have a suggested correction.

Thank you. I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written

Motion carried (17-0)

We will now proceed with our meeting Agenda.

Group Servant Reports

Secretary Report

• I want to thank Kerstin for her service as Alternate Secretary, a lot goes on behind the scenes trying to get the service and speaker schedules situated and she’s been doing a wonderful job and it’s been extremely helpful. 

• Our NYE was a huge success, thank you to everyone who shared and participated and continued a wonderful tradition…so many amazing talents and heartfelt shares and I can’t stress enough how grateful I am for the people that do service for this group.

• Very exciting stuff- our girl Kim has scheduled the NAAG Boat Meeting Commitments for June (June 7th, September 8th) 

• I ask you to please email me if there are people taking service positions in meetings behind the scenes. I think its wonderful recruiting newcomers, I really think we need to do more of it as newcomer liaisons, but I just need to be aware of the changes so that I can update the schedule accordingly. 

• The service schedule for February is now posted.  All meeting service positions rotate monthly, except for the host role (which is a 3-month rotation).  If you are interested in doing service, you can use our signup forms to do so here.

• We are going to continue to follow “Robert’s Rules” to the best of my ability and use a traditional AA business meeting format. I know this is repetitive but helpful

  • Group Servants are hosts and cohosts

  • Chat will not be disabled, but I ask that you don’t use the chat to offer opinions on motions, just get that hand up if you have an opinion differing from what has already been stated. We can revisit voting to disable the chat if it becomes a problem. 

  • Members will have the opportunity to raise their hands and share opinions on each motion.  Each statement made should contain a differing opinion or new information.  If someone has already said what you were going to say – great!  Lower your hand and cede the floor to the next person.  Keep in mind the final vote is the goal.

  • Wherever possible, please submit business meeting agenda items no later than one week prior to the meeting.  Each topic for the discussion should be formulated into a motion so it can be voted on. Remember the vote is the most important part. Also note that if you bring a motion to the table you must be present on the Business meeting to represent it.

Motion to approve secretary’s report carries (17-0)

Treasurer’s Report (Randy K)

Please see ledger Ledger - Google Sheets

Carries (19-0)

Bookie Report (Pami and Mike P)

Pami went over the commitments for the month. 

Outgoing commitment to Kittery on Jan 24th

Never Alone Again - Commitments (google.com)

Delegates Report (Mikey)

Mikey is unable to keep this title and would like to give up service position, must live in the Boston area and have 3 years of sobriety. 

GSR Report (Alex G)

Alex emailed his report

“Please note the Area Assembly will be entirely virtual on January 7th from 10am - 4pm. There will be a new GSR orientation starting at 9:15am.

Attending Area Assemblies is one of the main duties and responsibilities of General Service Representatives, per page 17 of our AA Service Manual. https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/en_bm-31_3.pdf

At this assembly we will be hearing about Area budgets for the upcoming year and there will be breakout rooms and roundtables for various roles (GSRs, DCMs, Committee Members, etc). Formal agenda to follow. “

Old Business

No old biz

New Business

New biz

Motion: Allen (sent a week prior to the meeting)

I make the motion that Allen be allowed to open a Breakout Zoom

Room off the Main NAAG meeting room on Sundays from 9:45 to 10:45

AM for NCL’s and Posters (as well as any future NCL’s and Posters) to

help fellows get familiar and comfortable with navigating the different

screens used during our meetings. The primary purpose of the

workshop will be to smooth out the flow of the meeting so that it flows

as easily as our more established practices and creates a comfort level

for NCL’s and Posters.

Carried (15-2)

Allen will begin a (informal) information session for newcomers.

Kat presented her concern with the service length for greeters, newcomer liaisons and poster cohosts. Kat expressed her concerns, which were formulated into a motion (not sent to email-formulated during the meeting) to increase the newcomer liaison and poster service lengths to 3 months. 

After discussion unrelated to the motion at hand, the motion was restated to include changing the color coded service schedule on the website to include all service positions. 

New Motion: I motion to change the length of service for Newcomer Liaisons and Posters to 3 months and to color code the service schedule to include all service positions. 

After discussion of the lack of volunteers for service, the motion was revised to include the mention of service work sign ups in the script. 

New Motion: I motion to change the length of service for Newcomer Liaisons and Posters to 3 months, to color code the service schedule to include all service positions, and to mention signing up for service in the script. 

Carried (16-0)

Kerstin and Julie will work together to develop a system to track how long people have been of service. 

Paul (OFD) expressed his concern over How It Works being added to the schedule. A motion was formulated (in business meeting) to remove How It Works from the script.

Motion (Paul)- I motion to remove How it Works from the script. 

Discussion included the secretary not giving notice of the topic for the business meeting. E-mail was said to be insufficient. Views including the reading not being suitable for newcomers and taking too much time. A thought of a secretaries report being read at every meeting was then brought forward (not presented as a motion). 

Carried (10-8)

How It Works was immediately removed from the schedule. Addition of the service positions was added at 8:45 Friday morning.

Meeting was Adjourned

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: December 7th, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Welcome to the business meeting for the Never Alone Again Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.  My name is Julie, and I am an alcoholic.  I’m also theSecretary for NAAG. Would you please join me for a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer?

The Twelve Traditions are to the group what the Twelve Steps are to the individual.  I’ve asked Kerstin to read them for us.

Our standard practice is to publish the meeting minutes to our website within 1 week following the Business meeting for member review.  The floor is now open for corrections to the August 3rd, 2023, business meeting minutes.  Please raise your hand if you have a suggested correction.

Thank you. I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written

Motion carried (18/0)

We will now proceed with our meeting Agenda.

Group Servant Reports

Secretary Report

• email the group if you’re unable to show up for service as host as I will not be able to answer text messages. I know many of you also have numbers that you can utilize to ask for coverage, just know that I’m not ignoring you during the hours of 7am and 4pm, I just am unable to be on my phone or laptop around my students. 

• I ask you to please email me if there are people taking service positions in meetings behind the scenes. I think its wonderful recruiting newcomers, I really think we need to do more of it as newcomer liaisons, but I just need to be aware of the changes so that I can update the schedule accordingly. 

• The service schedule for January is now posted.  All meeting service positions rotate monthly, except for the host role (which is a 3-month rotation).  If you are interested in doing service, you can use our signup forms to do so here.

• Kerstin reviewed the service schedule

• We are going to continue to follow “Robert’s Rules” to the best of my ability and use a traditional AA business meeting format. I know this is repetitive but helpful

  • Group Servants are hosts and cohosts

  • Chat will not be disabled, but I ask that you don’t use the chat to offer opinions on motions, just get that hand up if you have an opinion differing from what has already been stated. We can revisit voting to disable the chat if it becomes a problem. 

  • Members will have the opportunity to raise their hands and share opinions on each motion.  Each statement made should contain a differing opinion or new information.  If someone has already said what you were going to say – great!  Lower your hand and cede the floor to the next person.  Keep in mind the final vote is the goal.

  • Wherever possible, please submit business meeting agenda items no later than one week prior to the meeting.  Each topic for the discussion should be formulated into a motion so it can be voted on. Remember the vote is the most important part. Also note that if you bring a motion to the table you must be present on the Business meeting to represent it.

[Carried 18-0]

Treasurer’s Report (Randy K)

• It was a strong month

• 2 reimbursements 

• Ledger

• Receipts in ledger above

[Carried 18-0]

Bookie Report (Pami and Mike P)

• There has been a great turn out at commitments

• 2 commitments scheduled in December

ASR Report (Mikey C)

• Mikey does not have a report to give, position is still available. 

GSR Report (Alex G)

• Alex not present

Old Business

New Business

Motion: Dora- Motion to add “How It Works” to our script to be read by both of the Newcomer Liaisons at the start of the meeting

Carried/Denied (14-2)

Motion: (Scott): presented a motion to allow 15 mins max of NCL time before biz meeting and Friday meeting before chips.

Tabled 

Meeting Adjourned

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: November 2nd, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Welcome to the business meeting for the Never Alone Again Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.  My name is Julie, and I am an alcoholic.  I’m also the Secretary for NAAG. Would you please join me for a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer?

The Twelve Traditions are to the group what the Twelve Steps are to the individual.  I’ve asked Paula F to read them for us.

Our standard practice is to publish the meeting minutes to our website within 1 week following the Business meeting for member review.  The floor is now open for corrections to the October 5th, 2023, business meeting minutes.  Please raise your hand if you have a suggested correction.

Thank you. I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written.

16-0 The motion was approved

We will now proceed with our meeting Agenda.

Group Servant Reports

Secretary Report:

• Thank you all for being so understanding of my schedule and reaching out via email. 

• Apologies for the schedule- Some of you have reached out about signing up to speak and getting the confirmation email but not seeing it on the schedule. There is some kind of glitch in the service schedule and names have been disappearing so please just double check when I send out the confirmation emails. 

• The service schedule for November is now posted.  All meeting service positions rotate monthly, except for the host role (which is a 3-month rotation). 

•  If you are interested in doing service, you can use our signup forms to do so here. There are currently 3 host positions available- Wednesday at 8:30, Thursday at 7:30 and Sunday noon. 

  • We are going to continue to follow “Robert’s Rules” to the best of my ability and use a traditional AA business meeting format. 

  • Group Servants are hosts and cohost

  • Chat will not be disabled for now, but I ask that you don’t use the chat to offer opinions on motions, just get that hand up if you have an opinion differing from what has already been stated. We can revisit voting to disable the chat if it becomes a problem. 

  • Members will have the opportunity to raise their hands and share opinions on each motion.  Each statement made should contain a differing opinion or new information.  If someone has already said what you were going to say – great!  Lower your hand and cede the floor to the next person.  Keep in mind the final vote is the goal.

  • Wherever possible, please submit business meeting agenda items no later than one week prior to the meeting.  Each topic for the discussion should be formulated into a motion so it can be voted on. Remember the vote is the most important part. Also note that if you bring a motion to the table you must be present at the Business meeting to represent it.

  • Drew has added us to an alcathon thon for Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Eve which i’m very excited about. We will be sharing on zoom at 6pm on Thanksgiving Eve and 10pm on Christmas Eve. More info to come. 

Motion- Motion to enter into an alcathon on Thanksgiving Eve (district 22)

Motion carried- 16-0

I will now entertain a motion to approve the secretary’s report.

16-0, the Secretary's report was approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Randy K)

The monthly link to the treasurer’s report can be found here. 

Not refunded yet for Boston Bowl 

18-0 the Treasurer's Report was approved. 

Bookie Report (Pami and Mike P)

Excellent news- newcomers have been getting involved. Kerstin hosted her first outgoing commitment-huge turnout. Chrissy and Erin D hosted. Debby H hosted first outgoing commitment as well. Reached out to a lot of newcomers. 

If you'd like to participate in NAAG's outgoing commitments, please email us: neveralone.commitments@gmail.com

90 days of sobriety to host or speak at a commitment, but ALL are welcomed to join in and support your Never Alone Again Group! 

18-0 the Bookie’s report was approved.

ASR Report (Mikey C)

Mikey was not present, so we did not have a GSR report this month.

GSR Report (Alex G)

1. Districts 12 and 13 are looking for a chair for alcathon 

2. Mass STate COnvention November 10th-12th in Sturbridge, Ma

Waiting for email from Alex G with full report

Old Business

No Old Business 

New Business

Kerstin has expressed interest in the position of alt which I am so very excited about, It has been listed in the weekly newsletter and I announced it at last business meeting and I got one or two emails but they were either missing the sobriety requirement or not interested in transitioning into the secretary role when their term was up. Kerstin is interested in transitioning into the role. I do want to open it up one more time here so if you’re interested in the position if you would please raise your hand. 

Volunteer to put forth the motion to transition Kerstin into the role as our new Alt-Secretary. 

Scott makes motion

Motion Passes

15-0

Pami- motion to make Friday nights beginners meeting, a wear your favorite hat meeting! This will bring fun and enthusiasm for newcomers' recovery! We used to do this on Friday mornings in 2020. Members were encouraged to wear their favorite sports caps. And it really brought joy!

Motion Passes

14-0

Pami- Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, 7:30 pm meeting, motion to make this a gratitude meeting. I was not able to book an incoming commitment, so Mike and I thought it would be nice to turn this into a Gratitude meeting. Send out an email and have members sign up to speak on gratitude or simply have members who are present raise their hand to share the day of. 

15-0

Kim C- Motion to extend the sobriety requirement to 6 months to read the promises 

15-0

Motion passes 

Scott- will make motion in December that group biz meeting start after newcomer liaison time

Motion to adjorn the meeting

15-0 

Motion passes

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: October 5th, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Welcome to the business meeting for the Never Alone Again Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.  My name is Julie, and I am an alcoholic.  I’m also the Secretary for NAAG. Would you please join me for a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer?

The Twelve Traditions are to the group what the Twelve Steps are to the individual.  I’ve asked Paula F to read them for us.

Our standard practice is to publish the meeting minutes to our website within 1 week following the Business meeting for member review.  The floor is now open for corrections to the September 7, 2023, business meeting minutes.  Please raise your hand if you have a suggested correction.

Thank you. I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written.

16-0, the motion was approved.

We will now proceed with our meeting Agenda.

Group Servant Reports

Secretary Report

• Just a quick reminder that I do work as a teacher during the day, I just ask that you email the group if you’re unable to show up for service as host as I will not be able to answer text messages. I sent out an updated email to all current hosts so we can use that thread, I am unsure if it’s been utilized so I will send out another email. I know many of you also have numbers that you can use to ask for coverage, just know that I’m not ignoring you during the hours of 7am and 4pm, I just am unable to be on my phone or laptop around my students. That being said, I also generally don’t have time to update the schedules during working hours, so please allow for some time before your name appears on the schedule to speak or do service.

• The boat meeting went great despite the weather. We had a wonderful turnout so I just wanted to quickly thank everyone that came, and we’ll start planning for the June commitment ASAP. Please send the group an email if you're interested in joining the committee. 

• The service schedule for October is now posted.  All meeting service positions rotate monthly, except for the host role (which is a 3-month rotation).  If you are interested in doing service, you can use our signup forms to do so here.

• Reminder of the tradition of anonymity- please refrain from screenshotting pictures of people on zoom or social media-even if the intent is pure, it goes against our traditions and we need to be mindful of peoples’ privacy. 

  • We are going to continue to follow “Robert’s Rules” to the best of my ability and use a traditional AA business meeting format. 

  • Group Servants are hosts and cohost

  • Chat will not be disabled for now, but I ask that you don’t use the chat to offer opinions on motions, just get that hand up if you have an opinion differing from what has already been stated. We can revisit voting to disable the chat if it becomes a problem. 

  • Members will have the opportunity to raise their hands and share opinions on each motion.  Each statement made should contain a differing opinion or new information.  If someone has already said what you were going to say – great!  Lower your hand and cede the floor to the next person.  Keep in mind the final vote is the goal.

  • Wherever possible, please submit business meeting agenda items no later than one week prior to the meeting.  Each topic for the discussion should be formulated into a motion so it can be voted on. Remember the vote is the most important part. Also note that if you bring a motion to the table you must be present at the Business meeting to represent it.

I will now entertain a motion to approve the secretary’s report.

16-0, the Secretary's report was approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Randy K)

Randy was not present

The monthly link to the treasurer’s report can be found here. 

• Tisha sent out 2 book mailings (20 books)

• Julie or Paula will check in with Aaron about Boston Bowl (not refunded)

• The ledger is always posted in the minutes for people to view, but please reach out to Randy with any questions about what anything means. 

Motion: Allen

Second: Tom T

16-0 the Treasurer's Report was approved. 

Bookie Report (Pami and Mike P)

• The full schedule for the month of October is posted. 

• We want to get newcomers on board and involved, but old timers please come to show how its done. Chairs for the commitments are all set for October.

Motion: Randy

Second: Lanette

15-0 the Bookie’s report was approved.

GSR Report (Mikey C)

Mikey was not present, so we did not have a GSR report this month.

ASR Report (Alex G)

Mikey was not present, so we did not have a GSR report this month.

Old Business

No Old Business 

New Business

Alternate secretary position has been open and posted in the newsletter weekly for a while now- the sobriety requirement has been that they have a year by the time the secretary’s term is up. Kerstin has expressed interest in this position which I am so very excited about, but I do want to open it up to the group one more time before we vote. Please send an email to the NAAG group if you are interested. That would require you to have a year by March 1st, 2024. 

With no further business, a motion was made to close the meeting.  

15-0, the meeting was adjourned.

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: September 7th, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Welcome to the business meeting for the Never Alone Again Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.  My name is Julie, and I am an alcoholic.  I’m also the new Secretary for NAAG. Would you please join me for a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer?

The Twelve Traditions are to the group what the Twelve Steps are to the individual.  I’ve asked Paula F to read them for us.

Our standard practice is to publish the meeting minutes to our website within 1 week following the Business meeting for member review.  The floor is now open for corrections to the August 3rd, 2023, business meeting minutes.  Please raise your hand if you have a suggested correction.

Thank you. I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written.

26-0, the motion was approved.

We will now proceed with our meeting Agenda.

Group Servant Reports

Secretary Report

• I’m so excited to start as secretary and working together with all of you. I wanto to say thank you Chris for all of your help moving into this position and thanks to Scott for helping me navigate Roberts Rules. 

• I do want to put it out there that I do work as a teacher during the day, I just ask that you email the group if you’re unable to show up for service as host as I will not be able to answer text messages. I will send out an updated email to all current hosts so we can use that thread. I know many of you also have numbers that you can utilize to ask for coverage, just know that I’m not ignoring you during the hours of 7am and 4pm, I just am unable to be on my phone or laptop around my students. 

• The service schedule for September is now posted.  All meeting service positions rotate monthly, except for the host role (which is a 3-month rotation).  If you are interested in doing service, you can use our signup forms to do so here.

• Run down of available positions 

• We are going to continue to follow “Robert’s Rules” to the best of my ability and use a traditional AA business meeting format. 

  • Group Servants are hosts and cohosts

  • We will not have a parliamentarian for now, as there was some feedback about the parliamentarian from last month not being voted in. That being said, I trust that I will be able to ask for help with the rules of order if I need it through the meeting. .

  • Chat will not be disabled for now, but I ask that you don’t use the chat to offer opinions on motions, just get that hand up if you have an opinion differing from what has already been stated. We can revisit voting to disable the chat if it becomes a problem. 

  • Members will have the opportunity to raise their hands and share opinions on each motion.  Each statement made should contain a differing opinion or new information.  If someone has already said what you were going to say – great!  Lower your hand and cede the floor to the next person.  Keep in mind the final vote is the goal.

  • Wherever possible, please submit business meeting agenda items no later than one week prior to the meeting.  Each topic for the discussion should be formulated into a motion so it can be voted on. Remember the vote is the most important part. Also note that if you bring a motion to the table you must be present at the Business meeting to represent it.

26-0, the Secretary report was approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Randy K)

The monthly link to the treasurer’s report can be found here.

26-0, the Treasurer’s report was approved.

Bookie Report (Pami and Mike P)

Commitments are set for September 2023.  You can review the schedule here.  Pami explained the Commitments process and the requirements to participate and share. Pami and Mike are looking to expand our search wider to other groups outside the MA area to increase participation based on the geographic diversity of our group.

Mike and Pami have secured an email alias regarding commitments.  This email address will be published on the Commitments schedule and can be used for communication around scheduling and participation.  Stay tuned for further updates!

22-0, the Treasurer’s report was approved.

GSR Report (Mikey C)

Mikey was not present, so we did not have a GSR report this month.

ASR Report (Alex G)

• Meetings that need support were discussed:

  • Beantown Group - Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday’s at 6pm ET -  Virtual Meeting 

  • It Works - Wednesday 8pm ET at Emmanuel Church 15 Newbury St, Boston MA (Literature Meeting)

  • Old Dogs New Tricks - Sunday 7pm ET - 320 Hanover St, Boston MA 

  • No longer running - Brigham Circle Group - Monday 7-8pm ET - virtual meeting

• Spread the word! District 12&13 if offering up to 33 Grapevine or La Vigna subscriptions.

• The Trustees' Literature Committee is seeking individuals interested in joining a working group to support the revision of the pamphlet titled "A.A. for the Native North American Alcoholic." https://www.smoresobriety.org/

• 90th International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous will be held July 3-6, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. If you want to go, make sure you can travel to Canada.

• Next assembly September 10th

• People are trying to send literature behind bars and if there’s no return address, they’re sending it back to GSO. (reminder, no staples are allowed in books going to jails or institutions)

28-0, the ASR report was approved.

Boat Meeting Committee (Julie W)

We have met three times to discuss the Boat Meeting commitment. The meeting is held in south boston on day boulevard and farragut road and begins at 11am on September 16th. Please email the group if you’re interested in sharing in the commitment, especially if you’ll be joining from out of town.  We did reserve lanes for bowling for fellowship after from 1pm-3pm at Boston Bowl on Morrissey Boulevard. There is food for purchase there. 

26-0, the Boat Meeting committee report was approved.

Old Business

Motion: Amend our NCL training guide with a statement of inclusivity for non-binary individuals when discussing sponsorship.  Suggested wording is  “I'm here for the wo[men] and those who identify as a wo[man], and those who identify as neither.”  Some NCLs say “[Men/Women] or those who identify as such.”  What happens if a person identifies with neither?  This has happened before, and making this change would address this.  This motion was tabled because the member that brought it forward was not present.

Motion: change the Big Book Meetings (every Thursday) to include the Forwards and the Preface when we begin the book again. 

24-0, the motion carried.  We will now include the Forwards and Preface when we begin the book again for the Thursday Big Book meetings.

New Business

Motion: Right after the 30,60,90 celebration – we modify the script to ask if anyone is celebrating an anniversary of 1 year or multiple years of sobriety today. 

25-0, the motion carried.  We will modify the script to ask if anyone is celebrating an anniversary of 1 year or multiple years of sobriety today.

With no further business, a motion was made to close the meeting.  

18-0, the meeting was adjourned.

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: August 3rd, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Welcome to the business meeting for the Never Alone Again Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.  My name is Chris, and I am an alcoholic.  I am also currently the Secretary for this group.  Would you please join me for a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer?

The Twelve Traditions are to the group what the Twelve Steps are to the individual.  I’ve asked Allen to read them for us.

Our standard practice is to publish the meeting minutes to our website within 1 week following the Business meeting for member review.  The floor is now open for corrections to the July 6th, 2023, business meeting minutes.  Please raise your hand if you have a suggested correction.

Thank you. I will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes as written. 

21 - 0, the motion was approved.

We will now proceed with our meeting Agenda.

Group Servant Reports

Secretary Report

• I will be stepping down at the end of the month from the role of secretary.  It has been an absolute pleasure to serve this group.  I am not going anywhere and will continue to help Julie as necessary until an alternate secretary is nominated.

• The service schedule for August is now posted.  All meeting service positions rotate monthly, except for the host role (which is a 3-month rotation).  If you are interested in doing service, you can use our signup forms to do so here.

• Based on feedback and the experience from the last business meeting, we will try a new business meeting format that adheres more to “Robert’s Rules” and follows a traditional AA business meeting format.  This will be done on a trial basis.  A few changes worth highlighting:

  • Group Servants running the meeting (Secretary, Alternate Secretary, Treasurer) will be the only hosts/co-hosts on Zoom during the meeting.

  • The assistance of a long-standing NAAG member (in this case, Dora M) will also be co-hosted to act as our Parliamentarian and assist with applying Robert’s Rules correctly during the course of the meeting.

  • Mute/Unmute will be disabled for all participants during the meeting to coordinate participation.

  • Chat will be disabled for all participants.

  • Members will have the opportunity to raise their hands and share opinions on each motion.  Each statement made should contain a differing opinion or new information.  If someone has already said what you were going to say – great!  Lower your hand and cede the floor to the next person.  Keep in mind the final vote is the goal.

  • Wherever possible, please submit business meeting agenda items no later than one week prior to the meeting.  Each topic for the discussion should be formulated into a motion so it can be voted on.  Also note that if you bring a motion to the table you must be present on the Business meeting to represent it.

Treasurer’s Report (Randy K)

[Approved 19-0]

The monthly link to the treasurer’s report can be found here.  This month we reviewed 2 months of spending (June and July), given that we did not have a Treasurer’s report last month.  

Randy is looking to step down from the Treasurer role.  If you are interested in taking on this service role, please contact him or the Secretary to let us know.

The motion to approve the Treasurer Report was approved unanimously, 19-0.

Bookie Report (Zelda)

[Approved 19-0]

Commitments are set for August 2023.  Thank you, Zelda, for your service.

GSR Report (Mikey C)

[Approved, 17-0]

Mikey was not able to attend this month’s GSR.

Mikey reminded the group he can report on information discussed, but he cannot act as a voting delegate, given he is already a member of the Steering Committee (conflict of interest).  Without a nominated GSR, we cannot participate officially.  If anyone from the group is interested in filling this role, please contact the Secretary.  The position requires 3 years of continuous sobriety and proximity to the Boston area to attend the meetings.

ASR Report (Submitted in absentia by Alex G)

[Approved, 15-0]

Alex G was traveling during the Business Meeting, so the secretary read the report as provided. 

Meetings that need support! 

• Beantown Group - Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 pm ET -  Virtual Meeting 

• It Works - Wednesday 8 pm ET at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St, Boston, MA (Literature Meeting)

• Old Dogs New Tricks - Sunday 7 pm ET - 320 Hanover St, Boston MA 

• Brigham Circle Group - Monday 7-8 pm ET - Virtual Meeting

Spread the word! District 12&13 is offering up to 33 Grapevine or La Vigna subscriptions.

The Trustees' Literature Committee is seeking individuals interested in joining a working group to support the revision of the pamphlet titled "A.A. for the Native North American Alcoholics." https://www.smoresobriety.org/

90th International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous will be held July 3-6, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. If you want to go, make sure you can travel to Canada!

Group Conscience Document Subcommittee (Dora)

[Approved, 16-0]

The Subcommittee met 3 times since the last business meeting. A working document from our Business Meeting minutes and website going back to 2021 has been assembled.  This document will be reviewed during the next business meeting as an agenda item for comments and feedback.  

Old Business

There is currently no old business tabled from our last meeting.

New Business

Motion: The Bookie service role rotates as of September 1st, 2023.  Pami from Miami has volunteered to fill this position.

18-0 passed.

Motion: The Assistant Bookie service role rotates as of September 1st, 2023.  Mike P has volunteered to fill this position.

19-0 passed.

Motion: Amend our NCL training guide with a statement of inclusivity for non-binary individuals when discussing sponsorship.  Suggested wording is  “I'm here for the wo[men] and those who identify as a wo[man], and those who identify as neither.”  Some NCLs say “[Men/Women] or those who identify as such.”  What happens if a person identifies with neither?  This has happened before, and making this change would address this.  

13-0, the motion was tabled for next month’s meeting.  The member bringing it forward was not present to represent it.

Motion: Change the Big Book Meetings (scheduled every Thursday morning) to include the Forwards and the Preface when we begin the book again.

12-0, the motion was tabled for next month’s meeting to allow the group time to consider it.

Motion: A concern was raised about the after-meeting and newcomer time for the first 15 minutes.  No specific wording was established and some discussion occurred around ensuring safety and good behavior.  

11-0, the motion was tabled for next month’s meeting to allow the member to bring it forward with a clearer motion and ideas on how to address this.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: June 1st, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Agenda

Treasurer’s Report [Randy]

Randy could not join the meeting this month but will post the detailed monthly recap spreadsheet here.

Bookie’s Report [Zelda/Julie]

Zelda let us know that we have incoming and outgoing commitments scheduled and that they are on the commitments calendar.  She also mentioned that if anyone would like a physical copy of the calendar, please let her know, and she will send one along.  She also said it is getting harder to schedule Zoom-only commitments, given that many of the meetings have gone back live and are no longer virtual.  Let her know if anyone is aware of meetings that would be interested in doing mutual commitments.  As a reminder, only 90 days of sobriety is required to chair a commitment and share, providing a good service opportunity for those interested.

Dora made a motion to accept the Bookie’s report.  Tisha seconded the motion.

YES: 21

NO: 0

The motion was carried, and the Bookie's report was accepted.

Area/Group Delegate Report [Alex/Mikey]

Alex G shared a link to the Annual General Service Conference presentation.  He specifically highlighted the "AA in Plain Language" section, beginning on slide #57.   If you are curious about how these conferences are run and want to get into the nitty-gritty of what's happening at the area level, this is a great way to get plugged in.

Mikey shared that he had nothing to report from a GSR perpsective, other than that he needs to step down as GSR of our group from a voting perspective due to his position on the steering committee.   This work with Central Service prevents him from carrying on as a representative of NAAG (as well as his own home group) given he can only fulfill one of the roles at a time.  If someone from NAAG would like to step in and volunteer to represent NAAG in this capacity, the role requires 3 years of continuous sobriety.  Please reach out via the "Email Us" link on the website to let us know.

Mikey also noted our contribution numbers are significantly down from where they have been in previous months.

Mike P made a motion to accept the Area/Group delegate report.  Courtney seconded it.

YES: 17

NO: 0

The motion was carried, and the Area/Group delegate report was accepted.

Announcements

• Announcement regarding service schedule: The NAAG service schedule for May is live.  Positions that did not have new signups for a given slot have rolled over to the previous position holder.  As a reminder, Group conscience has established that Service position durations are as follows:

  • Host: 3-month duration

  • Bookie: 6-month rotation

  • Commitment Coordinator (Inbound/Outbound): 3-month duration

  • Greeter, Co-Host/Poster, NCL: 1-month duration

If you want to do service work, please use the signup forms on the website.  Don’t be shy about contacting someone with a position you’d like to learn about.  You can also reach out to a meeting host to get plugged in.   As an additional note – we need help with the noon meetings.  We have been having trouble finding coverage for all service roles in this time slot spread out over the week.  If we continue to have trouble, we may have to revisit this next month and determine whether we can continue to maintain noon meetings.

It is also worth noting that we have both the Bookie and Assistant Bookie service positions coming up for rotation in September and are looking for volunteers to step into these roles.  

Old Business

No old business was carried over from the last month's meeting.

New Business

Tisha made a motion to change the Host script back to reading the 7th Tradition out loud as part of the Host script during meetings for a duration of 6 months.  The method of mentioning the tradition in the chat without calling it out potentially contributes to decreased funding. This impacts our ability to send physical copies of the Big Book / 12 and 12 to newcomers as well as reducing our overall contribution to central services. 

For the record, the old language (changed in December 2022) was:

The 7th tradition states: "Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions." If you would like to make a 7th-tradition donation, please check the chat.  My co-host has posted all information about this in the chat.  Please use the Venmo App to support the group.  At this point, we have approximately 10 minutes left in the meeting, and I want to ask if anyone has a Burning Desire to speak, meaning you are having trouble living sober today. Please go ahead and unmute and share what’s going on.”

The motion was seconded by Mike C.  

Yes: 20

No: 0

the motion carried, and the script will be modified effect of immediately to reflect this change.

An issue was raised around sobriety requirements to host/be the speaker on the Friday 7:30 PM meetings, designated as Beginner's Meetings.   A clearly defined motion was not brought to the group to vote on, and lots of discussion followed.  The gist of the discussion is as follows:

• Group conscience has established in the past that speakers and hosts should have a minimum of 3 years for this meeting.  Hosts and speakers have not consistently met that requirement since April 2023.  Questions and concerns were raised around:

  • Whether we should continue to have a Beginner's Meeting of this format;

  • Whether the sobriety requirement for the meeting was established as 3 or 5 years in group conscience, or if the sobriety requirements should be lowered to 2 years;

  • The concept that we need to respect group conscience decisions and bring any deviation from this directly to the group as soon as possible;

The conversation forked again, this time delving into more discussion around group conscience and creating a document that captures all voted decisions made since the founding of the group.

All of the above led to a motion: to form a committee to draft this Group Conscience Document and present it to the group.  This document will then be used to decide the future format of the Friday Night Beginner's meeting.  The motion was seconded.

Yes: 23

No: 0

The motion carried, and a committee will be formed to establish a Group Conscience Document and present it to the group for review.  In the interim, a host has been found that meets the sobriety requirement of 3 years and the same criteria will be observed for future speakers.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.  We closed the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: June 1st, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Agenda

Treasurer’s Report [Randy]

The detailed monthly recap spreadsheet can be found here.  A few notes of interest:

• There is an additional line item this month from the NAAG Venmo account that hasn't been accounted for: $158.32.  This dollar amount is not reserved for anything but has been added to the spreadsheet for tracking purposes.

• $375 has been allocated to Boston Bowl as a deposit for the fellowship event following the Boat meeting.  This deposit will be earned back via asking for donations at the door.  Suggested donation amount is $10. 

Dora made a motion to accept the treasurer's report.  Donna seconded it.  

The motion was carried unanimously.  The Treasurer’s report was accepted.

Bookie’s Report [Zelda/Julie]

Julie shared for Zelda. There are more outgoing commitments this month than last, which is good news.  We are in need of more chairs and speakers to flesh out these commitments.  (Only need 90 days for both).  

Donna made a motion to accept the Bookie’s report.  Lanette seconded the motion. 

The motion was carried unanimously.  The Bookie's report was accepted.

Area/Group Delegate Report [Alex/Mikey]

Mikey shared that in the latest area/group meetings, representatives have been able to review proposed changes to the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.   This is a hotly contested topic each time it comes up given that many AAs do not want to see the original text changed in any way.  Mikey read us a passage from a proposed change and indicated that it was met with widespread approval at the area/delegate level.  This is a very slow-moving process, and there is no established timeframe (yet) for implementing these changes and releasing a new edition of the book.  However, it does indicate that AA is moving towards more inclusive language and is currently viewed as a very positive change.

With no other new business, Chris made a motion to accept the Area/GSR report.  Dora seconded the motion.

The motion was carried unanimously.  The Area/Group delegate report was accepted.

Old Business

No old business was carried over from the last month's meeting.

Announcements

• Announcement regarding service schedule: The NAAG service schedule for May is live.  Positions that did not have new signups for a given slot have rolled over to the previous position holder.  As a reminder, Group conscience has established that Service position durations are as follows:

  • Host: 3-month duration

  • Bookie: 6-month rotation

  • Commitment Coordinator (Inbound/Outbound): 3-month duration

  • Greeter, Co-Host/Poster, NCL: 1-month duration

If you want to do service work, please use the signup forms on the website.  Don’t be shy about contacting someone with a position you’d like to learn about.  You can also reach out to a meeting host to get plugged in.

• Announcement about NAAG newsletter management.  We are still looking for a volunteer to take over the management and publishing of our newsletter via MailChimp.  Jenn P has managed this process for a long time now and is stepping down.  Please reach out to us via the "Email Link" on the website to volunteer or get more information.

• Announcement re: service requests, changes, and other NAAG business.  As much as text messages are a very quick and easy way to communicate, it is getting increasingly difficult to manage changes and requests to scheduling and NAAG business via that method.  Please direct future inquiries, changes, and otherwise in this method.

• Announcement regarding the After Meeting and NCL function.  As a reminder, the first fifteen minutes of each after-meeting is dedicated to newcomers.  The only people who should be speaking during this time are the Newcomer Liaisons and those with under a year of sobriety.  It is also important that questions asked by men (and those who identify as such) are handled by the Men’s Newcomer Liaison, and questions asked by women (and those who identify as such) are handled by the Women’s Newcomer Liaison.  

• Flyers for the Boat Meeting Commitment and Fellowship are live on the website!  Please go to our website, neveralonegroup.org, for details.  Special thanks to our Chair People Kim and Julie W, who have led the charge on getting us set up and organized to make the event happen.

New Business

A motion was made by Dora to alter the Thursday noon Big Book literature meeting to read the entire book, including the Forwards, Stories, and Appendices.  This change only applies to that specific meeting and all other meetings will remain unchanged.

The motion was seconded by Donna and carried unanimously.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.  We closed the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: May 4th, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Agenda

Treasurer’s Report [Randy]

The detailed monthly recap spreadsheet can be found here.  The primary time of interest for this month's treasurer's report was that we had a much lower monthly contribution than we've had in recent months.  We should keep an eye on this going forward to make sure that we have the necessary funding for sending out Big Books and donations to central services accordingly.

Dora made a motion to accept the treasurer's report.  Tisha seconded it.  

The motion was carried unanimously.  The Treasurer’s report was accepted.

Bookie’s Report [Zelda/Julie]

Zelda let us know that we have incoming and outgoing commitments scheduled per the commitments calendar.  She also mentioned that if anyone would like a physical copy of the calendar to please let her know and she will send one along.  She also said that it is getting harder to schedule Zoom-only commitments, given many of the meetings have gone back live and are no longer virtual only.  Let Zelda know if anyone is aware of meetings that would be interested in doing mutual commitments, let her know.  

Tisha made a motion to accept the Bookie’s report.  Joanne seconded the motion.  The motion carried unanimously.

The motion was carried unanimously.  The Bookie's report was accepted.

Area/Group Delegate Report [Courtney/Alex/Mikey]

Alex brought up two items to be aware of from the latest GSR meeting:

• Slices of Service: May 13th, Arlington Street Church, 6pm-10pm; speakers share their experience, strength, and hope by doing service beyond the group level. Delicious pizza and refreshments will be served! Doors open at 6pm, and the meeting is at 7 pm.

• The GSR group has asked for assistance with hosting a joint correctional facility committee meeting.  The Zoom information and date/time for this is the fourth Thursday of each Month at 7PM ET.  Zoom ID: 850 8064 9068, PW: 872145.

Tisha made a motion to accept the Area/GSR report.  Dora seconded the motion.

The motion was carried unanimously.  The Area/Group delegate report was accepted.

Old Business

No old business was carried over from the last month's meeting.

Announcements

• Announcement regarding service schedule: The NAAG service schedule for May is live.  Positions that did not have new signups for a given slot have rolled over to the previous position holder.  As a reminder, Group conscience has established that Service position durations are as follows:

  • Host: 3-month duration

  • Bookie: 6-month rotation

  • Commitment Coordinator (Inbound/Outbound): 3-month duration

  • Greeter, Co-Host/Poster, NCL: 1-month duration

If you want to do service work, please use the signup forms on the website.  Don’t be shy about contacting someone with a position you’d like to learn about.  You can also reach out to a meeting host to get plugged in.

• Announcement about NAAG newsletter management.  We are looking for a volunteer to take over the management and publishing of our newsletter via MailChimp.  Jenn P has managed this process for a long time now and is stepping down.  Please reach out to us via the "Email Link" on the website to volunteer or get more information.

New Business

Alternate/Assistant Secretary.  As you are aware, group conscience stipulates the rotation of the Secretary every 6 months.  This is the beginning of the third month of my tenure, and I have received a volunteer for the Alternate Secretary role.  Julie W has agreed to step into the role, assuming we have the votes to approve it.  

Joanne made a motion to nominate Julie for the role of Alternate Secretary, to assume the Secretary position in August when Chris steps down.  Patrick C seconded the motion.

The motion was carried unanimously.  Julie W will assume teh role of Alternate Secretary, to assume the role of Secretary at the end of August 2023.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.  We closed the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: April 6th, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Agenda

Treasurer’s Report [Randy]

The detailed monthly recap spreadsheet can be found here.  A few notes of interest:

• The Mailchimp reserve of $300 has been absorbed into the general balance and will not be tracked separately.   The dollar amount will be tracked and decremented each month until it is gone.  The current monthly cost for Mailchimp is approximately $42/month.

• 'X' entries in the ledger indicate areas where Randy has paid expenses out of his personal account and is being reimbursed.

• Tisha has officially taken over chip and book request management.  Michael pointed out that Tisha's last name is present in the spreadsheet and should be redacted for anonymity.  This was done immediately.

Dora made a motion to accept the Treasurer's report.  Joanne seconded the motion.

The motion was carried unanimously.  The Treasurer’s report was accepted.

Bookie’s Report [Zelda/Julie]

Zelda let us know that we have incoming and outgoing commitments scheduled per the commitments calendar.  She also mentioned that if anyone would like a physical copy of the calendar to please let her know and she will send one along.  She also said that it is getting harder to schedule Zoom-only commitments, given many of the meetings have gone back live and are no longer virtual only.  Let Zelda know if anyone is aware of meetings that would be interested in doing mutual commitments, let her know.  

Allen made a motion to accept the Bookie’s report.  Dora seconded the motion.  The motion carried unanimously.

The motion was carried.  The Bookie's report was accepted.

Area/Group Delegate Report [Courtney/Alex/Mikey]

This portion of the meeting was tabled without any discussion.  Alex / Mikey were not present.

Old Business

No old business was carried over from the last month's meeting.

Announcements

Chris announced he is halfway through his tenure as Secretary.  As of now, there have been no volunteers to step in as Alternate/Assistant secretary.  Chris's last day of service in this role is August 31st, 2023.  Please reach out and volunteer if you are interested.

New Business

Boat Meeting Planning Committee (Kim & Julie)

• We have the opportunity to use some of our Treasury dollars to fund a social gathering following the boat meeting commitment.

• Julie and Kim have investigated, and the best, most flexible option is to reserve lanes as Boston Bowl in Dorchester.  It is $700 to reserve 6 lanes for bowling and socializing.  A second option would be either picnic style bring-your-own-food or takeout from Sully's, but that is outdoors with no protection from inclement weather.

• We voted unanimously as a group to fund and go to Boston Bowl for fellowship using treasury money.  We then began discussing logistics.

  • Randy raised concerns about comingling dollars for this event with the main NAAG Venmo account.  Venmo is also not available outside the US.

  • Joanne volunteered taking money at the door would be the best bet.

  • Randy inquired about the ethical use of funds.  Dora spoke about having a reserve fund specifically for fellowship, but she thinks there will be plenty of people in attendance to pay back the money.

  • Chris and Scott both suggested a further discussion about finalizing plans and contingencies, but Julie and Kim pointed out that time is of the essence, and we could lose the space.

  • Dave suggested that we plan ahead better for this by having money set aside prior to each event.  

  • Kim C asked what would happen if more than 35 people showed up.  35 people for 6 lanes is the target number, but people can come even if they don't want to bowl and just socialize. We also have the option of reserving additional bowling lanes at that time should we need them.

Communication Concerns around Anniversary Meetings and Special Events

Zelda was concerned that decisions about the Anniversary meeting were not clearly communicated.  All decisions around special events (who hosts, who speaks, and how they are planned) should be made at a business meeting and discussed as a group.  Two motions were made and carried unanimously:

• Kim made a motion was made that passed unanimously that the boat meeting commitments and NAAG Anniversary meetings were to be classified as special events to be handled by committee and planning decisions discussed with the larger group.

• Pami made a second motion that passed unanimously that the Secretary's role must rotate as defined by group conscience and that clear expectations around role, duties, and all items in flight must take place and be handed over at the end of the service term.  Chris volunteered to develop a secretary SOP and transition guide for this purpose.

Concerns about Accidentally closing meetings in error

Kim C. made a motion to change the script so that if the meeting was disconnected to remind members to please rejoin meeting or during NCL time. Lots of good discussions were had, and we voted, but the motion did not carry.  The script remains the same, but this serves as a good reminder to be careful and always verify if you are in a service role for a meeting that you are not Host prior to disconnecting.

The meeting was adjourned.

AA “Never Alone Again Group”

Business Meeting Agenda

Date: March 2nd, 2023

Time: 8:30 PM ET

Agenda

Chris opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer.

Treasurer’s Report [Randy]

Balances, payments, and other information referenced during the Treasurer portion of the business meeting are located here.  Randy noted the inclusion of both higher shipping costs this month (due to shipping materials to Tisha to take over sending out chips) and an additional prudent reserve aligned to MailChimp, given we were ultimately not permitted to pay for this on a yearly basis.

Dora made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report.  Tisha seconded the motion.

Vote:

Yes: 25

No: 0

Motion carried, the Treasurer’s report is accepted.

–

Bookie’s Report [Zelda/Julie]

Zelda let us know that we have ingoing and outgoing commitments scheduled and that they are on the commitments calendar.  She also mentioned that if anyone would like a physical copy of the calendar to please let her know and she will send one along.  She also said that it is getting harder to schedule Zoom only commitments given many of the meetings have gone back live and are no longer virtual only.  If anyone is aware of meetings that would be interesting in doing mutual commitments to let her know.  Julie brought up the point that we could use more participation in outgoing commitments.  As a reminder, only 90 days of sobriety is required to chair a commitment and share which provides a good opportunity for service for those interested.

Tisha made a motion to accept the Bookie’s report.  Joanne seconded the motion.

Vote:

Yes: 19

No: 0

Motion carried, the Bookie’s report was accepted.

–

Area/Group Delegate Report [Courtney/Alex/Mikey]

Mikey provided figures for our donation dollars to District and Central Services.  He also reminded us that we still have the opportunity to nominate a representative to the Central Service Steering Committee.  The role requires 3 years of sobriety and a term of previous service as an area or group delegate.  Courtney has the necessary experience as a former delegate of ours and is interested in the position. 

Mikey made a motion to have our group participate in the steering committee, and for Courtney to fill that role.  Patrick seconded the motion.

Vote:

Yes: 24

No: 0

Motion carried, Courtney will be our candidate nominated for the Central Service Steering committee.

Tisha made a motion to accept the Area/Group delegate report.  Multiple members seconded the motion.

Vote:

Yes: 22:

No: 0

Motion carried, the Area/Group delegate report is accepted.

–

Old Business

There is currently no old business to be discussed at the meeting.

Announcements

• Announcement regarding service schedule: The NAAG service schedule for March is live.  Positions that did not have new signups for a given slot have rolled over to the previous position holder.  As a reminder, Group conscience has established that Service position durations are as follows:

  • Host: 3-month duration

  • Bookie: 6-month rotation

  • Commitment Coordinator (Inbound/Outbound): 3-month duration

  • Greeter, Co-Host/Poster, NCL: 1-month duration

If you want to do service work, please use the signup forms on the website.  Don’t be shy about reaching out directly to someone that holds a position that you’d like to learn about.  You can also reach out to the host of a meeting as well to get plugged in.

• Announcement regarding Alternate/Assistant Secretary.  As you are aware, group conscience stipulates the rotation of the Secretary every 6 months.  This is the beginning of the second month of my tenure, and I am looking for volunteers to take on the role of learning the position as my replacement.  If you are interested, please contact me directly (you know where to find me) or email the NAAG email address.  During our next business meeting, we will hold a vote for the position.

• Announcement regarding co-hosting the NAAG meetings. Over the last month, we have seen an uptick in meeting disruption from bombers.  We have also seen an increase in actual members being removed from meetings accidentally.  We all want to keep the meeting safe for all attendees, but we need to be very careful about the process we use to remove people.  Sometimes squares will move in the Zoom window, and if we aren’t careful, we can accidentally remove the wrong person.  The best way for me is to mute first, then remove, versus immediately remove to verify you have the correct person.  No real guidance here; just be careful and use your judgment. 

• Announcement regarding the 3rd Anniversary of the NAAG Group: This coming March 25th, we will host a group-founding Anniversary meeting to celebrate the creation of the NAAG AA group.  As part of this, we will invite individuals to share during the meeting.  Information will be finalized and sent via the newsletter in the coming weeks. (Tisha)

New Business

Chris motioned to establish a password rotation policy for all NAAG resources that manage the website, files, and scheduling.  Password changes will be timed to execute along with the rotation of the Secretary position every six months.  

Multiple members seconded the motion.

Vote: 

Yes: 20

No: 0

Motion carried.  A password rotation policy will be established and documented.

—

Chris noted recently we had a speaker share on the 12 steps in the month of February focused on his ESH with a specific step.  He volunteered to come in and do the same thing monthly on a scheduled basis.  Many members complemented his share and message, but group conscience recommends sharing no more than every 90 days.  

The question was raised whether the group should vote in / establish guest speakers on a per speaker basis to enrich our program further if appropriate.  The floor was opened for discussion.

Tisha felt that we should still limit speakers to every 90 days, but be open to allow for ‘circuit speakers’ or other special cases.

Dora mentioned that there are workshop style meetings in other AA groups that do topic specific meetings (example, the 12 traditions).  It would be good to find a way to do this.

Drew felt that the speaker schedule looks empty and questioned why we are restricting speaking to a timeframe to begin with.  Given we allow volunteering to speak at the meeting as a way to fill spots and not hold to the 90 day rule, the same folks typically volunteer anyway so it is not clear what we are accomplishing with the rule.

Randy spoke up and disagreed, 3 months is a good guideline and we should stick to it.

Patrick noted that people who have been in the program for a long time typically tend to have more contacts to speak given a wider exposure to meetings outside of NAAG.  He offered and recommended other members with long term sobriety to assist hosts in finding qualified, new speakers.

Kim said the nature of a speaker discussion meeting is intended to be a less formal style meeting then having a ‘scheduled headliner’ come and speak.  Having more variety and diversity in shares is a good thing but we shouldn’t be shooting to bring in more polished, ‘professional’ speakers.

Joanne pointed out this seemed to stem from a specific situation with a speaker saying “I will come back next month”, and agreed with Patrick.

Mikey pointed out we have a good format established already.  Everyone coming to our meetings knows what to expect.  To bring a repeat speaker in under the pretense of a speaker discussion meeting is not good.  

The discussion was tabled, no vote was taken.

--

Chris opened the floor to see if anyone else had anything before we close. 

Brian C. Spoke up and said. I make a motion that whoever is the current secretary be the chair/host for the boat meeting commitment.  

The group voted.

Vote:

Yes: 20

No: 4

Chris asked to hear from the members who voted no.

Randy spoke up to say that it's not logistically possible.  He was Secretary and has never been to the boat meeting. 

Kasey also spoke up to say that a lot more goes into chairing the boat meeting.  Its not just hosting the meeting.  It includes organizing events, planning attendance to additional meetings, and working to set up a lunch, among other things.  Kim L has been filling this role for the past few year and does a great job at it.

Tisha spoke up and said the secretary already has a lot on their plate and that there is no reason why we would also put this on their shoulders.   It is another opportunity to do service at NAAG by another person.

Julie volunteered to assist and potentially take it on.

The group revoted.

Vote:

• Yes: 0

• No: 21

The motion is not carried.  Coordinating the Boat Meeting commitment will remain as is, without change.

Chris ends the business meeting, praying us out with the Serenity Prayer.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP

BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  February 2nd, 2023

Time:  8:30p ET

Chris presented as secretary and opened the Business meeting by asking Tisha to pray us in.  Tisha L. expressed gratitude for serving as secretary for the last 11 months and led the group in the Serenity Prayer.

GSR/Delegate Report

Alex G. presented as the group GSR. 

He went over a few announcements from the GSR meeting. There's a safety pamphlet they're working on for in-person groups.  He also let us know that we are now officially part of District 12-13 (Boston).

Courtney presented as the former Delegate for our group, said thanks for allowing her to be of service, and passed to the new Delegate Mikey C. 

Mikey let us know that there are some open spots on the Central Service Steering Committee, and we can nominate someone to represent our meeting if we want.  Mikey made a motion to have our group participate in the steering committee. 

Scott B. seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 21

• No: 0

Motion passed.  We will post in the newsletter to notify anyone interested in this position to email the group, along with the role requirements. 

Scott B made a motion to accept the GSR/Delegate report.

Joanne seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 22

• No: 0

The GSR/Delegate report was accepted.

Treasurer's Report

Randy delivered the treasurer's report. 

Randy mentioned that he has been talking to Tisha about taking on the role of shipping out books and chips when she stepped down from the secretary role.   

Allen made a motion to have Tisha L. take over Books and Chips.

Zelda seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 23

• No: 0

Tisha L will take over the management of delivering books and chips to our members.

As discussed in the last business meeting, we agreed to fund MailChimp for $300.  However, upon investigation, the cost is actually $420.    While the cost is more, it is still less expensive than other options, but he did not want to spend the money without group consensus.  Randy made a motion to proceed with making the payment from existing funds.

Chris seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 22

• No: 0 

Motion passed.  Randy will execute the payment.

Scott B. made a motion to accept the treasurer's report.

Zelda seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 23

• No: 0

The Treasurer's report was accepted.

Bookie Report

Zelda presented as a Bookie, and let us know that everything is going great. The Feb schedule is filled, and she's working on March. 

Kasey presented as the Assistant Bookie, and requested members to please get more involved in outgoing commitments.  If sponsors could encourage their sponsees to both chair and share and participate in the outgoing commitments once they reach 90 days of sobriety.  She then reminded us that we put in the newsletter that the Assistant Bookie position is open.  We had Julie W. step up as wanting to fill this service position. 

Patrick C. made a motion to have Julie W. take over as Asst. Bookie effect of immediately. 

Zelda seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 28

• No: 0

• 
  

Motion passed.  Julie W will now be the assistant bookie going forward.  Thank you for your service Kasey, and thank you for stepping up for service Julie W! 

Scott B. made a motion to accept the Bookie's report. 

Patrick C. seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 22

• No: 0

The Bookie's report was accepted.

Announcements

Chris let us know that the website will now show 2 months on the service schedule. The current month and the following month.  This is to ensure that newcomers see a blank schedule, and we will fill in the next month as people sign up for it.  Nothing changes as far as the process, just what we see on the website. 

There was conversation and questions from members regarding the group conscience of keeping an NCL position for more than one month.  Tisha spoke up and clarified that if no one else steps up for a service position of any kind, then it is fine for us to continue in the position until someone else wants it. 

Chris also reminded the group that Host is the only position that is a 3 month commitment; all the others are 1 month.

Michael let us know that on the website, it says there is no sobriety requirement to serve as a greeter, however, you need 24 hours clean and sober to speak in the meeting. 

Micheal made a motion to change the website to reflect a 24hr requirement to greet. 

Joanne seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 22

• No: 0

Motion passed.  We will change the website to reflect the requested change.

The ast announcement was that we are planning our 3rd-year anniversary meeting.  It will take place on March 25, a Saturday night at the 730pm meeting.  Kat spoke up and said that her opinion is that we should do a hat pull for speakers to keep the anniversary meeting open for anyone to speak.  Tisha spoke up and let the group know we are already planning the speaker schedule and the night's events.  There will be a flyer soon sent out in the newsletter as well as posted on the website. 

New Business

Chris let us know that a member emailed the group asking that we consider enabling the closed captioning aspect of Zoom to help people with hearing disabilities attend our meeting.  He let us know that it will have a time delay and it will record the audio and put it through a translator to put words onto the screen. 

Chris made a motion to gather the details, run some trial meetings and return with specifics on what will happen if we enable CC. 

Vote:

• Yes: 18

• No: 1

Kat let us know that in her opinion this is opening a can of worms, recording meeting audio is a no. Our meeting has been fine for 3 years.  Tisha spoke up and said she agreed with Kat.  A newcomer who is already nervous about joining a meeting for the first time, getting a prompt the moment they sign in alerting them that "This meeting is being recorded" is likely to concern them and make them very nervous. We have ASL interpreters at many of our 730pm meetings, so there is really no need to do this.  Further, there are other Zoom meetings online that do this that might be more appropriate.

Chris called for a re-vote.

Vote:

• Yes: 11

• No: 11

We will table this topic until further notice or it comes up again.

Chris let us know that it has been brought to his attention that the NCL list isn't working. There are no new names on the list and it has gone stale.  He proposed that we decommission this list and rely on the hashtag system.  He then opened the meeting for discussion.

Randy noted there are a few new names on the list. 

Tisha said that a few NCL have asked to step down from service because of the inability to help newcomers find sponsors with that list. There have also been people asking to be removed from the list because they are overwhelmed. 

Joanne shared that as NCL, she makes her own list of women she knows are available to sponsor, and maintains it herself.

Melissa said she does the same.

Dora shared about how overloaded with sponsees she has become from serving as NCL.  most of the numbers on there are not available anymore. 

Scott made a motion to decommission the Hashtag list. 

Tisha seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 22

• No: 1

Micheal said he voted no because he thinks we should update and utilize the resources we have and not get rid of them.

Kat said she knows she's going sound like an old timer, but it needs to be on the newcomer to do some work to find a sponsor.  There are in person meetings now, and this list may have been a great idea 3 years ago, but things have changed. 

The group re-voted.

Vote:

• Yes: 22

• No: 1

Motion passed.  We will decommission the HashTag list for sponsors.

The last item of business is that the Sunday noon meeting is struggling to find a host and speakers.  Randy suggested the idea of turning this meeting into a Daily Reflections meeting to keep the meeting on as scheduled.

Scott B. made a motion to change the Sunday noon meeting to a daily reflections meeting, 

Zelda seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 20

• No: 0

Motion passed.  The Sunday noon meeting will now be a daily reflections meeting, effect of today.

Chris closed the Business Meeting and led us out with the Serenity Prayer.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP

BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  January 5, 2023

Time:  8:30p ET

Tisha started the meeting with the Serenity prayer.

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

Randy presented the Treasurer's report.   Details on contributions, expenses, and other financial data can be found in the linked spreadsheet above.   Randy shared this information verbally at the meeting to walk the group through the numbers.  He noted that the distributions look higher this month because we did not put any money towards our ordinary contributions last month.  We also had a higher donation amount this month in addition to a $300 donation specifically to cover the MailChimp upgrade.

Mike C motioned to accept the report.  Patrick C seconded.

Vote

• Yes: 23

• No: 0

The Treasurer's report was accepted.

Bookie Report:

Tisha pointed out that we need a replacement for Mikey C as a bookie given he has been doing the service role for over a year.  Mikey C met with Tisha and they decided that he would down immediately.  Without a replacement, we will not have a bookie until we elect one to coordinate commitments.  

Mikey C presented his final Bookie report in the role.   We have commitments booked for the entire month of January and into February.

Zelda volunteered to step in and take on the position.  

Harold motioned for Zelda to take over as Bookie.  Dora seconded the motion.

Vote

• Yes: 47

• No: 0

Motion passed.  Zelda will be our new Bookie, as of immediately.

The Bookie report was accepted.

Group / District Delegate(s) Report:

Our Group Delegate, Courtney presented the delegate report.  She has provided Tisha with the central service AA newsletter to be put on the website for everyone to review as they like.  In addition, the InterGroup QR code/bulletin flyer has been put up on the website as well.  She also noted that we have contributed $7,761.08 to InterGroup as of November 2022.

Courtney also pointed out that she came to our group because she goes to these meetings anyway, given we are such a large contributor and deserve a voice at these meetings.  However, if someone else would like to step in it would be good. Mikey C has been attending these meetings with her and offered to step into the role of group delegate. 

Harold motioned for Mikey C to take over as Group Delegate.  Chris seconded the motion.

Vote

• Yes: 43

• No: 0

Motion passed.  Mikey C will be our new Group Delegate, as of immediately.

Our area representative Alex G brought up that we get to select what district we want to be in (12/13, within area 30).  He points out we have been donating to district 12/13 since this meeting was established.  

Dora pointed out that if we've been contributing to 12 and 13, it makes sense for us to choose this so that we have the most voice where we are donating our funds.  Chris suggested we send an email to socialize the idea before voting.  

Mike C (Abington) asked for clarification on the process to get this going and register and agreed with Dora.  Bernice agreed with Chris to shelf this for a month, given it is new business.  She also asked whether this is a physical meeting versus a virtual meeting (currently it is hybrid).  

Randy asked about what difference it makes to table it versus voting on it right now. He also pointed out there is no reason to make a change given our money is going there already.  Alex noted that district 8 is in Quincy, and districts 12/13 are in Boston.  We just haven't officially selected yet.  

Joanne confirmed her opinion is to stick with the Boston districts and remain consistent.  Mikey C agreed 12/13 makes the most sense.  Tisha commented that she had assumed that since we donated money to 12/13, we already belonged to that district.

Harold motioned we go forward with joining districts 12/13.  Randy seconded.

Vote

• Yes: 39

• No: 0

Motion passed.  We will join districts 12/13. 

Old Business:

Tisha re-raised that we are outgrowing Mailchimp for the free version of that software.  This is currently preventing us from properly distributing our newsletter.  To upgrade to a paid plan would be $299/year ($25/month).  This is an expense the group should decide on.  Are our newsletters important enough?  It's how we let folks know what's going on in our group (agendas, big book, happenings, etc).  This was tabled last month for review, but someone has earmarked a $300 donation to cover this cost for the year, which will give us an unlimited number of emails and recipients over the course of the year.

Jim G motioned to spend the money on MailChimp to upgrade it. Patrick C seconded.

Vote

• Yes: 37

• No: 0

Motion passed.  We will upgrade MailChimp for the year.

New Business:

Tisha pointed out that Chris has volunteered to step in as secretary for NAAG as of February 1st, 2023. Chris pointed out that the position is for 6 months. Lots of conversation occurred around alternate secretary role and additional conversation around this to be tabled until we have had a secretary transition.

Dora motioned that we elect Chris to be our secretary as of February. Allen seconded.

Vote

• Yes: 34

• No: 0

Motion passed. Chris will take over the Secretary role as of February 1st.

Tisha brought up that we want to have as many people getting involved in service work. She proposed the idea that we put some form of limitation on the total # of positions per week that individuals hold to allow everyone to participate. This schedule gets updated monthly, and unless a person signs up, it rolls over to the person holding it currently.  3 service positions per week was proposed as a limit for being scheduled to serve a role (not just filling in if someone is absent).

Kathleen pointed out that rotation gives more diversity to a meeting.

Randy raised the point that he is confused about how someone gets overbooked. They can't put their name on the schedule themselves. He pointed out that group conscience dictates service positions should be for 30 days and be rotated monthly. He noted it is also a big job to manage this schedule for 21 meetings a week.

Dana raised concerns we were not being consistent and that it is confusing. Service work is a critical component of fellowship for recovery.  Evan VDH raised the concern that having open positions would cause more problems than it helps. Service is service. You shouldn't penalize people for doing too much service.

Joanne pointed out we should honor the traditions with respect to rotation. She asked if this process could be managed by the individuals themselves going to who holds a service position and working out a plan to take over that position. Andrew agreed with Joanne.

Kasey mentioned establishing a scheduling coordinator role might help solve this problem as well.

This discussion was tabled without a motion or a proposed change. 

Tisha raised a topic for discussion for next month. We provide NCL sponsor lists that have not had a new person sign up to for over 6 months. We need to develop a better way to refer newcomers to sponsors because NCLs are running out of cycles to help and are overloading themselves. Joanne pointed out she does this independently and doesn't use the list.

Pami asked to re-visit  the discussion about the alternate secretary role later in the meeting. The alternate and secretary should be a group decision. We must vote as a group for both alternate and incoming secretaries. Also, the process for transitioning from alternate to secretary along with its 6-month service requirement in the role needs clarification. Tisha agreed that this needs more clarity and will ensure this is documented and voted on during our next business meeting.

Pami raised the issue again and said it needed to be addressed at this meeting.  She motioned to remove the 6-month requirement as an alternate secretary before you can fill the role of secretary. Further, once an alternate is voted in, they will become the secretary at the end of the current secretary's term. Michael seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 30

• No: 0

Motion passed.  The alternate secretary role will be changed to reflect group conscience.

Joanne made a motion to close the business meeting. Patrick C. seconded.

Tisha led us out with the Serenity Prayer.

The business meaning adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  December 1, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

Tisha started the meeting with the Serenity prayer.

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

Randy presented the Treasurer's report. Details on contributions, expenses, and other financial data can be found in the linked spreadsheet. He noted he has always run the balance to zero at the end of the month, reimbursed himself, and the remainder would be split 60/30/10 in donations across District 12/13, General Service, and area. He did not do a disbursement this month based on a few items he opened for discussion. Note: we still have not reclaimed the PayPal account data, but hope to have that financial matter settled by the January meeting.

Randy made a motion to keep a $500 prudent reserve in the treasury to cover expenses before making donations, after covering expenditures. Seconded by Scott B.

Vote:

- Yes: 31

- No: 0

Motion passed. We will now keep a $500 prudent reserve month to month in our treasury.

Randy also noted we currently send out the Big Book to anyone who asks. Should we require a donation ($10 was suggested) to help cover costs? 

He also pointed out that we are now doing a 12/12 meeting every Saturday. If we have the funds to do so, should we also provide 12/12 books to those who need it? The cost of these books is currently unknown.

The floor was opened for discussion.

Alex G asked how money would be disbursed for each type of literature, and how that would impact the prudent reserve. Randy said no, we would allocate money for each type of book for whoever needs them. Tisha pointed out our cost is variable month to month for Big Books, and we would expect that trend to carry with the 12/12 as well. Randy also noted that we have more than enough funds to cover the expenses of this from our donations. Kim said we do very well with donating to the parent group, and if we are going to focus on getting literature out we should focus on that and be less focused on a donation from those who want/need literature. It changes the 'vibe' of the book distribution in her opinion. We are either giving out books or we are not. Joanne asked what live meetings are doing. Tisha responded that it is typically up to group conscience. The question was also raised around whether or not we track who gets books to make sure that the same people aren't requesting books multiple times. Randy said that his live meetings are of the opinion that "These books are for you". Mike C pointed out that if if we have the money we should just give them away. Joanne also noted that people might be ordering for sponsees.  

No motion was made to change or modify our Big book policies with respect to donation.

A motion was made by Randy to provide 12/12 books as well as Big Books to to those who need it. Seconded by Mike C.

Vote:

- Yes: 25

- No: 1

Evan raised the point that since we just started doing a 12/12 meeting, this might be a good opportunity to offer them only at the meeting versus giving them out to whoever requests them. That is his only concern with this change. Randy said that this is the only place this topic would come up is at the meetings so this is a non-issue. Tisha also pointed out that sometimes it is in our newsletter, but it is not widespread. Tisha reiterated that our primary purpose is to stay sober and carry forward the message. If we can provide it, we should. Evan agreed and removed his objection.

Motion passed. We will now provide 12/12 literature for those who request/need it.

Bookie Report: Mikey presented the Bookie report. We have 3 outgoing commitments this week, posted on the "Commitments" section of the website. They are listed here. If you would like a physical copy of the schedule, reach out to Mikey. He also let us know that Zelda has a lot going on and is not able to take on the job as Bookie at this time. She is very interested, but has concerns around the timing of outgoing commitments. Zelda is going to speak to Mikey and Kasey about the job some more and they will discuss it further. Tisha suggested we revisit the topic after the holidays given that work is divided between the Bookie and Assistant bookie position.  

Motion to accept the report was made by Chris. Seconded by Randy.

The Bookie report was accepted.

Group Delegate Report:

Alex G. and Courtney presented as GSR and Delagate.  Courtney reported that there is a survey right now to vote on the closing prayer at the International convention.  They are trying to replace the Lords Prayer, because it makes AA seem like its religion based.  The link will be in the next newsletter. 

Also Courtney has gave us a sheet that they read at most in person meetings with all the happenings around Boston.  We will post the link in the next newsletter and on the website.

Alex G. shared with us that he had to send some paperwork in to get us assigned to a district, and thats in the process, he will keep us updated. 

New Business: 

Tisha raised the issue that we are outgrowing Mail chimp for the free version of that software. This is currently preventing us from distributing our news letter. To upgrade to a paid plan would be $299/year ($25/month). This is an expense the group should decide on. Are our news letters important enough? Its how we let folks know whats going on in our group (agendas, big book, happenings, etc). She opened the floor for discussion.

Evan noted he is for upgrading the account to continue the service, but he has concerns about the money going towards this and keeping up donations to support central service.

Chris noted that there may be alternatives. Tisha had concerns of making a switch given it would require re-subscription. Jen (who handles the newsletter now) did some research and this appears to be the least expensive way to do handle this. Randy pointed out he set this up and it was easiest to use. Allen noted that $25/month is a very doable expense and getting the message out is important.  

Scott mentioned that we could replace MailChimp with a page on the website and potentially save money on that. Patrick C mentioned that our membership list (1900ish) may be over-inflated given that folks may no longer be attending or interested given that they don't bother to unsubscribe, which makes our numbers for use higher and we could attempt to force folks to resubscribe.  

Kim mentioned we should use the built in analytics to determine who has and has not opened emails to determine subscription rates. Tom L pointed out that he really enjoys getting the emails given that he may not always be attending NAAG all the time and having the emails are important. Randy followed up on Kim's comment about Mailchimp analytics and using that as a means for trimming our subscription list. Donna agreed with Kim. Jan M suggested we should start with a clean slate w/members given there is a high % of people who don't need or want it and see what our subscription rate looks like after a purge. Drew is not for a purge given that we are dealing with alcoholics. Getting the message out is important.  Tisha Agreed, our primary purpose is to stay sober and help others achieve sobriety.  Sending emails to people who havent attended or opened an email in awhile just might be what brings them back in. 

A motion was made by Randy that we gather more data via analytics and review this in more detail and table this topic for next month's meeting. Kim seconded it.

Vote:

- Yes: 21

- No: 0

Motion passed. We will review this topic next month.

Tisha pointed out we have our talent show coming up. Some members feel we should add a blurb to the posting instructions about the NYE talent show to ensure it's posted at every meeting. This would only be posted into the chat, not read by the host, and not called out.

Sample blurb:

"NAAG is hosting our 3rd Annual Talent Show on New Years Eve. For details, the information is posted on the main page of our website, mid-way down above the meeting schedule: https://sites.google.com/view/neveralonegroup/home?authuser=0 . If you'd like to participate and have a talent to share (or have questions) please email NAAG.TAlent@gmail.com."

Tisha opened the floor for discussion. This must be decided on tonight given the talent show is at the end of the month.

Randy said logistically it is difficult to do that and change the script for just a month to accommodate this. Also that word of mouth has worked just fine each year in the past. Requiring it to be part of the script is not necessary nor should it be a big thing. Scott agreed with Randy that no action was necessary.

No motion was made. We will handle this ad-hoc going forward for the remainder of the month.

Tisha raised the idea of adding NCL back to the noon Tuesday and Thursday meetings. It is awkward and a general topic of concern for many members and go back to the way things were. She opened the floor for discussion.

Femi agreed it is important to have the NCLs present at every meeting. Joanne agrees this should be uniform. We are on zoom and its an important role to fill given we are not live -- we are online. 

A motion was made by Scott to reinstate NCL coverage to the noon Tuesday and Thursday meetings. Seconded by Joanne.

Vote:

- Yes: 22

- No: 0

Motion passed. NCL coverage will be reinstated on the noon Tuesday/Thursday meetings.

Tisha raised the topic that a few members / hosts have suggested shortening and changing the meeting script for hosts.  

Kim has written up a shorter version of the script for consideration. A lot of our blubs seem to be long and we could cut down the script significantly and provide AAs more time to share. Tisha opened the floor for discussion.

A lot of conversation ensued. We all agreed (in principle) that the script can be shortened and amended.

Joanne noted this should reference the traditions wherever possible. Evan also pointed out we should break the script into sections and review this.

A Motion was made by Scott B to put Kim's suggestions into practice for 1 month given she authored the original script. We can try these changes for a month and revisit the changes during next month's meeting. Seconded by Chris / Joanne.

Vote:

- Yes: 17

- No: 0

Motion passed. We will use Kim's changes as written for 30 days and revisit this topic during the next business meeting to make any amendments to the script as necessary.

Due to the length of this meeting, we tabled a few discussion points to be discussed during our next meeting:

- Our Big Book reading schedule / method -- do we include reading stories and other areas of the Big Book, or only focus on the first 164 pages;

- The question as to whether or not we should establish a time frame or policy around allowing members who have been banned back into NAAG. This topic must be discussed in detail but this evening was not the time given how long the meeting had run already. All bans will remain unchanged and no policy changes made until we discuss this.

Evan made a motion to close the meeting. Scott B / Joanne seconded this.

Tisha led us out with the Serenity Prayer.

The business meaning adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  November 3, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

Randy opened the  Meeting by letting us know that he would be chairing this evening because Tisha L. had surgery this week.

He presented and read the Treasurer's Report.  No questions were raised, and a motion was made by Patrick C to accept the report.  

Scott B seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 24

• No: 0

The report was accepted.

Bookie Report:

Mikey presented the Bookie Report.  He stated we have a very full month with an in-person Alcathon commitment on Thanksgiving.  Hey also relayed that he will be speaking with Zelda who expressed an interest in taking over the Bookie position. Next month's Agenda will contain a vote on approving a new Bookie.

Chris made a motion to accept the Bookie Report.  Patrick C seconded the motion.

Vote

• Yes: 21

• No: 0

The report was accepted.

Group Delegate Report:

Our Group Delegate Courtney was not present for the business meeting, so this section of the meeting was tabled until next month.

Old Business:

No old business was carried over from the last meeting.

New Business: 

Randy informed the group that the alternate and secondary group Secretary positions are open.   Tisha is looking for volunteers to get involved.  Please reach out to her directly to discuss further if anyone is interested.  The goal is to have a person trained by the time Tisha is set to step down around the 1st of the year (2023).  Next month's Agenda will contain a vote on approving a new Secretary.

Randy passed the meeting to Dora to discuss our Host Workshop outline discussed in our previous meeting.

Dora shared her screen took the group through it.  The only people who attended the planning meeting were Scott B and Dora, even though it was posted in the newsletter and on our website a week ahead of the business meeting for the group to review.

No changes were suggested.  A tentative Host Workshop is scheduled for this Saturday, 11/5/2022, at 6 PM.  

Scott B made a motion to accept the outline for the Host workshop.  Tisha seconded it.

Vote:

• Yes: 23

• No: 0

The outline was accepted. 

Next, Randy reminded the group that we have had an annual talent show/play every year for the past 2 years as part of our New Years' Eve celebration.

Scott B went into detail about the play/talent show.  Anyone wanting to participate must have 30 days of sobriety to participate.  The play, "The Committee" is one item slated to be performed, but any talent is welcome.  Please email the group for more information at neveraloneagaingroup@gmail.com to volunteer or get information on the play rehearsals.

Dora made a motion to approve scheduling the talent show and plan accordingly.  Nan seconded the motion.

Vote:

• Yes: 25

• No: 0

The motion passed.

Randy reminded the group we have been discussing switching the Saturday 8:30 AM NAAG meeting from a speaker meeting format to a literature discussion meeting around 12 Steps and 12 Traditions (12 and 12).  Paul Z and Randy will each participate in hosting the meeting.  Randy proposed we begin this on Saturday, November 19th. 

Scott made a motion to approve the change.  Maureen seconded it.

Vote

• Yes: 25

• No: 0

The motion passed.

Randy raised the point that there have been concerns raised about NAAG hosts sticking to the script around time limitations for speakers.  The main discussion point was around sharing for 15 - 20 minutes versus sharing 'to the top of the hour.'

Patrick C shared his opinion on how the timeline seems to have shifted from a more limited time of 15 minutes to 20 minutes, and now its creeping towards the top of the hour.  Depending on how long it takes to open the meeting this sometimes gives the speaker between 25 - 30 minutes depending on how long they actually speak. 

Randy opened the topic to group discussion.

Evan shared that it's hard to cut a speaker off -- he doesn't want to have to do that.   He pointed out that at an in-person meeting, speakers are never timed or interrupted.

Mike C Abington made the point that it was unclear how exactly we can police this.

Scott B shared and said he has used the phrase 'top of the hour' because it gives people speaking a good time metric and it typically works out to be within the 15-20 minutes specified in the script. 

Patrick C pointed out that hosts tend to run the meetings differently.  Sometimes a host can take 10 minutes to open the meeting, and sometimes it is conducted very quickly.   He also raised the point that it is typically the same people sharing every day, and we should be sticking to the script as written around the 'if you have shared in the past 24 hours...' to allow room for those who don't speak often more time.

Evan pointed out that we have never timed the introduction to our meetings, ever.  We just need to relax and be less uptight.  We need hosts to want to volunteer and based on the scrutiny it receives people may not be willing.  He also shared that sometimes he wants to quit because this seems to come up constantly.

Tisha shared the point that it is difficult to dictate host behavior.  We should stick to the script, but we also don't want our meetings to feel robotic.  Personal touches make the meeting better, but hosts should do their best to stick to the script.

Dora mentioned she has been hosting meetings in AA for 45 years, and this is the strictest group she has ever seen. She thinks she should be free to be herself and doesn't want her hands tied.  None of us are perfect, we are all volunteers, and we need to remember rule 62.  She said if I don't enjoy this and love my meetings I won't do it.

Chris shared and said every meeting is different and that this structure doesn't seem to be present for in-person meetings.  However, we want to make hosting accessible to anyone so people can step in and when in doubt the script should always win.

Randy commented that this isn't something we should vote on.   We all have our personalities and ways of doing things.  Also, when you need hands or if folks aren't sharing, at what point do we ask someone not to share?  If you are the host, do you have to say 'I'm sorry, you shared yesterday; please put your hand down?' 

Randy asked for a motion to close.

Patrick C. made a motion to close the meeting.  Maureen seconded it.  Mike C from Abington thirded the close.

The business meaning adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- Pop-Up BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  October 20, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES: 

Special Meeting

     Tisha called a special business meeting to let us know that our group has been invited to be a part of an in-person Thanksgiving Alcathon.  She let the group know that an Alcathon is an Event that we AAs put on during holidays so that there's a constant meeting place to stay sober.  Tisha turned the meeting over to Mikey to let us know the details.  

      Mikey presented as Bookie and reported that we have been invited to take a slot at the Alcathon.  He reminded us we did a zoom Alcathon with this group in 2020 for Thanksgiving.  Mikey let us know that there are only a few slots left for groups to volunteer.  The choices are 2:30 PM, 3:45 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:15 PM.  So if we decide to be a part of this, we need to choose one of these times.  Tisha opened the floor for questions or comments before we voted. 

      Patrick C. said he thinks we should see who is available to go before we decide.  Steve asked if it is only in person.   Jim G. said that most Alcathons go on 24hr a day through the holidays, meeting after meeting.  

Tisha asked anyone who is able to attend to raise their hands.  5 people volunteered.  Zelda B. Said she would be willing to chair the meeting since she is free all day and would love to be a part of it.  

Mikey will also be able to go. 

Zelda chose the 230pm time slot. 

The group voted.

Question: If you are for Never Alone being represented and putting on a meeting for the in-person Alcathon in S. Boston, please raise your virtual hand. 

YAY: 17 NAY: 0

The vote passes. 

Tisha let the group know the information will be in this week's newsletter and on the website.  

Tisha closed the meeting with the Lord's Prayer.

Meeting Adjurned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  October 6th, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

Unfortunately, Randy was unavailable to join us this evening, but the above link is the most recent Treasurer's report.  Tisha read the results of the report on the call.  There were no questions raised.

Patrick C made a motion to accept the report.  Denis seconded this. 

Vote

• Yes: 22

• No: 0

The report was accepted.

Bookie Report:

Mikey presented as Bookie and reported that Zelda has expressed interest in taking over the Bookie service position.   He also let us know the Commitment schedule is currently light, but he is still trying to fill at least the 4 Thursdays of the month.  

Kasey presented as Assistant Bookie and let us know the calendar isn't updated on the website yet, but it will be as soon as she receives a calendar from Mikey. 

Group Delegate Report:

Courtney presented as the group delegate stating she went to the monthly meeting at Boston central service and reported the following: 

• There will no longer be dust covers manufactured for new big books to prevent paper waste. 

• A need was expressed for more people to do commitments to detox and recovery institutions in and around Boston.  If you would like more information please contact Courtney.

• The Grapevine monthly magazine price will go up to $13.50 in 2022. If you order your subscription now you will continue paying the current $12.

• Public info (PR) advised that they will be distributing QR code cards for AA Central Service and there will be lines for phone numbers on them.  She will get us some when they're available, potentially to include in big books shipped to those who need them.

Old Business:

Last month we discussed changing the script to better a burning desire.  A few people submitted their opinions on what the script change should be via email as requested and propose the following change:

"We have approximately 10 minutes left in the meeting, and we reserve this time for a Burning Desire to speak; what this means is if you are having trouble living sober today, please unmute and share with us what's going on."

Robin made a motion to accept this script change.  Deb seconded this.

Vote

• Yes: 26

• No: 3

Tisha opened the floor for discussion.

Evan said he feels that the script is already a lot to read and he has a hard time following it as it is.  Plus another host said "hurt yourself or someone else" just yesterday, and it had someone speak up about it.  As long as we are pointing them in the right direction when they say these things.  

Adam suggested a wording change -- we are saying unmute and share too many times and being repetitive.

Kasey said she agreed with Adam and that it should say this is not a time to share; it is a time for a sobriety emergency.  This was not suggested as an amendment to the wording, however.

Re-Vote

• Yes: 23 

• No: 5

Motion passed. The script will be changed immediately.  

The Alternate Secretary (Jenn P) has decided to step down from the position. She asked Jim G (who was the other candidate voted on last month) if he was still interested and he said yes. We discussed whether we would grandfather him in or if we should revote.

Chris made a motion that we let Jim G assume the Alternate secretary role ASAP.  Patrick C seconded this.

Vote

• Yes: 28 

• No: 0 

Motion passed. Jim G will assume the Alternate secretary role immediately.  

New Business: 

We previously discussed the hosts having the option of reverting to a daily reflections meeting when no speaker was available.  We decided that if we advertise a speaker/topic meeting, then that's what we should have.  That said, some hosts have been reverting to a daily reflections meeting, saying no speaker is available.  The question was proposed of whether to give this option to hosts or if meetings should remain as scheduled.

Tisha opened the meeting for opinions and comments.  No one weighed in.  Meetings will remain as scheduled without deviation.

Tisha brought forward the idea of having a host training workshop.  Dora has volunteered to lead this process, with Scott B assisting.  The workshop will be designed to make members more comfortable running a zoom meeting.  Right now we are in dire need of people to do service in the host position.

Tisha opened the room for discussion.  Robin asked if we can just lower the sobriety requirement for hosting a meeting so more people would have the opportunity to serve.  This was tabled for future discussion.

Annette asked if those who did not meet the sobriety requirement could still attend the workshop (yes).

Sarah shared that when the NCL workshop was created we formed a sub-committee to generate an outline for the workshop and then present it to the group for approval.  She then made a motion to form this sub-committee.  Adam P seconded this.

Vote: 

• Yes: 25

• No: 0

Motion passed.  Tisha will discuss wth Dora and announce the details on when the first sub-committee meeting will be.  This information will be published in the newsletter.

Tisha called on Patrick C to make an announcement.  Patrick C informed the group that Paul Z  Is interested in starting a 12&12 meeting on Saturday mornings at 830 AM. He wants to start this meeting in December.  Randy K and Patrick C will co-host with him to help with the meeting.  

We will discuss this more at the next meeting and conduct a vote.  This was just an FYI to socialize the idea.

Tisha opened the room for any further comments or discussions.  With no hands, Lanette made a motion to end the business meeting. Chris seconded this.  

Tisha leads us out with the serenity prayer.

Business Meeting Ended.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  September 1st, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

Bookie Report:

• Mikey presented as Bookie and reported that everything is still going well. Same as last month. We are looking for a new bookie for the group. He also requested that if anyone is involved with Any zoom meetings that want to do commitments, to please reach out to him.

Kasey presented as Asst. Bookie with nothing to report.

New Business: 

• Tisha presented as the group secretary, reminded us of the Alternate secretary role that was created a few months back. It is understood that the Alternate will serve alongside the current secretary for a 6mo. Period. And then move into the role of secretary. They then will take on their own Alternate, and it will repeat.

• Tisha informed the group that we had 2 members who stepped up for the job of Alternate. Jim G. and Jenn P.

• Tisha asked them both, in under 2 minutes to explain to the group why they would like to be alternate.

     Jim G. went first, followed by Jenn P.

• Scott B. attempted to create a poll among the group, to keep it 100% anonymous. However, everyone in the group was not able to see the poll.

• Patrick C. Spoke up and said we will always wonder how accurate this was. So we asked the 2 members to leave the meeting completely. We would text them to ask them to return.

• The group voted. Jim G - 27 Jenn P. - 39

• Sarah spoke up and said the first vote was closed while it was still counting.

• Tisha was trying to be quick to keep the voting as anonymous as possible.

      So we did a revote.

• The group voted. Jim G- 30 Jenn P- 37

• We asked the members to return and Tisha read the results.

     Jenn P. Will serve as our next Alternate secretary.

     Congratulations Jenn P.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

• Tisha reminded the group of last month when Courtney went to the Boston Central services office and brought us back information regarding our groups ability to have a GSR and a Delagate.

     Courtney stepped up, willing to be Delagate for our group.

• Andrew C. Made a motion for Courtney to serve as Delagate.

     Scott B. Second the motion.

• The group voted. Y- 54 N- 0

     Courtney will serve as Delagate for the group.

• Alex G. Stepped up for consideration as the group GSR.

     Andrew C. Made a motion for Alex G. To serve as the group GSR.

     Dora M. Seconded that motion.

• The group voted. Y- 60 N- 0

     Alex G. Will serve as the group GSR.

----------------------------------------------------------------

• Tisha reminded the group of how talking about the NCL workshop not being successful was on the agenda. However, yesterday's workshop had a great turnout and opened the floor for members opinions.

     Maureen shared how she attended and it was very helpful and informative.

     Donna shared the same.

     With no opinions or talk of termination of the workshop, we moved on.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

• Tisha reminded the group of last month there was talk about the Burning Desire portion of th3 script lacking in description, how hosts ad-lib their own description of a Burning Desire. And how we would be open as a group for ideas to be emailed in.

• We received 1 email. Tisha read the idea, and opened the room for member opinions.

     Kat shared that this has been voted down in the past and we should stick with " if you are having     trouble living sober today, please speak up"

• Evan shared how it's hard as a host to read everything word for word and we do the best we can as hosts.

     Debbie shared that as a medical personnel she doesn't think we should be saying anything about     hurting oneself or someone else.

     Allie shared how it's important for newcomers to know they can share about these situations, because there are lots of underlying issues with Alcoholism.

     Cat shared that she agrees with Kat, we should keep it simple and to the point.

• The group tabled the issue, with a request for members to submit more ideas on what the script change should be, so we have something specific to vote on.

---------------------------------------------------------------

• Tisha spoke to the group about an issue we have with relaying announcements to the general masses of the meeting.

     We have a newsletter that some people don't get, and most don't open.

     It's really hard at the moment to promote things like outgoing commitments, workshops, or even  business meetings. 100 people leave after the prayer, and in person AA meetings have announcements.

• An idea she gave was for the host to ask for any AA announcements to be sent via chat to the host, and the host can verify it is an actual AA announcement, and read them off before the promises.

     Tisha asked the group for opinions and ideas.

• Bonnie shared how it may work better if the announcements were sent to a cohost who isn't posting. Because they have enough to do. And that will be their job, as well as watching for bombers.

     Cat shared how maybe it should be the hosts Discretion wether they do announcements or not. But the cohost sifting thru them and reading them at the end is a good idea.

     Evan shared that he believed the script is already stuffed with info the host needs to read. It's already hard to read word for word.

     More members shared their opinions.

• Evan made a motion to table the discussion, due to the meeting running late.

     Scott B. Seconded that motion.

----------------------------------------------------

Evan made a motion to end the business meeting.

Maureen Seconded that motion.

The meeting was adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  August 4th, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

• No addtiional comments or questions were raised.

• Courtney makes a motion to accept the Treasurer's report.  Donna B. seconds the motion.  The Treasurer's report was accepted.

Bookie’s Report:

• We are looking for a new Bookie for the group. Requires 1yr of sobriety.

• Mikey states that we have 4 outgoing commitments booked for August, and he's been working on filling the calendar for September.

• Kasey the groups' Co-Bookie has posted all commitments on the website.

• We are in need of people to step up and chair the outgoing commitments.  This role requires 90 days of sobriety.  Please reach out to Kasey or email the group to volunteer.

• Maureen makes a motion to accept the Bookie's report.  Donna B. seconds the motion.  The Bookie's report was accepted.

—-----------------------

Agenda

Old Business:

• Tisha reminds the group that we sent Courtney to the General Service Office to attend the monthly meeting. Tisha asks Courtney to report her findings.

• Courtney reports that The Never Alone Again Group is listed as an actual meeting, right next to in person meetings. And we are allowed to send a GSR or a Delagate to the meetings on our behalf. She also reported that The Never Alone Again Group is the top contributor By Far at Boston Central services. We have sent in $4440.00 as of June 1st of 2022, and the closest in-person meeting has contributed half of that.

• Courtney also has a list of things that are voted on, some passed and some didn't. (We will try to get that uploaded to the website).

• Courtney says the most important item was that they passed a "translation" of the Big Book into Simple English. To be sold next to the French translation or any other language translation. It will not replace our current text.  The timeline on that and the 5th edition of the Big Book is 5-6yrs out.

• The general service office is also calling for submissions of members sharing their Experience Strength and Hope to be published in the back of the 5th edition of the Big Book. You have until 10-31-22 to submit your story for consideration.

• Courtney also says she would love to be our GSR (general service representative) or our Delegate, and represent us as a group at these monthly meetings.  Tisha states to the group that we will vote on a GSR or Delegate at our next business meeting. The position requires the person to be able to attend the monthly meetings at the General Service Office in Boston and report back to the monthly business meeting here at NAAG. It also requires that the person have over 1yr. of sobriety. If you are wanting to be considered for this position of service within the group, please email the group.

New Business: 

• Tisha reports as the group's Secretary and states that we have nothing on the agenda for this month to vote on.  However, there are a few issues the group needs to be made aware of, maybe discussed, with no need for a vote or decision to be made today.

  • The first item was brought forward by a member who currently serves as NCL for the women. She feels that our hosts need to "stick to the script" when calling for anyone who may have a burning desire. Her concern is when hosts call for anyone who may take a drink or a drug tonight to either share immediately or stick around for the after meeting. She, as a newcomer liaison is not equipped to deal with people who may be using drugs, as she is an alcoholic. She wants the group to stick to its primary purpose--staying sober from alcohol and helping others to also stay sober from alcohol.  Tisha opens the floor to hear ideas or opinions on this matter.

  • The second item is that the noon meetings might need to be considered to limit or get rid of some of them.  She reports that the attendance at the noon meetings is amazing for an AA meeting with anywhere from 40-75 attendees, but the people stepping up for service at these meetings is dwindling VERY low. Tisha herself was the host, poster, women's NCL, and men's NCL all at one meeting this past week. This is a common occurrence at noon meetings for the host to hold multiple, if not all positions. Even though the attendance is amazing, the people with 1yr or more who are able to be of service are not there.  If things continue as they are, we may need to rethink our position on these meetings going forward. Tisha is also calling for all who are able to be of service at these meetings to please step up, and help us serve the newcomers who are attending these meetings.

• Tisha opens the floor for anyone with questions or comments on the items at hand.

  • Randy K. speaks up and states that the burning desire section on the script is minimal and he is guilty of adlibbing at that section of the meeting. He also reminds the group that it has been brought up in the past about the script not being clear enough for a newcomer even to understand what a Burning Desire is.  Maybe we should insert a definition into the script so that all hosts stay on the same page.

  • Evan V. speaks and states that he gets away from the script when hosting because theres a lot going on sometimes and he's guilty of ad-libbing at some parts too. He also states how it shouldn't matter whether a person is going to drink or use drugs the answer from the NCL should be the same. His sponsor explained to him that the word "Alcohol" includes everything that changes his way of thinking. For example, there are drugs that he hasn't used, and if someone brings that drug up to him he handles it in the same way he would if he had used that specific drug.

  • Andrew C. speaks up and states that an NCL's job is to get the newcomer connected. Give them phone numbers, sponsor info, more meeting info, etc. It's not the NCL's job to be a therapist or a Dr. It shouldn't matter what the newcomer is saying; the answer should always be the same. Let's get you a sponsor. Or phone numbers or another meeting.

  • Donna B. shares that she agrees with the others. A drug is a drug. If someone speaks up and says they think they're going to use drugs, we don't want to send them away, AKA "I'm sorry this is AA; you're not in the right place".  She wants to provide the same support no matter the substance.

• Tisha thanks everyone for their input and asks for a motion to close the meeting.

  • Maureen makes a motion to dismiss the business meeting.

  • Donna B. seconds the motion.

  • Tisha says the Lord's Prayer.

The meeting was adjourned. 

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  July 7th, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

• Randy K reported that the group started the month of June with a balance of $250.00 and received $1607.99 in 7th Traditions contributions throughout the month.  We paid out $21.26 in NAAG expenses, contributed $712.91 to Boston Central Services, $356.45 to NY General Services & $118.82 to District 12/13.  This left a balance of $648.55 to carry into July. Randy has posted the monthly recap to the website. (linked above).

• Scott B. made a motion to accept the Treasurer's report.  Tisha L. seconded the motion.

• Final Vote: Y-42, N-0.  Motion passed.

Bookie’s Report:

• Kasey C. presented as the Bookie assistant and reported that we have a pretty empty calendar for July.  Our incoming commitment schedule is full, but finding groups that want to let us come to share with them is getting harder since most groups are going back to in person. They love coming to us, but we are not able to return.

• Mikey present as Bookie reported that we are in great need for someone to step up to take over as Bookie. He has been doing it since NAAG was created and really needs to pass the torch on to another member. Minimum 1 year of sobriety to be Bookie. He is willing to show you how he does things and continue to help as needed.

• Scott B. made a motion to accept the Bookie report. Joanne seconded the motion.

• Final Vote: Y-42, N- 0.  Motion passed.

—-----------------------

Discussions

Old Business: There was no old business to discuss.

New Business: 

• Tisha L. presented as secretary and reported a need to add an " Alternate Secretary " role to our infrastructure at Never Alone. She suggested a minimum of 6 months of sobriety be required for the position. The role of the position would be to serve alongside the current secretary for a 6mo. period to Learn and help with the secretary job, and after 6 months duration, that person would step into the secretary role. They would then acquire a new Alternate secretary and the process would repeat itself.

  • We had a group discussion where it was pointed out that 6 months is likely too short of a sobriety requirement and it was suggested we have 1 year as a sobriety requirement instead.

  • Tisha L. made a motion to add the Alternate secretary role to NAAG, with a minimum of 1 year of sobriety requirement.  Joanne seconded the motion, and Jenn P thirded the motion.

  • Final Vote: Y-38, N-1, Jim G abstained.  Motion passed.

• Tisha L. reported to the group that we have had members request a time frame between leads to be added to our group conscience.  It seems we have had members leading a meeting 2-3x a week.

  • Scott B. made a motion to have a minimum of 30 days between signups to share and lead a meeting.

  • The group had a lengthy discussion in which we discussed different time frames.  The group agreed that there should be a time frame but did not agree that 1 month was enough of a duration.

  • Vote: Y-27, N-13

  • Those who voted no shared that a longer time was desirable.  Times were presented ranging from 90 days to 1 year between shares.

  • Scott B amended his motion to be 90 days rather than 30 days between signing up to share.  Patrick C. seconded the motion.

  • Final Vote: Y-25, N-0.  Motion passed.

• Tisha L. reported to the group that an AA member has reached out to Never Alone asking if we have a GSR or a Delegate that goes to central services monthly meeting and reports back to us.

  • Courtney reported to the group that she currently goes to the monthly meetings for another group of hers, and she has seen that we are the top contributor to Boston central services and we should have a say in things that are discussed and voted on there at the meetings.

  • She also shared a concern that online groups may not be recognized as an "AA GROUP" and she wasn't sure how they are handling that issue. But she was willing to go to the next meeting as our representative and ask questions and see what we need to do in order to have a representative attend the meetings on our behalf.

  • The group discussed the logistics of how an online-only group is recognized within AA, and which district we belong to based on the address given at the start of NAAG.

  • Tisha L. made a motion for the group to send Courtney down to Central Service on our behalf to see what NAAG needs to do in order to have a representative attend meetings on our behalf. Courtney will report back at the next business meeting her findings.

  • Final Vote: Y-28, N-0.  Motion passed.

• Tisha L. Reported to the group that there is a listing on the "Meeting Finder " mobile app for a Noon time Serenity meeting at 470 Atlantic Ave. Boston. In this listing, which Tisha L. shared with the group via screen share, it states that this meeting is online and in-person and it gives the Never Alones zoom information as well as its password as their online meeting.

  • The group had a discussion about how we should handle this. Do we want our password displayed on a meeting Finder? Do we want to contact the secretary of this Noontime Serenity group and see why their listing has our information? Do we want to be tied to an in-person group? All of these questions plus more concerns about the group's safety and confusion of members thinking they will find Never Alone members at this in-person meeting were discussed.

  • The group also discussed how our newsletter has a promotion for this 470 Atlantic Ave meeting at the bottom.

  • Jenn P. presented as our current newsletter representative and reported that when she took over the newsletter this was already set with that information in the bottom header of the newsletter and if it is not accurate it should be changed.

  • The group also discussed how The 11th Tradition states “Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion."  Promoting another meeting specifically in our newsletter strays from this. Whether or not we should provide the intergroup website as a tool if someone is in need of another meeting was also discussed.

  • Due to time restraints and a lengthy discussion sure to follow, this topic was tabled for the next business meeting.

• Tisha L. made a motion to close the business meeting. Scott B seconded the motion.

The meeting was adjourned. 

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- Pop-Up BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  June 9, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES: 

Special Meeting

A meeting was called to discuss the previous motion from our June 2nd business meeting.  The motion passed was to read the definition of cross-talk and have the co-host post the definition in the chat multiple times.  We also scheduled a subcommittee meeting scheduled for Sunday, June 12th @6PM to have official verbiage added to the host and co-host scripts.

Tisha opened the floor for the group to discuss opinions and new options on the previous motion.  There was a lot of discussion about people not being in agreement with the decision, and that cross-talk and "TRIBUTES" were not the same thing. 

Scott B made a new motion to X the old motion and ONLY have the host read the definition of cross-talk before the meeting is opened up for shares. 

Mike C. Abington seconds that motion. 

YAY: 42 NAY: 8

As per Robert's rules for business meetings, we allowed the 8-n to share why they voted nay.  To try to sway the group. 

Lanette made a motion to revote, Robin seconds. 

We revoted the Y to see who changed votes. 

29 of the y changed sides.

YAY: 13, NAY: 37

The Motion does not pass. 

Kat made a motion to make things back the way they originally were. 

Cat seconds. 

YAY: 43, NAY: 1

Bernice shared why she voted no. Because she thinks hearing things works better than reading things in the chat. 

We allowed the Y to revote to see who changed votes. 

YAY: 42, NAY: 2

The Motion passes. 

Tisha L.  will return the script to its original format before the next meeting. 

Meeting adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  June 2, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

View Monthly Recap

• Randy K reported that the group started the month of May with a balance of $103.00 and received $1061.37 in 7th Traditions contributions throughout the month.  We paid out 362.87 in NAAG expenses, contributed 330.90 to Boston Central Services, 165.45 to NY General Services & 55.15 to District 12/13.  This left a balance of $250.00 to carry into June. Randy will post the monthly recap to the website. (linked above)

Bookie’s Report:

• Mikey reported via text that he and Pami had a zoom meeting with the new potential replacements. Unfortunately, Derek is not able to step up as Bookie due to some technological issues. So Mikey will remain in his role as Bookie until someone steps up. Pami is in the process of helping Kasey learn her roles as the new assistant Bookie. 

—-----------------------

Discussions

Old Business: 

• No old business

New Business: 

• There was discussion to convert the Thursday morning meeting from a speaker/topic-discussion meeting to a Big Book Study meeting.  The group agreed that if passed, anyone already signed up to speak on a future Thursday morning would have the option of keeping that date & time slot or volunteering to reschedule.

  • Motion: Those in favor of changing the format of the Thursday morning meeting to a Big Book Study meeting.

YAY: 28  NAY: 0 (motion passes)

• There was lengthy disucssion about the sharing portion of our speaker meetings. The discussion centered around ways to try to curb the "tribute to the speaker" and to focus more on the speaker's choice of topic. The conversation focused a lot on how that might be managed by the host. The discussion boiled down to the definition of CrossTalk and making sure that meeting participants are aware of that means in an AA meeting. The group further disussed that a committee be formed to investigate a possible change to the script to ensure a consistant message at discussion meetings.  If passed, as a short term resolution, the host will be asked to define CrossTalk and the poster will post the definition during the meeting when necessary. A subcommittee would then be assembled to discuss possible script changes to be presented for discussion and vote at the July business meeting.

  • Motion: A motion to place into group conscience that our discussion portion of the meeting focus more on the topic of the meeting as opposed to a tribute to the speaker. 

YAY: 25  NAY: 1 (motion passes)

The meeting was adjourned. 

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  May 5, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

• Randy reported that the treasurer service position has changed hands from Owen to Randy K. Randy & Owen are dealing with issues transferring the Venmo and PayPal accounts since they are linked via a single phone number.  Randy K is donating an iphone with it’s own phone number to create a new Venmo so that it can be part of Never Alone property.  This should enable the position to be transferred easily in the future.

• Randy took control of the receipts and expenditures effective May 1st.  A more comprehensive financial report will be presented at the June meeting.

Bookie’s Report:

• Mikey reported that the Bookie duties and responsibilities have been transferred to Derek effective immediately.  Pami reported that she is still in search of a volunteer to step in as Bookie assistant.  Commitments are booked out until July. 

—-----------------------

Discussions

Tisha brought to the attention of the group suggestions that she has heard for the past few weeks.

• Newcomer Liason sub committee report. Sarah reported that the handout the sub committee created is complete and to be posted on the website asap. Sarah also made a motion for a Newcomer Liason training class to be scheduled for May 15th at 6pm. Using Never Alone zoom ID, and hosted by Jim G. This will be a monthly class.  Motion was seconded. 

  • Motion: Those in favor of accepting the sub-committee’s recommendations of beginning a NCL training class on May 15th @ 6pm.

YAY: 33  NAY: 0 (motion passes)

• Tisha reported on old business that was tabled back in January 2022. The group discussed making it mandatory that the closing prayer be an actual "prayer" as opposed to a poem, reading or song. 

  • Motion: Those in favor of adapting a group conscience that requires the closing to prayer to be a true “prayer”.

YAY: 1  NAY: 28 (the motion DID NOT pass)

The meeting was adjourned. 

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  April 7, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

First Quarter 2022 Financials

Receipts totalled $4410.00

Distributions:

$2650 Boston Central Services

$1320 New York

$440 Districts 12 & 13

$180 spent for Chips & Stamps (approximately 75-85 chips sent per quarter)

—-----------------------

Bookie’s Report:

Mikey pointed out, with a reminder, that the Bookie position as well as the Bookie’s Assistant position is available.

Mikey reported that the commitments were becoming more difficult with the openings of more live meetings.

Kim reported on progress and a reminder of the two Boat Meeting commitments for NAAG this summer.  The first being June 25th at 11am followed by fellowship luncheon & activities.  Joanne and Dianne have volunteered to help chair those activities.  The second commitment is slated for September 10.  Not further details on that meeting so far.

—-----------------------

Discussions

Tisha brought to the attention of the group suggestions that she has heard for the past few weeks.

1. There was a motion to install Randy K as Treasurer for the next 6 months taking over the position from Owen D.  Randy and Owen would work together initially to ensure a smooth transition.

   • Motion: Those in favor of voting Randy K to hold the position of treasurer for the next 6 months (through September 2022).

YAY: 39  NAY: 0  (motion passes)

2. There was discussion that NAAG pay for and distribute yearly medallions to members that request one. Traditionally the person’s sponsor would provide the annual medallion but this action would ensure no one is left without the opportunity to possess one.  This would be added to the duties of the chip distribution volunteer and handled the same way with respect to requests.  The chip request form would be updated to include an annual chip option.

   • Motion: Should NAAG extend the distribution of chips to include annual years of sobriety to those who request them?

YAY: 39  NAY: 0  (motion passes)

3. There was discussion that the group should pay for and distribute Big Books to members not able to secure one on their own.  This would be added to the duties of the chip distribution volunteer and handled much the same way as chip requests.  The logistics of ordering and distributing are TBD but could be resolved quickly.  A new request form would have to be built on the website to facilitate those requests.

   • Motion:  Should NAAG begin distribution of Big Books to members who request them?

YAY: 30  NAY:0 (motion passes)

4. “Sponsee Shopping”.  The discussion centered around members posting in the chat that they are willing to sponsor other members.  The discussion boiled down to the fact that we already utilize the “Hashtag” system. Discussion included people feeling like they were being trolled and felt uncomfortable.  Others mentioned that they fell victim to this practice and would not want to see it happen to others.  

   • Motion:  A motion was made to make it our Group’s Conscience… Anyone wishing to volunteer as a Sponsor should fill out the information form provided online and be included on the Newcomer Liaison’s Hashtag list.  Soliciting sponsees is not to be handled by postings in the chat.

YAY: 35  NAY: 0 (motion passes)

(To volunteer to become a sponsor please follow this link and include ## in front of your name when attending a meeting).

The meeting was adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  March 3, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

Owen was not present for the meeting

Bookie’s Report:

Mikey and Pami reported that the Bookie & Bookie’s assistant positions are now available for rotation.  Position description will be sent out in the newsletter and will be posted on the Service Page of our website.

Kim asked that we are reminded there are two outgoing commitments on the calendar for the Boat Meeting.  June 25 and September 10, 2022.  These are large live outside meetings.

Discussions

1. Jim G. reported on the progress of the Newcomer Sub Committee.  A motion was passed at the January meeting to form a committee to develop a Newcomer Liaison guide for that position.  A Handout is in the works with a unified protocol for Newcomer Liaisons to use when acting as NCL  An electronic version of the Handout will be provided to the Secretary when it is finished.  The secretary will distribute it to the hosts of each meeting.  Hosts are then responsible for making sure that anyone acting as NCL at their meeting receives a copy of it.

2. There was discussion that since our meetings have been so well attended and our group has grown into a much larger group, that we begin having Business Meetings once per month rather than bi-monthly.

   • Motion:  Business Meetings will be held immediately following the 7:30 pm meeting on the First Thursday of each calendar month. 

YAY: 35  NAY: 2

3. Jim G. brought forward the fact that we are promoting an outside “for profit” organization on our website’s literature page. The link was for the “AA Bookstore”, which points to the Recovery Store, an organization that sells books, tokens, apparel, etc pertaining to AA for a profit.  In the spirit of the Traditions it was suggested that the link be removed.

   • Motion:  Remove the “AA Bookstore” link from our website. 

YAY: 22  NAY:3

4. Attendance Verification.  There was discussion about the challenges that the Attendance Verification process presents to our volunteers.  The discussion stemmed from the many requests that come in days, sometimes weeks after the meeting, making it very difficult and time consuming for the volunteers to validate the information. It is currently suggested that when requesting an Attendance Verification/Court Slip, that the request be made within 24 hours.  That does not seem to be resolving the issue. 

   • Motion:  Change the policy and post that Attendance Verification requests will be honored only if made by 9pm on the date of the meeting that they attended.

YAY: 31  NAY: 1

The meeting was adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- Pop Up BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  February 3, 2022

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Special Meeting

A meeting was called regarding the secretary postion.  Randy's term was scheduled to conclude on January 1st.  The person elected to assume the secretary position had scheduling issues that would not allow her to take the job.  Randy agreed to stay on until someone else stepped up to volunteer.

1. It was brought to vote that the Secretary position should be for a 6 month term.  (this was already voted on (and approved) in November, but there was uncertainty and it was voted on again tonight.)

• Motion:  Secretary term to be set at 6 months

YAY:  31  NAY  0

2. The current secretary has announced stepping down after February 28, 2022.  Tisha L has volunteered to assume the Secretary Position effective March 1st, 2022 for a term of 6 months.

• Motion:  Tisha L. will assume the Secretary position for NAAG effectie March 1, 2022 for a term of 6 months.

YAY:  30  NAY  1

The Meeting was adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP – BUSINESS MEETING 1/6/2022 8:30 P.M.

NOTES

• Treasurer’s report

  • N/A

• Bookie’s report 

  • Mikey discussed that he would like to step down from the bookie position and allow someone else the opportunity to be of service.  

Discussions, Motions & Votes

• There was discussion about having a 2nd NAAG anniversary meeting much the same as the one year anniversary meeting held last year on Saturday March 13, 2021. The group decided that we should do it again in 2022.  A special NAAG 2nd Anniversary Meeting will replace the regular 7:30p evening meeting on Saturdy March 12, 2022.

Motion to have NAAG anniversary meeting on Saturday, March 12, 2022:

YAY: 37

NAY: 0

• There was discussion on length of sobriety necessary to be a Newcomer Liaison and putting together guidelines that NCL's should follow to maintain a consistant message to newcomers and members in general.  The group decided to form a subcommittee to set up guidelines to present at the March 3rd Business Meeting for adaptation. Notice of joining that subcommitte to be posted in the weekly newsletter in the next few weeks.

Motion to create "subcommittee" to improve consistent messaging from newcomer liaisons:

YAY: 26

NAY: 6

• The group discussed the practice of Hosts calling on members to share in the order that they have raised their hands as opposed to randomly choosing out of order.  The discussion included using the order of the "squares" as opposed to the order in the "participants list", as they can sometimes be different. The group decided that (a.) hosts should call people in the order in which they have raised their hands and (b.) that hosts should use the Participants list to define that order.

Motion to have hosts call in order of raised hands according to participants panel:

YAY: 32

NAY: 1

• There was discussion about adding verbiage to the script as it is read by hosts to include language about predatory behavior.  The group voted to change the script.

Motion to change script to address predatory behavior in meetings:

YAY: 38

NAY: 0

• There was discussion about asking the group not to cheer or comment after each person introduced themselves with their day count (30,60,90). The group chose to leave it as it is and to make no changes.

Motion to change cheering for day-counters:

YAY: 1

NAY: 30

• There was discussion regarding the closing prayer and that it should be a "prayer" as opposed to a "reading" or a "piece of poetry".   After brief discussion the item was tabled until the March 3 meeting to allow members to consider options.  It can be re-addressed at that time for further discussion and a vote.

Having no other business, the meeting was adjourned.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP 

- BUSINESS MEETING 

Date:  November 4, 2021

Time:  8:30p ET

NOTES:

Treasurer’s Report:

Owen was not present but forwarded this message… 

“Everything going smoothly from my end. Making contributions to the 3 sources we voted on at last meeting. We are still one of the largest contributors to AA Boston. Let me know if you have any questions.”

Bookie’s Report:

Mikey was there to report however his internet connection was failing him and he had a difficult time sharing to the group.  Commitments are still being scheduled but as live meetings begin to open up more and more it is becoming increasingly difficult to schedule guests.  If anyone attends any other groups and would like to suggest incoming or outgoing commitment opportunities, I’m sure Mikey would welcome the input.  Please send an email to the Group email address and we will make sure it is forwarded to Mikey and/or Pami.

Discussions

1. Should participants be required to turn on their video when sharing or addressing the group. The discussion included very good points on both sides of the issue. Some feeling that it is a part of “showing up”.  Others argued that because we use a Zoom format, that people may not be in a place… office, driving, public place, etc. where it is just better not to have their video on.  That doesn’t make their desire to share any less important.

   • Motion:  Meeting participants MUST have their video on in order to share during a meeting.  

YAY: 21  NAY: 30

2. Term Limits for Service Positions.  We discussed assigning a term limit to all meeting service positions (not officer positions). The discussion boiled down to 

   • a 3 month term limit on all meeting positions. (Host, NCL, Greeter, Co-host/Poster).

   • At 3 months that position would become available, and someone else could step into that role. If no one volunteers to fill the position, the current service worker could, at their discretion, continue to serve in that capacity.

   • Service workers are not obligated to keep any position for any length of time.  It has always been suggested that service workers commit to at least 30 days in any one position, and now with the understanding that they may be asked to step aside, in the spirit of rotation, after 3 months.

   • The 3 month term limit on current service work positions would begin retroactively to November 1, 2021.

   • Motion:  Meeting service positions come with a term of 3 months, making that position available to others willing to volunteer at that time.  

YAY: 34  NAY: 0

3. Adding an 18 month chip to the Friday night lineup.  It was suggested that an additional chip be added to the celebration of months on the Friday night beginner’s meeting. The thought being that a large number of members have been with this group since its inception, and are now reaching that milestone & we should recognize that.  We currently celebrate months 1 through 11 on Friday nights and then have a monthly Anniversary recognition for one year or multiple years at the last Saturday night meeting each month. There was discussion offering support to both sides of the suggestion and it was put to vote.

   • Motion:  Keep the Friday night beginner’s meeting chip portion the way it is, without adding the new 18-month chip.  

YAY: 15  NAY:11

4. First Names & Last initial only on Participants list.  It was brought up again that Participants be asked to rename themselves with their first name and last initial to protect their anonymity. This has been discussed previously at business meetings. Arguments for and against are that it offers protection and that some newcomers might not know that it is standard practice in AA meetings to be address by first name only. While others felt that it was the participant’s responsibility to take steps to maintain their own anonymity. It was put to vote.

   • Motion:  Add to a meeting post, that participants are encouraged to use their First name and Last initial only as identifiers while attending our meetings.  

YAY: 2  NAY: 25

5. Randy K has announced that he would be stepping down from the position of Secretary effective January 1, 2022.  The position had been posted and mentioned for several weeks prior to the November meeting.  Virginia stepped up to request filling the position.

   • Motion:  Virginia will assume the Secretary position for NAAG effective January 1, 2022. 

YAY: 31  NAY: 0

6. It was suggested that the term for Secretary be 6 months.

   • Motion:  Secretary term to be set at 6 months

YAY: 27  NAY: 0

The meeting was adjourned. 

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP – BUSINESS MEETING 7/8/2021 8:30 P.M.

NOTES

• Treasurer’s report

  • N/A

• Bookie’s report 

  • N/A

• Recap items of note from 5/6/2021: Voted to keep Tuesday and Thursday afternoon after-meetings with option to continue discussing the step or portion of Big Book read during meeting; voted against sending out literature in the physical mail, host can use judgement on turning off distracting or inappropriate video, voted against Greeter also reading promises

• REMINDERS FOR HOSTS

  • Please follow the script on the website

    • Please refrain from modifying script (including what is to be posted during meetings, as this is always voted on by group conscience)

    • Please refrain from causing additional distractions to meetings

  • Please do not engage in crosstalk, for example offering advice or feedback after shares

  • Hosts do have the discretion to choose the order of people to share, but please use your judgement

• Changes to group conscious — VOTES

  • Financial contributions: Group voted to adopt 60/30/10 breakout to Boston/NY/local district

  • Breakout rooms: Group voted to open the option of establishing breakout rooms 

  • Change to preamble: Group voted to change language in preamble from “men and women” to “people”

  • “Friendly reminder”: Group voted to add the “friendly reminder” as a chat post during the Thursday evening incoming commitment

• Tabled items for the next business meeting 

  • Eliminating the “burning desire” at 10 minutes remaining 

Thank you all for another productive business meeting. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, please reach out at neveraloneagaingroup@gmail.com.

AA “NEVER ALONE AGAIN” GROUP – BUSINESS MEETING 5/6/2021 8:30 P.M.

NOTES

• Treasurer’s report

  • Relevant item tabled for next time: Following the 60/30/10 contribution plan

• Bookie’s report 

• Recap items of note from 3/4/2021:
  Voted against shutting off chat for the whole meeting; against adding disclaimer language to the chat about changing last names; for chips now being distributed after the conclusion of the beginner’s meeting; for a monthly anniversary meeting that takes place the final Saturday evening of the month, for hashtag denotations, for restraint from gambling chatter in after-meetings

• REMINDERS FOR HOSTS

• Though we are not and will never be in the habit of “banning” anyone, there has been one repeat person who has continuously harassed members both in the Zoom room and independently when we try to de-escalate; this has been happening over many months.  At this point, please do not engage him.  Tradition One states, “our common welfare should come first.”

• Hosts are responsible for opening the room 25 min prior to the meeting. If you cannot do this, please ask someone to help.

• Please do not assign too many co-hosts; around 5 is probably a good max so people don’t get inadvertently kicked out, screens get spotlighted and other mishaps

• Please follow the script on the website

• Please do not engage in crosstalk, for example offering advice or feedback after shares

• Hosts do have the discretion to choose the order of people to share, but please use your judgement

• Changes to group conscience - VOTES

  • Tuesday and Thursday afternoon after-meetings — The group voted to keep the after-meetings following the Tuesday 12 and 12 and the Thursday Big Book meetings to stay open to further discussion/Q&A on the content of the meeting; if nothing comes up, the time will be opened up to newcomer questions as usual

  • Sending out literature — The group voted that the Never Alone Again Group will only send chips via the physical “snail” mail and all other literature will be posted to the site to protect personal information and anonymity 

  • Distracting video — The group voted that group conscience asks people to please be mindful of their video during meetings and that the host reserves the right to turn off video that is distracting, obviously using best judgement and discretion

  • Greeter also reads promises — The group voted against asking the greeter to also read the promises (in addition to the preamble) and the current method will stay

• Other tabled items for the next business meeting in July

  • Use of breakout rooms

Thank you all for another productive business meeting. 

In service,

Kim L.