2014 Group Inventory
Inventory Home | 2010 | 2014 | 2016
Question 1. What is the basic purpose of the group?
- To carry the message of recovery from alcoholism to other alcoholic women.
- Support/help sober women.
- Create and maintain a community of sober women.
- Several people mentioned the importance of a 24/7 meeting and the online meeting for those who couldn't get to meetings.
Question 2. What more can the group do to carry the message?
- Possibly post the step/tradition topic each week
- Have an additional step meeting
- Share experience rather than telling others what to do
- Maybe a short primer in AA meetings.
- Perhaps ask if there are members willing to be *temporary sponsors* or willing to answer questions about sponsorship.
- I would like to see more new and not-so-new members share on the weekly topic on a regular basis or even just check in (off-topic) and let us know how they are doing.
- Limit business interruptions in the weekly meeting (ie. shorten the business meetings to 2 weeks possibly).
- Encourage participation in the AA community...ie what conferences/events happening...ie encourage announcements from the group rep.
Question 3. Do new members stick with us, or does the turnover seem excessive?
- Responses were that the group welcomes new women and membership is positive.
- Many people commented that they could not really determine who stays or how long people stay.
- Volunteer (trusted servants) turnover is high
Question 4. Do we emphasize the importance of sponsorship? How effectively? How can we do better?
- We don't place enough emphasis on sponsorship - perhaps because we have only a few members who are willing to be sponsors. We could post our list of sponsors on a weekly basis.
- Sponsorship has been done poorly with me in this group and I don't know how to improve it because I haven't had a sponsor to show me the ways. You do emphasize it at all times.
- Choosing sponsorship as a share topic.
- Perhaps on the website itself it could be discussed.
- I think the group could improve in all 3 areas. Maybe in the Suggested Welcome in the meeting each week we could add 3 sentences.
- AA suggests everyone have a sponsor. A list of sponsors is available at this link. A brochure on sponsorship is available *here*.
- We do not have many members on the sponsor list. When sharing on topic or off topic we could mention the help we receive from our sponsors. We could send out the sponsor list more frequently.
- I would love to see an explanation of sponsorship go out to the group on a weekly basis.
- I'm not sure it's emphasized enough. Maybe when folks celebrate their 1 year (or more) they should be invited to now become a sponsor.
- Explaining what a sponsor does and doesn't do will help the everyone.
- AA suggests everyone have a sponsor. A list of sponsors is available at this link. A brochure on sponsorship is available *here*
- A way we might emphasize sponsorship is through some of the weekly topics, and also in our personal shares on the topic. I think we do the online equivalent of what I see in the f2f rooms, so I guess that's about all we can do - other than maybe doing.
- One idea is that we could send a sort of welcome packet to each newcomer new to AA. In that email packet we could put a list of names, those willing to be sponsors.
- Maybe we could think about a back to basics new comers meeting in addition to our schedule, where one person is the leader for a year, and works specifically with those under 90 days..?
- We do send the sponsorship list out and it is the responsibility of each alcoholic to reach out to someone to sponsor them. I think sending it out twice each month might be positive reinforcement though.
- I reiterate my suggestion that we consider having on that list (of sponsors) the names of people who are willing to answer questions about sponsorship, or who are willing to be a temporary sponsor. That might encourage our newcomers a bit more.
Question 5. Are we careful to preserve the anonymity of our group members and other A.A.'s outside the meeting rooms? Do we leave the confidences they share at meetings behind?
- Yes, we have an excellent set-up for posting to one address only via our server. When sending group mail to more than our GROW address.
- It would help ME to reinforce anonymity practices if everyone had an email address that hid their last name.
- Sooooo important in learning how to apply anonymity not only in the fellowship but also outside of the fellowship in every day life. Leave the gossip to those that gossip!!!
- I think this is a personal responsibility, and I think the group does what it can to stress this.
- Anonymity is not discussed, at least in my area, as much as it once was so perhaps a monthly statement about why it is important would be helpful. I know that means we are sending out a lot of material each month though.
- It is impossible to know if group members are preserving our anonymity in the f2f world.
Question 6. Do we take the time to explain to all members the value to the group of following our guidelines of e-mail etiquette? As a member, am I familiar with and do I follow these guidelines?
- I believe we do in that we are reminded of the guidelines by the Secretary on a monthly basis.
- I notice that in particular often times people don't use short paragraphs.
- Because of the way this group was formed in the beginning there is not the flaming that goes on in other groups. We have a set of guidelines that covers that in our Traditions for cyberspace.
- The monthly Etiquette Guide is terrific - -but it appears many do not read this part:"
We send personal messages such as; welcomes, hugs, thanks-you's, pats-on-the-back, responses to prayer requests, and "enjoyed-your-share" comments privately -- not to the group." I find it too impersonal to congratulate all the birthday people in one e-mail - --through the group -- instead of sending the wishes to their personal addresses. - We have a process set up so that if someone inadvertently doesn't follow the guidelines, they are gently reminded of them.
- We could put this into our welcome packet. I understand our rules (sometimes forgot and had to be told again, but understand.
Question 7. Are all members given the opportunity to speak at meetings and to participate in other group activities?
- Yes, everyone is invited to share on topic or off topic, as well as joining business meetings.
- All members are given the opportunity to participate in our group meetings - - - --they just don't! I often wonder why people join this group and don't share! This is how AA could wither up and blow away!!
- Yes. I think a week is long enough to share on the topic. It is an open forum so other topics can be brought into the meeting.
Question 8. Are we mindful that holding office is a great responsibility not to be viewed as the outcome of a popularity contest, are we choosing our officers with care?
- Yes, I think so.
- I think we do not really choose our officers - rather, we have to go with the people that volunteer. There may have been a few times when we actually elected a TS by voting between two volunteers, but that has been rare. With GROW, it has less to do with popularity and more with willingness.
- I'm not sure I understand how officers are chosen. It does seem like a lot of the same people are doing the jobs, however. But from what little I've seen it seems to be more tied to length of sobriety/retention than popularity contests. I have felt very welcome here and didn't have the sense that there is weird cliquish behavior going on in the background.
- I believe that we give everyone an opportunity to be of service. I think that we do forget this is a global community though, and those in other time zones do not have the same opportunity to serve, as we stipulate first come first serve...........many of our members are asleep when the positions are posted.
- Actually, we struggle to fill positions some times. I do think there is a perception of our most service-oriented members as being part of a clique. Once a person starts to participate, they realize that it is not a clique and that their voices can be heard. However, they do have to wade through the cumbersome flood of emails, and this prevents some members from participating.
Question 9. Does the group do its fair share toward participating in the purpose of A.A. - as it relates to our "Three Legacies" of Recovery, Unity and Service?
- I believe so, by sharing the steps and traditions weekly. And by members sharing their ESH with the group.
- It doesn't appear to me that "the group" - - - -high percentage of members - - -do not relate to the Three Legacies - - - --lack of participation seems to be the culprit. The same people share every week - - --the other hundreds don't! This shows me who are the healthy members.
- I'm not sure how to answer this question because I don't clearly understand it. Certainly, we are there when a woman needs help with drinking/not drinking. Unity is shown in our twice-yearly business meetings in that we seek and work hard to achieve consensus on the issues that are raised. And we offer many opportunities for service through weekly meeting leads, online sponsorship, and a range of service positions. Through our GSR and OIAA reps, we participate in the larger online AA organization.
- I did like some of the ideas for increasing the number of people on the "Sponsor list" and getting people new to AA more up to speed with what sponsorship is all about. I think any additional information we could offer them would or could be beneficial.
- This group used to participate more in service at the intergroup level. The online AA service conference seems to have disappeared. One hears little of OIAA these days. Online AA is not considered an Area by the General Service Office. This makes it a challenge to be a part of AA as a whole in the strictly online venue.
- This group does exceptionally well at recovery and unity, imho. We attract a lot of women who are fearful of attending f2f AA, a lot of women who fear they may be alcoholics, and we get to share recovery and unity with them, if not service in all its manifestations.
Question 10: As a group, do we remain informed about AA as a whole? Do we support, in every way we can AA as a whole or just the parts we understand and approve of?
- We do technically make the effort to remain informed about AA as a whole by having a GSR / OIAA Rep. However, I never see anything from the GSR or OIAA Rep to the group.
- If our GSR is registered with the General Service Office in New York, she gets the Box 4-5-9 newsletter every quarter. It is also available online to any AA member. I would like to see more information of this nature disseminated to our group by our GSR.
- Our OIAA Rep similarly has not let us know for a very long time what is going on in that entity, and I have no idea how one finds out more about that. A monthly snapshot of what has been going on could be made to our group. Even if it's only to let folks know how many questions Steppers have responded to.
- It gives us in the group -- particularly newcomers -- the sense that AA is not just meetings; that we have a larger purpose.
- Being new to AA, relatively, I believe we support AA as a whole through our contributions and we stay true to the Traditions by how GROW is run. I am not sure I am informed about the workings of AA on a larger whole and do not see it being mentioned here in the group very much.
- I think we could get more information on a regular basis from our GSR/OIAA Rep as to what's happening in AA.
- I don't see this being done, as a group.
Question 11: Are we considerate of all our members?
- We try to be. Sometimes we inadvertently slip up. I know I have. Our Secretary does a great job of reminding us of the etiquette of our group.
- Yes, I believe that GROW is considerate of all of our members. We practice principals before personalities in this group.
- Yes, considerate of all members. I do think we can be gentler in our messages if someone messes up on email or etiquette procedures.
Question 12: As a group, have we done a thorough and fearless inventory, or have we missed an important element?
- I think we do the best we can. GROW appears to serve more on the front lines of letting women who suspect they might be alcoholics what the disease actually is and how AA suggests dealing with it, encourages women to try f2f meetings, and provides recovery for a stable group of regular members plus a lot of less regular members. Every group is not going to be good at every aspect of all that AA entails, and I think our group does well at what we do.
- It seems thorough and fearless to me.
- The questions have been thought provoking and we have had plenty of opportunity to share our thoughts during the week but I wonder how many of our membership took that opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns. In order for us to have a healthy group we should have broad participation in all aspects of the group.
- I believe we do as we ask for issues from the group before business meetings.