Brenda L. teaching a GSR School at a GSR & Trusted Servant Workshop in Minneapolis, MN

That's in case I need to sit down. No. Not really. I just have a lot of stuff, so I thought maybe it'd be helpful too. I I you know, I would my name is Brenda Lindgren, and I'm an alcoholic.

Hi, everyone. You know, Bob does such a great job. Thank you so much. I I wish that I could speak off the cuff as well as he does and make sense, but I can't, unfortunately. So I I'm like the teacher.

I always wanted to be a teacher. You know? I just come with all this stuff and my my talk all written out and, you know, I just have to have notes to follow. But, anyway, I've been sober and active in Alcoholics Anonymous since July 11, 1980. And, that is because I'm just like Bob.

I wish I could take credit for that. I can't. I mean, that is because of a God that I found here. Actions that you asked me to take that I didn't believe would work, and they did, and sponsorship, and and just keeping you know, just showing up. I keep showing up, and more is revealed.

My home group is the Fox Hall chapter 7 group of Alcoholics Anonymous. I'm really excited. We just had elections, and we have a new GSR and an alternate GSR, and they are both here today. That's so wonderful. That's great.

Yay. I am a past delegate, and I always forget to say the panel. I noticed you said that today. Panel 53, which was, the year 2,030,004, I you know, it's amazing to me that I I mean, I learn I've already learned so much today. I did not know that, when there were changes made in the service manual that they put that black that black stripe down the side of the I didn't know that.

My gosh. I'm like, okay. And I served on the literature committee for the conference. Go figure. See, we don't know everything.

We can't. I'd like to thank the districts in the area for hosting this workshop. It it is a privilege to be able to ask to come here today and share with you. And and it's not because I I have a lot I have the answers. It's not because I know a lot of stuff.

I just have a lot of experience. I mean, I've been involved in service since as far back as I can remember. I I when I first came into AA, my my sponsor my first sponsor said that you always say yes in Alcoholics Anonymous because you never know what might save your life. And that has just always stuck with me. And so I have said yes to things that I had I never wanted to say yes to, that I didn't wanna do.

And, from that experience, I've learned so much. So, you know, I can remember I, I was answering phones at the intergroup office in Sioux City, Iowa when I was a month sober. And I said to of course, it didn't I mean, it helped them. My my sponsor was the secretary of the office, and she would drag me in there. And I and she'd say, answer the phone.

Say, you know, be be polite. Say, hello, Alcoholics Anonymous. May I help you? And I said, that's great. But what if they ask me something that I can't answer?

And she said, well, I'm right here. You just say just a moment, and I'll get someone who can answer that question. And that has served me well. So if there are some questions here today that I can't answer, I defer them to someone else, like Bob or anyone else that that can answer them. You know, I I, thought about how I was gonna do this, and what I'd like to do, most of you did everybody get a packet?

Okay. Everybody's shaking their heads. If you didn't get a packet and there's somebody next to you that doesn't have one, I'm gonna kinda go through some information in here, so you might wanna share, with your neighbor. You know, I'm I'm not an expert on this, but I can tell you that I have served as a general service representative for a number of groups over a period of time. I first became a a GSR back in the mid eighties and served again as a GSR sometime in the nineties.

You know, it's all a blur to me sometimes. It seems like it's been a long time ago. But what I what I wanna share is, just some information about my experiences being a GSR and then also go through these packets, particularly some of these sheets. I'm not gonna go through page by page. But, the first thing that, you know, I mentioned that I served on the literature committee for the conference.

And, you know, my goal when I found out that I was on the literature committee was, to read every single piece of AA literature that we had, including our service material. Do you do you guys know how much literature we have? Yes. I didn't get a chance to read it all. Now I I have looked through a lot of it, but I'd have not read every piece of literature that we have from cover to cover.

But the thing that that really boggles my mind is that we have all the information. You know? I I have all the information I need to serve in any capacity in Alcoholics Anonymous. I just don't avail myself of it. You know?

And and I think that's why, workshops like this are just so so cool because we get we get the opportunity to do that. But if you look at this GSR pamphlet, right in the front, it says, may be the most important job in AA. Well, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and take out some words. Let's see. I'm changing literature already.

And I gotta say is the most important job in AA, and and I wanna tell you why. And it's it's because of the statement that's on the second page. In italics and I have learned, just from reading the big book over the years that anytime something is italicized, I call it squiggly writing, anytime something is italicized, that means it's important. Take note. It's important.

It says, by choosing its most qualified man or woman as GSR, a group helps secure its own future and the future of AA as a whole. So my thought when I read that sentence is a question. Why would the future and and this is some of this is reiteration from what Bob talked about. But why would the future of my home group and all all of AA, not just, you know, the groups in my area or the groups in my region, but all of AA have anything to do with the GSR that my group elects. And and that's what I wanna talk about.

Our general service conference, like Bob was talking about, and the and, the structure is what keeps AA united and successful in carrying the message, carrying the message of hope and recovery to the alcoholic who still suffers. And it is in the communication, I believe, that we have with one another that gives us strength to stay stay together as a fellowship. So it is in the communication that my group has with the whole of AA. My group is not an island in Alcoholics Anonymous. And it's not an island in Alcoholics Anonymous because it has a GSR and it has a alternate GSR, and they regularly attend district and area functions.

And they bring information back to the group, and they bring information from the group back to the district. It's a two way communication link. It's not just one-sided. It's two way. So, the question on the flyer was, the flyer that for this event was, is your group linked to AA as a whole?

So if you're sitting here this morning as a group member without a GSR or a group member where the GSR does not have regular communication with your group and does not attend district area and regional functions, then based on this statement, I would believe that you are not linked to AA as a whole. I gotta stay I gotta stay with my notes or I'll screw up. You know, I I when I was elected GSR, my my sponsor really taught me that being a GSR to my group was a privilege and that it was something that I should not take lightly. And, like I mentioned, that I was my link why was my group's link to the entire general service structure? And it was important for me to report on what was happening, but not only what was happening in the district area and in the district and the area, but also what was happening worldwide.

What was happening within the my region? What was happening in the whole of Alcoholics Anonymous? And I'm gonna talk a little bit about that when we get into GSR reports, because I wanna talk specifically about, what are the ingredients that, that help make a GSR report interesting, you know, interesting to my group. So like I mentioned, we have lots of literature, that at our fingertips that we could we could start using, today. You know, you've got a packet of information.

The other thing I wanna mention is I noticed that when there are people standing up, that there are a lot of DCMs and alternate DCMs here today. And, when I I served as a DCM for district 7 back in the early nineties. And at that time, district 7 in Southern Minnesota had over 600 groups in it. And that is just that's that's unbelievable. I mean, how do you communicate?

How how do you how as even even with our structure, how do you communicate to all those groups and and and have a unified group conscience and district conscience? It's an it's really virtually impossible. And so one of the things that we did is, we we put together what was called the local committee member, LCM. And and we also held at every monthly meeting, we held a GSR orientation. And it was the responsibility of the alternate DCM to do I know there's a lot of districts that do that today where they where any new GSRs that are coming to the district meetings, for the first part of the meeting are taken to a different room, and they have a GSR orientation.

And they talk about, you know, this is where you're at. You're at a district meeting, and this is what a district meeting is, and this is what you can expect, and and just provide a little bit of basic information. Because I know when I went to my first district meeting, I had I had no clue what I had walked into. I had no clue even what I was supposed to be doing there. And and so it was it it would have been at that time, there was no there was no orientation, so it would have been very helpful to have that that orientation.

I'm gonna use in this just use this pamphlet and just kind of go in the in this GSR pamphlet, it just specifically talks about what do you do as a GSR. And the very first thing, it's very easy to understand. It's there's no confusion about what my responsibility is as a GSR, and that is the the first and foremost thing that I need to do is attend district meetings. My group is a part of the district. My group is part of district 7.

And so my GSR and my alternate GSR attend the meetings of district the district meetings of district 7. In our area, we have 26 districts. Back when, when I just back when, I was DCM, we had those 600 groups in district 7. There were 18 districts. There were 17, and then we added 18 18 districts.

Now we have 26 districts. We have 27. I'm sorry. That's right. We just added a new district.

Thank you very much for that clarification. We have a Spanish linguistic district. So, as a result of trying to get better communication to the groups through those LCMs and having those groups get GSRs, we were able to I believe some of those efforts were helpful in redistricting. And, that's that's another thing that, you know, talk when we talk about how the expansion and the growth in Alcoholics Anonymous, it tells us in the service manual that, and as Bill wrote, that, you know, our grow as as AA grows, our growth should be handled by redistricting, not by adding new delegate areas. And the reason for that is because the conference be would become too unwieldy to to try to have to add too many, conference delegate areas and that our our growth should be handled by adding more districts and having less groups in the district so that the communication flow, is two sided.

Okay. Then the next thing it says is to attend area assemblies. There are 93 areas in the US and Canada. We are in Area 36. The northern area we have 2 areas in Minnesota.

We have a southern Minnesota and a northern Minnesota, and northern area is Area 35. And I wanna thank, some of the Area 35, people for coming down today. It's always great to see you, and we thank you for your support. So you attend the area assemblies. And one of the most important jobs that that a GSR has I and I you know, like, some of this is really my opinion, but it's based on my experience, and it also talks about it in our literature.

But one of the most important jobs that you have, and it talks more about this in the service manual, is that, you elect district officers and you elect area officers. So you need to get to know people. You need to get to know who the people are. You you know, you need to talk to people. You need to communicate.

You need to, you know, have some dialogue with, lots of people within the district in the area so that when election time comes around, you know if those people are was a GSR is I watched. You know, I watched the people that were serving the district, and I watched the people that were serving the area. And I watched the people that were doing their job and that were active and enthusiastic and and were were doing things. You know? We're carrying the message.

And those were the people that that were serving the districts in the area well. The next thing it talks about is to help keep my group informed about the agenda items for the general service conference that my delegate attends each year and share my group's conscience to the DCM and the delegate and to also provide my group with copies of the final conference report. I don't think I have a final conference report. Oh, that's one of my visual visual aids that I forgot to bring. Do you have one?

Oh, thank you, David. He's got one here, Niles. This is the final conference report for the 55th Annual General Service Conference that our delegate attended. Everything there's a lot of information in here. All the presentations that were given throughout the week, all of the information about who our trustees are, our finances, there's the final what the final additional committee considerations and advisory actions that were taken by the conference.

Lots of valuable information in here. But one of the things is and the question that comes up a lot is, how how do I know what my group's conscience is on these agenda items? How do I get that? How as a GSR do I get that group conscience? And I can share with you what has worked well in my home group.

And that is we we hold, a special meeting every year before the delegates workshop, and we discuss, the conference agenda items. Do we get to all of them? No. We talk about the items that are considered well, we used to call them hot topics, but we don't do that anymore. We call them we they're they're items that have, that may be talked about a lot and that also, will have a significant impact on how we carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous.

So we have this special meeting, and we and we talk about, the GSR asked several members from the group to specifically present on each one of those agenda items. So that means they have to read the background material and that they have to get to know that agenda item if they have questions they need to ask. I get phone calls a lot right before we have those meetings about so so tell give me some more information about this agenda item if you know it. And and then we sit down and and discuss and and, sometimes we, well, we take a vote on the conscience of how the group feels about certain issues. And then our GSR has that information to take to the delegates workshop to share that information, at at not only at the district, but at the with our delegate.

Okay. Then, also, next, it talks about group information. As the group contact for my district and it, I'm also the contact for my area, and I'm also the contact for GSO, I need to make sure my name and address information is provided to the person responsible for updating that information. And in this packet here in your packet, there's some great information in here, some stuff I hadn't seen before. And and, I think I think there was one page that came from your area, wasn't there, Bob?

But this this page right here, it says Alcoholics Anonymous group information change form. This needs to be this information needs to be provided to GSO, not to to my district, to my area, and to the general service office so I am listed as a contact for my group in the next printing of the AA directory. And I need to fill this information out and not only the new information, but also the old information. And I get I get asked this question a lot. Why is the current contact information from my group not in the directory?

Well, first of all, I don't know why it's not in the directory, but there could be a number of reasons why. One of them being that you didn't fill out this information. The other one being that maybe you didn't fill out all of the information. Because in order to be able to put new information in, you have to take the old out. And our I don't know if you any of you've noticed this, but sometimes our office, our general service office, is reluctant to take anybody off a list unless they know for sure that somebody has replaced that person.

So it you need to fill out both sides of that form. If you don't know the information, just go go back to your group and get it and bring it back to the district or the area. Now I know that in we're very fortunate in our area that we have, our areas our area, and our districts share information. And once you, give this change form, this information to your our area records chair, that information is automatically sent on to New York. So we're very fortunate in that.

But you can also fill one of these out and send it directly. But you can you can be confident that when you give this information to, your district or area records chair, that that information will be sent on to New York. Yes. Question. I'm sorry.

Yes. Has anybody here been a group records chair? Because I I mean, I just know that that that it's specified that it'd be it'd be both information. Yeah. Steve.

Okay. So I I forgot to repeat the question. Thank you, Bob. The question was, the, if we don't have the old information, we just have the new information, can we still send that to the general service office and send it to the area? And the response and the answer was yes, basically.

You can. It would be nice to have both, but if you just have the new information, it needs to get in there, and it needs to get in there for some very specific reasons so that the new person, the new GSR can start receiving information and, can also, be put in the new directory. So, so that was your that's the answer. Thank you, Steve. And and that's that's the other thing I wanna talk about is once you have registered with the general service office, you will receive a kit.

And I I think they still look like this. You know, I have a lot I'm going through my office right now, and I don't I never throw anything away. Sonia knows this. And, I had a little flood in my office, so this has really pushed me into going through stuff. And I found this.

Is this what the new g s GSR kit still looks like? Any new GSRs that received you will receive something similar to this, and it has lots of valuable information in it. You will get a service manual. It has, different pamphlets. It has, information about the general service structure.

It also has change forms. It has all that information in it. So once you're registered as, registered with the general service office, you will receive this. It it it is sent to us to be used. You will also receive you also go on the list to receive the bimonthly bulletin called box 459.

I really, really, really, really, really encourage you to share this information with your group. I think this is one of the best I mean, this is this is a secret in Alcoholics Anonymous. There are a lot of groups that have no idea what this publication is. And I this this publication, is this is the, September, and it what it is is it's news and notes from the general service office. And it talks about stuff that is happening in AA as a whole, and it also gives information about what other areas are doing to carry the message.

This particular one, I'm just gonna, tell you what it has in it. It has an overview of the international convention that was held in Toronto in July, how many drunks attended, what happened all weekend. There's also an article about our new board chair, our new, chairman of the board. And the outgoing chair and the new chair, there's actually a photo. And you say, oh, that might be a that might be an anonymity break.

Well, our our these 2, people happen to be nonalcoholic class a trustees. And Elaine McDowell is rotating out as our board chair board of trustees chair, and Leonard Blumenthal is rotating in. So there's an article about that so that if you see these people at an a function or you hear their names mentioned, you know who they are. There's also an article about we have, and I gotta find how many, we have, like, 6 new 5 new, trustees that were elected at, our last, general service conference. It talks about these.

Well, we actually have 6. But this it talks about the 5 new class b alcoholic trustees, who they are, where they're from, what their service to Alcoholics Anonymous has been. Then all there's also an article about the new class a trustee who, brings expertise in corrections to Alcoholics Anonymous. There's a number of articles about, people carrying the message, in different areas. Their particular one of interest is the AA message is all over North Dakota, and it's talking about, how how the public information and the CPC, cooperation with the professional community committee, is carrying the message to professionals in North Dakota.

So there's there's just a wealth of information in here, and then there's a calendar of events if you have people that travel and like to go to roundups and conventions, that are in here for the, like, 4 months out. So, there's also information here about what's happening new with the grapevine, what's what's new with the grapevine. So it's just really a wonderful publication, and you can get this publication. It's automatically sent to you as a GSR, but your group can get it for a cost of $6 a year every time it comes out, which is bimonthly. You will get, 10 issues of box 459 each time it comes out, 4, what, 4 times a year, for $6 a year.

And We do this at my home group, and we actually have a special person designated to stand up and talk about this publication. And then we have those extra copies on the table, and they disappear. So it's another great way of of bringing information about the whole of AA, to our groups. Okay. So if you didn't get the importance of reading this, you got it now.

Right? Okay. Yeah. You you are, but I don't know if the DCM's the question is, as a DCM, am I registered with New York, and can I get the publication box 459 sent to me? The answer about that you are registered with New York is yes.

But, the question about whether or not you automatically get the box 459 as a DCM sent to you, I don't know the answer to that. Is there any other DCMs in here that received the box 459 automatically sent to them? Then I guess the answer nobody raised their hand. So I guess, the answer would be that you probably you probably don't. And if you wanted to get this, the best way to do it would probably just have your district subscribe to the to the, the the ten issues every bimonthly for $6 a year.

You know, you can also just just so you know, you can also go online because I I know I went online and I checked this out. You can go online at aa.org, and you can you can see it and read it right online. And you can look at back issues. It has lots of back issues from years before. Right online, you can read about it.

So you can do that as well if if you don't get it sent directly to you in the mail. Yes. You said that you would actually your home group had someone present this. Mhmm. Did you create a new job position?

Do you have created? It's actually a separate position that we've created. What was the question? Oh, the question was I'm always forgetting that. In your in your home group, you mentioned that you had, someone specifically, announce Fox 459.

Was that, position that you specifically created for that per for that specific purpose of someone announcing that? And the answer is yes. We do have, someone who specifically, does announce that. And, it wasn't always that way. We just kinda created the position, because there were a number of members of the group that felt it was important enough to make sure that it was getting announced.

Yes. Was it considered by your group that it might be an alternate acting alternate GSR? That was not considered. The question was, did your group consider that perhaps the alternate GSR could make the announcement of the box 459 to kind of help them get familiar and groom them into the position of GSR. And that that's really a great idea.

And, no, that was not discussed, and I know our GSR and alternate GSR are here today. So that's very helpful. Thank you. But that that's that would be a great way of of having the alternate GSR be responsible for that that, particular announcement. Yeah.

You're welcome. Thank you. Okay. The other thing that it talks about, in the packet is, or and actually in this pamphlet is if my group, has a problem, one of my responsibilities as GSR is to help them find a solution to that problem. Now I can't do that I can't do that if I'm not active in the structure and have not familiarized myself with the traditions, the service structure, and the concepts.

And like I mentioned earlier, does that mean that I need to know everything? No. It doesn't mean that I need to know everything, but at least I need to know where I can go for an answer and who I can ask to get that answer because stuff will come up. And it talks about that also in the AA Group pamphlet, which is in this packet, that that there will be things that will come up. There will be you know, we were talking earlier about, the question that Sonia asked earlier about.

A lot of people don't wanna get involved in general service because because they talk about the fact that, that it's that political stuff. And all they do is argue, and nobody they never really make any decisions. And, I mean, I've heard people say that. And and one of the things that that I think is really important is that, you know, I I have gone to some business meetings of groups. And at some of those business meetings, they're they're yelling and screaming at each other more than we are in general service.

But I think it's important for people to understand that one of the things that my response is when when that comes back to me, I I like to respond and say, have you been to a, a service function lately? Have you been to a district meeting, or have you been to an area assembly? Have you been to a service function recently? And you know what the question usually is? No.

And sometimes it's people who have been sober and have been around a long time. And and maybe maybe it was like that and maybe years ago. I don't know. But, I always I invite them, like Bob was talking about. I invite them to come.

You know, come and just check it out. Come and and just be a part of. And and, so a lot of times, that that kind of helps open the door. The other thing it talks about in here is, the the GSR can be helpful to the group with doing its part in keeping all of AA self supporting. And, one of the the interesting there's a lot of information about that in the AA group, but there's also a really good pamphlet called self support where money and spirituality mix.

And I just wanna read a quick excerpt from that, because I think it it it is something that you could share with your group when it comes up. Because I know a lot of times, groups have a difficult time with knowing why are we contributing to these service entities? What what does our money do? Where does it go? It's like, to some people, it kind of falls into this black hole somewhere.

You know? Where what happens to this to these contributions? And there's a a section in here, and this is a little too small for me. Can't believe I have to do this. With the realization it it talks about we cannot skimp.

With the realization that AA must steer clear of outside contributions in order to maintain its autonomy and independence came the understanding that the money money necessary for AA's survival would have to come from individual AA members and groups. As Bill w put it in 1957, our spiritual way of life is safe for future generations if, as a society, we resist the temptation to receive money from the outside world. But this leaves us with a responsibility, one that every member ought to understand. We cannot skimp when the treasurer of our group passes the hat. Our groups, our areas, and AA as a whole will not function unless our services are sufficient and their bills are paid.

When we meet and defeat the temptation to take large gifts, we are only being prudent. But when we are generous with the hat, we give a token that we are grateful for our blessings and evidence that we are eager to share what we have found with all those who still suffer. I think that's a pretty good explanation of why we send and need to send regularly to support our service entities. Okay. And then I also I also need to inform my group about upcoming local conventions and service functions.

And, you know, I I'm not I've heard some GSR reports where that's basically all the report is. And this is this is not it's just brief. It's brief. Just a couple of local things that are happening. I you know, I think it's a really good idea to, have, and I'm gonna show you exactly.

This is in your packet, you have a 2,005 area calendar. It's in the back of the packet of information. But this is this is the area calendar for 2,006. You can go online to area36.org and print it off. That's what I did.

I printed it off. I know I had one somewhere. I couldn't find it, so I just went to area 36.org, printed it off, and voila. So I've now got the area calendar for, next year. The other thing is and and you can make copies of this and put it on your literature table at your group.

The other thing is, the the West Central Region. The, West Central Regional Service Conference is going to be here in our area in March. We haven't had it here in our area for it rotate, so it would be 8 years. Right? For 8 years.

So, this is this is an opportunity for us to really host our region. And that particular flyer, also online at our area website, area36.org, and you can download it and print it out. Yes. No. The one that you have in your packet is the 2,005.

That is the 2,005 calendar that you have in your packet. The one that I just down took off the the the, both of them are there on our website, the 2005 and the 2006. But, you know, one of the things that and that that leads me into one of the other things that I wanted to talk about, and that was, about reimbursement, about reimbursement of expenses, as a GSR. As long as we're talking about that, I'll skip to that. I think that it needs to be discussed.

And I know I hear a lot of people ask this question over the years. You know, what, am I supposed to be reimbursed for the the things that I attend, like my mileage? And who who reimburses me for that? And there's some confusion about that. And, the bottom line is is that, actually, your group is to reimburse you for, serving them and for being their communication link.

And I think it need this type of information needs to be discussed with the group right up front. When you become a new GSR and you're elected, you need to talk about the expenses, that you will incur as a GSR. Now not does every group do this? No. Does every person, ask for reimbursement?

No. But one of the reasons that it's important that we talk about it is because we do not want to exclude anybody from service in Alcoholics Anonymous. And there may be some of us who cannot afford to do it, cannot afford to just go to these functions without reimbursement. And so it needs to be discussed, I believe, at the group. And one of the things that can be helpful in that discussion is getting out the calendar.

That's why I talked about the 2006 calendar and saying, this is the stuff that's coming up next year that I will I will need to attend, that I will be attending to represent our group. And then you look at where there where this where it's at, where the stuff is at. You know, there's, we're lucky that we're fortunate this year that our, west central region is is close. But our some of our area assemblies move around. There's one in, Matt let's see.

There's one in Hutchinson. Our next area assembly is in Northfield. That's in March. We have a, another air our election assembly, which is in October, and that is in New Ulm. So there will be some there will be some traveling expense to attend some of these functions.

And so you will wanna talk to, your group about that. And and there is some information in the section, in the service manual under the section that talks about the group and its GSRs, and it says, current experience indicates that many groups provide financial support for their general service representatives to attend service functions. It also talks about reimbursing service workers for their expenses, and that is in the AA guidelines. The service guidelines, they look like this. You can also go online that's that just amazes me that we have all this stuff right at our fingertips.

You can also go online. I printed this out from the, aa.org website, and you just go online under, group services and, click under I can't remember what I I think AA guidelines, and all of them come up. And then you just select which one you want, and you print it out. And this is the one on finance that that talks about what I just that talks about some information of of reimbursing trusted servants. Okay.

Does anybody have any questions on that? Yes. Well, well, the question is, what if your group doesn't have the funds to send you GSR? They they just they don't have it. They don't have the money to send.

1 at 1 I will answer, and then if there's somebody else that has some ideas about that or something that their group has done, please share. I know that in some groups, they have actually passed a separate basket for that. Sometimes there's you know, by the time you you pay your rent and buy literature and do the the stuff that you need to do to maintain the group so that it can carry the message, you you're right. You don't have any leftover. And, so sometimes they will actually pass an extra basket for that.

Or I know sometimes they have also put, like, a can or something on the table, for people to just kinda throw money in there, and it's specifically noted for GSR travel or GSR expenses. Does any other is there any other answer to that? Yes. Mhmm. The the the other answer to that was, if you're already in service and, this gentleman's in GCM, he's already going to these functions.

He offers rides to any GSRs that would like to go along. That's a great idea. Thank you. David? K.

Did you have another question, Montana? Question statement, it it came up as a conflict because someone is using their personal finances. Okay. Well, I will also mention, that at the area, and I don't know, you know, how groups I mean, I I don't remember filling out an expense form, but I did present when I presented expenses to my group treasurer, I had a sheet, and I had it all laid out on the sheet, what my costs were. At the area, I know that even if you even if you aren't asking for reimbursement, you need to fill out a reimbursement form.

And on there, there's a little check there's a little blank for, payment in kind where you you're not asking for payment, but this is how much it did cost for me to go and attend this so that you have that as reference so the group has that as reference for future. Thank you. Yeah. Did somebody else have Vince? Okay.

Yeah. Every every district is autonomous, and they can certainly handle, reimbursing GSRs if that's what they choose to do. K. Niles? I think one of the most important parts of this conversation is is what Brenda said, and that is is bringing it to the group and putting it as their responsibility to how they wanna deal with it instead of just not bringing it up and kinda pushing it under the table.

Well, I yeah. I mean, I don't know about you, but finances is kind of the last area that I really grew in in my recovery. Still sometimes wonder if I and and I you know, when it comes to finances, I I don't know, but I'm just not very good about talking about it. And so if it if it's just something that's just dealt with right up front and discussed, then everybody's on the same page. You know?

There's no question. There's no fear about it or anything like that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm Bob.

Yeah. When I first started out, there was a lot of people who didn't have the funds to do that, but and so we went, we paid our own way. And we brought back receipts and presented them to the group so they knew exactly what it was costing. And the districts or wherever you do that, bring back receipts and present them, and they started reimbursing what they could. And, personally Yeah.

We needed the information. Our group needed to be part of this district and part of the area, and they started reimbursing. And now our group has a fund that we add into, every month we add to it so that we can fully fund our our, GSR functions. That is we had to start it somewhere. And if one of the bad things that happens is, you know, some of us that we we get sober and all of a sudden we actually have jobs, and we we do have money.

And so we think, well, this is just payment back. We we do have money. And so we think, well, this is just payment back for to a for what I've been given. But it does cripple the group by not letting them know what the expenses are. Always present the expenses.

And when they give it to you, if you really feel like you wanna be doing something different, take the check, cash the check, then donate it back. You know? But let the group pay its way. Let the district pay its way. And, it it just it makes them responsible, and and then it makes you responsible also.

All receipts. You gotta have all the receipts. Okay. So we're we're gonna thank you. We're gonna go over a little bit, if you don't mind, because I'd like to go through these questions and then talk a little bit about a GSR report.

But in the in your packets, there were some very specific questions, that, you probably be able to answer most of them. I just kinda went through it and answered them myself, and, actually, some of it I had to look up. I didn't know some of it off the top of my head. The first question is, what does GSR stand for? General service representative.

I think most of us, are familiar with that. Then the next question, what is your group service number? Oh, Now I don't know my group service number off the top of my head. But if your group is registered with the general service office, then you will have a service number. And if you don't know your service number or if you don't know if your group is registered with the general service office, you will want to first, you can do a couple of things.

The first thing you could do is actually look in this directory. This is the Western United States AA directory for 2,004, 2005. So I looked in here, and my group is in here, but my group moved about when did we move, guys? About, year year year and a half ago. So the old location is still listed in here, and I'm sure that's because we, you know, we didn't get the information in on time for the directories to be printed.

And it has my group service number, so I can the first number, it says foxhall chapter 7. The first number, which is a, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 digit number, is my group's number my group service number. After that, it says what area I am a part of, what area this this this group is in, 36. And it says what district this group is in, which at the time when it was in this old location in Hopkins, it was in district 22. It is now in in Prairie, so it is now in district 7.