Service Matters • April 2020
Happy 22nd Anniversary to GSA!!
Welcome to the April 2020 issue of Service Matters, your newsletter providing information about service work, current projects to help carry the message, and opportunities to participate in GSA.
April 2020 - Monthly Board of Trustees Column
Letter to the GreySheeters Anonymous Fellowship from the Board of Trustees of GreySheeters Anonymous World Services:
March 19, 2020
Dear Fellow GreySheeters,
As your Board of Trustees, we want to reach out to you during this stressful and uncertain time of the spreading coronavirus. We are all facing numerous new challenges now, and the long- term impact of this pandemic on our lives remains uncertain. However, there is one thing which is entirely certain: eating compulsively never solves any problem and only serves to make every problem worse. We love that GreySheet is a No Matter What program, allowing us to stay safe around food under any and all conditions.
Compulsive eating is a disease of isolation. Being connected with other GreySheeters helps us to stay in the light of recovery. It appears that in the days ahead we will be asked to further intensify our social distance. Many of us may be required to shelter in place and not leave our homes at all. We want to remind you that ours is a “We” program and that you are never alone. With just a bit of outreach, you can get all the support you need to stay abstinent through this trying time.
Although many face-to-face GSA meetings are suspended during this time, we are so fortunate to have other ways to connect with each other. In addition to speaking with our sponsors and sponsees and calling other GreySheeters, we have daily video and phone meetings.
The GSA Phone List is available to all GreySheeters so members can reach another GreySheeter at any time. The GreyNet is an online meeting available 24 hours a day.
Abundant GreySheet connection is also available on FaceBook, WhatsApp, and MarcoPolo. Ask your sponsor, sponsees, and GreySheet friends if they are members and they can help you join these private groups.
We understand that countries around the world are managing the virus differently and we urge you to follow the recommendations of your local authorities and trusted health agencies like the World Health Organization and, in the United States, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
At this time, let us remember our precious Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.
We cannot change what is happening in our world right now, but we certainly can take charge of how we respond to it.
- Plan, Prepare and Protect: We suggest having plenty of GreySheet food on hand for the days ahead – canned proteins, fruits and vegetables make for excellent back-up. Talk to your sponsor and GreySheet friends for many more abstinent ideas.
- Stay Connected: We suggest making phone calls and attending video or phone meetings.
- Remember our Tools help keep us Abstinent: Sponsorship, Twelve Step Literature, Writing, Prayer, Meditation, Service, Gratitude.
For additional support, please listen to audio recordings of the Communication Committee for two special Zoom meetings:
GSA Meets Coronavirus, NMW held on Saturday March 28th, 8am EDT and 2pm EDT
Note: If you missed these meetings, audio recordings are available on Southwest Intergroup YouTube Channel:
8:00 AM ET audio recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFuPDjS6hS8
2:00 PM ET audio recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaqEGeBBGVU
Our GreySheet Community remains unified in our primary purpose: To Stay Abstinent and Help Another Compulsive Eater to Achieve Abstinence. One meal at a time, one day at a time, we can weigh and measure and Not Eat No Matter What (and this is clearly a big one!)
Wishing you yummy abstinent meals and much peace in the days ahead,
Your Board of Trustees,
Grainne, Laura, Sandie, Joyce, Lee, Joey, and Ofer
Resources:
- Check https://www.greysheet.org/ for updates.
- Attend video meetings - https://greysheet.org/
- Attend phone meetings - https://www.greysheet.org/
- If your face-to-face meeting is suspended, please email webservant@greysheet.org so she can note that on greysheet.org.
- If your face-to-face meeting has temporarily transferred to Zoom and you would like the Zoom information listed on greysheet.org, please include that in your email.
- Join the GSA Phone List - https://www.greysheet.org/contacts/phone-list
- Join the GreyNet - GreyNet@groups.io
- World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention - https://www.cdc.gov/
Request: Please copy/send this letter to your GreySheet friends who may not receive it. We want everyone to receive information about our resources to stay connected. We do not have any centralized list of all GreySheeters (of course).
7th Tradition
GSR's and ISR's - please read at your meetings
Q&A:
Q: I know that face to face meetings have rent to pay, but why is there so much talk these days about GSAWS needing money? Zoom meetings are almost free, aren’t they? My experience in the program is that of going to meetings, calling my sponsor, taking sponsee calls, and now with the coronavirus, attending Zoom meetings. None of that costs money. I don’t get it.
A: It’s true that there has been more of an effort to get the word out about the need for increased donations to GSAWS in order to do the work of our primary purpose: to stay abstinent and carry the message to other compulsive eaters to help them achieve abstinence.
Perhaps it is helpful to think of it this way. When you’re invited to a wedding, and you show up for the ceremony and the reception, you benefit from a lot of hard work that is done to prepare for this event. Guests to the wedding may not know how much the caterer cost, or renting the space, or decorations, or getting the room set up and food prepared and served, or invitations made and sent out, or plans made to accommodate all the people who responded to those invitations. Still, they know a lot went into the day ahead of time, on the day, and afterwards. The wedding celebration did not just happen. We know that it is expected for us to give the couple a gift, in part to show our love, but also because we know weddings are expensive.
Truly, the work of our fellowship is done by a relatively small group of volunteers who work tirelessly on our behalf. When we show up for a meeting, trusted servants have reserved the space. If there is literature, it’s because someone has written it and gotten it published. If GreySheets are available, it’s because the copyright has been protected (with the help of a copyright attorney who costs money). When decisions need to be made about how our fellowship will move into the future and remain viable, we have a world service conference that brings trusted servants together to make sure the decisions made reflect the will of our entire membership. The Conference costs a lot of money, even when we stay in a former convent rather than a hotel to minimize expenses to our delegates.
People who are directed to our website get some answers to their questions at greysheet.org, as well as the opportunity to subscribe to Service Matters and join the phone list. Our greysheet.org website has been in operation for several years and it needs a serious updating. Trusted servants such as Board of Trustee members, website committee and intergroup members have been working on those revisions. The website committee meets monthly and works hard in-between meetings to make those changes. And still, website renovations cost money. Most of the work done is voluntary, but we do have an industry expert who is paid hourly for her services.
We have several subcommittees working on new GreySheet Literature projects, again all done by volunteers. But if we are to have books that GreySheeters can hold in their hands, that will cost money.
In summary, the more contact you have with the work of our world-wide fellowship, the easier it is to understand the need to double our seventh tradition donations. Once you are part of that service engine, you know first-hand what things cost and how much is done pro bono out of love for our fellowship and the solution we offer.
So please, consider increasing the amount of money you give. If you only donate at your home group meeting, consider putting something in the basket (or PayPal) at every meeting you go to. If you are giving $1, consider giving $2. If you’ve never contributed at your anniversary, in the amount of $1 or $5 for every year of abstinence, consider doing that. And there’s always the GreySheet Anniversary every April. This year we celebrate 22 years of the existence of GSA. Some people have a certain amount deducted from their bank accounts every month to GSAWS. It is amazing how much a regular donation of $5 or $10 a month adds up.
Obviously, not everyone can give more than they currently give. But some of us can, and that can make a huge difference to the possibilities of carrying the message to the compulsive eater who still suffers. AA’s Big Book states, “It is not the matter of giving that is at stake, but when and how to give.” Ask yourself and your Higher Power if it is time for you to step up and give more. Are you giving what you can, when you can?
Thanks to all of us doing our part to fulfill the vision of GSA: That when anyone has a problem with food, they think of GreySheeters Anonymous.
Upcoming GSA Meetings for World Services
Committees Connecting Meets on Sunday, April 5, at 12:00 noon ET at this Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/663470166. All are welcome! The Archives Committee will be presenting. This is a great time to tune in to the latest projects and concerns of committees and offer your input or ask questions.
Tradition 6 meeting – Sunday, April 26, from 1:00 – 1:30 PM ET, at this link: https://zoom.us/j/791453380.
Concept 6 meeting: Sunday, April 19 from 1:00 – 1:30 PM ET, at this link: https://zoom.us/j/791453380.
Audio Recording Links
March 22 Tradition 5 meeting: https://bit.ly/343tYtu
March 15 Concept 5 meeting: https://bit.ly/2UV0mKS
March 28: GSA Meets Coronavirus NMW Meetings: 8:00 AM ET: https://bit.ly/3dAZZO5
March 28: GSA Meets Coronavirus NMW Meeting: 12 noon ET: https://bit.ly/2UHDGxr
YouTube Audio recording of Service Matters March issue: http://bit.ly/2PxrH3O
Call for Writings
If you are interested in contributing to the GSA Daily Reflections Book and have 90 days of GS abstinence, please come to our next workshops on Zoom where you’ll learn what the specifications are for each reflection and have time to write one or two while at the workshop!! The next one will be held on Saturday, April 25 at 11:00 AM ET at this Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/203332604 .
Upcoming workshops are always on the last Saturday of the month: May 30 and June 27, at 11:00 ET.
For more information please contact: Reflections@greysheet.org
International and US Contacts Wanted!
We need this list updated by April 15th!!!
Note for GSRs and ISRs
Has your group or intergroup voted in new officers?
Please make sure you notify the Structure Committee with any new changes at structure@greysheet.org or notify your ISR to update the spreadsheet on google drive. Every ISR has access to this spreadsheet on Google Drive.
Upcoming Events
*** Please check our website at https://greysheet.org/eventsfor information about GSA events, and to check for cancellations due to COVID-19 restrictions.
- Connecticut Retreat in Ivoryton, CT - "Came to Believe": Friday, May 15th thru Sunday, May 17th, 2020
- GreySheet in County Dublin, Ireland - Saturday, August 15th, 2020, 10:00-16:00
- Delegate Video Forum (SAVE THE DATE!) - Saturday, October 31, 2020, 11:00 AM ET
- World Service Conference 2021 - October 15 – 17, 2021, Cenacle Retreat Center, Chicago, IL