Service Matters • August 2017
GSA World Services Working Hard to Make Improvements to the Website
GSA World Services want to say a BIG thank you to all those GSA members who took time to review our website and share suggestions for how it can be improved.
Since the beginning of May 2017 GSA World Services has been reaching out to the fellowship for suggestions for improvements to our website, greysheet.org. We have now gathered all these wonderful suggestions together. On 11 June at 1pm EST a phone bridge meeting was held, inviting all members of GSA to attend to discuss these changes voice-to-voice and agree on the best way to proceed.
A Website Update Committee was formed from this phone meeting. The volunteers are now working together to formulate a plan to begin to implement these improvements. There is a lot of work to do and GSA World Services are going to need a lot more volunteers to help carry out this work.
The Website Update Committee has shared your suggestions for improvements with website design professionals qualified in the business of updating websites - to ensure greysheet.org is as efficient and user friendly as possible. The current greysheet.org website suffers from usability issues. While it may be possible to make some improvements to the existing website, there is no getting around the need to re-organize and probably rebuild the site.
The job that needs to be done is a much bigger one than originally anticipated and is going to cost in the region of $25,000 to complete – as much money as it costs GSA World Services to host a World Service Conference. Visit Frequently Asked Questions link for more info on this cost.
While GSA World Services has a prudent reserve to host the 2018 World Service Conference – it does not have an extra $25,000 in the 7th tradition pot to pay for the redevelopment of the website.
This is where GSA World Services is reaching out to you, the members of GSA, to ask for help to raise the funds for the upgrade of your website. The Website is the primary way for us to reach the sick and suffering compulsive eater!
In May and June 2017 GSA World Services received in the region of $550 per month in 7thtradition donations from meetings around the world. This money is used to cover the monthly operating costs of GSA World Services including its Post Office box, monthly web hosting fee and Pay Pal fees (see attached June Treasury Report). This leaves a surplus of around $270 per month. If just this surplus was put to one side to accrue for the redevelopment of the website – it would take us around 7 years to build up enough money to pay for the website with the current level of 7th tradition donations – and we’d have no money left over for any World Service Conferences.
If the update of the GSA website is important to you, please announce at your local meetings and Intergroups the need for extra funds to finance this vital project. Pass the pot a second time for a separate collection.
When making donations to GSA World Services Pay Pal account for the Website Update please make any payment reference Web Update and your group identifier. This way we can log each donation, where it came from and keep you informed of a running total - so you know where we are financially from month to month and how close we are getting to reaching our financial goal.
This is the only way we are going to be able to afford to update our website to the highest standards. Thank you in advance for all your support.
GSA Phone List Revived!
The International Phone List (IPL) of 800+ GreySheeters lapsed in 2015 after ten years of serving the community. Many people asked how we could make this resource available again. Thanks to GSA World Services (GSAWS), the old IPL has been transformed into the GSA Phone List and is now available on the GSA website, www.greysheet.org.
What is the GSA Phone List?
The GSA Phone List is a secure, members-only contact list for all GreySheeters in the United States and around the world. Access is by user name and password and is only available to those who join the list by providing their own contact information. Join the GSA Phone List here.
Who is on the GSA Phone List?
Over 300 committed GreySheeters have already confirmed their contact information or newly registered. More members join every day. The GSA Phone List has members in 38 US states:
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How do GreySheeters Use the GSA Phone List?
One GreySheeter found other GSers in her country and started a video meeting to connect them all. Others have sorted the list by abstinence date and asked people with decades of abstinence to sponsor them. Others have used the list to find GSers at a destination where they are travelling to.You can access the list online, on your smart phone, tablet, or laptop or you can download a copy. When you access the list online, you can sort or search by name, city, state or country, and abstinence date.
Why Join the GSA Phone List?
Join the GSA Phone List so you can:
- Strengthen your abstinent network
- Be of service to other GreySheeters
- Find others in your area to start a face-to-face meeting
- Connect with GreySheeters when you travel
Registered Meetings and Contact Information Updates
Please check your meeting information is up-to-date on our website. If there are any changes to this information, please let us know at webservant@greysheet.org.If you are listed as a GSR or contact person for a meeting and are no longer the GSR for this meeting, please send us this information. If the email address or contact number you gave at the time of registering your meeting has changed, please let us know. If you do not let us know, then we cannot keep this information up to date.