Service Matters • February 2022
Welcome to the February 2022 Issue of Service Matters!
Welcome to the February 2022 issue of Service Matters, your answer to the question, "What's Up in GreySheet?" regarding all the work done for GSA as a whole to carry the message to compulsive eaters who still suffer.
What Do You Love About Abstinence?
It's February and time to appreciate this glorious, terrifying, unknown, abundant and inviting world of GreySheet abstinence!! I asked some GreySheeters what they love most about abstinence, and here's what they told me:
CB: "Freedom of movement in my body."
JM: "My food!"
YA: "It keeps my head quiet, and I don't have to think about food."
MS: "I get to be a good role model for my kids."
EW: "I get to have a life in-between my meals."
KO: "Guilt-free eating."
VT: "Freedom from obsessions: of food, the scale, dieting/restricting..."
BL: "The integrity that comes from doing what I am certain is God's will for me."
JW: "The ability to make choices in every area of my life, to feel feelings, to be present, to respond and not react..."
JS: "Reclaiming my body."
CY: "Not having obsessive food thoughts every waking moment of my life."
MM: "It has given me freedom from bondage of self."
AT: "Peace around foods we don't eat and the supportive GS community."
DD: "Complete freedom from the obsession of food!"
LL: "Freedom from cravings and obsession – peace beyond my wildest dreams!"
EG: "I love that I'm no longer waiting for my life to begin."
What do you love most about abstinence?
GreySheet Anonymous World Services
Board of Trustees Safety Guidance Update
Zoom meetings have been a huge gift to our GSA community, both for connecting our members and for carrying the message to the compulsive eater still suffering.
Unfortunately, Zoom meetings have also given rise to an increase in personal safety issues and concerns. Electronic communication allows easy access to online predators and people whose intentions go beyond the scope of a 12-step meeting. Newcomers and members in fragile emotional states are common targets.
In order to protect our fellowship, especially our most vulnerable members, we remind sponsors and long timers to discuss the issue of personal safety with sponsees and newcomers. Ask sponsees about their experiences at meetings and with phone calls. Educate them that even in 12-step rooms they need to be aware of the potential for harm, including inappropriate sexual advances and the crossing of personal boundaries. Remind sponsees to reach out to a wide range of people to develop their personal support circle and never trust someone who claims to be able to "get them abstinent" and discourages the newcomer from speaking to others (yes, this has happened.) While our program is based on building trust in our fellows, none of us can be blind to the possibility of risk in sharing with strangers, whether in the world at large or in our rooms of recovery. Please remind newcomers to check in about exchanges or shares that make them feel even slightly uncomfortable. Anonymity need not be broken in order to discuss such concerns.
A word about the Zoom Chat Box: Occasionally, private chat messaging has been a vehicle for inappropriate conversation. As a result, certain meetings have opted to keep the Chat Box limited to public sharing only. Some members have also chosen not to post their contact information to everyone but to give it out to an individual through private messaging or through the moderator if private messaging is disabled.
Let's keep the Personal Safety conversation active. We have lost more than one newcomer to fallout from safety issues. It is tragic to consider that anyone would give up an opportunity to recover in our GreySheet rooms because they felt threatened by another member or someone posing as a member. We must be able to carry our GreySheet message to those who are still suffering. Please help maintain the strength of our fellowship and the integrity of our message by staying attuned to issues of Personal Safety.
No Matter What!
Laura L.
Board of Trustees, Vice-Chair
Personal Safety Committee, ChairEnter your text here ...
Register Your Meeting Before February 28!
Thanks to the many, many trusted servants of GSA Groups who have already registered their groups and listed their meetings for our exciting new Meeting Calendar coming March 1st.
All groups whether they hold their meetings in person, on Zoom, on Skype, or on a phone conference line, including the GSA Phone Bridge, need to complete a registration form. If your group has more than one meeting, you only need to fill out the group registration portion of the form once. If your group has more than four meetings, you download a spreadsheet to provide all the information once.
Registered Groups direct the work of their intergroup and of World Service by sending a representative to intergroup and conference meetings. Group members hear about proposals from their representative and have the chance to provide feedback. This is how we developed our Podcast, Service Matters newsletter, Living Abstinent book, Group Treasurer pamphlet, social media channels, and many other services.
Registered Groups list their meetings on greysheet.org. The primary purpose of every group is to carry the message to the newcomer. Newcomers find our meetings through the website. To list your meeting so you can serve your group's primary purpose, register!
Click here to register: http://www.update.greysheet.org/groups/group-registration-form
Email Secretary@greysheet.org with any questions.
Start Up Sponsor Teams
GSRs: please read to your groups Are you a GSer who has been abstinent for a while but has not felt ready to sponsor someone on the GreySheet? Have you lost sponsees during the pandemic or has your life situation changed, making full time sponsoring difficult right now? If so, the Start Up Sponsor Team might be a great option for you in 2022.
One of the most exciting resolutions that received an overwhelming vote of confidence by the WSC in October was the creation of an official Start up Sponsor Team under the auspices of the Communication Committee. The group has been working for the past two years with people new to GSA who have found our solution on-line at our website or via YouTube videos and Zoom meetings. How do people get and stay abstinent with few (if any) face to face meetings to meet potential sponsors? This is the problem we face as our fellowship reaches more and more people, many of whom may not live anywhere near an active GreySheet community and made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Start up Sponsor Team is the solution we are creating, and with your help, we can grow this arm of service to help the compulsive eater who still suffers.
Start up Sponsors work with individuals one-on-one with individuals who are ready to start their GreySheet abstinence. Once you are part of the team, you attend a training for all new start up sponsors so that the information we give is the same. Using the Clarifications of GS Abstinence, you help the newcomer to know what is and is not abstinent on the GreySheet and help them plan the next 3 meals by phone. This initial contact takes about one hour. Then, you give the newcomer a list of ten eligible sponsors (people with 90 days of back-to-back GS abstinence) from the Phone List who are in their time zone and/or are the same gender with the instruction to call at least 3 people on the list every day until they find someone to sponsor them. You agree to take the newcomer's food for the first 24 hours, up to a few days until the newcomer finds someone to sponsor them. Start Up Sponsors do not commit to sponsoring a newcomer full time. Instead, they commit to being available to newcomers for a few days. Then once a newcomer has a sponsor, the SUS becomes available to help another newcomer. This is a one-year service commitment.
What's in it for the Newcomer?
1. They receive the time and loving attention of someone familiar with GS who can answer their questions.
2. They can start immediately and have an experience of GS abstinence instead of waiting days or even weeks until they meet 'the right someone.'
What's in it for the Start Up Sponsor?
1. They get the satisfaction of helping someone desperate enough to reach out via our GS website and make our solution possible and doable in those crucial early days.
2. They get experience helping people understand the GS. For a person just starting out as a sponsor, it's an opportunity to learn by teaching -- and build confidence to be a full-time sponsor. It's also a great way to meet more GSers.
3. They get to watch people grow who are new to GS.
4. They can ask for help from their own sponsor when they have questions that stump them.
5. They are part of a team that is doing some of the most important work in GSA by helping compulsive eaters who still suffer.
If you or someone you know or sponsor would like to get involved, here is the link to register: Start Up Sponsor Registration Please email any questions to: sus@greysheet.org
Contribute to Oral History Project
GSRs: please read to your groups
All you need is 90 days back-to-back GreySheet abstinence and a smartphone to join in the joy of discovering and exploring GreySheet History. Do you know a GreySheeter who gives service or was around in the birth of the food plan or our organization? How about doing a recorded interview with them? Distance is no longer a problem - an interview can be conducted over Zoom. If you are interested, please email the archives committee at archeives@greysheet.org.
GreySheeters Anonymous World Services
Share the Vision Monthly Board of Trustees Liaison Report1
January 16, 2022
Whenever anyone, anywhere realizes they have a problem with food, they think of GreySheet.
Integrity of the GreySheet Program
- The Board of Trustees will publish a second letter to the fellowship concerning members' personal safety in and between meetings.
- The European Intergroup will print copies of the GreySheet in English for distribution in Europe.
Literature
- The Board of Trustees approved the German translation of the GreySheet
- The Literature Committee will send the Newcomers Frequently Asked Questions pamphlet to the Board of Trustees for review.
Public Information
- The number of followers for GreySheeters Anonymous Instagram and Facebook public pages continues to increase.
Website
- Groups may now register and list their meetings at http://www.update.greysheet.org/groups/group-registration-form
The new searchable Meeting Calendar will launch March 1.
GreySheet Anonymous World Service
2022 Direct 7th Tradition Donations Target - $42,000
GreySheet Service Opportunities
Board Secretary
Your Board of Trustees has an unexpected opening for the position of Secretary. The Secretary of the Board of Trustees is a critical member of the board as she or he records the minutes of the monthly Board of Trustees meetings which provide a record of our decision making. We publish those minutes for full transparency to our fellowship: https://www.greysheet.org/world-services/board-of-trustees The Secretary is a trustee, i.e., the requirement is five years of back to back GreySheet abstinence and the term of office is three years. If you or anyone you know is qualified and interested, please contact Grainne, Chair - Board of Trustees at President@greysheet.org or Linda, Chair - Nominating Committee at Nominating@greysheet.org. We will be happy to answer your questions.
Note Taker
The Note Taker records attendance and main points of discussion at the monthly Committees Connecting World Service meeting. One year abstinence/one year term. 2 hours a month. If interested, please email Grainne, Chair – Board of Trustees at greysheet@greysheet.org?subject=greysheet.Enter your text here ...