Service Matters • July 2020
Welcome to the July Issue of SERVICE MATTERS!
Welcome to the July 2020 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.
July Theme - Unity
As the world cries out in suffering and for justice, many of us find ourselves asking just what is an outside issue during these times? We can reach out with compassion and act as individuals, and in our fellowship, we are reminded of our fifth and tenth traditions, that GSA has one primary purpose and no opinion on outside issues.
Our first tradition gives us our theme this month: UNITY. We are told our personal recovery depends upon it, and any GreySheeter with not too many days abstinent will know just how true that is. The national and international events of the last few months may seem polarizing at times, but who better than GreySheeters can see that the best way through that fear of the unknown is by coming together, all of us, to support those of us who are still sick and suffering. We can hold close in our hearts and take solace in our slogan: I can't; we can.
Save the Date!
Saturday October 17, 2020. 11:00 am ET- GSA World Service Update Video Forum
Please note that this is a New Date.
Why a Video Forum?
The Conference Committee (ConC) is responsible for all aspects of the annual GreySheeters Anonymous World Service Conference (WSC). The ConC organizes the next WSC and if needed, a bi-annual zoom meeting to discuss the WSC committee updates. In consultation with the ConC and the other WSC committees, the Board of Trustees (BOT) has decided to postpone the WSC until October 15-17, 2021.
Therefore, the ConC will host the ‘The First GreySheeters Anonymous World Service Update Video Forum’. This video forum will be held Saturday, October 17, 2020 at 11:00 am ET for the entire GreySheet fellowship. This is your opportunity to learn about what our committees work on throughout the year. We will distribute and post the agenda and materials sometime before the end of September 2020. This is an informative session with no voting. We will dedicate the first hour to committee updates and the second hour to the GreySheet Committee’s update.
The WSC committees work tirelessly year-round to accomplish projects and challenges brought forth by the WSC and the BOT. Our overall goal is to organize our fellowship and bring the GSA fellowship into the next century with an accurate, up-to-date website, new Conference Approved Literature, financial decisions, a much needed structure for our fellowship and so forth. The committees that are part of the WSC are: Archives Committee, Communications Committee, Conference Committee, Finance Committee, GreySheet Committee (BOT), Literature Committee, Nominating Committee, Public Information Committee, Structure Committee and the Website Committee.
What is the WSC? Why not 2020?
The WSC (World Service Conference) is the ‘business meeting’ of our worldwide fellowship. It is where we send our group (GSR) and intergroup (ISR) representatives to make decisions on motions brought forth by the ten committees and Board of Trustees (BOT). Typically, over the course of about 16 hours of meetings, the delegates discuss and decide on approximately 20 committee motions related to matters affecting GreySheeters Anonymous as a whole. Most committees are fully engaged in implementing the decisions of the last conference and will not be proposing any new projects this year. Therefore, there simply is not enough business to conduct to merit the time, effort, and cost of assembling our delegates in Chicago in October. (And then there was COVID). We now bring you our first annual video forum update!
Upcoming Meetings - all Interested GreySheeters are Welcome!
1. Committees Connecting meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/663470166
Sunday, July 12 at 12:00 Noon ET
-- The Finance Committee will be presenting, and while all delegates are encouraged to attend, all interested GreySheeters are welcome!!
2. Concept 9 meeting ID: 791 453 380
Sunday, July 19 at 1:00 PM ET
3. Board of Trustees Town Hall meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/717731799
Sunday, July 26, at 11:00 AM ET
4. Tradition 9 meeting ID: 791 453 380
Sunday, July 26 at 1:00 PM ET
Q & A
Q: What is your biggest NMW during this time?”
A: Here are some of their answer:
- I am new to GreySheet; I've only been coming since October 2019. However I have found that the NMW of no matter what other people are eating or when they are eating has been hard for me. I hate feeling like I am missing out. So instead I've been working on my gratitude, focusing on what I have – not what I do not have. What I get to eat and how I get to eat are amazing, huge meals, and I get to live my life in between my meals.
- My dog being hospitalized.
- I am getting older, putting on weight, being on less food and not losing the weight. Praying for self-acceptance, patience and faith that all is well.
- I’m pregnant and staying abstinent is a huge NMW. I know that abstinence is the biggest gift I can give to myself and my baby. I want to be present during my pregnancy and beyond, so I stay abstinent one day at a time. Biggest NMW of my abstinence - my father-in-law passed away during the corona virus. He was the backbone and light of our family. My husband, his mother and siblings were together for a week of mourning, and I was in the beginning of my pregnancy. There was so much grief, loss, pain and feelings all around, as well of tons of food from well-meaning friends and family. I was keeping late hours, and one night I really feared I would pick up. I didn't, thank God, and put myself to bed. Those were the two hardest weeks of my abstinence. My role at that point was taking care of all the immediate family members, and for the first few days I forgot to take care of myself. There was no one to take care of me at that point. I very quickly remembered the important principle,’if I don’t come first, no one else can come second.’ I made sure to buy myself delicious food so I would not be tempted by all the food around and remembered to give myself space from the people and emotions around me. I am abstinent by the sheer grace of God.
- The tools I have gotten and all the meetings I’ve attended are like cash in the bank. During a NMW, I cash in all my tools and experience so far, and keep working the program to have emotional backup for the next rainy day.
- My biggest no matter what at any time is my thinking. It is rarely dependent upon outside situations, unless I choose to use them as an excuse to get my knickers in a twist.
- I live in France and eating with French people is a real challenge. Not only do they not get the possibility of food addiction but they also consider certain foods and a certain beverage right up there with oxygen. Right now I am on vacation and a guest in a French family's home. My friend has tried extremely hard to understand, but I am very vigilant. I don’t want to forget for one minute who I am and what I do. Each day, I feel a little more comfortable going in the refrigerator and getting what I need if it’s not on the table. And I think of all the rest of you going through NMWs and I’m not going to be the one to rock this lifeboat we are in!!!
- I need some exercise - walking in Arizona is never a pleasant thing in the summer, and gyms are too scary....
- The challenge of not eating my heaviest comfort GS foods during this time - my choices could be better.
- My biggest NMW is when I'm very emotionally and physically drained after a 6-8 hour day of tele-health video sessions and I need to prepare my abstinent dinner.
- This week, I go to the cemetery for the one year anniversary of my father's death.
- Staying abstinent through two knee replacements with support of GS sponsor.
- Trusting my HP with the big picture, staying grounded, and praying for guidance for what, beyond my 3 weighed and measured meals, is mine to do.
From the Literature Committee
Are you interested in getting a sneak peak at the book Living Abstinent that will come
out next fall? The Thursday evening Zoom meeting "It Works if You Work It” is reading the first draft of the book and discussing it. They are also sending the Literature Committee feedback and comments to make the book better.
To join the meeting, click this link: Zoom meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/384901911
The meeting is at 6:55-8:00pm PST
Meeting ID# 384 901 911
Same password as all our meetings
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments
Nominating Committee Working Hard to Fill Out the Board of Trustees
We have been meeting monthly since the World Service Conference. Two people did resign from the Board (Sara S and Hrafnhildur/Habby B) because of work commitments, and our Class B trustee stepped down.
But we have three new trustees (Tara T from Saco, Maine, Anne G from Astoria, New York, and Ingibjörg/Inga S from Iceland) who have been elected by the BOT as well as a new Class B (non-compulsive-eater) trustee, Dan Durbin from Vero Beach, Florida. Please join me in welcoming them at our next Town Hall. Sunday July 26th 11 am ET, https://zoom.us/j/717731799.
On July 2 we will be discussing a GreySheet nominee who comes well-recommended, so by the time you read this we may have 4 new trustees and a Class B trustee. Since our goal is to fill the board of 13, we are right on track.
If you have someone you would like to nominate (especially from the Western half of the USA) please let us know at nominations@greysheet.org.
July 2020 - Monthly Board of Trustees Column
Grainne M., President
Who are those trustees and what do they do?
The trustees you nominated at WSC2019 are delighted to welcome four new members!
Our job is to manage the affairs of your World Services organization to accomplish what you asked us to do at the World Service Conferences. We are committed to involving you as much as possible in decisions about how we do that.
One of the ways that we try to involve you is to have at least one board member in each of GSA's ten approved intergroups. With Tara and Inga, we are now able to attend nine of the ten intergroup meetings. We still need a trustee from Europe to connect us to the approximately 125 GreySheeters in Europe.
Another way to make sure we hear your voice is to have at least one board member participating on each of the ten current committees. As new trustees come on board, your GSRs and ISRs working on committees have a direct connection to the Board of Trustees.
Below is the Update on our progress.
Get in touch: President@greysheet.org, VP@greysheet.org, Secretary@greysheet.org, Treasurer@greysheet.org, or GreySheet@greysheet.org
Monthly Board of Trustees Liaison Reports
Vision for World Service:
“Whenever anyone, anywhere realizes they have a problem with food, they think of GreySheet.”
World Service has four core functions to achieve the vision. Here is our progress to date:
- Integrity of the Greysheet
- We received permission from A.A.W.S. to reprint the section of their book, Alcoholics Anonymous commonly referred to as the promises. We rolled out an addendum to the GSA and A.A. Intellectual Property policy to all the Intergroup Service Representatives for them to notify all their member groups.
- Website
- A new member of the Website Committee has set up a project tracking tool for all the material that committees, boards, and intergroups are providing to Website Committee for our new site. The Board of Trustees and the Website Committee have agreed on a review and approval process for incoming material. Intergroup Service Representatives and Committee Chairs are invited to meet with the Website Committee to clarify their responsibilities for the new site.
- Literature
- We have finished writing Living Abstinent. We are editing ten chapters. We will send the next set of chapters to the It Works if You Work It group by the end of June to read. We plan to send the manuscript to xLibris for publishing by the end of July.
- Public Information
- Each of the approximately eight Public Information Committee members have committed to sending ten Health Professional letters from the Public Information Manual (https://www.greysheet.org/meetings/meeting-group-resources/public-information-guidelines) each month to cardiologists, endocrinologists, and gastroenterologists.
- Each of the approximately eight Public Information Committee members have committed to sending ten Health Professional letters from the Public Information Manual (https://www.greysheet.org/meetings/meeting-group-resources/public-information-guidelines) each month to cardiologists, endocrinologists, and gastroenterologists.
Help Wanted! Service Opportunities
Reflections Zoom Writing Workshop: Next meeting is July 25 at 11:00 AM ET
Zoom meeting ID: 203 332 604
Only 90 days of B2B GS abstinence is required and the willingness to share your experience, strength and hope in this daily reflections for GSers book-in-progress! The title will be One Meal at a Time.
If you cannot come to the writing workshop, email reflections@greysheet.org for guidelines and submit any time.
Next Board of Trustees Town Hall is Sunday, July 26 at 11:00 AM ET.
Come one, come all!!
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/717731799
Meeting ID: 717 731 799
Audio Links
If you missed one of these meetings, or prefer listening to reading Service Matters, you can listen to the audio or read the notes here:
June Service Matters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gaY44-tX-s
BOT Town Hall meeting: April 26, 2020 https://bit.ly/3faaecZ
Notes from Concept 8 meeting: https://bit.ly/31ercT3
Notes from Committees Connecting meeting: https://bit.ly/3fYBHOf