Announcements from the GreySheet World Service Board of Trustees (GSAWS BOT)
* Regarding the GreySheet Committee
In the Fall of 2017, the Chair of the Board of Trustees consulted with our copyright attorney to see if the “Extended GreySheet” constituted an infringement of our copyright. The attorney suggested that, since certain aspects of GreySheet abstinence were not spelled out on the GreySheet, a document be prepared to clarify the foods, measurements, and instructions without changing anything on the copyrighted GreySheet.
A committee of 14 GreySheeters Anonymous members, each with at least 20 years of back to back GreySheet abstinence, has been commissioned by the Board of Trustees to address the situation of variation in our common interpretation of GreySheet abstinence.
The BOT asked the committee to consider two tasks:
1. Clarify GreySheet abstinence as interpreted by a sponsor. This may include elaborating on the existing GreySheet pamphlet by writing down those practices commonly understood to be part of GreySheet abstinence
but which are not included on the original pamphlet. It will not include altering the GreySheet itself in any way.
2. Draft a document - Guidelines for Sponsoring GreySheet Abstinence - to help sponsors pass on this common definition of GreySheet abstinence.
The committee will also consider recommendations to the Board of Trustees and the World Service Conference for how these documents may be used.
Historically, we have had a certain amount of minor variation in what sponsors deem GreySheet-abstinent. In recent years, a growing number of people have been changing the definition. In addition to more people making changes, there is also an increasing degree of variation, including adding foods not listed and adding meals.
GreySheeters Anonymous World Service Board of Trustees and the GreySheeters Anonymous World Service Conference have previously adopted a “hands-off’ approach to these developments because of traditional GreySheet community principles such as, “Your abstinence is between you and sponsor.”, “Keep your eyes on your own plate.”, “There are no GreySheet police.”
However, more and more GreySheeters are expressing increasingly serious concern about these changing interpretations of GreySheet abstinence. Their concerns include:
- Other interpretations of GreySheet abstinence may not be as effective in arresting compulsive eating.
- It may be confusing and disheartening to newcomers to have multiple interpretations. Part of the effectiveness of GreySheet is that we know that others have been abstinent using the same interpretation through whatever “No Matter What” situations arise. This provides faith that each of us can also be abstinent through similar challenges. If we are all doing something different, we may weaken the belief that we can maintain our abstinence. Splintering into multiple “lines” of the fellowship which used to be united around one common interpretation of GreySheet-abstinence may lead to the breakup of GreySheeters Anonymous as a fellowship. This would make it more difficult to carry the GreySheet message to the next compulsive eater seeking a solution.
In November 2017, the Board of Trustees voted to authorize a committee to address these concerns and recruited members from the USA and Israel with more than 20 years of GreySheet abstinence. The new GreySheet Committee had its first meeting in February 2018 and will continue to meet every other week.
Questions or Comments: GreySheetCommittee@greysheet.org
* Regarding the World Service Conference
After significant work done by the Conference Committee and considerable discussion, the Board of Trustees voted at their last meeting to postpone the World Service Conference from October 2018 to the Fall of 2019 for the following reasons:
1. To provide the GSA Committees enough lead time to develop well thought out motions that the Fellowship can review and comment on prior to the Conference.
2. To give the GSAWS BOT and the Conference Committee more time to determine the exact cost of the WSC for those GSRs and ISRs who will be attending; the BOT is determined to keep the Fellowship solvent and not allocate the entire operating budget to the WSC.
3. To allow sufficient time to collect donations to send GSRs/ISRs to the Conference.
GreySheet Counts! The Census Closes on March 31st, 2018!
GreySheeters Anonymous will celebrate its 20th anniversary as a separate 12-step fellowship on April 6th, 2018. To mark the occasion and in the spirit of the 12th step, to carry the message, we will publish a map on www.greysheet.org on our anniversary. The map will show the number of people weighing and measuring without exception from the GreySheet in every state and country and the amount of GreySheet-abstinence we have.
This will demonstrate to the newcomer that there is a solution to compulsive eating that works, that GreySheet can work everywhere, and that they can reach out and find GreySheet wherever they are.
634 GreySheeters have counted themselves in so far. The preliminary results show the strength of our fellowship.
The census closes on March 31st. To strengthen our message with your abstinence, Count Yourself In.
You will have the option to join the GSA Phone List with over 650 members or you may participate anonymously. If you are a trusted servant for a GreySheeters Anonymous meeting or Intergroup, please announce this service opportunity at your meetings in March. Members can go to www.greysheet.org / Events / GreySheet Counts for the link to the census or, if they do not have internet access, call 713 594 1728.
GSA Phone List
The GSA Phone List is a service of GreySheeters Anonymous World Service available to members who join the list. To join this list of 693 GreySheeters in 22 countries and 44 US states and territories, register here.
You will receive a User Name and Password and be able to access the list online on your phone, tablet, or computer or download a copy. The list is updated weekly with new members and all members are verified at least once a year so you can be sure that you are calling committed, active members.
Members report using the list to:
- Make three calls a day to other GreySheeters
- Find GreySheeters when they travel
- Start or grow a meeting in their area
- Invite members to GreySheet events like Round Ups, Retreats, and Gatherings
- Find a new sponsor.
The members of the GSA Phone List constitute an amazing source of Experience, Strength, and Hope about living in the GreySheet solution.
Reflections After a GSA Retreat
Held at the Bishop Molloy Retreat House on February 2-4, 2018, the 2nd Annual Queens Weekend Retreat was a success and a great experience for the eighteen people who attended (six more than attended in 2017). They came from Seattle, Atlanta, Massachusetts and NYC Boroughs Tri-City and Tri-State regions.
The event flyer highlighted prosperity, abundance, success and gratitude, which provided a powerful foundation. The theme for the weekend was “The Promises,” focusing the attendants on recovery and working on ourselves together, and one retreat planner reported, “We did lots of activities designed to do just that.”
The weekend was winter cold, with back-to-back sessions, abundant and delicious food prepared by a chef attentive to GreySheet needs, and meetings with qualifying speakers and others sharing their experience, strength, truth and hope about life in No Matter What abstinence. There was little time for relaxing, but it all contributed to getting to know each other deeply and well.
A debrief on Sunday cited the outreach efforts used to promote the event: mentioning the retreat on phone meetings, using all the email lists to send the flyer out; posting the flyer on the Greysheet website and sending out emails to participants who had attended GreySheet retreats in the past.
Upcoming Events
We invite you to refer to our full list of events on our constantly updating and informative Events Page!