Service Matters • September 2017
GSA World Services Working Hard to Make Improvements to the Website
GSA World Services wants 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 we have gathered all these wonderful suggestions together with what was suggested on the June 11 phone bridge meeting, where anyone who cared to called in to discuss these changes voice-to-voice and agree on the best way to proceed.
A Website Update Committee has been formed from this phone meeting. These GSA 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 is going to need a lot more volunteers to help carry out this work. Watch this space for updates and invitations to help with tasks.
The Website Update Committee will be sharing your suggestions for improvements with website design professionals qualified in the business of updating websites. This will be to ensure greysheet.org is as efficient and user friendly as possible. GSA World Services will be looking for three quotes for this work before making a decision on which direction to go in.
Thank you in advance for all your support.
GSA in Iceland: How it all began and where they are today...
It is 17 years since GSA was brought to Iceland.
A young women traveling in France met with a French woman who had been successful in her fight with compulsive eating. They met outside the Paris airport where B, the Icelandic woman received the Greysheet and the guidance on how to start Greysheet abstinence.
After B arrived in Iceland, she decided to start her Greysheet abstinence. Soon there were a few more active GSA abstinent people. Not long after this an American Greysheeter visited Iceland and the first GSA meeting with a 90-day person was held on 23 January 2000.
By 2001, a year later, about 10 members were active in GSA in Iceland. The only GSA meeting for many years was held on Thursdays in a small room in the "Yellow House" AA Club House, Tjarnagata, Reykjavik.
Gradually, the fellowship has grown, not in pounds, but in members. More meetings were established and today there are 8 active meetings in Iceland and we have a large core group with long-term back-to-back abstinence.
It's hard to tell how many people are active in GSA in Iceland today - but our phone list has more than 200 names and the meetings have reached 8. The Icelandic GSA community has been active in service and participated in world service both on the GSA World Services Board and in the GSA World Services Conferences. The GSA Icelandic community formed the first General Service Committee within GSA World Services in 2004.
A strong message to those of you who are out there as an outpost. Anything is possible if you are committed to carrying the message to the still suffering compulsive eater. All you need is 90 days and you can start your own meeting.
Congratulations Iceland on your 17 years!!
"No Matter What" in Chicago
During the weekend of August 25-27 a GSA retreat with the theme 'NMW' (No Matter What) took place at the Cenacle Retreat Centre in Chicago, Illinois. The retreat housed 45 GSA members from 18 states and Canada. If you have never been to a GSA retreat, it is an amazing boost of 12 step recovery: speakers with 10+ years of Greysheet abstinence, small intimate breakout sessions and eating six beautiful meals with fellow sisters and brothers filled the weekend. This year we shared our 'no matter whats' whether with our food, personal and or just getting through life situations. There were break-out sessions, meditation, yoga and movement sessions - and a very, very special fellowship among us. One miracle was being able to see people who started to count their days at the Malibu retreat in April, attend the Chicago retreat, with months of back to back abstinence! Retreats can deepen your commitment, as you make bonds with people and just stay in touch.
The Chicago community was very generous with their time in planning the retreat, picking yummy foods and coordinating meetings and activities. The Cenacle Retreat Centre is down the road from shops, restaurants and supermarkets. We had the opportunity to walk, talk and shop and form relationships. We were able to connect with friends we knew from around the country in addition to meeting new friends. There was laughter, tears and deepening of souls and commitments. We are not a glum lot! We had a common bond and were also there to help each other. It was beautiful to see sponsors and sponsees find each other for the first time. A member offered their beautiful voice and made us all smile and clap hands as we sang on Saturday night, right before the infamous raffle draw (oohing, ahhing and rolling eyes were prohibited!). In addition, we had a tribute to a dear member of GSA who touched many lives in many communities. Her passing was one year ago, during the weekend of the retreat.
For us, it is all about our growing in community and GSA sharing. This is a “We” program and “We Do Not Eat No Matter What!”
GSA Phone List Revived! Action Action Action!
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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As well as 16 countries:
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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
Questions? PhoneList@greysheet.org
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.
Save the Date: 11 November 2017
"A ONE DAY RETREAT OF FELLOWSHIP THE GREY SHEET WAY!!"
WHAT: The Cambridge/Boston GSA Community is having their first GSA One Day Retreat focussed on Fellowship with break out meetings organized according to themes that will be announced soon when the flyer is completed and distributed. Look for future information! Registration will begin soon, stay tuned!!
WHEN: Saturday, 11 November 2017 from 10am to 4pm
WHERE: Cambridge Health Alliance (the old Cambridge City Hospital Macht Auditorium
This is on the same campus different building where Sunday 5 pm meeting is held.
Your News
If you have any news you would like to share with the fellowship about your group’s activities and public information events, please reply to sharonleighterry@gmail.com with your stories and the Communications Committee will include these in the next edition of Service Matters. Thank you all for you service in helping to carry the message to the still suffering compulsive eater.