The following is a list of suggested “tasks” for Alcoholic Anonymous Meeting Officers. Additional information about suggested duties is available in the General Service Conference approved pamphlet, ‘The A.A. Group…WHERE IT ALL BEGINS’, available for purchase at the New York Inter-Group office for fifty cents.
Each group determines the minimum length of sobriety for A.A. members to be eligible for any position (or office). The general guideline might be stable sobriety of six months to a year, or longer.
Experience suggests that members who have held all group offices are the most effective Group Chairs. The Chairperson coordinates activities with other group officers – and with those members who assume responsibility for literature, hospitality, coffee-making, programming individual meetings within the group and other vital functions. The more informed that Chairpersons are about A.A. as a whole, the better they function. By keeping Tradition One firmly in mind and by encouraging group members to become familiar with all A.A.’s Traditions, a healthy A.A. group will be assured.
The following are suggested duties of Group Chairpersons:
The Treasurer is responsible for the Group’s finances consistent with Tradition Seven, “Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions”. Group funds, received through meeting collections, are used for rent, A.A. literature, meeting lists, coffee/refreshments and support of A. A. service entities, usually monthly or quarterly.
The following are suggested duties of group Treasurer:
Suggested length of sobriety: Subject to group conscience, at least ninety days. Suggested term of office: Subject to group conscience, six months.
Group Secretaries, like Chairpersons, need to be good all-around group servants. A.A. experience suggests that Group Secretaries function most effectively with a background in other group offices.
The following duties are suggested:
The Program Chairperson is responsible for booking incoming and outgoing meetings for the group. Since meetings are the lifeline of the program experience suggests that a Program Chairperson be a member who attends meetings a variety of groups with access to bookable speakers.
The following duties are suggested:
Inter-Group Delegates represent their A.A. Groups at quarterly meetings of Delegates from groups in the New York City Area. Delegate meetings are held on Saturday’s at 11:00am in March, June, September, and December. During the meetings, members of the Steering Committee of the Inter-Group Association of A.A. of New York report to the Delegates on the operations of the Inter-Group office. The fourteen (14) members of the Steering Committee are responsible to Delegates for the Twelfth-Step service of the Inter-Group Association.
The following are suggested duties of Inter-Group Delegates:
New York Inter-Group’s Corrections & Treatment Facilities Committee is responsible for taking 600 A.A. meetings each week into 200 hospitals, detoxes and prisons. Free A.A. Literature and New York Inter-Group Meeting Books are available to each of the meetings through monthly Area Corrections & Treatment Facilities Committee meetings.
Group Corrections & Treatment Facilities Representatives help carry the A.A. message to still suffering or recovering alcoholics who are institutionalized. The message is carried to corrections & treatment facilities who invite A.A.’s to bring meetings to their facilities. Corrections & treatment facilities meetings are arranged by Area Representatives; each of whom holds monthly local meetings of their Area Committees in Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Westchester. The Corrections & Treatment Facilities Committee’s All-Area Chairperson is a member of New York Inter-Group’s Steering Committee.The following are suggested duties of a G.C.T.F.R.
The group General Service Representative (G.S.R.) is the group’s direct link with A.A.’s General Service Conference, through which U.S. and Canadian groups share their experience and express A.A.’s collective conscience. The G.S.R. position is through district and area committees. The Area Committee for Greater New York Area groups is:
South Eastern New York Area Committee (SENY or Area 49). Contact Information: SENY/199 Lincoln Avenue, Suite 302-318, Bronx, NY, 10454 / Telephone: (718) 665-1253 / Email: info@aaseny.org / www.aaseny.org. Mailing address: P.O. Box 571, New York, NY 10116-0571
Please contact SENY for your groups District Meetings. Experience suggests that a history of group service helps in fulfilling G.S.R. responsibilities. An Alternate G.S.R. can share the function when necessary at the group, district and area levels. The following are suggested duties of the G.S.R. and Alternate G.S.R.: