1/1/08:
Alathons for the holidays. Meetings every hour!
All meetings will be held at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital,
1165 Montgomery Drive, Room A
Hourly meetings will be held from 8 am - 8 pm,
New Years Day.

1/8/08:
The monthly District Meeting will be held the second Tuesday of January rather than the usual first Tuesday of the month. Time and place, 7 pm at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Santa Rosa, remain the same as usual.

1/25/08:
Did you enjoy the Holiday Bash? Come join the fun of planning the '08 Bash. The next Bash Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, January 25 @ 6 pm at the Rohnert Park IHOP.

WEBSITE COORDINATOR’S Report:
Happy New Year! Here’s what’s new on the website.
I just did a lot of work to make the website easier to read.  Check out the Meetings page!

You may have noticed that I change out the News & Events page every four months (new content is added monthly). You can access all the previous pages from the jump menu at the top of the page. This time around I have made the organizational scheme even easier to visualize. For any given month you will first see calendar events highlighted in green, followed by service reports highlighted in blue, and then member shares in purple.

I'm also thinking we could add another section in the future, Call for Volunteers. If any committee etc. will send me your announcements asking for what you need, and if members get used to knowing that they can always find that information in a designated place on the website, that could be one way of attracting volunteers to service.

Please continue to carry the message of our program by sending in shares, announcements, and reports to this website and the district newsletter. Although we continue to request participation, in the end what we are able to publish depends upon all of you. Click here for a list of suggestions of things that you might like to contribute.

Groups, here is a suggested topic: What Makes My Meeting Special. Wouldn’t it be great to read about what makes each group unique? Please talk to your groups about this and see if you’ve got somebody willing to write and send in a share.

Please also let your groups know what this website has to offer. For instance, jump to the Inspiration section of the news pages and check out my cartoons. I collect inspirational recovery sayings and match them up to clipart, but I don‘t really know how many of you have seen them.

Ever wondered how many people use this website? I can’t say for sure, but I can look at how many times these web pages get looked at in a given month....
Read more >

DISTRICT SECRETARY'S Report:
To read the December meeting minutes ... Read more >

DISTRICT TREASURER'S Report:
The District Treasurer has submitted her 2007 year-end reports.
Check out the December and year-end treasury reports, the 2007 donations summary, and the 2008 general budget... Read more >

BASH COORDINATOR’S Report:
Lois and Bills’ Holiday Bash Report
The Holiday Bash went great this year. The committee met at least once a month since July to put it together. The committee members’ dedication was a phenomenal. We had a lot of discussion on planning and getting the word out during our meetings at IHOP in Rohnert Park.

The day of the Bash people showed up to work I did not even know, but I do now. It was so cold that morning, and someone forgot to open the building on time, so we all had to move into high gear... Read more >

GROUP Report:
I have just come back to the United States to live after many years in Mexico. My Al-Anon group is my only constant. All else is different: where I live, whom I live with, and my activities. I never imagined this great gift from Al-Anon!... Read more >

MEMBER SHARE Topic - Connecting People from Around the World:
Trans Atlantic Outreach
In 1982 our cofounder Lois W. said, “Al-Anon has grown because of the sense of responsibility of its members. But there are so many, many people that still need to be helped. In actual numbers worldwide, Al-Anon has barely brushed the surface.”

That paragraph was taken from the Quarterly Appeal Letter that is being read at your local meetings. Those words resonated with me, and I realized that I was doing my own personal outreach when I was asked to share in an unusual service by someone who's done some traveling in far away countries…. Read more >

MEMBER SHARE Topic - The Holidays:
Great Expectations
I made it through the Holidays pretty smooth this year. I did not have expectations that were over the top, I did not spend money I did not have, and I stayed away from negative people. That sounds so simple now after I have been in the program for over five years; however, if I would have let myself get caught up in all the chaos of a holiday that has been turned into some sort of materialistic mad rush of buying gifts people don’t need or may not even want, I could have become quite sick. Ahhh, I didn’t, and I owe my calmness and serenity to the Al-Anon program… Read more >

MEMBER SHARE Topic - Slip:
An Al-Anon Relapse
I’ve been a faithful member of Al-Anon for over two years. What brought me to this program was my ex-wife’s addiction. She had been in and out of recovery programs many times throughout our lengthy dysfunctional marriage. But because of this program I am learning to live a better a life. I am aware of my codependency. This program has helped me communicate with my ex wife in healthy ways. I have come full circle and I have a civil relationship with her and dealing with our children…. Read more >

MEMBER SHARE Meditation - Guidance:
Dancing with God
When I meditated on the word “Guidance,”
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music... Read more >

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DISTRICT SECRETARY'S Report:
To read the January meeting minutes ... Read more >

MEMBER SHARE Topic - Journaling:

Here is a share based on a topic suggestion from the World Service Office magazine, The Forum, that one of our District members has submitted to us as well (click here for how to send in shares to the District) ---

This is a page from my journal dated Sunday Feb. 26, ???? Approx. 3 years after my joining Al-Anon:

"What lesson am I being taught? Don't look in the past when you were afraid of everything and everyone. Learn to trust, especially trust yourself. My dreams and/or nightmares are almost always of being lost, trying to find my way and not being able to. Ending up losing everything. I almost start to cry but stop myself.… Read more >

MEMBER SHARE Memory - AA Friend:

It’s been a year since my friend died. I had known him to be a recovering alcoholic. I guess he had been in a major slip for a long time, I do not know. What I do know now is that I could not have saved him even if I had been with him at the time of his death. He reached his bottom isolating in a motel room. He took part in a double suicide. He shot himself first and his wife shot herself sometime afterwards in that motel room.

He had been in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous when I met him.

I know now that only another alcoholic could have saved him, and not me.

I know now only another Al-Anon can help save me.… Read more >

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3/4/08:
Lois W.’s (one of AFG’s founders) birthday -- “Leave Hope” project…
This is a day when AFG groups all over the world may decide to leave Al-Anon literature (pamphlets, bookmarks, etc.) in public places for others to find and possibly be helped by the hope of our program.

3/21/08:
There will be NO meeting this Friday at Church of the Roses in Santa Rosa. The church needs the facility for Easter services.

Wednesdays:

• Meeting closure -
  The Wednesday night 7:30 meeting in Sebastopol has disbanded and is now closed.
• New Alateen meeting -
  There is a new Alateen meeting Wednesday evenings at 7:15 in Petaluma.

DISTRICT SECRETARY'S Report:
To read the February meeting minutes ... Read more >

DISTRICT TREASURER'S Report:
The District Treasurer has submitted the January and February 2008 general treasury reports.... Read more >

DISTRICT REP'S Report:
For All Alateen In District 5: Are you going to NOCAC? (Northern California Alateen Convention) Before the actual event there are still a couple of fundraisers. The first one is the Camp Out by the Yuba River on 6/21 & 22. The second is “THE LAST CHANCE DANCE” in Lake Mendocino on 8/1, 2 & 3. Check with your Alateen Sponsors for flyers for these events.... Read more >

WEBSITE COORDINATOR'S Report:
Here are the charts showing the District website’s page hits for January and February. To read more about what these statistics mean, click here.

Cheers, Debbie C.

MEMBER SHARE Memory - March Birthdays
I do not recall being taught prayers in childhood, though there must have been a few uttered, for when she gave me all my golden books from childhood, there was one of First Prayers.

I do recall asking her, in those young years when I began to sense something was wrong, but not sure what it was, though it felt wonderful when he was home except that when he was home there was alcohol at home, though I did not know to name it.… Read more >

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4/12/08:
There will be NO by-laws meeting this Saturday at Bakers Square in Santa Rosa. The meeting will be rescheduled at a later date.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS:
A new meeting at the Athena House needs secretaries. A new meeting every first and third Tuesday of the month, starting April 8, is asking for “old timers“ to come and share and help grow the meeting. Contact your Group Rep if you wish to volunteer to secretary.

DISTRICT SECRETARY'S Report:
To read the March meeting minutes... Read more>

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