NOCCO: Anonymous Times Newsletter - August 2020 Issue

Newsletter Archive

Volume 20 | Issue 04          Web version

August2020

Anonymous Times

Published by North Orange County InterGroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous Groups, Inc.

(714) 773-HELP

 1661 E. Chapman Avenue, Suite 1H

Fullerton, CA 92831

www.aanoc.org 


August 2020 Issue

8thStepBlogImage

Alcoholic Anonymous - Step 8

“Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.”

This and the next two Steps are concerned with personal relations.  Learning to live with others is a fascinating adventure.  Obstacles: reluctance to forgive; non-admission of wrongs to others; purposeful forgetting.  Necessity of exhaustive survey of past.  Deepening insight results from thoroughness.  Kinds of harm done to others.  Avoiding extreme judgements.  Taking the objective view.  Step Eight is the beginning of the end of isolation.

Tradition 8

"Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers."

You can't mix the Twelfth Step and money.  Line of cleavage between voluntary Twelfth Step work and paid-for services.  A.A. could not function without full-time service workers.  Professional workers are not professional A.A.'s.  Relation of A.A. to industry, education, etc.  Twelfth Step work is never paid for, but those who labor in service for us are worthy of their hire.

Concept 8

The Conference recognizes that the Charter and Bylaws of the General Service Board are legal instruments: that the Trustees are thereby fully empowered to manage and conduct all of the world service affairs of Alcoholics Anonymous.  It is further understood that the Conference Charter itself is not a legal document: that is relies instead upon the force of tradition and the power of the A.A. purse for its final effectiveness.


Bill_Wilson

Last Seven Years Have Made AA Self-Supporting

An Essay by Bill Wilson

August 1947

How we ever got the book and our office through that summer of 1939 I shall never quite know.  Had it not been for a truly sacrificial act on the part of Bert T., an early New York AA, I’m sure we couldn’t have survived.  Bert loaned the defunct Works Publishing Company $1,000, obtained by signing a note secured by his own business.  This act of faith was followed by two more pieces of good fortune, which barely got us through the year.  In the fall of 1939 Liberty magazine published a piece about us.  This produced a flood of inquiries and some orders for the AA Book.  Those few book receipts kept our little Central Office going.  Then came a burst of articles in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  This started a prodigious growth of AA out there and created a little more demand for the AA book.

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1st Edition Big Book Raffle 

Raffle-BB
Buy Raffle Tickets Here

This rare first edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous is in good condition.  There is normal wear to book edges, spines and corners, and age-related yellowing to the paper pages, gold lettering on the spine.  The cover looks good for 77 years of sharing experience, strength and hope.

$20 Raffle Tickets

Only 500 Tickets will be Sold

All proceeds benefit North Orange County Intergroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous Groups, Inc., a California non-profit corporation, which is organized and operated under Internal Revenue Code Section 501c3.  All operations of the North Orange County Central Office are consistent with the 12 steps, the 12 traditions, and the 12 concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous.


July 2020 Group Contributions

$2,687.16

Group Detail for July 2020

Statement of Income & Expense

Net Income - $1,289.93

Unaudited P-L for July 2020

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Our Common Welfare

Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole.  A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die.  Hence our common welfare comes first.  But individual welfare follows close afterward. 

- Tradition One (Long Form)

Stay Safe.  Stay Strong.

It is hoped that our common suffering as alcoholics and our common solution in A.A. will transcend most issues and curtail negative behaviors that could jeopardize the safety of anyone attending an A.A. meeting.  Nevertheless, Alcoholics Anonymous is a microcosm of the larger society we exist in.  As such, problems found in the outside world can also make their way into the rooms of A.A.  For this reason, groups and members discuss the topic of safety - to raise awareness in the Fellowship and to seek through sponsorship, workshops and meetings, to create as safe an environment as possible to carry A.A.'s message of hope and recovery to the still-suffering alcoholic.


July 2020 Website Activity

www.aanoc.org

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Pray & Listen

When I practiced as a nurse, I was often told that I had great empathy and perception.  When I help or listen to other recovering alcoholics, I try to have that same empathy and perception.

But sometimes I get impatient, angry or scornful at members around me who don't practice a program and are unwilling to listen.  I can lack empathy when others don't seem to "see the light".  I can sometimes even get like a crazy holy-roller preacher.

That's a problem.  AA is a program of attraction, so its not good to be critical or demeaning toward others who can't or won't "get" it.  So my aim and my prayer today is to have more empathy and patience for other alcoholics in my life.  I just need to keep my mouth shut and pray ... and listen ... with an open heart.

Susan C.

San Diego, CA


AA-MEETINGS-IN-BANGALORE

InterGroup Meeting

Please join us at the next NOCCO InterGroup Meeting.  InterGroup Meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm.  

Next Meeting:  August 12, 2020 via ZOOM

Meeting ID: 860-4109-6976 | Password: Serenity | Dial-in Phone: (669) 900-9128


Online Meeting Directory

In-Person Meeting Directory


164_and_more_cover

NEW in STOCK @ NOCCO

$20 plus tax

 

164 and More is a dependable reference source for essential literature used in Alcoholics Anonymous.   This book facilitates a definitive understanding of fundamental AA literature.

Every sentence in the Big Book (pp.1-164) and the 12&12 is indexed alphabetically.   Simply look up a familiar word to find the passage you seek.   164 and More goes beyond a simple concordance with lists of words and page numbers.   Your word is shown within the context of the sentence(s) in which it is used.   The context allows you to select the exact passage you want.   You save time and effort, particularly for words which occur often like fear and God.

NOCCO Appreciates Your Support

Even though meetings, 12-step services and operations have shifted to a virtual environment, expenses continue to accumulate during this crisis, which underscores the importance of practicing the Seventh Tradition. We still stock literature, handle 12-step calls around the clock, and assist those with a desire to stop drinking. Your generous support is critical and appreciated.

PayPal or Credit Card
Venmo: @nocco-aa
Check - Money Order - Cash

Contributions: Money and Something More

". . . We are self-supporting through our own contributions." The Preamble doesn't say we are self-supporting through our own money--just coins tossed in a basket, soon to be forgotten, or seen as payment to AA for sobriety. It says "our own contributions"--our own efforts, our own offerings, our own putting forth in the struggle for sobriety and a purposeful life.

To me, that means keeping on when I don't want to; trying when I'm too tired; continuing when I feel I can't. It means not giving up when every thought cries, "What's the use?" If means digging deeper into myself when I fear what will be found; growing when I want to rest; being more honest when the pain of honesty is unbearable. It means taking action when I want to lie down. These are the things I can contribute.

 Submitted by M.K.

September 1981


I am Responsible. 

When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there. 

For that, I am responsible.


A Letter from G. Gregory Tobin, General Manager of GSOAA

August 3, 2020

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, over the past several months the General Service Office has been focused on addressing a number of organizational, technological and budgetary issues.  These efforts were underway prior to the emergence of COVID-19, and have continued even in the face of new challenges.  Among the plans to strengthen the organization's long-term future has been a complete redesign of our website, AA.org, which was scheduled to be completed this year.

We remain fully committed to a new and improved website, and significant work has already occurred.  However, the fiscal impacts brought on by the pandemic have caused us to reassess our overall strategy...

 

Read More

Thanks to all of the contributors who support NOCCO.  

© Copyright, 2020, North Orange County InterGroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous Groups, Inc. • 1661 E. Chapman Avenue - Suite 1H, Fullerton CA 92831

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