Fall 2000

Tranquility - an invitation.

Tranquility Al-Anon Family Group (AFG) is a 24 hour email meeting born Feb 24, 1995. We requested permission to register with the World Service Office (WSO) April of 1995. Tranquility AFG # 060092 was officially ãlistedä June 21, 1996 and became one of the first AFGs on-line.

We began with approximately 20 people and today have grown to over 411 attenders as of September 2000. We have members all over the world, from the United States, England, and Germany to Australia, South Africa, India and China.

Our meeting is conducted in English. Each month, we study a Step and a Tradition as well as two open topics, one a week. We especially encourage men and Alateens to join with us on the Al-Anon journey of recovery.

Without being organized, we have an open business meeting that all are encouraged to attend and participate in. Service positions are rotated regularly. We use only Conference Approved Literature (CAL) quotes with copyright permission from our WSO.

Our 7th Tradition contributions faithfully pay rent, and make donations to OLA-IS and WSO.

Tranquility-Coffee provides an informal place to gather ãafter the meetingä. Many of us meet for live group or individual chat. There is the opportunity to sponsor and be sponsored. We offer every newcomer the opportunity to have a temporary sponsor for their first month as a member in Tranquility. A temporary sponsor is someone who can help them with questions they may have, or any other kind of guidance a sponsor might give.

We invite you to join Tranquility for at least six days (maybe even 6 weeks) to see if this meeting is right for you. Send a message to tranquility-approval@world.std.com or visit our website at http://www.ola-is.org/Tranquil/tranquility.htm.

Bluesky

Alanonport - A Portuguese Language Meeting

We are so glad to tell you about the creation of ALANONPORT. Nowadays, this Email Group has about 40 members, located in many states of Brazil and in MEXICO too.

We operate in a very simple way. The members post a message to the Alanonport email address and their message is automatically forwarded to all the other members on the list.

Topics are introduced by a ãchairpersonä once a week every Monday. We also have a closed CHAT Room meeting once per week every Saturday.

Alanonport was created in 28th December, 1999. The first Service Group was elected for six months, in March, 2000. The members of this service group are: Leadership - Bia; Technical Support - S™nia; Topics Administration Ð CŽlia; Members Contact Support - Bia, Lina, Monica, Celeida.

The only requirement for membership of Alanonport is that there is a problem of alcoholism in a relative or friend. To join the group, send an email to alanonport@egroups.com. For more information send an email to alanonport-owner@egroups.com. Or contact BIA direct at biamarques@hotmail.com.

We are registered as an electronic Al-Anon meeting. We are also contacting the Al-Anon Family Groups in Brazil, in order to explain about Alanonport. We believe that Alanonport is the first email group using the Portuguese language. We don«t know of any others. Please tell others about Alanonport. We want to reach the Portuguese language community across the world.

Yours
Alanonport Group

Fiscal Year 1999-2000

Web Traffic

Serving Al-Anon Online

I have gained enormous amounts of experience, strength & hope from my Online Al-Anon (OLA) experiences. I heard about OLA at my Area Assembly, three years ago this past May when our delegate brought six addresses for us which had been given to the participants at the World Service Convention.

I chose the Awakenings group because the address was Anne 933, the same as my middle name which is Anne. I have not regretted my decision. I also related to the guidelines stated in the initial contact letter I received, and I was especially interested in the focus on developing a strong spiritual program.

From the first, I felt a part of the meeting and decided to volunteer as a Focus on CAL (Conference Approved Literature) trusted servant (TS). I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent going through my literature to find appropriate paragraphs from our CAL, and also the time spent meditating on it in order to share my thoughts on it. The feedback I received developed into regular personal sharings with folks in the meeting.

Three years later, I still enjoy the same closeness with fellow recovering OLA members in Awakenings. I chose not to join any other meetings, as I am now Member Services Co-ordinator, working with several others as the first contact for newcomers, and thus have enough duties to keep me busy. I enjoy being a part of our AwakeBus group of TSs who work together to run the business end of Awakenings. And I feel good about helping to keep Al-Anon alive and strong in this unique way. We reach many folks through OLA who are new to Al-Anon, and though we do encourage them to get involved with face-to-face (f2f) meetings, we are sometimes the only contact with Al-Anon these folks have.

I am also involved in a f2f group, and am currently serving as Treasurer. I have been a member of that group for nearly 20 years, so am aware of the importance of involvement with f2f Al-Anon. I love attending conferences and conventions, and have met many members of Awakenings f2f this way. It is wonderful to put a face with the wonderful heartfelt program we have shared. I am so grateful for OLA.

Charlotte H.

OLA-IS in Minneapolis

What a delight to attend two Online Al-Anon workshops at the 2000 International Convention in Minneapolis in July. It was a united group effort of service. A special thanks to those on the planning committee and to our speakers. It was a spiritual experience that will never be forgotten.

Each day there were four speakers. Many others later shared their Experience, Strength, and Hope at the microphones. The first day, one speaker spoke about his spiritual journey online reminding us how we are ãGod with Skin Onä at meetings. There was HOOPLA (HP + OLA) and the enthusiasm and excitement of finding God and the spirit within our Online meetings. ãOnline is training for f2f meetings.ä We heard about one member who was ãflamedä for sticking to the Traditions online and being challenged to ãGet a Lifeä, knowing that Al-Anon is what gave her a life. We were surprised to learn there were over 1600 members registered with AFO (Al-Anon Family Online) meetings on AOL (29 regular meetings and 2 Alateen meetings weekly). Over and over we heard how on-line Al-Anon augments rather than replaces our f2f meetings and recovery.

At the second workshop, we heard about Honesty and taking off our masks. One member from Germany cautioned us against ãcarrying the *mess* instead of the messageä. We were challenged and encouraged to ãGet a sponsor and Be a sponsorä. And another speaker who had not yet joined an on-line group shared her growing interest in joining us along the way. There were comments from the microphones suggesting a WSO web server and sponsoring and journaling. We heard principles before personalities, solution to the lone member problem, 4000-5000 of us online already in OLA groups (Is that true!?), 24-7 ESH, and a HUGE influx of newcomers to encourage and give hope to.

Both workshops were tape recorded and may be obtained at this website: https://www.gstl.org/main.html for a nominal charge. Hug cards and hugs were given out in both workshops and at the love gift table in the Al-Anon lobby. We hope to see you all in Toronto in 2005 at the next AA International Convention and wherever the next Al-Anon Convention is in 2008. Until then, weâll see you online!

A Welcome for all French Speakers

Courage - Groupe Familiers Al-Anon, is an Online Al-Anon Family Group operating in French. Members are mostly from France and Canada, but all French speakers (actually, readers and writers ) are welcome, regardless of their place of residence or origin.

It is a new group, listed by the World Service Office on January 19, 2000. We are in the process of obtaining approval to quote translated Al-Anon literature. We are only about 10 members at the present time, most of us are still a little shy about sharing, but we expect that the situation will improve in the future.

Being so small, only one or two members have volunteered to fill Trusted Servantâs positions. At present most of the operation of the group depends on the undersigned. This is not healthy from any point of view, and we hope this will soon change.

Joseph B.

Special Focus of Awakenings

Awakenings [listed by the WSO at Al-Anon Family Group number 061428] has grown from 22 members in 1996 to 265+ by March 2000. It is a special focus online Al-Anon e-mail sharing meeting. Its focus is primarily on Steps 3 and 11 and sharing the way participants establish and maintain their relationship with God as they understand their Higher Power. A new topic is posted each week and the members post shares on the topic or other aspects of their recovery journey.

In addition to paying rent for a listserver, 7th tradition contributions are sent to both the Online Al-Anon Information Service (OLA-IS) and World Service Office (WSO).

Members of Awakenings, who live around the globe, participate by serving both Awakenings and the OLA-IS. In many cases they are also active in service where they live. A list of members willing to be recovery and/or service sponsors is made available monthly to the members. The current Meeting Contact lives in South Carolina, USA.

© September 2000