July 1999

THANKS to all the OLA meetings and members who have made it possible, the OLA-IS website is now a year old! In June there were visitors from US, Canada, Australia, UK, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Mexico, New Zealand, PR, Germany, Malaysia and South Africa. We are averaging 104 visitors per day, spending over 5 minutes per visit.

There are now 12 Email meetings and 7 Chat meetings listed on the OLA-IS site. All have an email address for interested persons to contact. Most have websites giving more info. about their individual meeting. To visit the site go to http://ola-is.org.

Our OLA site links to that of the Al-Anon World Service Office and also gives information so that new OLA Meetings may become "listed" at WSO. See http://www.ola-is.org/list.htm OLA Meetings may write WSO@al-anon.org to become listed. Please put in subject box: Attn. Joe T. re OLA meeting.

When OLA-IS was launched last year there were eight [8] meetings listed at WSO. Now there are 22!!! Seventeen [17] have chosen to participate in the OLA-IS. [Special thanks to Joe in Group Services at WSO who assures OLA Meetings get listed correctly and sends out the list to those writing to WSO.]

DISCUSSION OF OLA MEETING CONCERNS BEGINS

Representatives, Alternates and visitors from ten [10] email* and seven [7] chat** meetings listed at WSO have joined in the adventure of working together as the new frontier of helping friends and families on the Internet continues to emerge. Al-Anon members in the US, Canada, India and Germany are among those serving! ["IS" also is a verb and OLA "is".]

SOME ACTIONS TAKEN

1. In June, the Suggested OLA-IS Guidelines were amended by vote of the representatives of participating OLA Meetings [10 yes 1 no] to state: "Any Al-Anon member of an OLA-IS participating meeting may attend OLA-IS with voice but not vote." See http://ola-is.org/guidelines.htm.

INVITATION - if YOU would like to visit and join in this adventure, contact the Representative for your OLA Meeting or write ola@ola-is.org [If writing directly, please tell the name of your OLA home group]

2. Two working committees have been formed from among the participants: 1] OLA Participation at the AA 2000 International and 2] Survey of OLA Meetings.

If YOU would like to VOLUNTEER to participate in 1] planning for OLA participation at the AA 2000 and/or 2] developing a survey so we can gather information about how OnLine Al-Anon works in the various meetings and what has had to be adapted in cyber email and chat meetings... [with the goal of sharing info. with the Board of Trustees Ad Hoc Committee on the Internet], write ola@ola-is.org.

2000 Committee: Barb - Tranquility, Clair - Key, Will -ESH, Carole - Friends of Lois, Stu - Al-Anon Families Online, Linda S. - ESH, Kathi - Awakenings, Phyllis - SHARE, Anne - Awakenings

Survey Committee: Charlene - Tranquility, Deb - Efnet Al-Anon, Patricia - Caring Space, Teresa - Al-Anon Families Online, Uma - Awakenings, Larry - A Serenity Place, Phyllis - SHARE, Anne - Awakenings

3. In July the Meeting reps affirmed:

Resolved that the OLA-IS accept the invitation of Al-Anon WSO to participate at the AA 2000 International Convention by having a workshop to be planned by the OLA-IS 2000 committee. [Affirm___10___ Do not affirm_ 0_ Abstain__1_] [Note - this is the first of more activities that may unfold as the committee works]

4. Also in July, those participating responded to a poll:

a. Do you favor OLA-IS purchasing hug cards for distribution at Internationals and Al-Anon Regional Service Seminars [paid for by OLA-IS]? Yes__20__ No___1__ Abstain_0___

b. Do you favor OLA-IS making available hug cards to individuals for distribution at Al-Anon Assembly/Area Convention/District/AFG events? [Not paid for by OLA-IS]?

Yes_20___ No__1___ Abstain___0___

Resulting in ta da ----

HUG CARDS available for Meeting List and Public Information NOW:

Providing the URL for both the OLA-IS and WSO is part of doing PI for Al-Anon in cyberspace. The hug cards may be ordered by writing a check or money order in US Dollars to OLA-IS and mailing to OLA-IS, PO Box 416, Westminster SC, 29693. Please put Hug Cards in memo portion.

The cost will be:

500 shipped UPS in the USA $10
200 shipped UPS in the USA $5

Information about the cards, including a link to download yourself, may be found on the OLA-IS website at http://www.ola-is.org/hugcards.htm

For Internationals and RSSs one OLA member going to the event will be designated to receive the hug cards to pass along the hugs and the URLs. OLA members attending events may attach a hug card to the name tags provided by the event as one way to look for and find each other; and pass out to carry the message of how to find Al-Anon Meetings on the Internet.

5. Back in June, an informal discussion had begun re how OLA fits into the Al-Anon service structure. The discussion showed that there were many options and challenges as the worldwide nature of OLA is pondered. Those participating were polled and one person wanted to continue the discussion while 16 responded they would prefer to wait until after the survey had been completed.

6. OLA is currently conducting an informational questionnaire to identify the Assembly, Region and/or Country in which the OLA-IS Representatives, Alternates and visitors reside. The snail mail zip code of each Meeting's reported Current Mailing Address contact is used by WSO to assign our meetings to an Assembly [while the BOT Ad Hoc Committee continues to study how OLA fits into the service structure]. It is hoped this will help with Group Records and communication with the existing service structure.

7. Treasurer's Reports for OLA may be seen at http://ola-is.org/Biz/reports.htm. Seventh Tradition contributions have been received from Awakenings, CyberSerenity, ESH, Friends of Lois, Key to Harmony, SHARE, Tranquility and Al-Anon Family Online, since March 1998. Expenditures have been for computer rentals plus other costs at the Al-Anon SL International and the website.

8. ANNOUNCEMENT:

Al-Anons in Tucson, Arizona have been busy preparing for The Southwest Regional Service Seminar which will be held November 5-7, 1999. Four members of the WSO staff will be attending as well as the South West Regional Trustee.

Registration forms can be obtained by emailing LaRue at dots@azstarnet.com or writing directly to:

US SWRSS
P.O. Box 17231
Tucson AZ 857231-7231

* Email Al-Anon Meetings participating in the OLA-IS: ASP, Awakenings, CyberSerenity, ESH, Friends of Lois, Key to Harmony, Men's ODAT, New Beginnings, SHARE, and Tranquility.

**Chat Al-Anon Meetings participating in the OLA-IS: Al-Anon Beginners, Al-Anon Chatters, Al-Anon Family Online, Caring Space, Heart to Heart and Saturday Night Butterflies.

COMMENTS:

If you have any comments or questions about this Newsletter, please write ola@ola-is.org or contact your Meeting representative. To read prior Newsletters go to http://ola-is.org/newsletter.htm.

Bushels of Al-Anon love from all around the world !!!!!!!!!!

July 1999/a

© July 1999