OPEN: Chairman, Mary Kay R. - opened with the Serenity Prayer, Twelve Traditions, Twelve Concepts of Service and the General Warranties.

WELCOME: Mary Kay welcomed all returning attendees and all new GR’s. Introduction by Districts represented today: Districts: 1,4,5,6,9,10,14,15,16,23,25,26,27,28,30,31,32,33,39,41,45,47,48,51,56 & 57. Not represented: 2,8,12,29,34,38,41 & 69.

SUGGESTED PROCEDURE: Presented by Mary Kay R. and approved by Assembly. A reminder to the Assembly, we are all trusted servants of this wonderful program and courtesy is the word of the day. Each person will get one trip and 2 minutes at the microphone per discussion.

ORIENTATION REPORT: Delegate Geri H. Welcomed 20 who attended the new Group Representative (GR) orientation meeting this morning.

Financial report for 1/1 – 10/10/ 2003.

Beginning Balance for 1/01/03 $37,633

Donations & Other Income $13,946

Expenses (Paid Out) (12,388)

Total Cash on Hand $39,191

The second page tells us where the money is and what has been authorized or approved by assembly for both Non-Budgeted items and Budgeted items, and what has been paid out (expended) to date. Page three tells us what has been contributed from our groups per their Districts #’s, $9,777.25 to date. Column six may not be the total of two & four if a group contributed both group & plea amounts it is counted only once. Please read the fine print at the bottom for checks that cannot be categorized due to missing District #’s etc. Treasurer’s report was approved by Assembly.

ALTERNATE DELEGATE AND AL-A-NOTES: Barbara W.

The Fall issue of the Al-A-Notes has been delivered to the secretary for mailing. The Officers and Coordinators were asked to write a sharing on a Tradition. Do you have any "simple service ideas," to share for the upcoming column?? A paper is being past around for any suggestions, on-two lines please. Fliers for insertion require a fee payment when you submit the flyer. The charge is $30.00 for a 1-sided copy and $60.00 for 2-sided. Subscriptions are $2.00 a year, $3.50 for two years. Expiration season and year appear on the label of your personal subscription. If anything is incorrect, please contact me. If you’re an Officer, Coordinator, Gr or Dr and you did not receive the Al-A-Notes or any information on the label is incorrect, please contact the Group Records Coordinator. GR’s please share your Al-A-Notes with your Group, and DR’s with your groups that hasn’t received theirs and at District Meetings. Exchange newsletters (from other States) are available at all Assemblies.

News from the World Service Office: discussed was the impact of alcoholism on the family and the role of Al-Anon in family recovery during Al-Anon’s participation in First Addiction Medical Conference in Beijing, China. Pamphlets have now been translated and printed in simplified Chinese. On the recommendation of the International Coordination Committee, the Board of Trustees approved the funding of a trip to Singapore, if financially feasible, for the Executive Director and one other person. The purpose of the trip is to participate, at the invitation of the World Health Organization, at the Asian Pacific Institute of Addiction being held in 2004. A motion was passed at conference to return our Legacies (12,12, &12) to their original text as written by Lois and her committee and passed at the 1961 conference. The WSO staff discovered that there were certain typographical errors over the years and no documentation was found to have approved these changes. They are small, several punctuation marks and a change in the concepts regarding standing committees in compared to selected committees, nevertheless, it was voted on to return to the original printing. If you have a copy of the Conference Summary, and look in the back in the appendix, you will find both the current and corrected original printing. These summaries can be purchased from the WSO for $3.00 each. Assembly Inventory sheets were received from WSO, copied and passed out to take home, read over and fill out. I thought this might be challenging to give to the Action Committee for discussion and have the findings brought back and shared at the next assembly. I was thinking the Membership Outreach Committee chaired by our Alternate Delegate, Barbara. Please mail your completed forms to her. The second drawing of the WSO Special Project was held in Sept., Ohio was not chosen. Manitoba, New Mexico, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Maritime Provinces, Vermont, Oregon and Illinois N. were chosen, but we still have a chance in Nov. drawing. The US North Central Region (includes Ohio) will be hosting the 2005 RSS and Ohio will be putting in two bids: Sandy F. (Lit Coord) for the Columbus area and Jill C. (Budget chair) for the Canton area. Completed forms must be in the WSO by 1/31/04 deadline. The equalized expense for the 2004 World Service Conference will remain at $1,000.00. The projected cost for a Delegate to attend is $1,566.00, which is down from the 2003 cost of $1,650.00. A motion has been passed at our assembly stating that the full amount has always been paid. The theme for 2004 is "Dynamic Groups Today: Building Blocks for Tomorrow," and will be held at the Ramada Plaza Resort Hotel in Virginia Beach from Sunday 4/18/04 to Thursday 4/22/04. The WSO building still stands proudly and had no damage from Hurricane Isabel, but the Ramada Hotel had considerable damage, but hopefully will be repaired by the WSC in April. INCOME: The following is an update based on the un-audited financial statement for the six months ending 6/30/03: A profit was realized of $53,300 for the period, which is down considerably from the $246,000 in 2002. Literature sales were less than last year but close to budget. Contributions, $477,900.00, were down by $76,900 compared to last year and income from the Forum magazine was below last year by $22,000.00. Alateen Safety Issues continues to be a high priority. Much of the information shared by the Delegates at the Conference is being considered for incorporation into the updated proposals for registration of Alateen groups and adults working with Alateens. Exciting news that I just received from the WSO – The "My Life," video has been nominated for a National Emmy. The awards ceremony will be held in New York the end of November, so we will have to wait and see. The WSO , Public Outreach-media, was notified by Dear Abby that her column appearing in 1400 newspapers on 10/20/03 will include the WSO toll free meeting line number and they will be referring any callers to the various districts. We have a nice surprise waiting for us this evening at assembly; Judy and Leah from Fremont have volunteered to do a skit for us!!!

REGISTRATION REPORT: Linda A., Secretary

Total voting members is 82 Group Representatives. Total attendance is 104

OAA COORDINATOR REPORTS

Miami Valley – The Alateen groups attended a fair on 6/19/03 in Dayton. Kay H. announced in July that additional literature was purchased for Alateen and the pencils are still available. It was announced that any Sacred Hoops literature remaining should be distributed at meetings. Tuesday Centerville has disbanded effective August. Alateens can go to the beginners meetings. Columbus – Recovery Field Days was held 5/31/03 and activities included a three-legged race, egg toss, face painting and an excellent clown. Special thanks to Barbara & John for leading and to Susan H. for clowning. The teens, with the help of Sponsors, raised $200.00 and it was split between Central Ohio AFG and KOMIAC. Ten Alateens and four Sponsors from Central Ohio attended KOMIAC along with 200 plus Alateens/Sponsors from the three other states on Aug. 1-3. There are three schools in the area wanting Alateen meetings: Buckeye M.S., Dublin Coffman H.S. & Brookhaven H. S., there is a new Alateen meeting at Parkside Lodge in Gahanna on Saturday mornings that started in April. Toledo – there are three new meetings, addresses or dates are unknown at this time. Florence B. sent a letter with the Sponsors names but that’s all. On Oct. 11^th at John Knox Church in North Olmsted, the All Ohio Fall Rally took place. There were approximately 60 Alateens and Sponsors in attendance. We even had an Alateen turned Sponsor in attendance from Detroit, Michigan. Thank you Amy for showing up. Grove City has agreed to host the All Ohio Spring Rally to be held in April. The date has not been confirmed and will be forthcoming. The All Ohio Sponsors Workshop is going to be held on March 20^th at Ascension Lutheran Church in Columbus. All Sponsors and Sponsor Wanna-be’s ought to attend. At the Alateen Rally on 10/11/03, I brought up to the Sponsors about the guidelines WSO has asked us to come up with and asked them to get back with me by Jan 1^st with their thoughts, feelings and concerns that I will compile and turn it into Geri when that gets done. Also there was a discussion about background checks, we are working with kids, although I have never supported or proposed this. When I was Central Ohio Coordinator and as all Ohio Coordinator, I always encouraged Sponsors to have a Co-Sponsor for several reasons. I was talking with a past Indiana Coordinator and she has come up with, by Aug., every Sponsor in Indiana will have a background check or they will not be allowed to be a Sponsor. She has found a way to do that for $8.00 through the Highway Patrolmen. I will speak with her more about that and do my own investigation. I do not have a problem getting background checks but the question is who will this be reported to and who will keep the file, something to think about. There was discussion at the Rally from some Sponsors that didn’t have a problem with background checks but they wanted it strictly on the sexual side, not in terms of credit or financial side. There is a lot that can be checked into and I’m just trying to let you know what I’m doing and getting more information for this Assembly to bring back to you. KOMIAC, we had our board meeting and there is no Theme yet, we will have a Theme in January. We did pick out the meeting dates and I have a challenge to the Assembly. At KOMIAC we require that there be two nurses on call for any emergency 24/7 during the entire weekend, and the challenge is if anyone knows a RN, who is in the program, that is willing to be up for 2 ½ days, to please give them my name and phone number. I plan on taking to the Board that their registration will be paid for as part of their service. I would also like to repeat that any Alateen is welcome at any Al-Anon meeting.

I have been Coordinator for archives one year already and it has been very up and down year for my family, especially my husband who has a progressive disease that is progressing, some times fast and other time slow. He was very bad in June and I was, unfortunately, unable to attend the OAC at Mount Vernon. Consequently, there was no archives display. I did receive copies of their planning meetings for my records and also a nice personal card with well wishes that I appreciated – Thank you. There is a display here today in the hallway by the registration table and I won’t tell you whats there so please take the time to stop and see it. I also receive the Miami Valley District meeting minutes monthly.

COOPERATING WITH THE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY: Austin M.

Fact Sheets for Professional has a new look and are FREE from WSO with a $3.00 shipping/handling fee. There is New Service Material in a downloadable format on the WSO website. There is also information on how to Reach out to Schools. Cincinnati – sent out 120 Professional packets. Cleveland – Al-Anons have a meeting and assist families at the McIntyre Center every week. Anyone in the Cleveland area that received a DUI must attend meetings here and the families attend the Al-Anon meeting and received information. Districts 25 & 51 – are putting How Al-Anon works in Public and School Libraries. District 48 – has sent out 100 packets to Professionals. Miami Valley – put Posters in Counselors, Mental Health, Doctors and Ministers offices.

FORUM: Cyndy W.

GROUP RECORDS: Janice R.

There are 518 groups in Ohio. 34 districts & 8 districts lettered A-I. 8 districts have no DR: 8,12,29,32,34,38,41 & 47. There are buff colored copies of the change form available and the pink colored forms are the AWSC list. Remember that GR’s are responsible to send information into the WSO. Here today are notebooks listing the groups by City and another by Districts. DR’s, please check your districts and make any necessary corrections. Group Rep.’s should also check to see if the information is correct about your group. The WSO is assigning numbers that are now 6 digits. For example my group # is 30484 a new group # is 500513. I have received forms from Brooklyn and Grove City from groups that don’t know their district # and I need any information from anyone here who maybe able to help me with this.

WSO is really focusing on Public Outreach right now. They are encouraging all PI Coordinators to motivate and encourage Groups, Districts and Area Information Services to form Public Outreach Committees and I am please to see the type of rallying. Since the Action Committees have gone into effect, I can already see that there is strength in numbers. WSO sent out a confidential coordinators list (similar to our State roster), and I decided to use it to contact coordinators all over US by email. I wrote the following email to them and personalized each one. My name is Karen McK., I am Institutions Coordinator for Ohio. I am trying to establish a network between all Institution and PI Coordinators, in order to save money, I prefer to do this by email although all Coordinators don’t have email I may have to do some mailing. My goal is to get to know all of you and to have you get to know me. I am sure we all have wonderful ideas that we could share and help each other in our home states. This seemed to be a winning idea for all of us and is recommended by WSO. I would love to hear how you feel about this and get things going, just think how much better we can work our twelve steps if we shared our ideas. Please let me know how you feel about this idea and add suggestions. The response was unbelievable. Everyone was excited about my idea and we formed an email yahoo group entitled Outreach 2003 and are members only. Now I am receiving daily reports from coordinators sharing their public outreach projects and ideas. It’ been very rewarding. Incorporating coordinators that don’t have computers is the next step and I am open for suggestions if you have any experience in this area. I received email from a coordinator from Hawaii volunteering her service and knowledge to start and moderate this group on line. I brought copies of some of these reports for our action committee’s to go over and get some ideas that maybe we may want to use in the Ohio area. It has been so rewarding and I would like to share with you a posting from Alaska that is just heart warming. Hello trusted servants, we Al-Anon members are an enthusiastic bunch this is wonderful and miraculous to have the Outreach Network on line. This is what is happening in Alaska and I want to share it with you. Last year Oct. 2002 the Anchorage Al-Anon members contacted the Alaska Federation of Native Office and introduced the pamphlet S-67 Al-Anon’s Path to Recovery to one person (that’s important—one person.) The AFN office manager, one of our Al-Anon members read the pamphlet in it entirety. Our trusted servant heard the women crying on the other end of the telephone. After she stopped crying and thanked our Al-Anon member, the ANF staff member asked for 2400 copies of S-67 so they can be stuffed in the meeting packets to be distributed to the AFN meeting participants. WSO was contacted and immediately 2400 copies were sent to Anchorage. We could have never have reach some of these remote villages and communities in Alaska. Because of one Al-Anon member contacting one staff person, 2400 people received the gift of hope from Al-Anon to families of alcoholics. The AFN is a big convention with participants from each village and community in Alaska and they meet every October in Anchorage to discuss legislation, health issues and of course Alcoholism is a major concern for them. This year October 2003, the AFN staff contacted Anchorage Al-Anon members and asked for 4,000 copies of S-67. 4,000 members from these remote areas are going to receive this literature. Our trusted servants have volunteered to go AFN headquarters and help stuff the meeting packets for the participants and we asked our Higher Power for guidance and assistance, doors begin to open for Outreach. Mailings have been sent out to all DR’s and I even included groups that don’t have DR’s by sending to the contact person of each group. A letter asking them to get involved at the state level would great. A copy of a letter on how to locate a treatment center from WSO was sent out and if anyone here is interested in getting a copy, please sign your name and address on the sign up sheet, which is the last page of the letter. District activity: Cleveland - districts 1,2,5,8,24,34,38,45 & 47 has been doing some good Institutional Outreach. Akron – has been actively reaching out to institutions providing them with literature and meetings. Canton – district 48 still has meetings at area hospitals and provides them with literature. Dayton – Miami Valley keeps me posted on all activities and they are an active bunch. They provide meetings and literature to several area treatment centers. Thank you all for sending your reports to me and once again extend the offer to districts that I do not receive reports from. I would love to let the assembly know what every district is doing. Please everyone send your reports.

LITERATURE: Sandra F.

Hi Family. The report that I sent for AWSC I eluded to the fact that maybe we would have copies of the new pamphlet. The newest one is Al-Anon is for African-Americans, African-Canadians and All People of Color. Newly designed, old cover is So You Love an Alcoholic. Understanding Ourselves and Alcoholism has the same cover but new inside as does An-Anon, You and the Alcoholic. In the past few months there have been several changes to Conference Approved Literature. Since this year’s theme is "Change! Create New Possibilities," these changes seem timely to me. Changes coming: Al-Anon’s Twelve Steps and Traditions will under go a major revision. Sharings on Steps 4,6,7,8 & 9 along with Tradition 6 are needed for consideration in the revision. Sharing deadline is Dec. 1^st. Copies of sharing sheets are here today. How Al-Anon Works for Families and Friends of Alcoholics will add a section about the Twelve Concepts of Service with the next printing. Changes that have already occurred and are now available are: the newly revised: Purpose and Suggestions (P-13) and Alateen-Hope for Children of Alcoholics (B-3).

Poster sets called the Al-Anon Legacy Poster Set (M-75) is now available at the cost of $25.00 and will be mailed in tubes from WSO. New insert sheets for Group Binders of legacies will be mailed to each group with the fall issue of inside Al-Anon Xtra. This sheet will include the original wording and revised Suggested Al-Anon/Alateen Welcome. The newest project in development is Facing Grief and Loss with the Help of Al-Anon, sharing sheets are available here for that. Still needed are sharings about Relationships in Recovery. WSO needs these for a book proposed for the next WSO conference in April 2004. On a personal note, if your group or district would like to hold a Literature Study Saturday, call me and I will be there to help. We’ll have a great time with CAL.

PUBLIC INFORMATION: Becky H.

I would like to welcome all the new GR’s and anyone else here for the first time. . You may be wondering how Public Information is different from the other Public Outreach programs. Public Information attempts to reach the public through the electronic media (Radio & TV), as well as the World Wide Website and by participating in Health fairs and other types of community events. Conference approved material (CAL) posters, pamphlets, the new 6 ½ minute video and Public Service Announcements (PSA), the Forum and hard cover books are used. As your PI Coordinator, I receive information and material from WSO which I in turn supply to the DR"S and where no DR is available, to the district PI Coordinator or other designated persons. Each district is then responsible to make copies of these materials to give to each GR in their district. When we meet at assembly twice a year, I share what each district has done (from those who give me reports). Many times something has been done that other districts may not have thought of and this is why it is so important to send me your district PI news. Youngstown – Districts 4 & 9 took part in 2 Health Fairs. Local groups were asked to contact local libraries for placing hard cover Al-Anon/Alateen book in them. Several groups have already done so with others pending. Used Forums have been donated to the Women’s Rehab Center. An Education session is held once every 6 weeks at the Men & Women’s Rehab Center where Al-Anons share their story to Family members. Cincinnati – Districts 14,15 & 16 placed 15 of the new video in the public libraries. The Literature Distribution Center has purchased 10 of the videos for groups to buy or borrow. Some groups are buying them to use at Newcomer’s meetings. Al-Anon members who are college students have been asked to place the Forum magazine at the College or University they attend. Dayton – Miami Valley Information Service placed some of the September Forums in Laundromats and meeting rooms for the Public. A Recovery Book Drop is being developed to better inform the Public re: Al-Anon/Alateen. Pamphlets and Posters have been placed at Crisis Care, Dayton-Montgomery Public Libraries, Elementary, Middle and High School Libraries, Churches where meetings are held and Mental Health Offices. Canton – District 48 has purchased 14 of the Videos. Most groups have 1 for members to borrow. A GR has made contact with an African-American lady who has indicated an interest in receiving material to make available to her community where need is indicated – copies of the new pamphlet (S-68) were supplied. A weekly Newspaper in an area where the newest Al-Anon meeting is has included an informative article re: Al-Anon and its purpose with information on that particular meeting in every issue for the last 3 months. An acknowledgement has been made to the paper. The Alliance newspaper is going to include an article on Al-Anon/Alateen with several personal, anonymous (of course) stories, plus a picture of the new Poster from WSO (M-61A), this will appear in the 10/15/03 issue. Pamphlets (S-67 Reaching the Native Americans) was supplied to an Al-Anon member who has an interest in this group of people. The above new pamphlets mention (S-67 and S-68) are the newest from WSO and are available at no cost. The materials I have placed out for DRs and PI Coordinators include "How to Reach out to Diverse Populations." On the back of the HOW TO is a listing of Al-Anon pamphlets and service tools designed to be welcoming and provide identification to specific groups of people, with suggested distribution ideas. An order form for 8 assistance "HOW TOS," can be ordered and the fourth page has suggestions for possible contact/materials that can be used in PI and some specific community organizations, clubs and other possibilities/and locations where materials can be placed. These may be limited ideas; sure others will be thought of. DR’s – your materials have your district # and your first name in the upper right hand corner. Districts 12,24,34,38 & 41, if there is anyone here from those districts, there are materials with your district # on them for you to share with your districts. I have put out some extra material that I have for anyone to take and use. Here are some ideas that I didn’t think of. In Louisiana they sent an Alateen daily reader to a local newspaper columnist who responds to letters from teenagers. In Indiana the Al-Anons are going to be participating for the fourth year in the Black Expo at the Indiana Convention Center and also there is going to be Al-Anon booth at the Governors Conquest, which is a Health Fair at the professional level, but the materials that are handed out goes to the general public. One district campaigned to put literature in all pace cars in that local. In Washington State Al-Anons contacted the Post Office Headquarters in the state to display our Posters and state agencies like the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for placement. So there are some more ideas.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

BUDGET: Jill C.

The 2003 Budget was approved at the Spring Assembly. There are a few copies here today if anyone needs one. As previously approved the 1,500 WSO Public Outreach Posters were purchased at a cost of $1,123.50. The Budget Committee met and has two motions that will be presented here today.

BY-LAWS AND HANDBOOK: Pat M.

I found the minutes from the Archives and went thru both By-Laws (guidelines) and Handbook (procedures) motions that had passed back to 1990. These changes are included in the By-Laws & Handbook dated 5/03 to the best of my ability. There was some discussion about Regional Service Center, I put those together and you can look at them and see if it makes sense to you, because each one of these passed. My own private and personal opinion is that latest one passed because people couldn’t find the previous one and duplication resulted. There is a very long one that goes to page 18-19 that says Reimbursed Expenses. These are the amounts the Treasurer is authorized to reimburse for our expenses, including the per diem amount that can be reimbursed for meals, banquet, room & gas, so everything should be fairly clear. The last one we end with the Website that is fairly new for us. Then the handbook goes into the guidelines for 2 Day Fall and the Ohio Area Convention, it touches on outside conference that is the AA conference and on page 26 is the Profile sheet. Every third year we have elections and this is the profile sheet needed to fill out if you wish to stand for a position. The positions are on pages 27, 28 & 29, then come the WSO guidelines for each position and those I just copied. The last thing we have on the back is the index so you can find things easier.

REVIEW AND AUDIT: LuAnn F.

I have just figured out another advantage of doing service work at the state level, I actually get to stand up more often then you guys do – think about that when its time to run in three years. I haven’t had anything to review yet, so I thought I would tell you what the Review Committee would be doing and I hope that it matches the description it gives. Our job is to basically be the auditor for the Ohio Area Assembly. We will review the Tresurer's report at the end of each year and the books for the annual convention, and Cheryl just gave me the books for the 2003 Convention in a three ring binder that was tabbed and everything is labeled.

OHIO AREA WEB SITE: Dennis K.

The web site is running fine. Page 19 in the handbook has information about the web site including the address that is www.ohioal-anon.org. We have paid our web hosting fee for another year so we be up and running for another year. I still get email from people in remote areas (Cambridge, Marietta, Finley, Marion), basically people that don’t live in a major urban area and they don’t have a Columbus schedule, a Dayton schedule or Toledo. These people are asking where they can find a meeting. I have developed a method to get reports of how many times each page is looked at, listed to date of the major areas. As you can see Columbus is 1^st, Cincinnati is 2^nd and Remote area is 3^rd. If you may know of any meetings, please look at the Remote page and if a meeting you know of is not listed there, let me know. This is the area I feel needs to improve on its locations for those who don’t live in the big cities. You can contact me thru the web site or call me at 937-312-0570. I would like to thank the people who send me schedule updates so that the information on the web is up to date. This is important because the printed schedules are done only once or twice a year. Listening to all the reports I was writing down some things needed: the address of the Treasurer on the web site, the expense voucher, Forum order forms, the Convention Registration is already on there and I will look into setting up a yahoo group for the AWSC meetings, where we can share. Also calendar page, I get very few things about workshops, conferences – if you having something in your area let me know about it. I will get the location of the assembly and directions on the web site. Recently saw on the web that there was a Cincinnati Al-Anon idea and I went there and looked at it there was only something on the web site that said click here to send me an email. I don’t know who posted it or put it up, if anyone knows who’s doing this Cincinnati web site let me know. I have received the AWSC and OAA meeting notes and will be finding a spot to put them on too.

COMPLIANCE LIASION: Chris M.

Compliance has to do with the Non-Profit status, keep track of that. In mailing bulk mail at the Non-Profit status you have to have the name of the corporation and we incorporated as Al-Anon Family Groups of Ohio. The problem come in being anonymous so we would like to put on A.F.G. of Ohio, Inc on the mailings, but the Cleveland Area Post Office is going by the regulations and they state that the name must be the same as the Incorporated name. We do not have in our Incorporated papers "known as A.F.G. of Ohio," so our secretary Linda had a hand stamp made and if you get the Plea letter you’ll see the indescribable thing on there. It is Al-Anon Family Groups of Ohio, Inc. written in script. It’s a method to slide by the regulation until we can correct the incorporated papers to include: known as A.F.G. of Ohio, Inc.

CONVENTION AND 2 DAY FALL ADVISOR – Lee R.

No report.

CONVENTIONS, 2-FALL MEETING

2003 OHIO AREA CONVENTION: District of Youngstown – Lee R

A letter from Lee reads, I am sorry I cannot be here in person to read the final report of the 2003 OAC, on Wednesday my daughter gave me a new grandchild, I felt just for today, my place is to be with her and the new baby, so I give you Toni. Co-chairs are wonderful, at least mine is, and she was there for support thru it all and knows she is doing it again. Love in service, Lee R. The Ohio Area Convention was held on the beautiful campus of Mt. Union College located in Alliance Ohio on June 27-29^th, 2003. The college provided us with air-conditioned sleeping quarters, rooms for workshops, a lovely room for hospitality and a separate area for our lead meetings. A golf cart was furnished for the transportation of those who needed assistance getting to and from the events throughout the weekend. The college donated the use of the golf card. The dining hall offered us numerous mouthwatering meals; no one should have gone away hungry!!!! On Sunday morning we had the opportunity to use the chapel. Our weekend theme was HOPE BEGINS WITH ME….PASS IT ON. Registration stated at 3 pm on Friday. We offered a round robin open discussion meeting at 4 pm for those who came early. The convention opened up at 7:30 pm Friday with a few fun moments of getting to know each other followed by an Al-Anon speaker. We ended the evening with a pizza party in the game room. Saturday morning we enjoyed workshops on HOPE and in the afternoon on PASS IT ON. We rounded out the afternoon with an Alateen speaker and an AA speaker who came to share their experience, strength and hope. In the evening we enjoyed a barbeque the college prepared for us outside on the patio. We also chose to have our speaker meeting outdoors as the weather was beautiful. Following the speaker, many talented Al-Anons entertained us with a few humorous skits. We had a raffle Saturday night AFTER the meeting and raffled off 2 baskets full of goodies and a small wall hanging. The special project for this convention was a quilt. Each Al-Anon group in Districts 4 & 9 had the opportunity to design and color their own 6-inch square. Longtime Al-Anon Sue E. and our Ways-n-Means committee chairperson, Maria C., then quilted it together with dedication and love. Separate raffle tickets were made for this raffle. They sold for $1.00 a piece. Terri V. from Austin town, Ohio was the happy winner!! We concluded our evening with an ice cream social with fun and games. In the serene chapel on Sunday morning, we had a 5-person panel speak on spirituality. The weekend closed with a short walk across campus to a peaceful place with trees and water. Here each person was free to enjoy a few moments of reflection with the God of his or her understanding. Through out the weekend, everyone enjoyed visiting the hospitality room for snacks, drinks and even a card game or two. All had fun. We registered a total of 142. 102 staying on campus and 40 walk-ins. Our Ways-n-Means committee worked very hard to provide us with over 700 items for purchase. Most of the items were hand made and donated by the grateful Al-Anons from Districts 4 & 9. The financial report is as follows: Income $16,548.28, expenses $11,453.54 and net profit $5,094.74. Because of the generosity of the college and the grateful Al-Anons who took the time to help with this endeavor, our profit was much greater than expected. The college very much enjoyed having us on campus and invited us to return any time in the future. As chairman of the convention, I cannot thank the committee enough. Their time and dedication show the gratitude and love they have for the program. They attended monthly meetings, gave reports and offered suggestions when needed. We kept the Traditions in mind and at all times practiced " principles above personalities." Personally, I felt it an honor and privilege to be able to give back to this wonderful program what has so feely been given to me. My Higher Power was there go guide me and keep me serene through it all. Thank you again for allowing me to enjoy another area of growth in service.

2004 2 DAY FALL ASSEMBLY: Districts of Youngstown – Toni

Districts 4 & 9 will host it at the Holiday Metro Parks in Liberty, Ohio, north of Youngstown. It will be the third weekend in October 15-17, 2004. The room will be approximately $79.95 per night. This is all I have at the moment and will have more in May for you.

2003 AA CONVENTION: Carol

It was held last weekend, October 10-12, 2003 at the Holiday Inn at the Dayton Mall. Al-Anon had a table display of literature handouts, Dayton & Cincinnati Meeting schedules, Forums and a history of Al-Anon. The Al-Anon speaker on Saturday was Mary Kay and I was Chairperson. Barbara W. read the Steps and Dave W. read the Traditions. I spend $39.47 on literature and copying and brought the remaining here today for you to decide what you want to do with this literature.

2004 OHIO AREA CONVENTION: Districts of Toledo – Janice

The theme is Life, Love & Laughter and hosted by the Districts of Toledo. It will be held at the Clarion Hotel Westgate in Toledo, Ohio, June 4-6, 2004. Al-Anon, AA & Alateen Leads/Panel, workshops, banquet, dance, skits and Spiritual closing. The deadline for registration is May 18, 2004. Room rates with banquet vary between $98.50-$220.00 and without banquet $75.50-$197.00 depending on your choices. Walk-ins with banquet is $43.00, without $20.00, Alateen with banquet is $23.00 and without FREE. Please see the flyer for details.

District Representative Beginners Packet – Project by Steve and Judy

At the AWSC meeting we had in September, we were asked to ask to due a copulation of all the different material that we have available to us for DR’s. We came up with eleven different materials to show to new District Representatives and those wishing to run for DR, what’s required and how much fun it is. This Orientation Package will include: AWSC listing, What Department Do I Contact at WSO, Getting in Touch with Al-Anon/Alateen (Worldwide brochure), District Map, Joy of Service pamphlet, 2003-2004 Service Plan-District Game Plan, Al-Anon Guidelines for District Meetings, Al-Anon Guidelines for District Representatives, Do’s For District Representatives, How to get a GR for Every Group and Bill W’s Essay on Leadership. It would be nice to pass these out to Group Representative’s and New Dr’s so everyone is informed. 150 of these Orientation Packets will be complied for DR’s, will be available at the AWSC (Area World Service Committee) and can be requested.

Regional Trustee for the North Central Region (Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio & Wisconsin)

This region will be electing a New Regional Trustee in April 2004 at the World Service Conference. Is anyone interested in or wish to nominate a candidate from our area to stand for this election? A candidate must be currently an active Al-Anon member with at least 5 years continuous membership, needs to have special skills and experience to be able to perform effectively as a Trustee. The skills and experience should include an Area of Management, Finance, Business or Al-Anon service. The Al-Anon service requires specific involvement at the local or area levels. Qualifying Al-Anon service includes; District Officer, District Representative, Area Delegate, Assembly Officer or Coordinator, AIS Representative, Area or Assembly Convention host committee participation or World Service Office (in town) committee participation. Anyone interested today, please see me for forms. This have to be at WSO in January.

Action Committee Reports

Regional Service Seminar Drawing Winners: LuAnn F., Kay H., Sean K. Congradulations!!!! These winners were drawn from Officers, Coordinators and District Representatives that have meet the criteria needed for the drawing and this prize must be used within 27 months from the date of the drawing or it may transfer to another qualified member in the Ohio Area Assembly. Qualifications are attendance at 3 out of 4 annual meetings and have not won this prize in the last 3 years.

SCHEDULE FOR 2004 MEETINGS

May 15 Spring Ohio Area Assembly (OAA) NCUCC

MOTIONS October 18-19, 2003

Budget Committee Passed

Motion #9 To print up 1,500 yellow Service Cards. Money to come from the Coordinators fund.

Jill Clark Passed

GROUP REPRESENTATIVES: Remember to bring these meeting minutes with you to Spring Assembly.

AL-ANON DECLARATION