Mountaineer Regional Service Committee
of Narcotics Anonymous
PO Box 2381
Morgantown, WV-2381
Helpline: 304-344-4442
800-766-4442
MRSCNA Minutes
October 5-6, 2013
OFFICERS:REGIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Chair: Matt K.NCASCNA: Mike B.
Vice-Chair: Erica P.Alt:
Secretary: Sharon F. AFASCNA: BrandonC.
Treasurer: Wes R.Alt:Butch D.
Treasurer II: Hossai O.NANA: Matt C.
RSD/RD: Rob O. Alt: Rick J.
RSD/RD Alt: Kristina C.METRO ASR:Tammy A.
Alt ASR:Mike P.
SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRS:MANA: Kay M.
Convention: David H.Alt: Cooper B.
Literature: VacantGTO: Tyler M.
PR: Cooper B. Alt: Nick L.
H&I: Tammy A.SCURA:?
P&A: Erica PAlt:?
Finance: Hossai O. FANA: Ryan S.
Phone Line: Brandon C. Alt: Mike T.
Web Servant: Shayne M. UPANA: Nick C. Alt: ?
JAFASCNA: Diane T.
Alt: Tammy R.
1
Those in attendance to the MRSCNA meeting for 7/20-7/21/2013
1
1
Sharon F. – Regional Secretary
Matt K. – Regional Chair
Erica P. – Regional Vice-Chair
Nick L., GTO RCM Alt.
Nick C. ,UPANA RCM
Mike B., North Central RCM
Rick J., NANA RCM
Tammy A., Metro ASR
Kay M., MANA RCM
Mike T., FANA RCM Alt.
Ryan S., FANA RCM
Cole J.
Shayne M., Web Servant
Wes R., Regional Treasurer
Diane T., JAFASCNA RCM
Tammy R., JAFASCNA RCM Alt.
Beverly R., Convention Merch Vice
Catherine M. Convention Merch Chair
Nick H., Welcome Home Group GSR
Butch D., AFASCNA RCM Alt.
Brandon C., AFASCNA RCM, Phoneline Chair
Kristina C., RDA
David H., Convention Chair
Hossai O., Treasurer II
Mike P., Metro ASR Alt.
Barbara W.
1
1
MRSCNA MINUTES
October 5-6, 2013
- Matt K. opened with prayer.
- Mike B.read the 12 Traditions.
- Nick L. read the 12 Concepts.
- 9RCM/ASR/ALTs present.
Open sharing session:
Erica asked that we never schedule a meeting for 10 a.m. on the Saturday of region again.
Kay M. brought up the topic of the minutes being late and incomplete and the need for a solution to this. Each person responsible for submitting a report needs to be more responsible in getting the reports submitted to the secretary on time and the secretary in turn getting the minutes out in time.
Secretary’s Report: Sharon F.read old business from July 2013 minutes. Minutes were approved by consensus.
Treasurer’s Report: Wes R. gave report. See attached report.
OLD BUSINESS
Motion 02-07-13 – MANA
Motion: To form a workgroup to look at combining H&I, Phoneline and PR Subcommittees into a single PR subcommittee. This subcommittee would be structured similarly to convention with an overall PR Chair and the chairs for H&I and Phoneline, and the web servant.
Intent: The coordination and continuity of Regional PR services.
Rationale: All these subcommittees are interdependent and area all areas of PR service. These subcommittees work hand in hand to bring the addict to a meeting.
Result: 4 For, 3 against, 2 abstention.
AREA REPORTS:
GTOANA:
The area is doing fairly well and continues to grow and progress. We have meetings every day of the week, several times a day. We have had some problems with two of the meetings in the area. The War is Over group that met on Saturdays is no longer in effect due to lack of willingness from the home group members. Also, the Hope Through Surrender Group that meets on Thursday at noon has had to change meeting locations due to the regions insurance policy being dropped and the home group members are searching for a more permanent location.
Our PR subcommittee is alive and well. We recently had a schedule day that went well. Meeting schedules were passed out to a host of facilities in the Huntington area plus several other surrounding cities. There is an upcoming flyer day scheduled for October 12th.
The H&I meetings in our area are doing pretty well and we are looking to expand. We currently have six meetings that meet on a weekly basis with the exception of two, with the possibility of more commitments to come. The meetings take place in the following facilities: Pinecrest Treatment Center; the adult unit, adolescent long term unit, and the adolescent short term unit at Riverpark Hospital, and the women’s jail. We’ve struggled with getting women that have the willingness and that also meet the requirements for the womens jail. Our relationship with the facilities continues to grow stronger. There was an H&I workshop held on August 23rd with about 18 members in attendance.
The next activity coming up in our area is the GTO Halloween Extravaganza which will be on October 26th at the Fairfield East building in Huntington, WV. There will be a multitude of events and we have invited a speaker from Portsmouth, OH to come share his experience.
Grateful to be of service
-Nick L. RCM Alt.
UPANA:
Our Area is doing well. We currently represent 9 groups in the central area of the state. Our area is working on attending a PR workshop with the ultimate goal in carrying the message into the Central Regional Jail through an H&I workgroup. We have instituted a meeting of the month program to help support meetings in our rural communities that may have sparse attendance due to geographical isolation. We are also instituting an outreach program to gather unaffiliated groups and let their voice be heard through the woods. We are planning an activity, The Speaker Jam, for March 2014, date to be announced. We will be conducting a yearly inventory this month. We have recently lost our RCM to a long illness and I will be assuming to fill the responsibility of the position. We at UPANA continue to grown and carry the message to rural, isolate West Virginia.
Thank you, Nick C.
RIP Rick W., you will be missed.
NCASCNA
Greetings from the North Central Area,
Our area is doing well. Our PR chairperson has continued to vigilantly reach out to community resource centers – day report, drug court, treatment centers, etc. Recently, the Marion County Day Report Center has reached out to us, through the Phoneline, for meeting schedules. Also, we attended the National Social Workers Conference in Morgantown, with the Regional display. The conference went very well. Our representatives blended in perfectly with the other attendees; so much so, they were offered coupons for the bar. They promptly laughed hysterically and respectfully declined. Our new H&I meeting at the Bob May’s Recovery Center in Clarksburg is going well. Our area picnic was a great success. We had a nice turnout and a beautiful day. No substantial changes to the groups/meetings in the Area.
Gratefully,
Mike B. - RCM
NANA:
Rick J., RCM Alt, gave oral report.
MVASCNA:
The Metro Area Service Committee of Narcotics Anonymous continues to carry the NA message of recovery that no addict ever need die seeking recovery.
Metro held a Learning Day Sept 14, at our Shrewsbury St. meeting place. H&I and Phoneline workshops were done. Attendance was small, however those addicts that did show appeared interested and a couple have been observers at our H&I meetings. Our H&I efforts continue with weekly meetings at Highland Hospital and Thomas Memorial. Twice a month meetings are also taken into South Central Regional Jail both men and women’s and Charleston Work Release Center.
Activities held Spaghetti and Service September 9 with 3 speakers on home groups, sponsorship and service. The turnout was good.
Our PI subcommittee’s chair assisted region with having a display at Mental Health Conference at the Charleston Civic Center September 17-19. Also PI has completed a professional mailer and continues to work on bus signs in an attempt to help other areas get our life-saving message on public buses. Also Tygart Morton Juvenile has requested info and PI will attempt to answer the facility.
We have many meetings in our area that are packed with addicts seeking recovery.
Grateful to Serve, Tammy A., ASR
MANA:
Mountain Area
Report to MRSCNA
October 2013
The Mountain Area’s meetings continue on the same schedule. Meeting attendance at the Lewisburg Group has picked up and we have 8 – 10 addicts at meetings. We have given out several key tags for various amounts of clean time; and have celebrated a one year anniversary in the last quarter. We continue to take an H&I meeting into Anthony Correctional Center once a month, and have a fourth addict expressing a desire to join us in this service opportunity. Recently we had to attend a training session on how to interact appropriately with prisoners, which we thought pretty ironic as at least one of our members has been going in to Anthony for over 20 years. Our 22nd annual Fellowship in the Forest campout occurred as scheduled August 2 – 4, 2013; we had a good turnout, and our phone line workshop-in-the-rain was attended by about 10 addicts –it was quite cozy under a 10X10 dining tarp. MANA has a donation, but we will have to mail it as the treasurer got kicked by a cow.
MANA still has a concern about the lack of participation in and completeness of the minutes. There are missing committee reports every quarter and the tardiness of the distribution of the minutes makes it impossible to have them available for area service. It is essential to have the committee and RD reports to share with our areas in order to make decisions, and to have a conscience for the next RSC. The RD reports and the minutes make up our line of communication from the World through the Region and down to (or up to) the areas and the groups. We are here to represent, and to gather information for, our areas. We do not work in isolation. We are responsible for keeping the flow of information going and we need the minutes to carry out our responsibilities. We feel strongly that change is necessary to ensure the needed flow of information, and we urge the body to brainstorm and find a solution this weekend.
Gratefully submitted,
Kay M., RCM
FANA:
The fana area is doing well. Our new HISubcommittee is trying to start a new meeting at BAR-H. We currently hold two HI meetings, one at the Crisis Unit located in Princeton and the other on the men’s side of the Southern Regional Jail. The women’s side has been temporarily suspended due to availability of our members’ time for the prea class and also for the jails unavailability to offer the class. There is new interest in pr within the area. There was much interest and many questions concerning the insurance or the lack there of. We have regional donation of 100 dollars.
Grateful to serve,
Ryan S, RCM
Mike T,rcmAlt.
JAFASCNA:
RCM report
Dear family,
The JAFA area is doing well. We are getting off the ground and so far there is willingness to serve. We continue to have 13 meetings area wide and are looking into having an area function February 1st. This function will be our fundraiser to purchase basic text for the groups. It looks like we will be having a PR workshop at 2:00 and a tradition workshop at 4:00. We are serving food at 6:00 followed by an auction at 7:00 and a speaker meeting at 8:00. The function will be held at the community center in Henderson, WV .Look for flyers on the web page.
There is also willingness to take an H&I meeting into the Lakin facility so we will need an H&I workshop in the future or if another area is having one please let us know. We also have some willingness for phone line and will also need to attend a workshop for that.
We will continue to put one foot in front of the other to accomplish area needs and serve the fellowship as a whole.
With gratitude in service.
Diane T.
AFASCNA:
Dear Family,
The Appalachian Foothills Area Service Committee of Narcotics Anonymous is alive and well in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Our Area’s Activity subcommittee recently hosted an area campout we hadn’t had since 2005. It was a rainy weekend at Forked Run State Park, but several folks came out the camp and we had great attendance at the campfire meetings Friday and Saturday Night. Our next planned Area event will be in March at our annual St. Patrick’s Day Literature Fundraiser. We will let the web servant know when we have details ironed out and a flier to post.
The Area’s PR subcommittee has recently elected a new chair. We recently manned a table at the 2nd Annual Ride for Recovery event in Parkersburg on September 14th, 2013. This is the second year we have attended this event and it has been a great opportunity for us to get information out about local and regional meetings.
The Area’s H&I Subcommittee continue to carry a meeting to the patients staying at the Behavioral Health Unit at Camden Clark Memorial Hospital every other Wednesday evening. Our relationship with the hospital continues to be positive. Our efforts at starting a meeting in Noble Correctional Institute in Caldwell, OH are still stalled out. We have not had any other willingness from anyone to be a participant in carrying a meeting into the prison. More will be revealed.
In Loving Service,
Brandon C., RCM
SCURA: No representation.
AREA MOTIONS/PROPOSALS: None.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:
Phone Line Subcommittee:
Dear Family;
The MRSCNA phoneline has had another busy quarter. We continue to handle more than 600 calls per quarter. We could not do this without the help of our volunteers who answer the phone when called. That being said, we have had some volunteers who either asked to be taken off the service or who have been removed from the service due to other circumstances. If anyone is interested in getting involved and volunteering to be on the phoneline answering calls, please let me know.
During our subcommittee business meeting at the October RSC 2013, we took time to go over the outdated phoneline policy. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to help our subcommittee complete this task. I have made the desired changes to the policy and will include it with this report. At our next meeting at the January RSC, we will use the same process to make similar changes/updates to the training material used at our workshops. I will include a copy of the workshop materials we currently use for everyone’s review.
At this past RSC, I also discussed the opportunity to port our local and toll free (800) number to the Onebox service. After researching this and talking with both Frontier and Onebox a couple times, it was determined that we would be able to port the toll free (800) number to the Onebox service. This would save us money by relieving burden of the toll free calls to our Frontier service. With Onebox services, we play a flat rate for up to 3000 minutes of calls per month. We have not yet gotten close to this quota and this change should see any change to our regular Onebox bill. We have been paying a certain rate per minute for every call to the toll free (800) line depending on where the caller is calling from. When we complete the porting process with onebox, we will cease paying for these variable toll-free charges will only be paying Frontier for our service for the local number.
During the subcommittee, I also revisited the discussion about putting a “widget” or “button” on our website that users could use to dial our phoneline service. Onebox has a code generating tool that we can use to build a button to put on our website. Our PR chair brought this idea to us last RSC after he had received a call about it from Onebox. It was decided that this service could benefit us. I will send the information to our webservant so that he may make the changes to our webpage.
I received many requests for changes at the subcommittee meeting from several RCMs/ASRs. To my knowledge, these changes have been made. I will include a copy of the Volunteer List and the Master spreadsheet with this report. If you have any further changes, please feel free to contact me by email or phone.
In Loving service,
Brandon C., Phoneline Chair
Convention Subcommittee:
The chair reminded all committee sub-chairs of the importance of turning in reports for an accurate accounting to those we serve.
Some meeting notes from the July Convention Committee did not get published. We are on track for the fall convention.
Chair report-We have 16 rooms in Holt Lodge reserved and one in Mountaineer set aside. The dance DJ and the photographer are confirmed for the Fall Convention.
Discussion about concerns over the possibility of Cedar Lakes closing. No effect on the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 conventions. Cedar Lakes informed us that they believe that this issue will be worked out and that we will know before the spring RSC.
Better flow during Friday registration. The committee decided that we will move book signing and name tag decoration to another location. Also, during the rush time, a committee member will be at the door to regulate the volume of people in the office at one time.
Cedar Lakes agreed to take down a portion of the tables in the dining hall after the Saturday dinner and setup more chairs for the speaker meeting. We need to ask folks to leave the dining hall by 6:15 in order to allow time for this work to be completed. The entrance of the hall will be closed until the work is completed.
Cedar Lakes is not upset with MRSCNA about past damage.