Al-Anon Family Groups District 5

District 5 Al-Anon/Alateen

June/July NEW Announcements

- REVISED July print-friendly announcements: click here.

- Planning Meeting for Fall Assembly: click here.

- Fall Assembly hosted by District 5: help is needed, click here.

- Heritage Festival help needed: click here for schedule.

- Elections for District officers in November: click here.

- New Al-Anon book: click here.

Topics on the District 5 Bulletin Board:

NEW TOPIC – Sponsorship!

Click here to contribute or to read other member’s contributions!

Al-Anon Announcements

If your group has information you would like to announce on this web site or pass along through the District 5 Newsletter - please call or e-mail us.

Contact: Mary Lou L.

Phone: 734-645-3012.

E-Mail: afgdistrict5@gmail.com.

Please remember that in keeping with our 5^th, 6^th and 10^th Traditions – we can post only Al-Anon-related announcements.

(When we delete outdated items from this page, we will post a record on the News/Event Archives page.)

Business Meetings

Monthly District 5 Announcements

Service Opportunities

Meeting news and

Meeting changes

Al-Anon News

District 5 service opportunities

Meeting Support Opportunities

Please note: Some documents linked on this page are in PDF files that can only be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. This software is free and downloadable from the Adobe Web Site.

District 5 Business Meetings:

The Next District 5 business meeting is scheduled for Saturday, August 23, 2008; from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The next meeting after August will be Saturday November 15, 2008; from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Elections for District offices will be held at the November meeting! The meetings will be held at King of Kings Lutheran Church, 2685 Packard Road, Ann Arbor. ALL Al-Anon members are welcome to attend!

District 5 Monthly Announcements:

The monthly announcements that are e-mailed to District 5 group representatives for each month will be posted in a print-friendly PDF file, here. Group representatives and meeting members are encouraged to print this announcement list to bring to their meeting and inform their members of Al-Anon news and events.

Al-Anon Service Opportunities:

Our Seventh Tradition states that Al-Anon is a self-supporting program. We are supported not only by member contributions, but by member service! And, member service helps the individual who serves as well as the Al-Anon members and program. There are service opportunities at all levels of Al-Anon/Alateen. Here are a few!

The Seventh Tradition Suggests (S-21) is reprinted with permission of ©Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA

District Level (District 5) Service Opportunities:

The Ypsilanti Heritage Festival will have an Al-Anon booth, and it is time to think about volunteering to help staff the booth! This is a wonderful way to do service work and also to have fun and enjoy the Heritage Festival! The dates are Friday August 15th, Saturday August 16th, and Sunday August 17th. It will be at Riverside Park in the Depot Town area of Ypsilanti. Two people are needed for each time slot, plus a back up person who can fill in if one of the volunteers is unable to work his/her shift. A volunteer sign-up sheet was e-mailed to group reps and is posted here. Please print and pass a sign-up sheet at your meetings and encourage others to help out with this important service work. Mary Lou and Mary Sue need to have an e-mail address and phone number for each volunteer – please contact Mary Lou if you can help or have a list from your meeting of volunteers who can help. Please e-mail Mary Lou at District 5 if you’d like to help or would like more information!

IMPORTANT PLANNING MEETING for Michigan Fall Assembly: Saturday, July 26, 2008; 1:00 pm. We need willing people to help District 5 make plans for hosting the Michigan Fall Assembly on October 11, 2008. The planning meeting will be held at our District Rep (Kim K.’s) home in Ypsilanti. Please contact us at afgdistrict5@gmail.com for address and directions.

The Michigan Area Fall Assembly (“The Michigan Connection”) will be held on October 11, 2008, and will be hosted by District 5! (Please click here for general information about the Spring and Fall area assemblies.) Help will be needed from District 5 members. Groups will be asked to consider contributing food items, or money for food costs. Group reps are encouraged to attend this meeting in order to vote for Area officers! Members are encouraged to attend to be part of the process, and to help District 5 host the meeting. Help will be needed to greet and register Assembly attendees, to set up the room, to prepare food, and other tasks. We also need people to volunteer to coordinate these activities! This is a great opportunity for fellowship with District 5 members and others from around the Michigan Area, as well as an opportunity for service to the Al-Anon fellowship. Members may be able to arrange to car pool, and/to or share a motel room if they wish to arrive the evening before. It will be held in the Family Life Center at the St. Louis Church of Christ, 1075 West Monroe Road, St. Louis, Michigan (east of Alma; north of Lansing.) Please contact District 5 at afgdistrict5@gmail.com for information on how YOU can get involved and to volunteer to help! Please click here for a Fall Assembly flier.

Alateen Sponsors and Alateen Service Support Needed: Our area Alateen program needs adult Al-Anon member(s) to sponsor Alateen groups and support Alateen activities. Alateen sponsorship is extremely rewarding for the Alateen sponsor and extremely helpful for the Alateen members. Have YOU ever thought of becoming involved with Alateen service? The Al-Anon publication, “Alateen Sponsorship--Is It For You?” (S-27) provides an overview of the requirements to be an Alateen sponsor. For information on how you can sponsor an Alateen group or help support Alateen activities, please click here!

“Alateen Sponsorship--Is It For You?” (S-27) is reprinted with permission of ©Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA.

Web site service opportunities! District 5 web site people are asking for help:

w From ALL members to add short messages or writings for our District 5 Bulletin Board/Member Sharing page.

w From any/all members to write YOUR story (anonymously) to be shared on the District 5 Stories page.

If you can help - please contact District 5!

Does YOUR District 5 Al-Anon Meeting Have A Group Representative? If not, your meeting members are missing out on the opportunity to learn about district news, participate in district functions, and vote on district issues. At your next meeting, why not find out if someone is representing your group? You can find out more about becoming a group representative by contacting Mary Lou at afgdistrict5@gmail.com.

District-level Business: Would you like to become involved at the district level? Would you like to help out at the district level in some way – e.g. helping with planning, organizing, or outreach? You can find out more by contacting Mary Lou at afgdistrict5@gmail.com.

These District 5 Al-Anon Meetings Need YOUR support: Our Al-Anon Declaration states in part, “When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, let the hand of Al-Anon and Alateen always be there ...” You can help support the only Al-Anon meeting in Belleville by committing to attend one or more times. If you’d like more information or have other ideas on how to support this meeting, please contact afgdistrict5@gmail.com.

w The 9:00 am “Saturday Morning Steps and Traditions” meeting at the First Presbyterian Church in Ypsilanti requests support from other members to increase their regular membership base. This is a Step/Tradition discussion meeting.

w The Thursday 8:00 pm “Serenity Through Recovery” Al-Anon meeting held at the First United Methodist Church in Belleville continues to need support to build up a regular membership base. This meeting is held concurrently with a large AA meeting that has been active for a long time.

These groups need member support to thrive! Please consider lending your support to help keep Al-Anon available in these communities!

Service Opportunities outside of District 5

Al-Anon Speakers are needed for an open Al-Anon meeting at Maplegrove on Friday evenings!

This is an open Al-Anon institutions meeting that is held at Maplegrove chemical dependency treatment center, 6773 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield, Michigan. (Please click here for general information about “open” and “institutions” meetings.) The meeting is held on Friday evenings from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The talk does not have to run for the full hour; leaving time for questions and answers is OK. Audiences include Maplegrove residents and their families. The format is informal; the purpose is to convey experience, strength and hope by sharing your Al-Anon story with others. Audiences are grateful for the message of hope and for information about how to pursue it further. It's also a very personally rewarding experience and a wonderful 12^th Step service opportunity for Al-Anon members! If you’re interested (or maybe just a little bit willing and would like more information) please contact afg.maplegrove@earthlink.net for more information or to offer to share YOUR experience, strength and hope at this open talk!

Meeting News, including new meetings and meeting changes in the District 5 area:

Check here for meeting news – and send us your meeting news to post!

District 5 Al-Anon News:

Please see the District 5 meeting minutes and our monthly announcements file for details about district news and activities.

Elections for District 5 officers will be held at the November 15, 2008 District 5 business meeting. The meeting will be held from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at King of Kings Lutheran Church, 2685 Packard Road, Ann Arbor. Each group is allotted one vote, which is usually placed by the group representative or alternative group representative; however if a group representative or alternate group representative is unable to attend, another group member can be designated by the group to vote on behalf of the group. ALL Al-Anon members are welcome to attend. There are a number of service opportunities at the District level; more information about District 5 officers and service is available here, and detailed descriptions of officer responsibilities can be found in the Al-Anon Service Manual.

Michigan Area Al-Anon News:

Besides book marking this page, another way to keep up with Al-Anon activities in Michigan is through the Serenity Sentinel, a quarterly newsletter for Michigan Al-Anon Family Group members. The Serenity Sentinel has articles from Michigan’s Delegate, Chairperson and Treasurer; information about upcoming Al-Anon events; and fliers and registration forms for the events. A one-year subscription is $4.00. Each registered Al-Anon group that maintains a current mailing address with the Area office will receive a free Serenity Sentinel. Please click here to print a subscription form.

Al-Anon World Services Office (WSO) News:

2008 Al-Anon’s Fourth International Convention with A.A. Participation was held Friday July 4 through Saturday July 6, 2008; in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Conference was a weekend filled with excitement, fun, and sharing, for Al-Anons, Alateens, and A.A.’s.

New Al-Anon Book! “Discovering Choices” explores Al-Anon’s recovery in relationships, and provides hope by sharing Al-Anon tools that have been helpful in improving relationships and attitudes. This book is available from the District 5 literature distribution center (please see our contact us page for the District 5 Al-Anon literature distribution center,) or from the literature area of the Al-Anon World Services web site.

The 2008 World Service Conference Summary will be posted soon on the Member’s Area of the World Service web site: go to http://www.al-anon.org/members/; follow the directions to enter a password to access the site, then click on Publications, then click on World Service Conference Summary. The Conference is also being summarized in the July and August 2008 Forum!

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