HEARTLAND INTERGROUP

4204 S. Florida Avenue Lakeland, FL 33813

863-688-0211 www.heartlandintergroup.org

Monday-Friday 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Saturday 9:00 A.M. to Noon

JANUARY 2017

Let us take time to reflect for a moment, upon the many blessings that have come to us in oursobriety. One of my most treasured gifts is learning to live “one day at a time.”

Personally, I have neither the time nor the awareness to begin to list the many benefits that havecome into my life.

All these “positives” have come to me one day at a time. Today is the only day in which I canlive. Tomorrow, I may not be here. Yesterday, with all the mistakes and pleasures, is gone

forever. Today is here with its promise of what I choose to make it. Whether the quality of thepresent seems good or bad, it is the only thing I have.

I, and I alone, have the power to try to make something worthwhile of today. Living brings painto all of us. There is no end to the catalogue of human disaster. No man or woman is immune.But observe the man with much peace in his soul. He is a man upon whom life has inflicted many

scars. He is also a man who has learned to live one day at a time.

Preoccupation with the past will not kill the pain in the present. The only real solution is topause, look deeply into ones’s self, fact today with rigorous honesty, and make the choices

that the day demands.

Preoccupation with the future is a damaging habit. First, it fills the mind with fruitless specu-lation, leaving no room for the present. It is the little daily problems which cause us to trip

and fall. Most of us do quite will when we are confronted with an occasional large problem.It is the accumulation of little problems which confound us.

It is a beautiful thing to see the change of thinking which comes over a rehabilitated alcoholic,when he suddenly becomes aware of the joys around him. As long as he continues to think andto act in the present, he is a happy man who has found release from his tensions. The moment he

drops in the old anxiety about the future, his joys disappear, and his sobriety with it!

‘YESTERDAY is a canceled check.

TOMORROW is a promissory note.

TODAY is cash in hand; spend it wisely.”

SERVICE is the rent you should pay for the space you occupy in time

(Reprint from Heartland Intergrouper, January 1983)

Ladies of the Lake

SCOTT C. 34

HAILEY G. 2

MARGARET A. 5

New Hope Group

DAN M. 15

MARIE W. 38

MEGAN B. 2

Mulberry Group

KATHY B. 9

LARRY G. 12

FRED W. 38

Phoenix Group

MARGO H. 16

Acceptance Group

JACK G. 35

CARMEN 0. 34

KAREN K. 30

ALBERT J. 24

DAVID M. 6

SHANE H. 5

MICKEY D. 4

COLLEEN M. 3

WYATT B. 3

NICOLE K. 3

MARK C. 3

Scenic Sobriety Group

FLORENCE G. 8

ALAN B. 14

ROSE D. 28

To All our Groups

We appreciate your financial support. Pleaseremember to include the name of your

group with your check so that we can accu-rately record your donation.

Many thanks!WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOU

INDIVIDUAL

Anonymous

Anonymous

Mary S.

TOTAL 560.00

DIME A DAY

Anonymous

TOTAL 2.50

FAITHFUL FIVERS

Anonymous Brenda F.

David P. John

Kate CP Mark W.

Mary Ann A. Mark T.

Mary Ann Z. Sheri T.

Nicholas D. Trish F.

TOTAL 245.00

GROUPS

Acceptance Group

Come & See Group

Dixieland Steps & Traditions

Friday Night Beginners Meeting

Good Orderly Direction

Happy Hour Group

Northside Group

Rainbow Recovery Group

Saturday Night Speaker Meeting

Sober Lunch Bunch

Weekend Serenity Group

TOTAL 1604.67

Faithful Fivers! Thank you somuch for your Faithful Fiver

donation!If you would like to become a Faithful

Fiver, contact Heartland Intergroup officeat (863) 688-0211, stop by our office or go

to www.heartlandintergroup.org/faithfulfiver.html. Your $5 monthly helps.

Thank YouTo those individual contributors and those who add to theDime a Day can.

BIG BOOK SALES OFFICE ACTIVITY/CALLS/VISITS/etc. OCT. NOV.

Last Month This Month General Information 34 31

27 19 AA Meeting Information 27 39

12 & 12 SALES Answering Service Calls 59 65

21 7 Purchases 47 48

Rides to Meeting 11 5

Rides to Detox 0 0

Other, miscellaneous 37 36

Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of Heartland Intergroup A. A. as a whole.

(Exceptions are: Quotations from ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, TWELVE STEPSand TWELVE TRADITIONS and other A. A. books and pamphlets are reprintedwith permission of A. A. World Services, Inc.) Art and other articles are reprinted

with permission of the A. A. GRAPEVINE, Inc. and are subject to the GRAPEVINE COPYRIGHT

Have something for HeartlandIntergrouper ? Send your sub-

mission toheartlandintergrouper@gmail.

com orofficemanager@heartlandinter

group.org

I AM RESPONSIBLE

When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help,I want the hand of A. A. always to be there.

And for that I am responsible

Deadlines for your news or flyer for the In-tergrouper will be the last week of the pre-ceding month. For the calendar of events itwill be the 2nd week of the current month.

“So tell me, do I come here often?”

District III Meeting/GSR Workshop2:00 PM, 3rd Sunday of each month

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church500 W. Stuart St., Bartow

GSR Service Workshop begins at 1 PM

DISTRICT iii

AVAILABLE DISTRICT BREAKFASTS

May - June - July - October - DecemberIf your Group would be willing to host a District Breakfast for any of the above months, please

submit your bids at the January 2017 District 3 meeting.

Looking for something to do? District 3 needs the following beginning January 2017:

Intergroup Liaison

Several DCMs and ACMs

For more information contact district3.altchair@gmail.com

AREA 15

Area 15 is looking for a DCM who is willing to be considered for the Area Current Practice Committee. To be consid-ered you must be a current DCM and not hold any other committee position. You should not have served on eithercommittee before now. If interested please contact  incoming District 3 Chair Debbie R. at 863 397 9980 . You maycall and leave your name/phone contact/position desired or text her.

AVAILABLE DETOX CHAIR

May - July - August - NovemberIf your group is willing to chair Detox meetings for any of the above months, please submit

your bids at the January 2017 District meeting.

12-STEP VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Just recently, there were several situations where no was was available to help a caller in need. Weare desperately in need of volunteers in all of Polk, Highland and Hardee Counties. Are you willing

to volunteer or do you have a suggestion on how to better recruit for the 12 step call list? If so,don’t hesitate to make them either calling Margo at the Intergroup office or sending us an email at

heartlandintergrouper@gmail.com

AA’s Twelve Steps are principles for personal recovery. The Twelve Traditions ensure the unity ofthe Fellowship. The Twelve Concepts for World Service provide a group of related principles to helpensure that various elements of AA’s service structure remain responsive and responsible to those theserve. Step One: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol–-that our lives had become unmanage-able.” p.59 BB Tradition One: “Each member of Alcoholics Anonyous is but a small part of a greatwhole. AA must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first.But individual welfare follows close afterward.” p.563 BB. Concept One: “Final responsibility and ul-timate authority for AA world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our wholeFellowship.” P. 574 BB.

In place of the group spotlight this month, will be another story from the origi-nal manuscript of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” or as we refer to it as

“The Big Book”

Also, flyers with information of events going on at New Years and the monthof January, kicking off 2017 with sober good times.

Heartland Intergroup volunteers and staff wish everyone out there in Polk,Highlands and Hardee Counties a Happy New Year.

Oldtimer Sayings

There is only one way to coast, and that is down hill."

"The good news is you get your emotions back; The bad news is you get your emotionsback."

"In order to change the way we feel we need to change the way we act."

My Wife and I — Tom Lucas Akron, Ohio

Tom's first date of sobriety probably was November 1935. (He slipped in December 1937.) Hiswife, Maybelle, approached Dr. Bob for help.

Tom grew up on a farm and had little education. During and after World War I, he worked infactories for high wages. He married Maybelle, an "able, well-educated woman who had an

unusual gift of common sense and far more than the average business vision, a true helpmate inevery way."

Together they started a neighborhood grocery store, which prospered, then they bought another.But when the Great Depression hit they lost it. Tom took factory jobs when he could get them,

and eventually opened a restaurant. His wife worked with him.

But Tom soon developed a serious drinking problem which eventually caused his wife to confronthim and they separated ~ but for only a week.

They sold their restaurant and Tom took what jobs he could get, but these were hard times. Hestayed sober for periods of time because he could not afford the money to drink.

When things improved financially, Tom's drinking got worse. Tom was doing roof repairs andspouting installations, but his wife often had to start the men to work in the morning, do shop

jobs, keep the books, and look after the house and family.

Tom became increasingly difficult at home, and Maybelle would quietly ask friends and businessassociates to drop in casually to talk to him. But they ended up by mildly upbraiding him. Whenthings got truly bad Maybelle left him again, but after a time she returned to try to salvage what

she could.

Finally Tom admitted to his wife that he wanted to stop drinking but could not. He asked her forhelp, and she was eventually referred to Dr. Bob

Dr. Bob asked if her husband wanted to stop drinking, or was merely temporarily uncomfortable?Had he come to the end of the road? He visited them the following morning, and hospitalized

Tom.

After a relapse, he and his wife talked it over, and knew it had happened because he had stoppedfollowing the program. He acknowledged his fault to God and asked His help to keep to the

course he had to follow.

Dr. Bob often called Maybelle for help with the wives of other alcoholics. On one occasion hetold her to get hold of Annabelle Gillam, the wife of Wally Gillam ("Fired Again" in the 1st

edition), or her husband would be drunk before he was out of the hospital two hours.

Original Manuscript, p. 287 in 1st edition

Become a Heartland Intergroup Faithful Fiver

Faithful Fivers are AA members or groups who graciously contribute $5.00 or moreeach month to support 12th Step Work at Heartland Intergroup.

Heartland Intergroup serves all of Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties known as District 3.

We: ·   Answer phones ·   Provide AA meeting locations ·   Provide general A.A. information ·   Arrange 12th Step calls ·   Sell books, literature, pamphlets, medallions ·   Publish the Intergrouper Newsletter ·   Maintain a website ·   Host Intergroup Committee meetings

Bill W. said: “Though not costly, these agencies are absolutely essential to our continued expansion – to oursurvival as a fellowship. Their costs are a collective obligation that rests squarely upon all of us. Our supportof services actually amounts to recognition on our part that A.A. must everywhere function in full strength andthat, under our tradition of self-support; we are all going to foot the bill”. (Self-Support: Where money andspirituality mix”).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sign Me Up! (You may remain anonymous)

Name: ________________________________________ Phone Number____________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________________

City & State: ________________________________________ Zip Code: ______________________

   Yes, I would like to be reminded quarterly   I pledge to give $_____________________Monthly/Quarterly/Annually (circle

one)

Make checks payable to Heartland Intergroup, 4204 S. Florida Avenue #H, Lakeland, FL 33813Your contribution is tax deductible/Internal Revenue Service/Code 501 © 3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If your home group has been unable to support Heartland Intergroup with a regular monthlypercentage of your basket, your group can make a commitment to become a Faithful FiverGroup and contribute a small amount each month.