Volume 33, Issue 10 OCTOBER 2017

ScaanSOUTH COUNTY

AA NEWSLETTER

The Hand of AA

24 Hours a Day

561-276-4581

South Palm Beach CountyIntergroup Association, Inc.Serving A.A. Groups inBoca Raton, Boynton Beach,Delray Beach and Lantana33 Years of Service ~ 1984-2017

THE STEPS & THE TRADITIONSSTEP 10 - “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.”

TRADITION 10 - “Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues;hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.”

There are many definitions for the wordprinciple. I am using the one mentioned abovefor this article. I hear many times in the roomsof Alcoholics Anonymous … “I try to practice the“principles” behind the “principles”. The stepsare the “principles”. You cannot have “principles”behind “principles”.

For example, they say the principlebehind Step One is honesty. Don’t I need hon-esty in Step Three, Four, and Five? Does it notsay in our literature that this is a program of rig-orous honesty? What about honesty, willing-ness, and open mindedness? Are these not theessentials of recovery? This mis-informationabout “principles” behind “principles” started in aCalifornia AA Conference in 1955. Some well-meaning alcoholics decided to make the “principles” much more difficult.

Because this is a simple program for com-plicated people. What is stated in our twelfthstep is “…. practice these principles in all ouraffairs.”. The “12th Step principles” are:One through three – get right with GodFour through seven – get right with yourselfEight through nine – get right with othersTen – stay right with yourselfEleven – stay right with GodTwelve – stay right with othersThe Twelve Steps are the main facts so theTwelve Steps are the principles … simple, powerful, perfect, beautiful.

It is October so let’s look at Step Ten.“Continue to take personal inventory and whenwe were wrong promptly admitted it”. Step Tenstates I have entered the world of the Spirit.This is not an abstract idea … this is reality. InSteps One through Nine, I have cleaned up mylife and started to heal my soul. Now I continueon the path. In the world of the Spirit I cannotrely on myself. I must rely on God. I willbecome fearful, anxious, angry, and selfish.And when I do, I pray to my God to remove it atonce, call on another alcoholic and then turn mythoughts to help others. This is how I stay rightwith myself. My life is no longer about beingright; it is about being at peace. I have ceasedfighting everyone and everything. I get to reactsanely and normally to alcohol. I realize what itwill do to me instead of what it does for me. InStep Ten I learn I have a daily reprieve. So, theonly way for me to stay sober is “one day at atime”.

Love and service,

Tommy B.

12th Step PrinciplesAA’s twelve steps are principles for personal recovery.

From “the twelve concepts”: Principle – the main fact in particular order to achieve a higher standard.

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aaUNITY

RECOVERY

SERVICE

13th Annual Serenity Scramble is a day of fun,fellowship, great gifts & prizes,

delicious food and, of course, golf!By participating in the Serenity Scramble, you will not only fill

your day with joy & happiness, but also contribute toSouth Palm Beach County Intergroup!

Lunch-Only-OptionIf you’re not a golfer, but would like to participate in the dayof fellowship or support your golfer spouse, significantother, or friends, we are offering lunch-only option. Yourcustomized banquet menu consists of full salad bar, RedBliss potato salad, coleslaw, grilled hamburgers, kosher hotdogs, honey BBQ baked chicken, and of course cookies &brownies! The cost of the lunch-only option is $25.

Hole SponsorshipAnyone can sponsor a hole! Hole sponsorship is $100.100% of the Hole Sponsorship donations go directly toSouth Palm Beach County Intergroup. Each sponsor will berecognized with a sign on the Tee.

DonationsYou can also participate in the Serenity Scramble by makinga monetary contribution or donating a gift for the raffle.

Directions12250 Westchester Club Drive, Boynton Beach, FL 33437Website: www.westchestercc.comFrom I-95 North: Exit at Woolbright Road, West to Jog Road,left on Jog Road, left on Pipers Glen Road, main entrance onright.From I-95 South: Exit at Atlantic Avenue, West to Jog Road,right on Jog Road, right on Pipers Glen Road, main entranceon right.

13TH ANNUAL SERENITY SCRAMBLESPONSORED BY SOUTH PALM BEACH COUNTY INTERGROUP

TO BE HELD AT WESTCHESTER COUNTRY CLUB• SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2017 •

9:00 A.M. SHOTGUN START

For registration formvisit: aainpalmbeach.org

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South Palm Beach County Intergroup Profit & Loss - August 2017

OOffffiiccee VVoolluunntteeeerrss

Dennis, George, Paritosh N., Hunter, Joe H., Susan S.,Marianne, David T., Nick, Chris R., Matthew, Jeremy,

Matt R., Christian, Harry K., Carl, Corie and Alexandra

Intergroup Activity Log Aug.1712th Step Calls 3First Call to AA 2Meeting Inquiries 155Business Inquiries 170Walk-Ins 235QB Sales Receipts 229

Page 4

GROUP CONTRIBUTIONS: AUGUST 2017 AND YEAR-TO-DATE 2017

New Intergroup Reps.Tradition Three Group - Tolbert D., Alternate

West Boca Friendship - Diane T.Women Line by Line - LaToya W.

All Aboard - ColtCher Up at 10:13 - Mike P.

Men’s Roving Big Book Study - Kris K.Serenity Hour - Gregg G.

FFAAIITTHHFFUULL FFIIVVEERRSSWWiitthh GGrraattiittuuddee ffoorr tthheeiirr ssuuppppoorrtt::

Michael G. and Linda P.

AA HOTLINE – RELAY PHONEThe Hand of AA is Available 24 Hours a Day!

October - Women Living SoberNovember - No Matter What

December - Tuesday Men’s Solution

BIRTHDAY CLUBSOUTH PALM BEACH COUNTY INTERGROUP

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ANNIVERSARY!Your donation goes to help the valuable services provided by Intergroup includingthe AA hotline, meeting schedules, 12 step work, literature inventory, SCAANnewsletter and hospital/institution meetings.

Name Anniversary Date

Home Group Contribution* $*Recommended contribution is $1 for every year of sobriety.

If you would like a reminder notice next year, please fill out the address portionbelow or provide an email address.

Address City

State/Zip Email Page 5

FINALIntergroup Business Meeting Minutes – August 30, 2017

Chair: Cheryl S: The meeting opened with a moment of silence followedby the Serenity Prayer. Chair called for approval of last month’s minutes;Bari W. made a motion to approve July 26, 2017 minutes. The motionwas seconded and passed unanimously. Chair welcomed new groupreps. Vice Chair: Billy R: Tonight we will be having elections for the SCAANposition.Treasurer: Gary K: Thank you to Jeannie for running the financialsreports in QuickBooks and sending them to me. For July 2017, we hadnet revenue of $10, versus a loss of $1,191 for the same month lastyear. Year to date our net revenue is $3,911, behind last year by about$4,000. Group Contribution Income for the month of July was a littleahead July of last year. Year to date, group contributions are about 1%behind last year. Big Book Sales for July were a little ahead July of lastyear; total sales are about 5% behind last July. Year to date Big BooksSales and Total Sales are each around $6,000 behind last year. In addi-tion to our prudent reserve we have $19,798 in our operating account.We are in good shape. Thank you to the groups that contributed toIntergroup in July. All contributions received through the end of lastmonth are included in this report. We remain transparent in our financialreporting. The P&L statement and group contributions are alwaysincluded in the SCAAN are available online. Members are welcome tostop into the Intergroup office anytime to review the reports. Please feelfree to reach out to me should you have any questions or suggestions.Remember, this is your Intergroup. Thank you for the opportunity to beyour treasurer.Secretary: Jay W: Please remember to sign in on the Intergroup Reprosters and double check that all of your contact information is correct,thank you!Office Manager: Jeannie G: THANK YOU to all who do service for theSPBCI office & Alcoholics Anonymous! Received executed contract fromWestchester Golf Club for Serenity Scramble 2017. $200 Deposit paid toWestchester Golf Club for Serenity Scramble 2017. SCAAN August 2017uploaded to website. Serenity Scramble 2017 FLYER is now available.DR-15 Florida State Sales Tax (August 2017) and Federal Form 941(August 2017) was processed. Processed & mailed Check #9030 in theamount of $240.84 for FP&L. Processed & mailed Check #9031 in theamount of $1,475 for the September 2017 rent. Sheryl M., Chair forWhere & When, completed updates/revisions for Where & When October2017. As of August 30, 2017, there are no golf or lunch reservations forSerenity Scramble but we have five hole sponsorships.New Group Reps: Colt from All Aboard, Diane T from West BocaFriendship, Mike P from Cheer Up at 10:13, Gregg G from Serenity Hour,LaToya W from Women Line by Line, and Kris K from Men’s Roving BigBook StudyCommittee Reports:Archivist: Michael G: Excused absence, no report.Archives: Mike B: Excused absence, no report.Bridge the Gap: Bari W (women): We received a call from theIntergroup office before elections for a woman who we were able tobridge the gap for. We were able to get her to a meeting that night.Maverick C (men): Please spread the word about Bridge the Gap!General Service Liaison: Kendall C: No report.Group Information: Andrea D: I recently received the list of meetingsand have determined which meetings do not have an intergroup repre-sentative at this time. If anybody wants to help reach out to the daytimemeetings or the mens’ meetings, as I will not be able to attend them,please let me know! I will be attending the evening and weekend meet-ings in Boca, Delray, and Boynton to propose someone volunteer to bethe groups’ Intergroup representative. Thank you for allowing me to be ofservice.Public Information: Dan M: Had a slow month for Public Information.Called two schools and they said call back as schools had just started.Went to two Delray and two Boca libraries to check their stock of AAbooks. All is fine. I did not give any books out. In fact the one in Delraythat I gave them 8 months ago has not even been check out. I will check

AA EVENTSOctober 6-8GSO Area 15 AssemblyFt. Lauderdale Marriott Northwww.area15aa.org

November 10-124th Southern States Alcoholics AnonymousService Assembly (SSAASA)Sheraton Atlanta Airportwww.area15aa.org

OTHER EVENTS

The Other Events listed below are presented solelyas a service to SCAAN readers, not as an endorsementby SPBCI.

October 26-29Promises in Paradise - St. Thomaswww.promisesinparadise.com

October 28Delray Central House GroupHalloween Costume/Talent Show7:30 PM$5.00 Admission/$250 Prizes

BIRTHDAY CLUBLinda P.- October 28, 1977 - 40 yrs.

West Boca Friendship Group

South Palm Beach CountyIntergroup Association, Inc.

2905 South Federal Highway • Building C, Suite 15-16Delray Beach, FL 33483

24-hours: 561.276.4581Email: southcountyaa@comcast.netWebsite: www.aainpalmbeach.org

Office HoursMonday-Friday: 9am - 5pm

Saturday: 10am - 1pm

STEERING COMMITTEEChair - Cheryl S. Vice Chair - Billy R.Treasurer - Gary K. Secretary - Jay W.

Office Manager - Jeannie G.

COMMITTEESArchives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike B.

Archivist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael G.

Bridge the Gap - Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maverick C.

Bridge the Gap - Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bari W.

General Services Liaison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kendall C.

Group Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrea

Hospitals & Institutions (W) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laura K.

Hospitals & Institutions (M) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tolbert D.

Liaison to North County Intergroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim S.

Public Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan M.

SCAAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John T.

Telephone Relay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David

Twelve Step Committee - Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sebastian S.

Twelve Step Committee - Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carrie G.

Where & When . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sheryl M.

libraries bi-monthly. Still need to get to Boynton and Lake Worth libraries.SCAAN: OPENHospitals and Institutions: Tolbert D. (men): We have openings in a cou-ple of centers: Boca Banyan, South County, and Watershed in Boynton.We are continuing to reach out to other centers for updates on theirneeds. Laura and I are making a list of willing speakers. Please let usknow who would be willing to take commitments. Laura K (women):Not much to report. I have asked around for volunteers and so far Ihave 4 names of ladies that wish to chair meetings for 4 facilities. Weplan to evaluate when year commitments are up so we can be readywith replacements. As always we are looking for people who want tospeak or chair an H&I meeting.Telephone Relay: David: Thank you for letting me serve. Thank you toTony the previous chair and Jeannie from the Intergroup office. We arecovered through the year, however we do need groups at the start of2018 and onward. If anyone wants to get involved, please get with me!Where & When: Sheryl M: Updates to Where & Whens were completedlast weekend. New Where & Whens are coming out in October and willbe a beautiful red color!12th Step Committee: Carrie G (women): No report Sebastian S (men):No reportLiaison to North County Intergroup: Jim S: The Advisory Committee ispleased to announce they hired a new Office Manager. Her name isTracey D. and she will be starting full time on Monday, August 14th,2017. There were two items on the Agenda under unfinished business:(1) We still need to elect a Chair for the TODAY Newsletter and (2)Finish up discussion and vote on the Motion brought by our AlternateChair, John F., regarding the Mobile Meeting App. The picnic will beNovember 4th in Carlin Park at the Gumbo Limbo Pavilion where it hasbeen in the past. The opening checking balance for July 2017 was$6,615.74. Revenues were $10,471.52. Expenses were $10,776.11.Cash deficit of $304.59. Closing Checking Balance for July was$6,311.15. Current Prudent Reserve Balance is $14,043.09. The SecondMonth of testing for our QuickBooks financial software integration projectwent very well. We now are totally live on Quickbooks for the month ofAugust. Reminder that we meet the first Sunday of every month at theTriangle Club at 5:00 pm for the regular meeting, to make changes, getbooks or pick up a new meeting. For anyone who wants to get involvedin H&I there is an orientation meeting at 4:30 pm. Currently we have 51facilities that hold 106 meetings per week with 8 vacancies. Elections:No one stood for the TODAY, Randy B will continue to be the interim.The Meeting App Motion was voted on – There was an initial vote and itwas 34 in favor and 11 against. The minority opinion was discussed.There was a final vote to see if the app motion passed, it was tied 23-23.Therefore, the chairperson made the deciding vote, which was a yes.The motion passed. A representative made the announcement about the2018 Florida Convention: that will be in Fort Lauderdale. They are look-ing for people to be of service. The representative left flyers. If some-one wants to volunteer, they can reach out to the Intergroup Office.Serenity Scramble Golf Tournament: Sarge: I’d like to thank Jeannie forall her help. I have all the volunteers in place for the event. All the posi-tions we needed have been filled. Thank you to the Intergroup reps for

October Service MeetingsOctober 15

District 8 General Service Business Meeting - Triangle Club4:00 PM: GSR/DCM SHARING

4:40 PM DISTRICT 8 BUSINESS MEETINGOctober 18

SPBC Intergroup Steering Committee MeetingWednesday, 5:30 PM - SPBCI Office

October 25SPBC Intergroup Monthly Business MeetingWednesday, 7:00 PM - Delray Central House

spreading the word, please continue to make announcements about theScramble in your homegroups. We have a $10,000 hole in one prizeoffered! We are ready for golfers to start signing up to participate. Flyersare at the Intergroup office and next month I will bring them to disperse.The cost is $75 per player, $25 to attend the luncheon, or $100 to spon-sor a hole. Please refer to flyer printed in the SCAAN. Registration togolf must be returned to Sarge or the Intergroup office ahead of theevent.Old Business: Gratitude Dinner/Fall Event: A planning meeting was hosted August 16that Central House with a good turnout. We are discussing hosting apotluck style luncheon with each homegroup providing a dish. Datesbeing considered in order of interest are: 11/11, 11/4, or 11/25. We will bemeeting again at 7pm on September 6th at Central House and pleaseattend if you are interested in planning the event.New Business:Election for SCAAN: John T. was elected! Report to follow next month.Next Business Meeting: September 27, 2017

Closed meeting with the Lord’s Prayer.

Respectfully, Jay W.