AREA 79
DELEGATE
About the Delegate
The Delegate represents Area 79 at the annual General Service Conference meeting, in New York, and brings back to the area the results of that meeting. It is also the delegate’s responsibility to serve the US/Canada Conference as a whole. As voting members of the Conference, delegates bring to its deliberations the experiences and viewpoints of their own areas. Yet they are not representatives of their area in the usual political sense; after hearing all points of view, and becoming fully informed during Conference discussion, they vote in the best interest of A.A. as a whole.
Information about the General Service Conference and how A.A. functions can be found in the “Resources From A.A.®” section below.
Alternate Delegate
The Alternate Delegate is elected to the Area 79 Area Service Committee at the same time as the Delegate, and assists the Delegate in their responsibilities. In Area 79, the Alternate Delegate also sits as the Literature Chair.
GENERAL
SERVICE
CONFERENCE
The Annual Meeting
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Why Do We Need a Conference?
The late Bernard B. Smith, nonalcoholic, then chairperson of the board of trustees, and one of the architects of the Conference structure, answered that question superbly in his opening talk at the 1954 meeting: “We may not need a General Service Conference to ensure our own recovery. We do need it to ensure the recovery of the alcoholic who still stumbles in the darkness one short block from this room. We need it to ensure the recovery of a child being born tonight, destined for alcoholism. We need it to provide, in keeping with our Twelfth Step, a permanent haven for all alcoholics who, in the ages ahead, can find in A.A. that rebirth that brought us back to life.
“We need it because we, more than all others, are conscious of the devastating effect of the human urge for power and prestige which we must ensure can never invade A.A. We need it to ensure A.A. against government, while insulating it against anarchy; we need it to protect A.A. against disintegration while preventing overintegration. We need it so that Alcoholics Anonymous, and Alcoholics Anonymous alone, is the ultimate repository of its Twelve Steps, its Twelve Traditions, and all of its services.
“We need it to ensure that changes within A.A. come only as a response to the needs and the wants of all A.A., and not of any few. We need it to ensure that the doors of the halls of A.A. never have locks on them, so that all people for all time who have an alcoholic problem may enter these halls unasked and feel welcome. We need it to ensure that Alcoholics Anonymous never asks of anyone who needs us what his or her race is, what his or her creed is, what his or her social position is.”
The A.A. Service Manual pg 40 – Reprinted with permission from Alcoholics Anonymous®
From the G.S.C.
Our Area 79 delegate attends the General Service Conference held in New York each year in late April/early May. Following the Conference, the delegate (or alternate delegate) is available to give their Conference Report to the fellowship in BC/Yukon at events to which they have been invited to do so.
The reports from the GSC as well as from our Delegate can be found in the Service Library.
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JOB
DESCRIPTION
Area Delegate
The delegate has a demanding job, not only because a large amount of time and work are involved, but because it is the delegate’s responsibility to serve the U.S./Canada Conference as a whole. As voting members of the Conference, delegates bring to its deliberations the experiences and viewpoints of their own areas. Yet they are not representatives of their area in the usual political sense: after hearing all points of view and becoming fully informed during Conference discussion, they vote in the best interests of A.A. as a whole.
Duties
Though the high point is the Conference meeting, the delegate’s job goes on year-round and involves all aspects of the Conference structure. The delegate should:
- Attend the annual Conference meeting fully prepared. Immediately upon election, every delegate is put on the GSO mailing list to receive Conference materials.
- Communicate the actions of the Conference to area committee members and encourage them to pass on this information, and the delegate’s enthusiasm, to groups and to intergroups/central offices. If an area is too large for the delegate to cover in person, he or she will ask area officers and committee members to share the load.
- Be prepared to attend all area and regional service meetings and assemblies applicable to his/her respective area. From these meetings, delegates come to better understand their own areas and can make suggestions for the Conference agenda. Here, too, they come in contact with A.A. members who might not be reached otherwise.
- Help area committees obtain financial support for the area and GSO.
- Provide leadership in solving local problems involving the A.A. Traditions.
- Remind the GSRs to inform groups and individuals about the A.A. Grapevine and Conference-approved literature.
- Cooperate with GSO in obtaining information — for example, making sure that up-to-date information reaches GSO in time to meet the deadline for each issue of the A.A. directory and helping carry out the triennial membership surveys.
- Visit groups and districts in the area whenever possible.
- Work closely with committee members and officers, sharing experience throughout the year. After GSRs and committee members have reported on the Conference, learn from these A.A.s how groups and members have reacted.
- Assume added responsibility if the area chair and alternate chair are unable to serve. Or, if an area committee is not functioning effectively, the delegate may take an active role in remedying the situation.
- Keep the alternate delegate fully informed and active, so that the alternate can replace the delegate in an emergency.
- Late in the second term, work with newly elected delegates to pass along a basic knowledge of Conference proceedings and problems.
- Duties common to all ASC members on the ASC page.
Qualifications
Delegates come in all shapes and sizes, but some characteristics seem to make for well-qualified delegates.
- Several years of active participation in local and area affairs as a GSR and as a Committee member.
- Time available not only for the week-long Conference meeting in April, but for all the efforts needed before and after the Conference.
- Five or six years of continuous sobriety. The sobriety requirement varies from area to area; in any case, a delegate should have been sober long enough to be responsible and informed.
- The ability to make and take suggestions — and criticism, too.
- Experience in chairing meetings.
- Knowledge of A.A. affairs and of where to find correct information.
- Thorough familiarity with the Twelve Traditions and the Twelve Concepts, and how they apply to local problems.
- The ability to be open-minded and to sit down with A.A.s in the area, and with other delegates, to discuss and act on matters vital to A.A.
Alternate Delegate
The Conference recommends that all areas elect alternate delegates. The alternate serves as a valuable assistant, often travelling with the delegate or giving reports for him or her. In some areas, the alternate serves some special function of the committee. Many area committee treasuries recognize the need to support the alternate’s expenses separately from the delegate’s.
An alternate who replaces the delegate at the annual Conference meeting will remain on the GSO mailing list as the delegate until GSO is informed otherwise by the area committee.
- Several years of active participation in local and area affairs, as a GSR and as a committee member.
- Time available, including preparation for the General Service Conference in the event the delegate cannot attend.
- Five or six years of continuous sobriety. The sobriety requirement varies from area to area; in any case, an alternate delegate should have been sober long enough to be responsible and informed.
- The ability to make and take suggestions — and criticism, too.
- Experience in chairing meetings.
- Knowledge of A.A. affairs and of where to find correct information.
- Thorough familiarity with the Twelve Traditions and the Twelve Concepts and how to apply them to local problems.
- The ability to be open-minded and to sit down with A.A.s in the area, and with the delegate, to discuss and act on matters vital to A.A.
- Duties common to all ASC members on the ASC page.
