MINUTES - September 20, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS:  John D. called the meeting to order at 10:08 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  012, 023, 076, 185, 231, 250, 274, and 279.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #9. “Nicotine Anonymous, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve,” was read.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  I have had the honor of serving as Chair of SCINA the past two years.  I am a "trusted servant" just like the people who work with SCINA.  And that's what we are, trusted servants.  The program says we do not govern.  I look forward to working with SCINA in any capacity I am put in, even if that means I am not the Chair for this next year.  It keeps me smober and helps spread the message to other nicotine addicts that need our help.  I urge ANYONE who is thinking about being of service in the program to join SCINA in any capacity you feel right for yourself.  Every little bit helps, and don't feel like you have to do a ton of work or be the hero.  For example, you could assist with Public Outreach by placing ads for your meeting on Craigslist every week, go visit a hospital a few times a year to spread the message with a NicA forum or booth, or be your group’s Intergroup rep if it doesn’t have one.  Everyone does a little bit and it goes a long way.  God bless and thank you for letting me be of service.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $466.29.  The Joshua Tree retreat had a surplus of $326 which was donated to SCINA.  Thanks again to Alan & Jane! Income:  Donations: $10 Meeting #23 Costa Mesa, $10 Meeting #76 Costa Mesa; $20.30 from Sherman Oaks #185; $100 from Laguna Beach Meeting #257 (Total incoming:  $466.30).   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $25.48; Registrar expenses (To be reported next month); Grasshopper phone service $31.20; GoDaddy yearly domain renewal was reported last month as $17.99, but it was actually $18.17 so will deduct an additional 18 cents from total (Total outgoing $59.86). Ending balance $872.73.   The report was read and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT:   Administration list, Marty retired from Literature Chair.  Meeting changes: Mtg. #001 Secretary information updated. Mtg. #037, meeting representative and phone contact updated.  Mtg. #231 location note updated. Mtg. #274 phone contact and representative info updated. Mtg. #012 reinstated. All meetings have USPS contact through representative or email. H&I listings, none were added, no removals, no updates. 52 envelopes and 200 directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report. 

COMMUNICATIONS:  There are no concerns at this time.  If anyone is interested in taking on a commitment and becoming part of the Communications team, contact George O. at 562-310-0874. 

LITERATURE:  Marty is giving up taking care of Literature so we are in need of a literature person.  The literature has been brought to the Intergroup meeting and sales can be made following the meeting, however, they will no longer be brought to the meeting until someone steps forward to take care of literature sales for Intergroup.  George O. and Mary P. are still signers on the Union Bank Account but will need to change the account and start a new account.  If we go with Bank of America or Chase, I believe we can make deposits at multiple locations, whereas Union Bank needs to only be made at the bank the signature cards were filled out at.  Marty did leave us in full stock on chips and literature. We have $40 cash as a bank to makes sales with, and $126.84 in the Union Bank Account at this time.

WORLD SERVICES:   Due to health issues and family problems, the World Services Chair Elect cannot fulfill her position as Chair Elect.  If there is anyone that would be interested in filling the position please come forward and if you know of anyone, please have them come forward.  Contact Gary at 310-755-5582.

EVENTS:  Our picnic is today, the 3rd Sunday of September at Tellefson Park, Washington Place and Tilden Avenue, Culver City, CA. George R took care of renting the park, brought ice, drinks, and meat to grill for everyone.  George has taken care of parks for us for 7 years.  Thank you very much.  Saturday, November 21st will be the date of the Marathon meeting this year.  Also remember, we need our membership's support. As part of our recovery, it is important for us to practice reaching out to others.  Intergroup events are an opportunity for that.  

NEW MEETINGS:  Gary reports there haven’t been any requests for new meeting material.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  John D. has reached out to more cities where our meetings are located, to find out how to place PSAs (Public Service Announcements) for NicA.  Soon, we will have ads on the government television channels in some cities.  Also, there are newsletters and other publications that each city has where other 12 step programs have placed PSAs or at least their contact information.  An ad was placed on Craigslist last month for the meetings in the San Fernando Valley and the annual picnic.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:   No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:    All 3 Officers have been re-elected for the next year.  We are still looking for a Treasurer who is willing to take the position. Please contact us as Bill would be happy to train you for the job. Please contact Bill H. at 818-800-3449 or any of the Officers of Intergroup.
 
BIRTHDAYS:  George R. celebrates 8 years this month.  Joseph W. celebrates 13 years this month. Congratulations!  Please let us know if you are celebrating a Smober birthday/anniversary in October.

SECRETARY REPORT: The September report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   George & Joseph led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:05 AM.

MINUTES - August 16, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS:  John D. called the meeting to order at 10:01 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 023, 076, 185, 268, and 279.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #8. “Nicotine Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.” was read.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  With a heavy heart, I am sad to announce the passing of one of our members, Lisa C.  Some already knew of her passing last month, but I felt it important to let all of our groups know.  Lisa lived in Westwood, and she attended the Westwood meeting for many years before it went dark.  The type of meetings she loved the most, though, were the phone meetings.  She would call in to multiple phone meetings per week, and had many sponsees.  She knew folks from all over the country, and helped many people get smober over the years.  One thing that always excited her was when she mailed her sponsees chips for when they reached a new level of smobriety.  The closest meeting for many people she knew over the phone could be 200 miles away.  She found her way to carry the message and it helped many people.  We love you Lisa and we miss you.  Thank you for giving yourself so freely and for selflessly reminding us that our primary purpose is to carry the message to the nicotine addict who still suffers, no matter where they may be suffering.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $577.90.  Donations: $10 from meeting #23 Costa Mesa; $10 from meeting #76 Costa Mesa. We also received a $25 PayPal donation from Kathleen M., Joshua Tree, (Thank You!) but this has not been transferred to our checking account yet. The August SCINA Intergroup meeting brought in a 7th tradition of $22 (Total incoming $42).   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $25.44; Registrar expenses were $31.31; $30.87 Grasshopper phone bill; PO Box renewal $45; GoDaddy renewal of $17.99/yr (Total outgoing $153.61.) Ending balance $466.29.   I need to check the July bank statement which I just received this morning, but it appears the Joshua Tree Retreat had an excess of $355, which when verified will be donated to SCINA.  The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No Changes. No Meeting information was updated.  No new Meetings were added.  Meeting #278, Monday, 7:00pm Sherman Oaks, was reported as closed, and therefore removed. All meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added, no H&I listings were removed, and no H&I Listings were updated.  53 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report. 

COMMUNICATIONS: The phone lines are going well.  There are no concerns at this time.  If anyone is interested in taking on a commitment and becoming part of the Communications team, contact George O. at 562-310-0874.

LITERATURE:  We are in full stock on chips and literature.  If sending a check to pay for literature, please remember to make it payable to Nicotine Anonymous.

WORLD SERVICES:   Conference in Ohio next year, you can get the flyer from the www.nicotine-anonymous.org website.

EVENTS:  The retreat was a success. We had three newcomers. Treasurer can tell you the exact financials. I know that we were able to make a donation to Intergroup. Thanks to all who participated.  -Jane. Our picnic will be the 3rd Sunday of September at Tellefson Park, Washington Place and Tilden Avenue, Culver City, CA, please mark your calendars. See flyer included with this mailing. It’s an opportunity to meet the Officers and elect the new Officers.  Saturday, November 21st will be the date of the Marathon meeting this year.  Also remember, we need our membership's support. As part of our recovery, it is important for us to practice reaching out to others.  Intergroup events are an opportunity for that.  

NEW MEETINGS:  Gary reports there haven’t been any requests for new meeting material.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the nicotine addict who still suffers.  John D. is gathering contact information for all city government channels in Southern California.  This month, John has contacted the cities of Moreno Valley, Glendale, and Torrance to inquire about how to advertise Nicotine Anonymous with their cities.  We expect information from those cities as well as continuing contacting other cities that we have on our lists.  Intergroup also encourages meetings to do their own public outreach.  Each group is autonomous in this matter and free to do outreach in places like Craigslist, TV channels of cities, bringing meeting lists to doctor's offices, or anywhere else they feel appropriate.  There are countless opportunities.  For example, one member consistently places an ad on Craigslist for its weekly meeting.  If you need help with this in any way, or want to discuss public outreach, please contact John D.  If not, keep spreading the message!

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Gary contacted World Services about letting newcomers speak even if they are not clean.  The basic premise that the meeting not allowing members to speak is against Tradition 3. To restrict a newcomer from speaking during sharing time is stifling that member. Whether we have any responsibility remains to be seen, Intergroup and World Services do not set rules down, we are servants, but individual members can go to meetings and try to convince the rest of those members to follow Traditions.

NEW BUSINESS:    No new business.
 
BIRTHDAYS:  Bill H celebrates 16 years this month. Congratulations!  Please let us know if you are celebrating a Smober birthday/anniversary in September.

SECRETARY REPORT: The August report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Bill led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:45 AM

MINUTES - July 19, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  John D. called the meeting to order at 10:06 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 007, 023, 041, 047, 076, 084, 185, 241, and 273,

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #7. “Every Nicotine Anonymous group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.” was read.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  Our primary purpose is to offer support to those who are trying to gain freedom from nicotine.  Intergroup does this by helping on the business side of things.  We encourage everyone to volunteer with Intergroup whether it's in a big role or a small task.  You are welcomed and needed.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $842.96.  In March, although I correctly reported $31.64 for Registrar expenses, I neglected to deduct it in my spreadsheet, so revised beginning balance is $811.32.  Income:  Donations: $98 from meeting #229 Silverlake; $90 from meeting #84 Fullerton; $50 from meeting #76 Costa Mesa, $50 from meeting #1 West Hollywood, and $20 from meeting #23 Costa Mesa . The July SCINA Intergroup meeting brought in a 7th tradition of $20 (Total incoming $328).   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $28.42; Registrar expenses were $31.31; PO Box renewal $45; Squarespace annual website fee $192; AT&T Final Payments $47.26; Grasshopper (new phone service) May $30.59 + June $63.84 (includes one-time set up fee).  Also donated $20 for literature to bring to Joshua Tree [see “Events” below]. (Total outgoing $461.42.) Ending balance $677.90.   The group voted to send a $100 donation to World Services, bringing our ending balance to $577.90. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: George O was added as 800 Number Coordinator, Pro Tem. No Meeting information was updated.  No new Meetings were added.  Meeting #034 Newbury Park, Monday 7:00 pm, has gone dark.  Meeting #012 and Meeting #022 were reported dark, and were removed from the Directory.  Meeting  #236 in Oak View was removed, due to lack of ability to verify Meeting information.  All meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added, no H&I listings were removed, and no H&I Listings were updated. 
53 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  If you are interested in taking on the 800# coordinator position, please contact George O. at (562) 310-0874. Your responsibility is to return calls and provide information on our meetings. Our phone carrier has recently been changed from AT&T to Grasshopper.com, which has made it easier to monitor the phone lines.  We can now receive notifications via email or smartphone app when a voicemail is left on the 800 number.  If you download the app, you can even return calls using your smartphone, but it will show the 800 number instead of your cell number.  Again, please contact George O. if you are interested in taking on this commitment.

LITERATURE:  We are in full stock on chips and literature.  If sending a check to pay for literature, please remember to make it payable to Nicotine Anonymous.

WORLD SERVICES:   Conference in Ohio next year, you can get the flyer from the www.nicotine-anonymous.org website.

EVENTS:  The Joshua Tree retreat is next weekend.  Jane made a motion that Intergroup donate $20 of pamphlets for the retreat and a loan of $100 worth of books to sell at the retreat.  After the retreat, she will return any unsold books and the money from any sold books.  A motion was passed to loan Jane $100 worth of books. Our picnic will be the 3rd Sunday of September at Tellefson Park, Washington Place and Tilden Avenue, Culver City, CA, please mark your calendars. See flyer included with this mailing. It’s an opportunity to meet the Officers and elect the new Officers.  Saturday, November 21st will be the date of the Marathon meeting this year.  Also remember, we need our membership's support. As part of our recovery, it is important for us to practice reaching out to others.  Intergroup events are an opportunity for that. 

NEW MEETINGS:  Gary reports there haven’t been any requests for new meeting material.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  No report.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.

BY-LAWS:  No report.  Booooring.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No report.

NEW BUSINESS:  We discussed having a raffle at our events to see if we can generate more interest at our events. We will be having a 50/50 raffle at the picnic, 50% will go to the winner, and 50% will go to SCINA. We will still have a separate donation for 7th Tradition. 

Marty became very concerned because he kept hearing about groups that would not allow a person to share if they did not have time off nicotine. He thinks that is directly against Nicotine Anonymous principals and has no bearing on individual group autonomy. He thinks we need to issue a friendly reminder, that:  It is a violation of Nicotine Anonymous principles to prevent anyone who has a desire to stop using nicotine from speaking at our meetings even if they continue using. We are here to foster a positive atmosphere encouraging the user to quit as long as they have a desire to do so. 

A lot of discussion ensued and it was generally said that we shouldn’t be telling groups what they can and can’t do.  We need to leave it to the group conscience.  A vote was called and it was not passed.

BIRTHDAYS:  There were no anniversaries celebrated this month.  Please let us know if you are celebrating a Smober birthday/anniversary in August.

SECRETARY REPORT: The July report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Mauricio led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:42 AM.

MINUTES - June 21, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP of NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  George O. called the meeting to order at 10:10 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  022, 023, 047, 076, 185, 229, 231, 241, 250, and 273.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #6. “A Nicotine Anonymous group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the Nicotine Anonymous name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.” was read.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  Our primary purpose is to offer support to those who are trying to gain freedom from nicotine.  Intergroup does this by helping on the business side of things.  We encourage everyone to volunteer with Intergroup whether it's in a big role or a small task.  You are welcomed and needed.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance is $757.11.  Income:  Donations: $50 from meeting #250, Bellflower, $39 from meeting #231, Long Beach, and $25 from meeting #241, Glendale. Thank you! Our first annual potluck brought in a 7th tradition of $26.  The June SCINA Intergroup meeting brought in a 7th tradition of $13 (Total incoming $153).   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $32.46; Registrar expenses were $31.69.  (Total outgoing $67.15.) Ending balance $842.96.   The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: Carol, our long-time Leader of Phone Angels has honorably retired, and George O. has offered to be the 800 Number Coordinator. Meeting #034 Newbury Park, Monday 7:00 pm, Phone Contact and Secretary information updated. Meeting #185 Sherman Oaks Thursday 8:00 pm, Phone Contact information added. No new Meetings were added.  Meeting  #277 Downey Friday 7:00 pm was disbanded.  All meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added, no H&I listings were removed, and no H&I Listings were updated.  59 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Vee K. contacted a couple places but gets brushed off.  Please call (818) 660-3315 if you have a contact for him.  If you have a doctor or dentist that is willing to put out our business cards and our meeting list in their lounge every month, please get their contact name, business name, address, phone number and email address.  We will add them to our regular snail mail and send them our new meeting lists and any flyers we have for events every month.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Our entire membership would like to thank Carol (in Fullerton) and her "Phone Angels" for their many years of service managing our 800 number. They are stepping down at this time so that others can be of service.

If you are interested in taking on this commitment, please contact George O. at (562) 310-0874. Your responsibility is to return calls and provide information on our meetings. Our phone carrier has recently been changed from AT&T to Grasshopper.com, which has made it easier to monitor the phone lines.  We can now receive notifications via email or smartphone app when a voicemail is left on the 800 number.  If you download the app, you can even return calls using your smartphone, but it will show the 800 number instead of your cell number.  Again, please contact George O. if you are interested in taking on this commitment.

LITERATURE:  We are in full stock on chips and literature.  If sending a check to pay for literature, please remember to make it payable to Nicotine Anonymous.

WORLD SERVICES:   No report from Gary.  Nola called as she is the recently elected NAWS Chair Elect and wanted to know if there were any action items we wanted to present to the Board for their upcoming meeting July 25th.  I told her we were going to discuss hosting the Conference in 2017 or 2018 near Burbank.  We haven’t decided yet if we can host.

EVENTS:  The Potluck in Hollywood was a great success.  Jack R. was the guest speaker and members of Nicotine Anonymous came from all over the Los Angeles and Orange County area.  Thank you Intergroup and their volunteers for starting up this new event.  It is our hope that we can do it again next year. The Joshua Tree retreat is coming up in one month.  Please get your checks in so Jane can purchase the items she needs and pay for the reservation and food.  If writing a check, please make it payable to SCINA. Our picnic will be the 3rd Sunday of September at Tellefson Park, Washington Place and Tilden Avenue, Culver City, CA, please mark your calendars. See flyer included with this mailing.  Saturday, November 21st will be the date of the Marathon meeting this year.  Also remember, we need our membership's support. As part of our recovery, it is important for us to practice reaching out to others.  Intergroup events are an opportunity for that. 

NEW MEETINGS:  Gary reports there haven’t been any requests for new meeting material.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  John D. hasn't sent a formal letter yet to the City of Los Angeles, but he will do so soon.  We have been endorsed by someone in the city so that we are able to possibly have an ad on the city's news channel.  If anyone has any ideas for public outreach, then please contact John D (818) 618-1501.  Please remember that John D. took on this role because nobody else was doing it.  He is doing what he can in this role, but he and his wife just had a baby so it's a little slow.  If anyone wants to step up and be the Public Outreach Chairperson for Intergroup, then John D. is open to give it up.  If not, then John D. is committed to doing the amount of work he is able to do.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list or need a copy of the list.  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:  We discussed having a raffle at our events to see if we can generate more interest at our events. Perhaps a 50/50 raffle.  Marty thinks we should remind groups that the policy of Nicotine Anonymous is to welcome people who have a desire to quit using nicotine and welcome their participation.  Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or Nicotine Anonymous as a whole.  He is concerned that some meetings don’t allow people to share if they don’t have time off nicotine and that makes them feel unwelcome. Marty made a motion that Intergroup should advise groups that new members should be allowed to share even if they are still using.  A friendly amendment was made to please give your input to your Intergroup Representatives so that we can discuss this further next month. 

BIRTHDAYS:  Patty is celebrating 3 years this month.  Please let us know if you are celebrating a Smober birthday/anniversary in July.

SECRETARY REPORT: The June report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Vee led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:42 AM.

MINUTES - May 17, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  John D. called the meeting to order at 10:08 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  023, 047, 076, 185, 231, 241, and 273.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #5. “Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the nicotine addict who still suffers” was read.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  The focus of the program is on yourself.  You need to do your thing.  That’s how you keep the program going.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance is $775.69.  Income:   Donations: $17 from Meeting 231 Long Beach; $10 from meeting #76 Costa Mesa; $10 from meeting #23 Costa Mesa; $10 from meeting #185 Sherman Oaks. 7th Tradition from May Intergroup meeting is $22.   (Total incoming $69).   Expenses:  $3 bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $27.57; Registrar expenses were $31.76.  (Total outgoing $87.58.) Ending balance $757.11.   The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No changes. Meeting #274 Representative information updated. Meeting #229 Secretary and Representative information updated. Meeting #279 Laguna Woods was added. No meetings went dark.  All meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added, no H&I listings were removed, and no H&I Listings were updated.  59 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: Vee K. contacted Mount St. Mary's University and is waiting for them to reply. He didn't hear back yet from California Medical Center.  Please call (818) 660-3315 if you have a contact for him.  If you have a doctor or dentist that is willing to put out our business cards and our meeting list in their lounge every month, please get their contact name, business name, address, phone number and email address.  We will add them to our regular snail mail and send them our new meeting lists and any flyers we have for events every month.

COMMUNICATIONS:  George O. looked into some of the business phone providers (since AT&T has not been able to get our 800 number working since February) and narrowed it down to 3 strong possibilities: 1) Phone.com $9.99/month 100 min + $ .039/each additional min; $34/month 600 min.
 2) RingCentral.com $24.99/month  1000 min, paid upfront for a year. $34.99/month  2500 min, month to month; $44.99/month  10,000 min, month to month.  3) Grasshopper.com  $12/month + $.06/min, $24/month 500 min, $49/month 2000 min.

We can retain our 800 number, but it may take anywhere from 10 days to 3 months, depends on each company and how cooperative AT&T will be.  My recommendation would be the Grasshopper $24 plan.  I felt Grasshopper has been the most upfront and easiest to work with.  George O. made a motion to change our 800 # to Grasshopper at the $24/month rate and it was passed unanimously.  He will look into getting it done on Sunday.

LITERATURE:  No report.  Thank you Launie from Saturday Long Beach meeting for filling in for Marty. There are step study workbooks available.

WORLD SERVICES:   Please see the World Service Conference XXX Delegate Report attached to these minutes.  Bill H. will look into SCINA possibly hosting the Conference in 2017 or 2018 near Burbank.

EVENTS:  There will be a special 9:00 am Memorial Meeting next Saturday 5/23 at the Saturday morning Long Beach meeting on Cherry Avenue to remember and celebrate George Lane.  It would have been his 19th anniversary.  John D. has scheduled a potluck gathering for the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend (May 24) in Hollywood.  Jack R will be the speaker. Jane H. (who will be at the Pot Luck) is now accepting payment for the Retreat the weekend of July 25/26.  If writing a check, please make it payable to SCINA. Our picnic will be the 3rd Sunday of September, please mark your calendars.

NEW MEETINGS:  No new meetings.  Gary did get one phone call but no requests for new meeting packets.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  John D. received feedback from different cities he contacted about advertising on their city channel.  Most are willing to do so but just need an ad from us.  John D. is looking into what kind of ad we will put in on those city channels. We also need your attendance at the Intergroup meetings to have a quorum for voting.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list or need a copy of the list.  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:  No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  No birthdays were reported this month!

SECRETARY REPORT: The May report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Gary led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:11 AM.

MINUTES - April 19, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  John D. called the meeting to order at 10:06 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 012, 023, 047, 076, 185, 209, 229, 241, 268, 273, and 274.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #4. “Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or Nicotine Anonymous as a whole” was read.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  Please remind the membership that Intergroup needs volunteers.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance is $768.66.  Income:   Donations: $40 from West Hollywood Meeting #1; $30 from Fullerton Meeting #84; $10 and $7.50  from Meeting #231 Long Beach.  7th Tradition from March meeting was $16 and from April meeting was $27.   (Total incoming $130.50).   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $26.40; Registrar expenses were $31.54; AT&T Long Distance $25.27; GoDaddy annual website charges $37.26 (Total outgoing $123.47). Ending balance $775.69.   The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No changes. Meeting # 47 Representative information updated. No meetings were added and no meetings went dark.  All meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  H&I Listing added: Sophia Yeung, Cancer Screening and Prevention Program Coordinator, Nursing Department, City of Hope Medical Center, in Duarte.  No H&I listings were removed, and no H&I Listings were updated.  57 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Vee K. - no report. Please call (818) 660-3315 if you have a contact for him.  If you have a doctor or dentist that is willing to put out our business cards and our meeting list in their lounge every month, please get their contact name, business name, address, phone number and email address.  We will add them to our regular snail mail and send them our new meetings lists and any flyers we have for events every month.

COMMUNICATIONS:  SCINA’s phone line (800) 642-0666 has not been working.  George O. is looking into other options again for our 800 number.  George offered to call Sprint and AT&T to look into other options.

LITERATURE:  We are missing the World Wide Meeting Directory but are in full stock on everything else, we think we were short-changed on the last order of chips and are looking into it.

WORLD SERVICES:   The new NAWS website will be going up this weekend or shortly afterwards. I have gone over it and it is fantastic site. I think everyone will like it very much. You can find anything that is available. What is neat too is all issues available of Seven Minutes since inception will be available to read online. You will be able to register your meetings on the World Wide Meeting List online.  The new starter kit will include all pamphlets available versus only 5 of them.

EVENTS:  Jane H. had to change the reservation dates to the weekend of July 25-26 so please note the change on your calendars.  John D. has scheduled a potluck gathering for the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend (May 24) in Hollywood. We have a flyer going out with the minutes this month and also on the website.  A motion was passed for up to $50 for napkins, utensils, water and coffee and other miscellaneous items.

NEW MEETINGS:  No new meetings but Gary did send out an information package to a requestor from Laguna Woods.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  John D. is gathering contact information for all city channels in Southern California. John has contacted Cities of West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Downey, and Long Beach to inquire about how to advertise Nicotine Anonymous with their cities.  I expect information from those cities as well as continuing contacting other cities that we have on our lists.  Also, the City of Downey works with PIH (Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital). We are working on getting a relationship built with them as well. We also need your attendance at the Intergroup meetings to have a quorum for voting.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list or need a copy of the list.  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  The domains quitnowLA.com and SCINA.org were up for renewal and were in Brian’s personal domain registry account.  He set up an account for SCINA so that we can put our own billing card on it.  He then can easily transfer over the domains to SCINA. This way, we could just go direct and manage the ownership of those domains going forward without any problems.

OLD BUSINESS:  It was discussed that now that we have our own Step Study Guide, please don’t bring up other program’s literature in meetings.  Groups are autonomous and can decide how they want to handle it.

NEW BUSINESS:   Jeff M. has offered to be a delegate for us at the Conference at the end of the month and as we have openings for more delegates to represent us at the Conference April 24-26, 2015, a motion was made to elect him and it was passed.

BIRTHDAYS:  George O celebrates 13 years this month.  Congratulations!

SECRETARY REPORT: The April report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   George O. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:14 AM.

MINUTES - March 15, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS:  George O. called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 012, 023, 047, 076, 185, 229, 241, and 273.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #3. “The only requirement for Nicotine Anonymous membership is a desire to stop using nicotine.” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance is $506.75.  Income:  Donations: $100 from Meeting #1 West Hollywood; $100 from Costa Mesa Meeting #76; $14.17 from Long Beach Meeting #231; $100 from Bellflower Meeting #250; $50 from Laguna Beach Meeting #257; $73.00 from Silverlake Meeting #229; $25 from Glendale Meeting #241; $25 from Chatsworth Meeting #47.  7th Tradition from February meeting was $22.  (Total incoming $509.17).  Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $32.42; Registrar expenses were $31.64; PO Box Rental $45.00; AT&T Long Distance $66.84 (Total outgoing $147.26.) Ending balance $868.66.  The group voted to send a $100 donation to World Services, bringing our ending balance to $768.66. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: Public Outreach contact updated to show John D. as Public Outreach Chair. Meeting # 47 Representative information deleted by request. Meeting #76, Meeting location address corrected. Meeting #231 Phone contacts and Representative information updated, Secretary information deleted.  Meeting 277, Bellflower on Friday evening, 7:00 pm, at Joseph W.’s house, was added. No meetings were lost.  All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added. No H&I listings were removed.  BREATHE LA is no longer affiliated with American Lung Association, so contact information was changed.  Address remains. 56 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Vee K. contacted California Hospital and is currently speaking with their educational department to incorporate our fliers to a discharge package to all patients in California hospital. He is waiting for them to get back to him.  Meanwhile, he is calling other medical institutions. Please call (818) 660-3315 if you have a contact for him.  If you have a doctor or dentist that is willing to put out our business cards and our meeting list in their lounge every month, please get their contact name, business name, address, phone number and email address.  We will add them to our regular snail mail and send them our new meetings lists and any flyers we have for events every month.

COMMUNICATIONS:  SCINA’s phone line (800) 642-0666 has not been working.  George O., former Chairperson of SCINA 09/2005 to 09/2012, was informed Wed, Feb 4, 2015 and called the phone company to place a work order to look into getting it fixed.  He was asked to call other numbers over and over and no one seems to know how to fix the problem.  We may need to look into other options again for our 800 number.  George offered to call Sprint and AT&T to look into other options.

LITERATURE:  We are on full stock on everything, we received our order and have more step study books as we sold out last month.  Theresa saved us about $15 in shipping by making a special trip to the Post Office to send us the order from Texas.  The updated order form has been added to the website.

WORLD SERVICES:  Gary M. - no report.

EVENTS:  Our next scheduled event is the 2015 Retreat.  Jane H. had to change the reservation dates to the weekend of July 25-26 so please note the change on your calendars.  John D. is working on a potluck gathering for the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend (May 24) near Melrose and La Brea. We will get back to everyone next month on this after the details are worked out.

NEW MEETINGS:  One new meeting has been started by Joseph W of the Tuesday night Bellflower meeting, at 7:00 pm Friday, at a residence, 13128 Eastbrook, in Downey.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  John D. is gathering contact information for all city channels in Los Angeles County. Please remember, we have free business cards at the Intergroup meetings.  Come and get them. We also need your attendance at the Intergroup meetings to have a quorum for voting.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list or need a copy of the list.  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  The domains quitnowLA.com and SCINA.org were up for renewal and were in Brian’s personal domain registry account.  He set up an account for SCINA so that we can put our own billing card on it.  He then can easily transfer over the domains to SCINA. This way, we could just go direct and manage the ownership of those domains going forward without any problems.

OLD BUSINESS: 

NEW BUSINESS:  Elections were held for delegates to represent us next month at the World Services Conference April 24-26, 2015.  Elected delegates were Rodger F., Bill H., Mary P., Liz G., Angela P, George O., and John D.  We have to send a letter to the Secretary of World Services by 3/24/15 giving notification of who will be representing us at the Conference.

BIRTHDAYS:  Angela P. celebrates 11 years, John celebrates 2 years.  Congratulations!

SECRETARY REPORT: The March report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:  Jane led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:53 AM.

MINUTES - February 15, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: Angela called the meeting to order at 10:06 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 023, 034, 047, 076, 185, 231, and 268.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  Thank you to everyone who helped with outreach last month.  Many of you brought Nic A business cards to various places, as well as literature.  Please remember that just because January is outreach month, that does not mean you can't do this every month.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #2. “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  After a $100 donation to NAWS, our beginning balance was $499.61.  Income:   Donations: $35 from Meeting #84 Fullerton.  7th Tradition from January meeting was $31.    (Total incoming $66).   Expenses:  Secretary expenses $27.36; Registrar expenses were $31.50 (Total outgoing $58.86.) Ending balance $506.75.   The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No changes.  Meeting #76, Meeting location address corrected. No Meetings were added, no meetings were lost.  All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added. No H&I listings were removed. 56 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Vee K. has been making calls to doctors and hospitals (i.e., California Medical Center) and we hope to have additions to our H&I list soon to send our meeting lists to.  Please call (818) 660-3315 if you have a contact for him.  If you have a doctor or dentist that is willing to put out our business cards and our meeting list in their lounge every month, please get their contact name, business name, address, phone number and email address.  We will add them to our regular snail mail and send them our new meetings lists and any flyers we have for events every month.  20 copies of the pamphlet ‘Introducing Nicotine Anonymous to the Medical Profession’ will be sent to Vee to help him with H&I.

COMMUNICATIONS:  SCINA’s phone line (800) 642-0666 was down temporarily.  George O. (former Chairperson of SCINA 09/2005 to 09/2012) was informed Wed, Feb 4, 2015 and called the phone company to place a work order to look into getting it fixed.

LITERATURE:  We plan on ordering more step study books to have next month as we sold out last month.  We are going to set the cost at $16.00 each. We are in stock on chips.  The updated order form will be added to the website very soon.

WORLD SERVICES:   Gary M. says we will be voting on two new pamphlets: (1) Abstinence, and (2) Our Policy of Openness, and also approving minor changes to Nicotine Anonymous - The Book for the next printing. Please remember our program for donating called "Gift of Gratitude." You can set it up to make monthly, semi-monthly and annual donations. If one donates a minimum of $10 monthly, they will receive a free issue of Seven Minutes as long as they donate every quarter.

EVENTS:  Our next scheduled event is the 2015 Retreat.  Jane H. has reserved the weekend of June 27-28 so mark your calendars.  Jane is working on getting a flyer made up.  John D. is working on a possible event for the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend (May 24).  The location is not confirmed, but the idea is to do a potluck sort of event.  We will get back to everyone next month on this after the details are worked out.

NEW MEETINGS:   No new meetings per Gary M.  Meetings are really dropping.  We’re down to 26 in this Intergroup.  In looking back through the archives, it was found that we had 43 meetings on our meeting list in January of 2007.  Please think about starting a new meeting and keep attending the meetings you can to support new members.  Please also work with Intergroup to help you get advertising out about your meeting by calling Angela at (949) 302-8465.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  John D. is gathering contact information for all city channels in Los Angeles County.  The goal is to try and place ads on them.  This all might be a little delayed though as John D. is taking some time off for paternity leave.  Please let John know if you'd like to assist with outreach.  Please remember, we have free business cards at the Intergroup meetings.  Come and get them.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  An agreement was drafted and forwarded to SCINA Officers and Stephen F. for signature regarding Stephen’s loan/gift of $3,000 to SCINA to defray monthly Bank of America fees.

NEW BUSINESS:    Elections will be held for delegates to represent us next month at the World Services Conference April 24-26, 2015.  We still have until next month’s Intergroup meeting to finalize anyone wanting to attend as our delegate. Please let us know if you can attend.  We have to send a letter to the Secretary of World Services by 3/24/15 giving notification of who will be representing us at the Conference.

BIRTHDAYS:  Regina celebrates 5 years this month, Rick celebrates 17 years.  Congratulations!

SECRETARY REPORT: The February report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Launie led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:53 AM.

MINUTES - January 18, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:03 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  023, 047, 076, 085, 185, 229, 231, and 273.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  John is cleaning up our agenda to make it look a little more professional.  He reminds everyone to be of service at the Intergroup level.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #1. “Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon Nicotine Anonymous unity” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $377.71.  Income:   Donations: $100 from Long Beach Mtg #12; $10 from Costa Mesa Mtg #23; $131 from Costa Mesa Mtg #76; $50 from Fullerton meeting #84; $21 from Long Beach Mtg #231.  Thanks! 7th Tradition from December meeting was $21.  We found a misplaced envelope from the September picnic, and in it another $23.  (Total incoming $356).   Expenses:  Bank Fee $19 (we deposited $3000 check in late December, so we won't have this fee in the future); Secretary expenses $25.92; Registrar expenses were $31.50; AT&T Long Distance $57.68. (Total outgoing $134.10.) Ending balance $599.61.  A vote was moved and approved to donate $100 to World Services.  The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: “Vee” K. accepted Hospitals and Institutions Chair.  Meeting Information:  Meeting #59, USPS address was added.  No Meetings were added.  
Meeting 276, Thursday at 7:00 pm, in El Segundo was removed. All Meetings except for #197 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added. No H&I listings were removed. 56 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Vee K. has been making calls and we hope to have an update from him soon with additions to our H&I list to send our meeting lists to.  Please call (818) 660-3315 if you have a contact for him.

COMMUNICATIONS:  No report.

LITERATURE:  We received our large reorder of literature and are in full stock on all items. We have three of the new step study workbooks for purchase. We are going to set the cost at $16.00 each. Actual cost is $15.00 but we need to add postage costs to get it to us.  We are in stock on chips. We will more than likely place an order this month to bring inventory levels up.  Special thanks to Theresa in Dallas who reduced our freight costs.

WORLD SERVICES:   Gary M. says No Report.

EVENTS:  Our next event is the 2015 Retreat.  Jane H. has reserved the weekend of June 27-28 so mark your calendars.  Remember, we have free business cards at the Intergroup meetings.  Come and get them.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:   No new meetings per Gary M.  Meetings are really dropping.  We’re down to 36 states that have meetings.  Please think about starting a new meeting.  Please also work with Intergroup to help you get advertising out about your meeting.  Call Angela at (949) 302-8465.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  January is Carry The Message Month, please ask your members to get the word out.  Joseph W. was contacted by someone from SHARE! in Culver City which is a Self Help Center.  They were planning a New Year’s Resolution Day Saturday, 1/17/15 and asked if we wanted to help by taking an hour to share our story and our program.  They were having hour-long meetings on the hour 10am through 5pm except for a lunch break at noon.  Local people were contacted in the NicA community and asked if they could help and a small group of us attended.  Our speakers were Lamont and Joseph W.  John D. also dropped off a bunch of flyers and business cards at the facility.  Greg said he could no longer Chair the Public Outreach and John D. has offered to take over as Chair.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  An agreement was drafted and forwarded to SCINA Officers and Stephen F. for signature regarding Stephen’s loan/gift of $3,000 to SCINA to defray monthly Bank of America fees.

NEW BUSINESS:    No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  Ian celebrates 12 years, Linda and Fran celebrate 13 years, and Estelle celebrates 6 years this month, all from Costa Mesa.  Chris of the Fullerton mtg took 7 years this month.  Christine C. of Long Beach celebrates 15 years this month.  Congratulations!

SECRETARY REPORT: The December report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Gary led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:49 AM.

MINUTES - December 21, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: Angela P. called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  012, 023, 047, 076, 185, 229, 231, 241, 268, 273, and 276.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  John is cleaning up our agenda to make it look a little more professional.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #12. “Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $172.60.  Income:  The November Gratitude Marathon Meetings[1] brought in $287.00 for SCINA (see details below), and for that we are truly grateful. 7th Tradition of $24 was collected at the Intergroup meeting in November (Total incoming $311).   We also received a $25 PayPal donation from Kathleen M., Joshua Tree, (Thank You!) but this has not been transferred to our checking account yet.  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3; Secretary expenses $26.40; Registrar expenses were $31.49; PO Box Rental $45.  (Total outgoing $105.89) Ending balance $377.71.  SCINA also received a $3,000 check from Stephen F., which will be deposited into our savings account so we can avoid the increased $16 monthly Bank of America fee[2].  SCINA thanks Stephen F. very much!!! The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No Changes made to Administration List. Meeting 231, Phone Contact #1 information updated. Meeting 268, Meeting Address Changed, and Secretary e-mail updated.

No Meetings were added.  Meeting 225, Wednesday at 7:00 pm, in Downey was removed. All Meetings except for #59, #197, and #229 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  200 directories and 54 envelopes were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Vee K. of the Studio City mtg. has offered to be the Chairperson for H&I.  We hope to hear an update from him soon.  818-660-3315 if you have a contact for him to add

COMMUNICATIONS:   Our phone angels received some calls from around the country and George O. called them back to get them information to contact World Services to find a meeting.

LITERATURE:  Marty said he did not place an order so we are a little low on some items.  We are currently out of stock on The Year of Miracles.

WORLD SERVICES:   Gary M. reported:  (1) The new website is almost ready and we will make an announcement when it is fully functioning. (2) Websites likewww.recovery.org/topics/about-the-smokers-anonymous-12-step-recovery-program this one and others are using or implying they are a part of NicA. World Services (WS) is trying to get them to stop doing this as it is giving a wrong perception of who we are. WS has written letters to get them to desist using our name. Number one we are not Smokers Anonymous, and number two the 12 steps they list are not our steps. There are a couple others that are doing this and one is promoting nicotine replacement therapy (NRTs) as well. What to do if they don't stop using our name, WS isn't sure just yet.  We don’t have the funds to hire attorneys so it’s a wait and see attitude for the moment. (3) All is going well with the San Francisco 2015 WSC, but we need people to register ($35).  The hotel cost is actually pretty reasonable at $99/night including breakfast. Please let all know. The Nicotine Anonymous World Service Conference will be held April 25-27th in San Francisco.  Details and the flyer can be found at www.nicotine-anonymous.org as well as www.QuitNowLA.com (4) There is a telephone free bridge Marathon on New Years that is posted on the NicA website. I am going to attend the 2pm meeting as a speaker. The flyer is posted under What's New.

EVENTS:  Thanks to Joseph W. for organizing and setting up the 10th annual SCINA Marathon Meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in Bellflower.  This is a follow-up on the Great American SmokeOut which is always the 3rd Thursday of November.  Our next event is the 2015 Retreat.  Jane H. has reserved the weekend of June 27-28 so mark your calendars.  Remember, we have free business cards at the Intergroup meeting.  Come and get them.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:   No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  January is Carry The Message Month, please ask your members to get the word out.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:    No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  Alan C. celebrates 14 years, Frank S. celebrates 16 years, Lisa C. celebrates a birthday, and Emil celebrates 25 years this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The December report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Vee led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:49 AM.

[1] Marathon Details:  Group #250 (9 – 10 am) $11; Group #12 (10 – 11 am ) $15; Meeting #23 (11 am – 12 pm) $30; Meeting #76 (12 – 1 pm) $26; Meeting #275 (1 – 2 pm) $70; Meeting #22 (2 – 3 pm) $19; Group #257 (3 – 4 pm) $13; Group #229 (4 – 5 pm) $7; Group #LaMonte Culver Group (5 –  6pm) $11; Group #274 (6 – 7) pm $20; Group #84 (7– 8 pm) $27; Group #185 (8–  9 pm) $25.  Literature sold, 1 book = $12.  Total $307 – $20 paid for expenses = $287 deposits.  Thanks to all the meetings!

[2] As a reminder, last month the Bank of America sent a letter to all business accounts notifying of a $16 monthly fee for all accounts without a minimum daily balance of $3,000. (We currently pay a $3 monthly fee.) An attendee offered to loan SCINA $3,000 to defer the BoA bank fees for the duration of his life (which would need to be returned to his heirs upon his demise) or upon his request so that we can stay at Bank of America.  The group took a vote on whether to accept the loan, and it was approved.

MINUTES - November 16, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:02 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  012, 023, 049, 076, 097, 185, 241, 268, and 273.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #11. “Our Public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, TV, and films” was read.

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT:  John D. welcomed everyone to the meeting.  West Hollywood meeting has been very poorly attended.  This was the original meeting in our program, #001.  Please support this meeting.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $347.80.  Income:  Donations this month: $153 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa and $25 from Meeting # 241 Glendale. Thank You!  7th Tradition of $14 was collected at the Intergroup meeting in October.  (Total incoming $167).   Expenses:  Bank Fee $3;  Secretary expenses $34.30; Registrar expenses were $34.40; AT&T Long Distance expenses of $25.50, $125 check written to Calvary Baptist Church for the marathon meetings; $120 SCINA 2015 donation to White Memorial Hospital (we finally found the correct contact person!).  (Total outgoing $342.20) Ending balance $172.60.  

The Bank of America (BoA) sent a letter to all business accounts notifying of a $16 monthly fee for all accounts without a minimum daily balance of $3,000. (We currently pay a $3 monthly fee.) I called and asked if they would make an exception for a small non-profit or to see if there were any other options, and they said no.  I researched several different banks, and found the best choice for us is Wells Fargo which waives their $12 monthly fee if we maintain a balance of $1,000, which we have in our prudent reserve.  An attendee has offered to loan SCINA $3,000 to defer the BoA bank fees for the duration of his life (which would need to be returned to his heirs upon his demise) or upon his request so that we can stay at Bank of America.  The group took a vote on whether to accept the loan, and it was approved. Our secretary will write up a contract receipt.  If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please contact Bill H. at whca111@gmail.com by the end of November. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No Changes made to Administration List: No Meetings reported changes. No Meetings were added.  No Meetings were removed. All Meetings except for #59, #197, and #229 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  200 directories and 55 envelopes were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  We do not currently have anyone to Chair the Hospitals and Institutions Committee at this time.  If you can be of service, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501 or Bill H. at (818) 800-3449.

COMMUNICATIONS:   No report.

LITERATURE:  Marty said he did not place an order so we are a little low on some items.

WORLD SERVICES:   Gary M. reported:  (1) The new website is almost ready, and we will make an announcement when it is fully functioning. (2) The Step Study Workbook has gone to print, and should be available in a few weeks. (3) Individual donations are up and group donations are down. Literature sales are down. (4) All is going well with the San Francisco 2015 WSC, but we need people to register.  The cost is actually pretty reasonable at $99/night including breakfast. Please let all know. (5) Good progress is being made on the Ohio 2016 WSC. (6) Checko M. of New York has stepped up to be the Officer At Large acting as Chair Emeritus beginning next April. (7) We need people to step up and (a) Take on the workgroup to study the evolving roles of WS Officers, (b) Take on the International Committee, (c) Run for Office at the 2015 WSC, The Nicotine Anonymous World Service Conference will be held April 25-27th in San Francisco.  Details can be found at nicotine-anonymous.org.

EVENTS:  Thanks to Joseph W. for organizing and setting up the 10th annual SCINA Marathon Meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in Bellflower.  We hope to see many of you there on Saturday, November 22nd.  This is a follow-up on the Great American SmokeOut which is always the 3rd Thursday of November.  Please ask your group to sponsor and attend one of the meetings at this event. The flyer for this event is available on our website:  www.SCINA.org or www.QuitNowLA.com  Jane H. has reserved the weekend of June 27-28 for the retreat in 2015 so mark your calendars.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.  Plus free food!

NEW MEETINGS:   No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  No report.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Call Angela P. (949) 302-8465 if you would be like to join the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Meeting schedule letter is going out to White Memorial along with our donation of $10/month for 2013, 2014, and 2015 - $360.00.

NEW BUSINESS:    No report.

BIRTHDAYS:  Gary M. celebrates 16 years this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The November report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.  As the Secretary, I would like to take a moment to thank all the people who help the Intergroup on a regular basis.  That includes the Secretaries, Intergroup Representatives, and phone reps of all of our meetings as well as the Committee Chairpersons who do a little bit or a lot every day to make sure this program continues in this area and is available to people who are willing to try to quit one more time.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Stephen led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:12 AM.

Download a copy of the minutes here

Meeting held at 10:00 am 3rd Sunday of each month except September at:

White Memorial Medical Center, 1720 E. Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, Boyle Heights CA 90033

MINUTES - October 19, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:14 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  047, 185, 229, 231, 241, 268, and 273.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #10. “Nicotine Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the Nicotine Anonymous name ought never be drawn into public controversy.” was read.

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT:  John D. reported that the picnic was a success, and announced the incumbent SCINA officers were re-elected:  John. D., Chairperson, Angela P. Secretary, Bill H. Treasurer, Rick W. Registrar.  The Committee Chairs also have not changed.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $318.72.  Income:  Donations this month: $50 Fullerton meeting #84; $50 from Bellflower meeting #250; $50 from Costa Mesa #76; $9 from #231 Long Beach. Thank You!  7th Tradition of $21 was collected at the Intergroup meeting at the Picnic (still have not received August 7th tradition).  The Joshua Tree Retreat brought in $112 profit.  (Total incoming $292).   Expenses:  Bank Fee $3;  Secretary expenses $31.02; Registrar expenses were $31.76 (last month) and $31.67 (this month); Picnic supplies $140. (Thanks to George R. for getting us a discount on the park permits, saving us about $100!)  (Total outgoing $262.92) Ending balance $347.80.   The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No Changes made to Administration List:  Meeting 197:  Secretary Address removed due to returned mail. Meeting 273: Meeting time corrected to 5:30 pm, change effective November 1st.  No Meetings were added.  No Meetings were removed. All Meetings except for #59, #197, and #229 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  200 directories and 41 envelopes were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  We do not currently have anyone to Chair the Hospitals and Institutions Committee at this time.  If you can be of service, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501 or Bill H. at (818) 800-3449.

COMMUNICATIONS:   No report.

LITERATURE: Marty W. would like to thank Angela for bringing the literature to the picnic.  Literature is in full stock.

WORLD SERVICES:   Gary M. announced the board meeting is this coming week and will have a full report next month.  The Nicotine Anonymous World Conference will be held April 25-27th in San Francisco.  Details can be found at nicotine-anonymous.org.

EVENTS:  Thanks to George R. for organizing and setting up the SCINA Picnic in September at Rush Park in Orange County.  And thanks to everyone who attended and brought food and games, making this another successful event! 
Our tenth annual Marathon Meeting will be held on November 22 hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  This is held to follow-up on the Great American Smoke-Out which is always the 3rd Thursday of November.  Please ask your group to sponsor and attend a meeting time at this event.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.  Plus free food!  

NEW MEETINGS:   No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  Fullerton College in Orange County contacted us asking us to participate in their Substance Abuse Awareness Day Fair on November 5.  Greg D. was contacted about it and contacts at the Fullerton Saturday meeting were asked to try to participate.  Call Angela P. at (949) 302-8465 for more information or Greg D. (323) 804-3163 for Public Outreach.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Please contact Angela P. if you would be interested in joining the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Meeting schedule letter is waiting for correct contact to send to White Memorial along with our donation of $10/month for 2013 and 2014 - $240.00.  Bill H. and George O. are trying to find the right person to send the donation to but none of their calls have been returned.

NEW BUSINESS:    No report.

BIRTHDAYS:  Buck E. celebrated 1 year October 11th.

SECRETARY REPORT: The October report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Marty led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:50 AM.

MINUTES - September 21, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  012, 023, 047, 076, 231, and 250.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #9. “Nicotine Anonymous, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $392.78.  Income:  Donations this month: $25 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa, $8 from Meeting #231 Long Beach. Thank You!  (total incoming $33).   Expenses:  Bank Fee $3;  Secretary expenses $33.12; Mailbox Express, $45; AT&T Long Distance, $25.94; (Total outgoing $107.06) Ending balance $318.72. (Did not receive 7th tradition amount received in August, nor registrar's expenses, so will put those in next month's report. I am still out of town and need to see all my paperwork before I can give a definitive total, but we made a profit at the Joshua Tree Retreat again this year, and the amount will be donated to SCINA.  Special thanks to Alan and Jane!)  The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Greg Davis is Chair of Public Outreach.  Thank you Greg.  Meeting 229: Phone Contacts updated.  Meeting 276 in El Segundo, Thursday at 7:00 pm, was added.  Meeting 007, in Westwood, Wednesday at 7:15 pm, and Meeting 271, in Signal Hill, Friday, 6:00 pm, have gone dark.  All Meetings except for #59 and #229 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No changes to the H&I Listings.  59 envelopes were addressed, and 200 directories printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  We do not currently have anyone to Chair the Hospitals and Institutions Committee at this time.  If you can be of service, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501 or Bill H. at (818) 800-3449.  We did get a call from Culver City SHARE! requesting Nicotine Anonymous to have a meeting on Saturday 9/27/14 as it’s their ‘Recovery Day’ so we would like to have some volunteers contact us to be of service to them.  Please call John D. if you can help.

COMMUNICATIONS:   No report.

LITERATURE: No report.

WORLD SERVICES:   No report.

EVENTS:  The picnic was held at Rush Park in Rossmore.  Thank you George R. for getting us the park at the great discount and setting up for us.  Thank you everyone for attending.  We hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November on the 22nd hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:   No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  ‘When You Are Ready… We Will Be There’ business cards were purchased for distribution to the membership and are available.  Call Angela P. at (949) 302-8465 for cards and Greg D. (323) 804-3163 for Public Outreach.  We hope to have the Marathon meeting on the 22nd of November.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  A new speakers list is going out with this mailing as there have been additions and deletions.  Please contact Angela P. if you would be interested in joining the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Meeting schedule letter is waiting for correct contact to send to White Memorial along with our donation of $10/month for 2013 and 2014 - $240.00.  Bill H. is trying to find the right person.

NEW BUSINESS:   Officers are elected every September at the Intergroup meeting before the picnic.  Our new Intergroup Officers are:  John D., Chairperson; Bill H., Treasurer; and Angela P., Secretary.  

BIRTHDAYS:  .Joseph celebrates 12 years this month, and George R. celebrates 7 years today.

SECRETARY REPORT: The September report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Joseph led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:03 AM

MINUTES - August 17, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: Angela P. called the meeting to order at 10:03 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 012, 023, 047, 076, 092, 185, 229, 241, 268, and 273.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #8. “ Nicotine Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $666.15.  Income:  Donations this month: $7 from Meeting #231 Long Beach. Thank You! Also, $10 from the 7th tradition July SCINA meeting (total incoming $17).   Expenses:  Bank Fee $3;  Registrar expenses, $31.71; Secretary expenses $29.28; $40 contribution by SCINA for Joshua Tree event (literature and chips); $86.38 for business cards; $100 donation from SCINA to Nicotine Anonymous World Services (NAWS); (Total outgoing $290.37) Ending balance $392.78. The report was moved and approved.  [Treasurer called out of town on business and was unable to finalize report on Joshua Tree event, so that will be in next month’s minutes.]

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No Changes. Meeting 273 Phone Contact #2 removed and Meeting Type updated.  No Meetings were added, and no Meetings were abandoned.  All Meetings except 059 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail. No H&I Listings were added, removed, or updated.  61 envelopes were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  The Tarzana Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Center in the San Fernando Valley recently became a smoke-free facility.  They contacted NAWS Outreach Coordinator Jeff M. about organizing a NicA panel to attend the kickoff event on August 1st. SCINA Members Chairperson John D., Treasurer Bill H., and Sherman Oaks #185 secretary Pat L. volunteered to share their experience, strength and hope with the residents and visitors in attendance.  Festivities kicked off at 3 pm with belly and fire dancers (a hard act to follow). Food and health vendors manned tables to help steer patients towards a better way of living, and our panel spoke for 45 minutes planting seeds in the mostly youthful crowd.  The atmosphere was laid back, fun, and friendly, and the crowd was appreciative of our presence. Dozens of people who may have never heard of Nicotine Anonymous before now know there is hope and a home for them when they are ready.  

We do not currently have anyone to Chair the Hospitals and Institutions Committee at this time.  If you can be of service, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501 or Bill H. at (818) 800-3449.

COMMUNICATIONS:   No report.

LITERATURE: We are in good shape for chips and literature.  Thank you to Angela for preparing labels and bringing bags and handling business cards.

WORLD SERVICES:   There was a NAWS meeting this month and the Step Study Guide for Nicotine Anonymous should be ready for sale in December. I don't have a price at the moment.  It was suggested we put a newcomers package together that would have the Newcomers booklet, 90 days/90 ways and each pamphlet for $10-12. In the starter kit would be added a note about donations to NAWS and request everyone join the Gift of Gratitude which is a monthly donation in any amount. Donations of $10 or more get a free subscription to Seven Minutes in the mail.  The price of the Nicotine Anonymous The Book and Paths to Freedom CD is being raised from $17-25. We sell very few of those. Trying to get Russian Translators for our literature.

EVENTS:  Our annual picnic in September is on the 3rd Sunday in Orange County this year at Rush Park, 3001 Blume, Rossmoor, 90720.  We will hold our regular Intergroup meeting and elect Officers for Intergroup.  Nominations are now open for Chairperson, Treasurer, and Secretary for Intergroup.  Flyers were distributed to meeting Secretaries but you can also see and print the flyer on our website www.SCINA.org or www.QuitNowLA.com.  We also hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:  New meeting starting in El Segundo on Thursday night 7:00 pm.  See attached flyer.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  ‘When You Are Ready… We Will Be There’ business cards were purchased for distribution to the membership.  A flyer concerning ‘Carry The Message’ is going out with the minutes this month.  Greg D. has offered to Chair the Public Outreach Committee at this time (323) 804-3163.  He was unanimously voted in.  It was suggested that we have a major push in November, perhaps at the Marathon meeting to do public outreach and Carry The Message in January.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No additions have been made to the Speakers List.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Meeting schedule letter is waiting for correct contact to send to White Memorial along with our donation of $10/month for 2013 and 2014 - $240.00.  Bill H. is trying to find the right person.

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  Bill H. celebrates 16 years this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The August report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Greg led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:21 AM.

MINUTES - July 20, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: Angela P. called the meeting to order at 10:05 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  023, 034, 047, 076, 185, 229, 241, and 273.  We need support from our membership, please come to the Intergroup meetings.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #7. “Every Nicotine Anonymous group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $567.33.  Income:  Donations this month: $50 from Meeting #84 Fullerton; $50 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa, $35 from Meeting 250 Bellflower, and $20 (two $10 donations) from Meeting 231 Long Beach; Thank You! Also, $9 from the 7th tradition June SCINA meeting (total incoming $169).   Expenses:  Bank Fee $3; Registrar expenses, $31.64; Secretary expenses $35.54; (Total outgoing $70.18) Ending balance $666.15.  I will make a complete report of the Joshua Tree Retreat finances in next month’s minutes, but we know that we are in the black.  Therefore, a motion was made and seconded that we send $100 donation to World Services.

Donations were misreported in the April minutes.  “$20 + $10 from Huntington Beach Meeting #247” should have read, “$20 + $10 from Mtg. #231 Long Beach.”  Another donation from the same meeting was misreported in the May minutes.  “$10 from Meeting #227 Huntington Beach” should have read, “$10 from Mtg. 231 Long Beach.”  (Donations were mailed to our PO Box #247 in Huntington Beach, Doh!)  Our apologies to the Saturday morning meeting in Long Beach and many thanks to everyone for their donations.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: Hospitals & Institutions and Public Outreach Chairmanships are now marked vacant. Treasurer’s email address was corrected. Meeting 231: Representative information updated. No Meetings were added, and no meetings went dark.  All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added and none were removed. 61 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Jeff in Joshua Tree who Chairs Public Outreach for World Services was contacted about a panel to speak to the San Fernando Valley Region Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Center becoming a smoke-free facility.  Bill H. of the Thursday Sherman Oaks mtg offered to get his group to join him for a panel there on August 1st, from 3-5 pm.  If anyone can help, please contact Bill H. at (818) 800-3449. 

We do not currently have anyone to Chair the Hospitals and Institutions Committee at this time.

COMMUNICATIONS:   No report.

LITERATURE: We are in good shape for chips and literature.  A motion was made, seconded and passed to donate $20 worth of pamphlets and $20 worth of chips to the retreat.

WORLD SERVICES:   No report.

EVENTS:  Jane H. told us the expenses for the retreat are covered but there are still beds available if you want to go.  It is the last weekend in July (26/27).  Please call Jane if you want to attend and make arrangements for payment (323) 852-1518.   Our annual picnic in September is on the 3rd Sunday in Orange County this year at Rush Park, 3001 Blume, Rossmoor, 90720.  We will hold our regular Intergroup meeting and elect Officers for Intergroup.  Nominations are now open for Chairperson, Treasurer, and Secretary for Intergroup.  Flyers were distributed to meeting Secretaries but you can also see and print the flyer on our website www.SCINA.org or www.QuitNowLA.com.  We also hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:  Checko M., an email servant for World Services forwarded a request for information about starting a meeting by Maggie F. who lives in downtown Los Angeles.  It might be starting at Heal One World Free Yoga and Community Class Center at 3503 W Pico Blvd, LA soon.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  Angela P. tried to place an ad for her meetings in the LA Times but was again told they will not offer any free advertising.  She does renew free ads for 4 meetings every 21 days on www.PennySaverUSA.com on a regular basis.  She also renews free ads for 2 meetings every 30 days on Craigslist.  It’s as simple as opening an account (User Name and password) and then typing information about your meeting.  Then make a note on your calendar to log in every month and renew the ad.  You don’t have to put any personal information in the ad but a contact first name and phone number is helpful in case people want directions to your meetings.  We do not have anyone to Chair the Public Outreach Committee at this time.  If anyone can help, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No additions have been made to the Speakers List.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Meeting schedule letter is waiting for correct contact to send to White Memorial along with our donation of $10/month for 2013 and 2014 - $240.00.  Bill H. is trying to find the right person.

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  No one celebrating a birthday this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The July report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Buck led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:50 AM.

MINUTES - June 15, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:04 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  007, 012, 023, 047, 076, 084, 185, 231, 250, 268, 273, and 274.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #6. “A Nicotine Anonymous group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the Nicotine Anonymous name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.” was read.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:   We have a flyer ready for Intergroup Chair positions that we need filled.  The meeting on Wednesday night in Westwood is really struggling.  Please be of service by attending an extra meeting in support of those who are trying to quit using nicotine.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $579.48.  Income:  Donations this month: $80 from Meeting #12 Long Beach; $25 from Meeting #47 Chatsworth.  Thank You! Also, $21 from the May 7th tradition (total incoming $126.00). [There was also a $100 donation from Silverlake meeting via PayPal, not yet transferred to our checking account and not reflected in this total.]   Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00;  Registrar expenses, $31.74; Secretary expenses $35.43; PO Box Rental $45.00; AT&T Long Distance $22.98.   (Total outgoing $138.15) Ending balance $567.33. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No changes. Meeting 185: Location updated.  No Meetings were added, and no Meetings went dark.  All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No H&I Listings were added and none were removed.  62 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  We do not have anyone to Chair the Hospitals and Institutions Committee at this time.  If anyone can help, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501.

COMMUNICATIONS:   No report.

LIERATURE: We are in good shape for chips, Marty ordered a large order.  He will be placing an order for Literature. Mtg. #250 gave a donation $35 in cash the month before last and it was just turned into the Treasurer for deposit.

WORLD SERVICES:   (1) There are three new Officers on the board of NAWSO:  Andy A (Chair elect), Zulma (Secretary elect) and Sarah B (Treasurer elect).  (2) Step study guide passed after suggested corrections mainly grammatical changes.  (3)  Spirituality Pamphlet failed. Much discussion on paragraph two, they couldn’t come to agreement on that paragraph. Was decided it needed more work and to be presented at next years board.  (4) Motion passed to have committee look at chair duties and term limits for officers. (5)  The Abstinence pamphlet still needs more work on it and will be brought up at next year’s conference. It needs to clarify that members using nicotine replacement therapies (NRT’s) will still be part of meetings.  (6)   Private companies using NicA Logo or name.  (a) Make templates of letters to send companies, (b) send emails (c) Send to FB and Twitter (d) If you see something, say something (e) need volunteers to send letters, emails, possibly contact AA as they have resources to get the companies to get permission to use steps. Our part is to ask those companies to quit using our name and logo and its the AA’s part to get them to quit using the steps. (7)   Outreach:  (a) Form a standing committee for outreach purposes to notify Intergroup and groups about outreach from World Services.  (b) use technology to make us known such as email campaign as email list using constant contact (c) more PSAs, community calendars online in local areas, maybe put a PSA on YouTube, (d) a need for a guide for outreach. (e) a guidance for social networks as to anonymity.  -Gary

EVENTS:  The retreat this summer is scheduled for the last weekend in July (26/27).  Please get your check into Jane H. so she can make payments to the caterer and retreat center.  Spots fill up fast, so give Jane a call right away (323) 852-1518.   We are also having our annual picnic in September on the 3rd Sunday of that month in Orange County this year at Rush Park, 3001 Blume, Rossmoor, 90720, where we will hold our regular Intergroup meeting and elect Officers for Intergroup.  We also hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:  There are no new meetings to report at this time. If I get one call every few months I am doing good. I used to get 2-3 calls a week, years ago. -Gary

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  We do not have anyone to Public Outreach Committee at this time.  If anyone can help, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  One addition has been made to the speakers list. See attached modified flyer.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  No one celebrating a birthday this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The June report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Gary led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:02 AM.

MINUTES - May 18, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:04 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 007, 012, 023, 047, 076, 185, 186, 229, 241, 268, 273, and 274.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #5. “Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the nicotine addict who still suffers” was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $1088.90.  Income:  Donations this month: $25 from Meeting #1; $10 from Meeting #227 Huntington Beach; $14 - 7th tradition April meeting (total incoming $49.00). Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $32.21; Secretary expenses $31.20; AT&T Long Distance $52.01.  George O. made a motion that we reimburse $100 each to both Bill H. and Jeff M. as the delegates to the Conference.  Jane seconded it, and it was passed.  It was recently noticed we hadn’t made a donation to White Memorial for 2 years.  Angela made a motion that we give $240 to White Memorial as a donation for using their conference room.  Jane seconded that, and it was passed unanimously.    (Total outgoing $558.42) Ending balance $579.48.   We are tabling a discussion of a donation to World Services for next month.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No changes. Meeting 059: Secretary address added.  Meeting 186: Phone Contact and Secretary information updated.  Meeting 271: Meeting Address and Meeting Time corrected.  No Meetings were added.  Meeting 90 in Culver City has gone dark, due to lack of participation. All Meetings except 274 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail. Angela will send the information to Rick about the USPS contact for Mtg. 274.  No H&I Listings were added and none were removed.  65 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Chuck told us he really can’t do the H&I Chair job as he is too busy.  If anyone can help, please contact John D. at 818-618-1501.

COMMUNICATIONS:   No report.

LITERATURE: We are in good shape for literature and chips, we do need to order a few things. Marty will place an order this month.

WORLD SERVICES:  Bill H.’s report of Conference:  The29th Annual Nicotine Anonymous World Services (NAWS) Conference was held April 25-27, 2014 in Ocean City, New Jersey.  There were approximately 79 attendees.  The weather was perfect and the location right on the beach and boardwalk was ideal.  Chair, Michael B did a fantastic job of keeping the delegate business meetings moving along and staying on schedule.  The biggest news coming out of the conference is that the Step Study Guide, although admittedly not perfect, has been approved for release as conference-approved literature.  I felt it could use a lot of editing, but everybody wanted to get something out there with the hopes that this will get members without 12-step experience engaged in the fellowship.  A proposed spirituality pamphlet found delegates locking horns, and was tabled until next year and sent back to the committee for retooling.  An Outreach Committee chaired by SCINA’s Jeff M. has been formed to come up with ideas to increase NicA membership and participation. The Treasurer’s report showed NAWS donations were up this year, as was our overall balance.

In addition to the delegate meetings, there were marathon meetings, banquets, an ugly Hawaiian T-shirt contest, a scavenger hunt won by SCINA Treasurer Bill H., and a must-hear Sunday morning speaker John O. from New York.  NAWS also reminded us about the “My Gift of Gratitude” program where members can donate $10/month online at nicotine-anonymous.org and receive a complimentary subscription to Seven Minutes.

Many thanks to Conference Co-chairs Annette A. and Joe F.  The 30th Annual NAWS Conference will be held April 24-26, 2015 at the Best Western Plus Grosvenor Hotel in South San Francisco (hotel $99/night), and it was voted to have the 2016 conference in Ohio.

EVENTS:  The retreat this summer is scheduled for the last weekend in July (26/27).  Did you see the flyer?  Jane H. says she is ready to accept checks so she can make payments to the caterer and retreat center.   We are also planning our annual picnic in September on the 3rd Sunday of that month in Orange County this year, where we will hold our regular Intergroup meeting and elect Officers for Intergroup.  We also hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:  No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  See attached Outreach Report 2014 submitted at World Services Conference 2014 by Jeff M. of Joshua Tree.  There was discussion of voting the current SCINA Committee Chair out as there has been no communication for over 9 months.  Please think about being of service in this position.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No additions have been made to the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  John D. made a motion to change the quorum from 10 members to 7 members, it was seconded and the motion was passed unanimously.  John D. made a motion to eliminate refreshments and correspondence from the Committees section of the By-Laws, it was seconded and passed unanimously.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Discussion on ordering business cards to give to people to give out for Carry The Message day in January.  Angela got a quote from Staples for $72.99 for 5,000 cards.  Angela made a motion that we authorize up to $100 to purchase the 5,000 cards through Staples.  George O. seconded it and it was approved. 

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.

BIRTHDAYS: No one celebrating a birthday this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The May report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Bill led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:40 AM.

MINUTES - April 20, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

\INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:11 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was not met.  The following meetings were represented:  012, 023, 047, 076, 084, 185, and 186.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #4. The group shared on Tradition 4. “Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or Nicotine Anonymous as a whole”.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $914.66.  Income:  Donations this month: $100 from Meeting #229 Silverlake to PayPal - $2.50 processing fee = $97.50; $55 from Fullerton Meeting #84; $45 from Costa Mesa Meeting #76; $50 from Bellflower Meeting #250; $20 + $10 from Huntington Beach Meeting #247;  Thank you all!!  (total incoming $307.50). Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $32.21; Secretary expenses $32.16; Website domain registration $12.42; AT&T Long Distance $53.47 (total outgoing $133.26).  Ending balance $1088.90.  Bill made a motion to donate $250 to NAWS that he can hand deliver as he is going to the Conference but we didn’t have enough people to vote on it.  It was tabled. 

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes were made to the Administrative List.   Meeting 001 phone information corrected. 034: Phone Contact Number updated. 275: Secretary and Representative Information Added.  No Meetings were added or disbanded.  All Meetings except Meetings 59, 273, and 274 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or both.  275 is being e-mailed the Directory. Total Envelopes addressed: 65.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:   Jeff M. was going to get more information on a new 800 number but didn’t attend today. It was discussed that we change the voicemail greeting on the 800 number that we have now.

LITERATURE: Kim brought the chips and literature in lieu of Marty as he couldn’t make it.

WORLD SERVICES:  No report from Gary but in the past we have given the conference delegates $100 for expenses.  George O. motioned that we give Jeff and Bill $100 and it was tabled for next month.

EVENTS:  The retreat this summer is scheduled for the last weekend in July (26/27).  A flyer will go out soon. We are also planning our annual picnic in September on the 3rd Sunday of that month in Orange County this year, where we will hold our regular Intergroup meeting and elect Officers for Intergroup.  We also hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering or going to some of these events this year.  This is an excellent opportunity to get to know people from other meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:  No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  Freedom Festival will not be held this year. Last year, it was on Sunday, June 9. 

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No additions have been made to the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  There wasn’t a quorum this month so we could not vote on changing the By-Laws.  We will vote on that in May if we have a quorum.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  Discussion on ordering business cards to give to people to give out for Carry The Message Day in January.  We are looking at pricing, George O. will check with Gregory B.

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.

BIRTHDAYS: This month George O. celebrates 12 years and John D. celebrates 1 year.  Congratulations.

SECRETARY REPORT: The April report was read and not approved as we did not have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Kim led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:45 AM.

MINUTES - March 16, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:13 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?A quorum was met.The following meetings were represented:001, 007, 023, 047, 076, 185, 229, 241, 266, 268, 274, and 275.

TRADITIONS:Tradition #3. “The only requirement for Nicotine Anonymous membership is a desire to stop using nicotine,”was read.

TREASURER REPORT:Beginning balance $798.48.Income:Donations this month: $30 from Meeting #1 West Hollywood; $20 from Meeting 266 Yucca Valley; $42 from Meeting 76 Costa Mesa; $46 from Meeting #23 Costa Mesa; $25 (Feb) and $50 (Mar) from Meeting #84 Fullerton; $19 February 7th tradition SCINA meeting; $28.34 March 7th tradition SCINA meeting (total incoming $260.34)*. *[We received a $100 donation from Silverlake meeting #229 via PayPal, but this has not been transferred to our checking account yet, so I have not included into our total.]Expenses:Bank Fee $3.00; PO Box rental $45.00; Registrar expenses, $33.60; Secretary expenses $32.88, AT&T Long Distance $29.68 (total outgoing $144.16).Ending balance $914.66.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes were made to the Administrative List. Meeting 012 phone information corrected. 229: Representative Contact information added. 241: Meeting Room location clarified. 266: Meeting Time Corrected. 275 in Covina was added. Still need USPS Info. 16 has gone dark. All Meetings except Meetings 59, 273, 274 and 275 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or both. 275 gets the Directory e-mailed. Total Envelopes addressed: 73

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:Carol said there are still just a few phone calls each month.Let’s all take a minute to thank our five Phone Angels who check for messages every day.Jeff M. has looked into a Google Voice account for free.You can call and the message is transcribed and texted to him or others.We could make the message say the response would be sooner that way.Another is Grasshopper.com for $12.99 a month you receive an 800 number you can set up to have a short message with a menu so they can leave a message or get more information, i.e., press 1 for a list of meetings.It was discussed that we change the voicemail greeting on the 800 number that we have now.Jeff will research other options.

LITERATURE: Marty says we are in full stock on books and literature and placed an order recently.

WORLD SERVICES:Gary reported there are now 961 two-way talk contacts signed up; if you sign up at twowaytalk@nicotine-anonymous.org you can receive a few email updates every year of what’s happening in NicA like the minutes from NAWS board meetings.We are still trying to work out transportation from the airports to the hotel at the conference. It is 60 miles away and I guess they will get something going before then.Delegates going to the conference need to register 30 days prior to the conference with World Services Secretary no later than 30 days before the conference (April 25-27, 2014), email Secretary@nicotine-anonymous.org .We are going to try and work with Pioneer Chips to make colored chips using our logo. It will be the plastic chips I think.Bill H. and Jeff M. are nominated and voted in as delegates representing SCINA at the World Services Conference.

EVENTS: The retreat this summer is scheduled for the last weekend in July (26/27).A flyer will go out soon. We are also planning our annual picnic in September on the 3rd Sunday of that month in Orange County this year, where we will hold our regular Intergroup meeting and elect Officers for Intergroup.We also hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.Please think about volunteering for some of these events this year.Please also think about hosting a new event.

NEW MEETINGS:New meeting in Covina at Aurora Charter Oak Hospital on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 7:30.Word is they have good snacks.1161 E. Covina Blvd.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:Jeff M. is the Public Outreach Coordinator for World Services and says Public Outreach will be a large discussion at the Conference this year.There is a problem getting the word out about our program as we need more members involved in advertising this program.He says when he talks to groups, very little is being done.Jeff’s email is jeffinjt@gmail.com and his phone is 760-401-6503.Email or call him for the next Public Outreach Committee meeting on 3/29/14 at 9:00 am and he can give you the phone and pin if you want to attend on the conference call.

Greg G. of Covina mtg. suggested we keep in close touch with other meetings in our area to try to do Public Outreach projects together.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:No additions have been made to the speakers list.

BY-LAWS: The pamphlet asking for a vote to change the By-Laws will be sent out again to all meeting secretaries with the March minutes so that we can have a vote at the April meeting.After the vote, if there is a change, we will do a reprint and mail it to all meeting secretaries.

WEB CZAR:No report.

OLD BUSINESS:We discussed changing the quorum due to lack of volunteers to come to the Intergroup meetings, we don’t have enough people to approvethe minutes and conduct business.It was decided we would vote on changing it from 10 to 7.That flier is being sent out with the February and March minutes requesting attendance at the April meeting to approve the change.

NEW BUSINESS:Jeff suggested that we only e-mail the minutes, and new meeting lists and flyers to secretaries when possible.Angela will send out an email to the secretaries of meetings ASAP to ask if they have the capabilities to print and can stop sending the USPS mailing to them to save money.We know there is interest in having business cards and pamphlets to give out for distribution in January for Carry The Message Day.Angela got an estimate from Staples for printing 5,000 business cards of $72.99 (10 boxes or 100 cards for 50 people).These would be the old ‘When you are ready… we will be there’ cards on a simple white matte card with the red ‘no smoking’ sign and the Intergroup information.We tabled the idea of ordering as we are looking into getting a new number for our program. A flyer was passed out for discussion at the Intergroup meeting about giving away business cards to anyone who came to the Intergroup meeting in groups of 100 cards, and whether we could also afford to give away pamphlets for distribution on Carry The Message Day and all year long.Bill H. and Jeff M. will be going to the World Services Conference in New Jersey next month. They were nominated and voted to serve as a Delegate for SCINA at the Conference.

BIRTHDAYS: This month, Rick celebrates 16 years, Angela celebrates 10 years, Marty and Andrew celebrate 5 years, and John D. celebrates 1 year.Congratualations.

SECRETARY REPORT: The March report was read and approved.

CLOSING PRAYER:Jeff led us in the Serenity Prayer at 12:06 PM.

MINUTES - February 16, 2014

  Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:12 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 007, 012, 023, 034, 047, 076, 084, 090, 185, 229, and 241.

TRADITIONS:  Tradition #2. “For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern,”  was read.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $722.34.  Income:  Donations this month: $20 from Meeting #1 West Hollywood; $100 from Meeting 229 Silverlake (via PayPal); $44.90 NicA members via PayPal; $19 January's 7th tradition SCINA meeting (total incoming $183.90).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $32.66; Secretary expenses $39.86, AT&T Long Distance $32.24 (total outgoing $107.76).  Ending balance $798.48. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administrative List: John D. has taken on the Bylaws Committee commitment. Angela our Secretary has a new email address.   Meeting updates: Meeting 007: Phone Contact information updated, Meeting 023: Secretary email updated, Meeting 076: Secretary and Representative email address updated.  Meeting 090: Phone Contact and Representative information updated, Meeting 273: Representative information updated. Meeting 274 in Arcadia was added.  Meeting 272 has gone dark.  All Meetings except Meetings 59, 229, 273 and 274 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or both. No H&I Listings were added.  No H&I listings were removed.  71 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  No report.

LITERATURE: Marty says we are in full stock on books and literature and will place an order soon.  

WORLD SERVICES: The World Services Conference is going to be in April in New Jersey, if anyone wants to be a delegate that is attending, please come to the Intergroup meeting so we can vote to send you as a delegate.

EVENTS:  The retreat this summer is hosted by Jane H and Alan C. We are also planning our annual picnic in September on the 3rd Sunday of that month where we will hold our regular Intergroup meeting and elect Officers for Intergroup.  The picnic will be in Orange County this year.  We also hope to be able to hold our Marathon Meeting in November hosted by the Tuesday night Bellflower group.  All events happen because of our volunteers who are of service to this program and to you.  Please think about volunteering for some of these events this year.  Please also think about hosting an event.

NEW MEETINGS:  No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  No report.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No additions have been made to the speakers list.

BY-LAWS:  Pamphlet was put together to change the amount for a quorum since the Intergroup meetings have been poorly attended.  The pamphlet will be sent out to all meeting secretaries with the February and March minutes so that we can have a vote on this change in April. We also discussed making the quorum the exact number of attendees at each meeting. We also discussed changing the committee list in the By-Laws to remove refreshments and correspondence.  We will then do a reprint and mail it to all meeting secretaries.

WEB CZAR:  As we move forward with the modernization - we can now have more information on our website.  The Website is a great resource - and it is optimized for mobile! Check it out on your smart-phone and use this resource in your recovery. If you have not yet signed up for the Email list please go to the website - www.scina.org  or www.quitnowla.com, add yourself to the list!

OLD BUSINESS:   We discussed changing the quorum due to lack of volunteers to come to the Intergroup meetings, we don’t have enough people to approve  the minutes and conduct business.  It was decided we would vote on changing it from 10 to 7.  That flier is being sent out with the February and March minutes requesting attendance at the April meeting to approve the change.

NEW BUSINESS:   It was discussed that there is not a printable meeting list on the website (in Adobe format) like the ones we send to the meeting secretaries each month, however, you can print the page that shows the meetings on the website, it’s just in a different format than the single sheet we send out each month.  Please share that page if you can.  Westwood and West Hollywood meetings both need support.  Please be of service and visit a meeting you don’t normally go to.

BIRTHDAYS: Regina celebrates 4 years this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The February report was read and approved.  December and January minutes were approved also.  Thank you everyone for attending.

CLOSING PRAYER:  George led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:48 AM.