SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS
INTRODUCTIONS: John called the meeting to order at 10:29 am with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.
WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED? A quorum was met with 7 attendees. The following meetings were represented: Costa Mesa 076, Fullerton 085, Sherman Oaks 185, Silverlake 229, Long Beach 231, Bellflower 250.
TRADITIONS: Tradition #8. “Nicotine Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.” was read.
TREASURER REPORT: Our beginning balance was $890.97. Income: $150 from meeting #12 Long Beach, $115 from meeting #76 Costa Mesa. Thank You! $32 was collected for 7th Tradition at the July SCINA meeting; $17.88 transferred from PayPal donations (minus fees); $3 bank imaging fee in May was incorrectly debited since we had no checks deposited that month. In Feb. Treasurer report, I deducted $380 deposit to Joshua Tree Retreat Center. I would like to report we paid JTRC a balance of $1,520 in June; caterer paid $1900; misc. expenses of $100 paid to Jane H. and $10 paid to Bill H. Total retreat expenses were $3910; total retreat income was $3910. To balance books, adding $380 back to SCINA income. (Total incoming: $697.88) Expenses: $3 bank imaging fee; $64 to order more checks*; Secretary expenses $22.51; Registrar expenses $29.93; Grasshopper phone charges: $32.02; Parking fee for literature person $7 (at July meeting); $192 annual Squarespace website fee. (Total outgoing $350.46) Ending balance $1238.39 (plus additional $3,000 in our checking account donated by Stephen to avoid the $18/mo. BOA bank fee.) Bill suggests next month, after paying expenses for picnic and Nov. marathon meetings, that we make a donation to NAWS. Bill H. called US Bank and it sounds like we can open an account there and avoid $18/mo. fee for checking accounts with less than $3,000. To open account, we need Articles of Incorporation and IRS letter of exemption. After checking with known past and current Officers, no one knows where these documents are located. Bill searched Calif. Sec. of State and IRS websites using our tax ID and could not find our entity. *Since we just ran out of BOA checks, I ordered more as it sounds like it may take a while to locate these documents.
REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes were made to Administration List. Meeting #1: Phone Contact and Secretary Information updated. No Meetings were added or deleted. All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail. No H&I Listings were added, updated, or deleted. 200 Directories and 43 envelopes were addressed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: No report. This position is available.
COMMUNICATIONS: Communications are running smoothly. There are no concerns at this time.
LITERATURE: No report. Please contact Halli for orders prior to the meeting atHalliK@sbcglobal.net. Please contact Halli if you would like to be of service for this position as he would be glad if someone could take it over for him.
WORLD SERVICES: Nothing of consequence to report. Board is meeting later this month.
EVENTS: Our picnic will be held on Sunday, 9/17/17, the Intergroup meeting and election of Officers will start at 10:00 am, with the Pot Luck Picnic following. Please bring a dish to share. Flyer attached with more info. Call Angela at (949) 302-8465 if you have questions. We asked to reserve the room in Bellflower for the Marathon Meeting in November.
NEW MEETINGS: Gary reported he has not been contacted about any new meetings.
PUBLIC OUTREACH: NAWS wants to do a national outreach campaign during November. This ties in with SCINA’s annual “Marathon Meetings” event. SCINA will work with NAWS on this, and possibly do a press release/advisory for this event and/or the Great American Smoke Out. The next NAWS Public Outreach Committee meeting is on 9/13/17.
SPEAKERS LIST: Invite a speaker to your meeting. Call for a list (949) 302-8465.
BY-LAWS: Conversation is listed in New business.
WORLD CONFERENCE AD HOC COMMITTEE: Ad hoc committee to discuss the possibility of hosting the Nicotine Anonymous World Service (NAWS) Conference in Southern California in 2019 or 2020 did not meet this month. NAWS 2016 Conference leaders did email their logistics and income statements. Bill noticed they held their conference at a Days Inn, and saw there is one in Glendale within the same room rate price range that has airport shuttle service. We will investigate other locations, including Burbank, Palm Springs, San Diego and Long Beach. If you would like to be a member of this ad hoc committee, please contact John at (818) 618-1501. Next meeting will be held at the picnic after our regular business meeting.
Director of Web Operations: Website activity on the Scina.org and quitnowla.com website
We have both of these domain names - they point to the same website -
Website usage:
- Year To Date: 1279 Unique Visitors, 1767 visits, 3451 Page views
- Last year: 1518 Unique visitors, 1974 visits, 3202 Page views
- Last Month: 193 Unique visitors, 245 visits, 415 Page views
- Month to Date: 168 Unique visitors, 213 visits, 327 Page views
There was an issue that came up regarding the hosted audio files from meeting 001 - The Original Meeting of Nicotine Anonymous. For several months our website was hosting audio files - from speaker shares. An app developer was downloading and using the audio shares in a for-profit app. They were contacted and agreed to remove all apps with nicotine anonymous references and to remove the shares.
They had been removed from the website pending a conversation regarding having them posted. People were concerned about the unauthorized use of the audio shares and requested that they be removed. The conversation was that once an audio file is on the internet, it is hard to regulate what happens to it - the best we can do is to monitor and send a “cease and desist” letter, to stop unauthorized use and go forward. The original meeting wants to have the shares hosted on our website, as these speaker shares are a valuable tool for people who want to stop using nicotine. The audio files have been made available again.
To help combat unauthorized use to the speaker shares on our website, one suggestion is to add audio to the recordings letting the listeners know where the recordings are from and directing them back to the Website and introduce the listener to Nicotine Anonymous. A motion was made to add recorded audio to the speakers shares on the SCINA website that would provide information about Nicotine Anonymous and combat unauthorized use of the Speaker Shares by third parties. The motion was seconded and passed.
OLD BUSINESS: No old business.
NEW BUSINESS: Discussion was made regarding purchasing a computer to have possible live video/conference call meetings. People are researching and will share what they find next month. Please ask your higher power if this is the year for you to step up and be of service at the Intergroup level. Our Officers and Committee Chairs and Members have served longer than the By-Laws suggest.
BIRTHDAYS: Bill H is celebrating 18 years in August!
SECRETARY REPORT: The August report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.
CLOSING PRAYER: Bill H. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 12:19 PM.
