MINUTES of SCINA Meeting - Sunday, October 18, 2020
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS (SCINA)
INTRODUCTIONS: George O. called the meeting to order at 10:10 am with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.
WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED? Quorum was met with 8 members in attendance. The following meetings were represented: West Hollywood 001, Silverlake 229, Laguna Beach 257, Studio City 273, San Diego 284 and Palm Desert 286.
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.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Beginning balance from September report $528.93
Zoom (annual subscription) -137.41
Grasshopper Phone Service (September) -32.98
PayPal transfer (September) +106.98
MailBox Express (PO Box - 6 months) -110.00
Secretary expense-postage (September) -20.00
Registrar expenses (September) $14.22
Current available balance *$321.30
*Additional $3,000 in the account is used to avoid $18/month bank fee that we do not touch. The ending balance is the $300 range, and while this might seem low, we paid six months instead of three for our mailbox, and one-year subscription for Zoom. Therefore, the balance should gradually increase over time.
REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes were made to the Administration List. No Meetings were added or removed. Meeting 197, Saturday, Culver City, Meeting ID and Password updated. Meeting 231, Saturday, Long Beach, Secretary USPS Address updated. Meeting 275, Wednesday, Covina, Meeting ID and Password updated. All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or email. No H&I Listings were added, updated or removed. 28 envelopes were addressed, and 40 Directories were printed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: Please send additional email contacts for our meeting list; ask your doctors and dentists. For more information, or to be of service, call Angela P. at (949) 302-8465 or angela.socal9@gmail.com.
COMMUNICATIONS: San Diego will pay the $32.98 fee for the Grasshopper phone line next month. Mike U is going to check with his meeting in San Diego to vote on discontinuing the grasshopper phone line.
LITERATURE: Angela found out there is no bulk price savings on the new Sponsorship Literature from NAWS so we will hold off on ordering while face-to-face meetings are on hold. The current balance in the literature account is $700.60.
WORLD SERVICES: The second quarter Nicotine Anonymous World Services (NAWS) board meeting was held on Saturday, October 17th, with SCINA’s Bill H. (Chairperson-Active), John D. (Chairperson-Elect), and Angie B. (Secretary-Emeritus) in attendance. The 2021 World Conference will be all virtual April 9-11, 2021. A “Save the Date” flyer with the conference logo is posted on the www.nicotine-anonymous.org website. The theme is “Recovery is Our Anchor: Finding the Calm in Calamity.” Minutes from the board meeting (along with financial reports) are distributed quarterly to the fellowship via NicA News. You can subscribe for free at the www.nicotine-anonymous.org website under “Newsletter” and then “NicA News Emails Communications.” “Nicotine Anonymous Public Outreach” is a YouTube channel where you can listen to readings of our pamphlets, SevenMinutes articles, and “Our Path to Freedom” stories. Please announce this at your meetings, subscribe, and like! Lastly, the NAWS website doesn’t convert the way it should when viewed on a mobile device. NAWS is looking for help to fix this. Please let us know if you can possibly help. Many members, especially new members have a hard time obtaining information for Nicotine Anonymous on the mobile site.
EVENTS: The Marathon Meetings will be held via Zoom Saturday, November 21st. We are working out the details and a flyer will be available soon.
NEW MEETINGS: There are 2 meetings that have started in San Diego and we will try to get the information about them to include them in our meeting list soon.
PUBLIC OUTREACH: If anyone is willing to take on or share the Public Outreach position, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501. We need more help with Intergroup outreach. Send your Meeting Representative to the Intergroup meetings to tell us how we can help you. The point of contact is needed. If your meeting has been interrupted due to the shutdown, please see our meeting list for meetings which are still getting together online and conference calls.
SPEAKERS LIST: Invite a speaker to your meeting. Call (949) 302-8465 for a list.
BYLAWS: No report.
WEB OPERATIONS: It was noted that www.SCINA.org domain name is not valid at this time, however SCINA.org will link directly to our www.QuitNowLA.com site. George O. will follow-up on this with Brian K. Content is being checked and updated as needed to reflect the effects of the response to the pandemic. Statistics are showing that, while we have fewer unique visitors and visits, page views are up significantly.
OLD BUSINESS: No old business.
NEW BUSINESS: No new business.
BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays this month.
SECRETARY REPORT: October minutes were read, corrected and approved.
CLOSING PRAYER: George O. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:13 am.
