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.

MINUTES - January 19, 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 not met.  The following meetings were represented:  007, 023, 034, 047, 076, 090, 185, 229, 231, and 250.

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

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $689.77.  Income:  Donations this month: $20 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa, $40 from Meeting #84 Fullerton, $20 from Meeting 231 Long Beach, $50 from Meeting #257 Laguna Beach; $20 December’s 7th tradition SCINA meeting (total incoming $150.00).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $32.55; Secretary expenses $32.66, PO Box Rental $45, AT&T Long Distance $4.22 (total outgoing $117.43).  Ending balance $722.34. The report could not be approved due to a lack of quorum.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administrative List: No changes.  Meeting updates: 016 Secretary information updated, and Meeting 250, Representative information updated. No New Meetings added.  No Meeting was closed. All Meetings except Meetings 59, 229 and 273 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or both. No H&I listings were added, corrected, or 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 the chip order is in.  He’s finished purchasing the extra material from the Conference.  

WORLD SERVICES: We showed a net profit of $12,246 and for the last few years we have been showing a net loss. Expenses were up but our contributions were way up. (2) The new website is still on hold. We need a website master and are having problems with PayPal. We had a web guy working on it but there has been no gain on what we need. We also have a committee working on the problem but have had no communication from them as of yet. (3) If anyone has the experience of being a web servant please contact NAWS at chairperson@nicotine-anonymous.org. (4) We have been looking for a chair elect person but now have given up on the idea as it's too late to train a chairperson. The position takes a lot out of you and is too much to ask someone to do two years in a row so it’s been proposed the current chair will delegate some of his responsibilities amongst the other board members. Now if we don’t get someone to run for chair elect this year in April, that will really cause a problem.  (5) Iran has about 300 meetings in their country and many want to come to the conference but are having trouble getting Visas. So it's a matter of a lot of letter writing to help them out. They have their own website, a dead link is on our NicA website. (6)  We are going to have six workshops: (a) The evolving role of a WSO Chair, (b) What is abstinence? (c) redoing the spirituality pamphlet, (d) the 12 Step Study Guide (e) Increasing membership and participation, (f) Private companies using the NicA name.  (7)  The spirituality pamphlet and the 12 step study guide will have the goal of getting the literature voted approved, we could have two more pieces of literature this year.  (8) The email and snail mail pen pal programs are doing well so far.  (9) Next year’s conference in 2015 will be in San Francisco at the Best Western Hotel. The rates will be $99 and is a mile and half from the SF airport.

EVENTS:  January is a fresh start for most people so that's Carry The Message Month.  We expect to see new faces in our meetings, and want to make them feel welcome.  We also want to get the word out as much as possible all year long.  Please think about purchasing some extra pamphlets or making extra copies of meeting lists and giving them to your personal doctor or dentist, asking that they put a few out each day for their clients. For this to truly work, please think about committing to stopping by their offices each month with updated information, new meeting lists, and/or pamphlets.  Tradition 5:  Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the nicotine addict who still suffers.

NEW MEETINGS:  No new meetings.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  No report.  January is outreach month, please think about getting the word out about our meetings to local doctors, pharmacies, and such by visiting regularly and leaving meeting lists or business cards.  Please contact Marty if you need business cards or other literature at martywexler@verizon.net or call him at 714-536-0600.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No report.

BY-LAWS:  John D has offered to take on the By-Laws Chair.  Thank you.

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 as we again didn’t have enough people at the Intergroup meeting to pass the minutes and conduct business.  We have 14 positions on the board so a majority would be 8.  We are looking into changing the quorum to 8.

NEW BUSINESS:   We need to get the meeting list on the www.QuitNowLA.com website so that people can print it.  Rick will look into this.  

BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays at the Intergroup meeting this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The January report was read.

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

MINUTES - December 15, 2013

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: John D. called the meeting to order at 10:20 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was not met.  The following meetings were represented:  007, 012, 022, 047, 090, 185, 241, and 250.

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 $576.46.  Income:  Donations this month: $50 from Meeting #229 Silverlake, $20 from Meeting #1 West Hollywood, $20 from Meeting #12 Long Beach, $20 from Meeting #241 Glendale, $12.00 from Meeting #247 Huntington Beach; $21.00 was 7th tradition from November SCINA meeting; $144.00 from the Gratitude Marathon Meetings (thank you all!!!) (total incoming $287.00).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $32.49; Secretary expenses $32.20;  PO Box fee $45.00; transfer $61.00 from checking to savings account so our prudent reserve would be an even $1,000.00 (total outgoing $173.69).  Ending balance $689.77.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administrative List: No changes.  Meeting updates: No changes. New Meeting 273 was added.  No Meeting was closed. All Meetings except Meetings 59, 229 and 273 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or both. No H&I listings were added, corrected, or removed.  71 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Chuck reported that he has been personally going to hospitals and talking to doctors.  He’s also trying to go to H&I meetings for AA to see if he can get some help.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline.

LITERATURE: Marty says we are in full stock on books and literature and he will be making a chip order very soon. 

WORLD SERVICES: We are still having problems filling the open Chair Elect position on NAWS which can be voted in by the board on NAWS and then approved by the conference delegates in April. This person would spend the next 2 years as Chairperson and Chair-emeritus.  Would you be interested in being a member of the board? Give it some thought. We are trying to work on transportation from the NJ airport to the hotel. It’s about 60 miles away from the hotel. We are considering renting a shuttle for three days in order to transport members back and forth. In either case we will get this problem solved. There have been a couple sites using the Smokers Anonymous name and saying they are Nicotine Anonymous. We are looking into this and will see what we can do to stop this infringement. Glenn K who has faithfully been recording our conferences over the years had to retire but we have someone else lined up who can do the job at a lesser expense. We will be having our quarterly board meeting online on Jan 18th.  Paypal is not working like it should and I think we will go up to PayPal premier as we have been losing sales because of this problem.  With any luck we should have our new website up and running sometime in January.

EVENTS:  January is a fresh start for most people so that's Carry The Message Month.  We expect to see new faces in our meetings, and want to make them feel welcome.  We also want to get the word out as much as possible all year long.  Please think about purchasing some extra pamphlets or making extra copies of meeting lists and giving them to your personal doctor or dentist, asking that they put a few out each day for their clients. For this to truly work, please think about committing to stopping by their offices each month with updated information, new meeting lists, and/or pamphlets.  Tradition 5:  Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the nicotine addict who still suffers.

The Fullerton meeting is not hosting the Holiday Dinner in January, 2014.

NEW MEETINGS:  No new meetings starting although we did hear about a new meeting starting in Arcadia but don’t have the details yet.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  No report.  January is outreach month, please think about getting the word out about our meetings to local doctors, pharmacies, and such by visiting regularly and leaving meeting lists or business cards.  Please contact Marty if you need business cards or other literature at martywexler@verizon.net or call him at 714-536-0600.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No report.

BY-LAWS:  We still need a Chairperson for By-Laws so please let us know if you can help.  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.

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:   No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:   We need to discuss changing the quorum as we again didn’t have enough people at the Intergroup meeting to pass the minutes and conduct business.

BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays at the Intergroup meeting this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The December report was read.

CLOSING PRAYER:  John D. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:13 AM.

MINUTES - November 21, 2013

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: George O. called the meeting to order at 10:18 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, 268, and 273.  Please think about being of service by attending the Intergroup meeting so we can approve the minutes.

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.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $587.85.  Income:  Donations this month: $25 from Meeting #1 West Hollywood, $6 from Meeting #37 Santa Monica, $16.50 from Meeting #231 Long Beach.  $9.00 was 7th tradition from October SCINA meeting (total incoming $56.50).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $32.69; Secretary expenses $32.20;  (total outgoing $67.89).  Ending balance $576.46.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administrative List Updates:  Chair address information added.  Angela P. is Speakers Bureau Chair.  Meeting updates: Meeting 007: Secretary Information Updated. Meeting 037: Phone Contact #2 added. Meeting 197: Secretary Address Information Updated. Meeting 226: Secretary Information Updated. No Meetings were added.  Meeting 163 closed due to lack of support. All Meetings except Meetings 59 and 229 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or both. No H&I listings were added, corrected, or removed.  70 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Chuck T. wasn’t able to attend the meeting.  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline.  Please try calling the 800-642-0666 number and leaving a message so someone can call you back.  Think about ways we can update our outgoing message in some way.  Please send your suggestions to Angela at apendergrass24@gmail.com.

LITERATURE: Marty says we are in full stock on books and literature and he will be making a chip order very soon.

WORLD SERVICES:  Gary was unable to attend. No report.

EVENTS:   The Marathon Meeting hosted by the Bellflower meeting is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.  Please call Joseph W. at (562) 644-5225 to volunteer to host an hour of the meetings.  This is the weekend following The Great American Smokeout every year (3rd Thursday of November) so we want to be of service to everyone who is willing. Please also see the telephone marathon meeting that same weekend.  Information is on our website, www.SCINA.org. Please try to support these meetings by attending or calling in.

NEW MEETINGS:  New meeting starting today at Unitarian Universalist Church, 12355 Moorpark Ave, Studio City, CA 91604 on Sundays upstairs at 4:30 pm.

PUBLIC OUTREACH: Michelle L. was unable to attend. No new report.  January is outreach month, please think about getting the word out about our meetings to local doctors, pharmacies, and such by visiting regularly and leaving meeting lists or business cards.  Please contact Marty if you need business cards or other literature at martywexler@verizon.net. 

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Angela P. has offered to be the contact for Speakers Bureau.  Please let her know if you are willing to be on the speakers list by signing up on the www.SCINA.org or by calling her at (949) 302-8465 or email apendergrass24@gmail.com.

BY-LAWS:  We still need a Chairperson for By-Laws so please let us know if you can help.  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.

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:   No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.

BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays at the Intergroup meeting this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The November report was read and approved.

CLOSING PRAYER:  Andrew led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:24 AM.

MINUTES - October 20, 2013

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 not met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 007, 022, 023, 037, 047, 076, 163, 185, and 229.

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 REPORT:  Beginning balance $765.97 [+ $93.05 AT&T erroneously entered twice in Aug and Sep] = $859.02.  Income:  Donations this month: $100 from mtg #12 Long Beach, $110 from mtg #34 Newbury Park, $20 from mtg #23 Costa Mesa, $13 from mtg #231 Long Beach; $44 from mtg #76 Costa Mesa.  7th tradition from September SCINA meeting $35 (we should have a picnic every month!); remaining tee shirt sales at picnic $40; (total incoming $362).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3; Registrar expenses, $33.88; Secretary expenses $32.20;  AT&T Long Distance $70.09; $125 to Event Chair George R. for picnic supplies (food, drink, bbq); $125 to Calvary Baptist Church for use of facility at November marathon meeting, $192 SquareSpace annual website renewal; $12 to NAWS donation; $40 PO Box quarterly rental (total outgoing $633.17).  Ending balance $587.85.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No changes.  Meeting with updates: 231: Phone Contact information updated.  All meetings except 059 have USPS contact through the Secretary, Representative, or both. No H&I Listings were added or removed.  70 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  The old H&I list was sent to Chuck T. for review.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline.  She says they haven’t been getting any calls in quite a while.  Our monthly AT&T bills have been between $23 - $47 per month since January of this year.  In looking at the itemized calls on the most recent bill, we have 24 calls lasting only 00:30 seconds which are probably hang-ups.  Perhaps we can update our outgoing message in some way.  Please send your suggestions to Angela at apendergrass24@gmail.com.

LITERATURE: Marty was sick and couldn’t bring the literature to the meeting. Please contact Marty for all your literature needs at the next Monthly Intergroup meeting.

WORLD SERVICES:  Our profit/loss is showing growth compared to last year. Gift of Gratitude donations have grown. Discussed if we should still use Glenn K to do recording at Conferences, hire local people, or purchase our own recording equipment but that’s assuming we could always find someone to volunteer. We still need a Chair Elect, if anyone is interested please email chairperson@nicotine-anonymous.org. Also need an In- Reach Coordinator who takes care of getting NicA info to the fellowship through Constant Contact via email every 3 months. If interested email chairperson@nicotine-anonymous.org.  We do have an Outreach Coordinator now. We are thinking of writing an article to submit to a medical journal about NicA. Smoker’s Anonymous meetings are popping up. One leads you to a medical center and another leads you to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT’s). The name Smokers Anonymous is owned by the same doctor who led to our name change. The thing is if you open the link and follow through it says they are Nicotine Anonymous. What to do about it we do not know. There is one on FB saying they are Smokers Anonymous and its intent is to link us to them. We will have the new website up pretty soon. We have a PayPal button but it needs work. It will not accept international orders through PayPal. International orders need to purchase with credit cards. We discussed why the membership is dropping. The ideas for Conference workshops are (1) The Evolving role of the WSO Chair, (2) Rewriting the Nicotine Delivery Systems Pamphlet, (3) Editing the traditions for modern times, (4) Increasing membership, and participation, (5) Step study guide book to make ready for vote at NJ conference, and (6) Endowment workshop. These are not set in stone yet. We discussed why membership is down but didn’t get into what we can do about it yet. We are always looking for phone and email servants and 7th step prayer on the website under “What’s New”

EVENTS:   The Marathon Meeting hosted by the Bellflower meeting is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.  Please call Joseph W. at (562) 644-5225 to volunteer to host an hour of the meetings.  This is the weekend following The Great American Smokeout every year (3rd Thursday of November) so we want to be of service to everyone who is willing. Please also see the telephone marathon meeting that same weekend.  Information is on our website, www.SCINA.org. Please try to support these meetings.

NEW MEETINGS:  Please think about starting a new meeting.

PUBLIC OUTREACH: No new report.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Angela P. has offered to be the contact for Speakers Bureau.  Please let her know if you are willing to be on the speakers list by signing up on the www.SCINA.org or by calling her at (949) 302-8465 or email apendergrass24@gmail.com.

BY-LAWS:  We still need a Chairperson for By-Laws so please let us know if you can help.  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.

WEB CZAR:  As we move forward with the modernization - We can now have more information on our website.  We currently have an average of 310 views of our website per month - the most popular items are the home page of news and the meetings pages.  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:   No old business.

NEW BUSINESS: As new Officers are elected every September at the Intergroup meeting before the picnic, we would like to thank our outgoing Chairperson, Brian K. for being of service to us this past year.  He will continue to be of service as our Web Czar for the immediate future.

BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays at the Intergroup meeting this month.

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

CLOSING PRAYER:  Gabe led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:07 AM.

MINUTES - September 15, 2013

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

INTRODUCTIONS: Brian K called the meeting to order at 10:23 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  007, 023, 034, 047, 075, 185, 212, 229, 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.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $946.29.  Income:  Donations this month: $163.81 from Silverlake meeting 229 (Thank You!).  $18 was 7th tradition from August SCINA mtg.  (total incoming $181.81).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $33.88; Secretary expenses $32.20; A&T Long Distance (two months) $93.05; donation from SCINA to NAWS (World Services) $200.00 (total outgoing $362.13).  Ending balance $765.97.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: No changes.  Meeting with updates: 266: Meeting Location and Meeting Day updated.  All meetings except 059 have USPS contact through the Secretary, the Representative, or both. No H&I Listings were added or removed.  70 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline.

LITERATURE:  Everything is running fine, we are fully stocked with all literature and chips. Please contact Marty for all your literature needs at the next Monthly Intergroup meeting.

WORLD SERVICES:  There are 4 positions open on WS level as our voted-in Chair Elect member had to resign.  Also In-Reach Coordinator, Webmaster, and Website Programmer.  Please contact Michael B. at chairperson@nicotine-anonymous.org if you can help with any of these positions.  -  The new website should be running soon but there are still a few glitches being worked out. PayPal will be available and easier navigation of the site.  On ‘What’s new,” you will see a 12-Step Study Guide draft we need comment on. This might be approved next year at the NJ Conference.  -  Net profit through June 2013 is $6994. We will have expenses to pay a webmaster who has been working on website glitches.  -  Iran has about 160 meetings and at this time we can’t post in Farsi on the WWML (world-wide meeting list) so we just offer a dead link for Iranian members to go through our WWML which will direct them to their website.  - 

Our next board meeting is 10/12/13 in Oakland, all are welcome. Contact Ed T at etreuting@sbcglobal.net and he can arrange lodging at a members home, pickup and drop-off at the airport.  -  If you can donate to World Services a sum of $10 a month you will receive a free hard copy of seven minutes, our quarterly publication.  200 people doing this would cover yearly operating expenses.

EVENTS:   We are trying to make plans for The Marathon Meeting which is hosted by the Bellflower meeting and is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.  Please call Joseph W. at (562) 644-5225 to volunteer to host an hour of the meetings.  This is the weekend following The Great American Smokeout every year (3rd Thursday of November) so we want to be of service to everyone who is willing. These details are preliminary plans.  Please also see the telephone marathon meeting that same weekend.  Information is on our website, www.SCINA.com

NEW MEETINGS:  We have more meetings in SoCal than almost anywhere else in the country, yet I still hear ‘Why aren’t there more meetings’ frequently from newcomers.  I always suggest to them that it would be great if they opened another meeting and I would be willing to support it.  Please think about starting a new meeting.

PUBLIC OUTREACH: No new report.

SPEAKERS BUREAU/BY-LAWS:  We still need Chairpersons for By-Laws and Speakers Bureau, so please let us know if you can help.  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.

WEB CZAR:  As we move forward with the modernization - We can now have more information on our website.  We currently have an average of 310 views of our website per month - the most popular items are the home page of news and the meetings pages.  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: Remaining conference t-shirts were available for sale at the picnic for $5.

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: George R. will celebrate 7 years and Joseph W. celebrates 11 years this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The September report was read and approved.

CLOSING PRAYER:  Brian K. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:07 AM.

MINUTES - August 18, 2013

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS: Brian K 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:  001, 023, 029, 034, 047, 076, 185, and 231.

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

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $984.94.  Income:  Donations this month: $50.00 from meeting 1 West Hollywood, $20.00 from mtg 241 in Glendale.  Also deposited $28.44 personal donation from Angela P. and $12.50 from Mtg #231 Long Beach.  $13.00 was 7th tradition from June SCINA mtg.  (total incoming $123.94).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $33.88; Secretary expenses $32.66; $93.05 AT&T Long Distance (two months) (total outgoing $162.59).  Ending balance $946.29. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration List: Public Outreach contact information updated. Meeting with updates: 231: Phone Contact All meetings except 059 have USPS contact through the Secretary, the Representative, or both. No H&I Listings were added or removed.  70 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline.

LITERATURE:  Everything is running fine, we are fully stocked with all literature and chips - Please contact Mary for all your literature needs at the Monthly Intergroup meeting.

WORLD SERVICES:  Our new website is up temporarily.  You can pay by PayPal now.  Board meeting was in July.  Donations are up.  We are going to update our Bank CDs to 35 months to get more interest.  We need an outreach coordinator, contact info@nicotine-anonymous.org if you can help.  The person would plan all the ideas and delegate certain jobs to others who want to be of help.  We also need a Web Servant for our main website.  We have our two-way talk program if you want to get an email several times per year to hear what’s going on.  We got a letter from someone in Iran, they have their own Intergroup and are trying to coordinate with us.  They can’t put their mtgs on our website because they would be in Farsi, they have between 150-200 mtgs.  The ‘Gift of Gratitude’ program asks at least 200 people to donate $10 per month and that would cover our costs every year.  Glenn K. might not be doing the recording at the conferences each year.  Jeff M. is trying to find a better way to do that for us.  Gary is coordinator of the snail mail/pen pal program and he has about 14 people helping with that.  Contact Gary 310-755-5582 or garynica@att.net if you would like to help.

EVENTS:   The picnic in the park will be September 15th from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. in Culver City   in Veteran’s Park at 4117 Overland Avenue, Culver City, 90232

NEW MEETINGS:  Everyone should think about starting a new meeting.

PUBLIC OUTREACH: Michelle wants to make a form letter email to send out to radio stations along with the PSA which is available on the www.nicotine-anonymous.org website.  Michelle suggests each meeting make a flier to leave in the meeting room to advertise their meeting.  Angela brought a flier to send out to all the secretaries of the meetings regarding posting a free online ad on pennysaverusa.com to advertise their meeting.

SPEAKERS BUREAU/BY-LAWS:  We still need Chairpersons for By-Laws and Speakers Bureau, so please let us know if you can help.  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.

WEB CZAR:  As we move forward with the modernization - We can now have more information on our website.  We currently have an average of 310 views of our website per month - the most popular items are the home page of news and the meetings pages.  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 quitnowla@gmail.com, add yourself to the list!

OLD BUSINESS: Remaining conference t-shirts will be available for sale at the picnic for $5.

We discussed what our monthly balance was so that we can talk about contributing to World Services on an on-going basis.  We decided to send $200 to World Services and look at this monthly.

NEW BUSINESS: None.

BIRTHDAYS: Bill H. will celebrate 14 years this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The August report was read and approved.

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

MINUTES - July 21, 2013

SCINA cannot be of service to your meeting if your representative doesn’t show up at the Intergroup meetings. A quorum was NOT met. NO BUSINESS WAS CONDUCTED.

MINUTES - June 16, 2013

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS: Brian K called the meeting to order at 10:17 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 007, 022, 023, 029, 047, 076, 163, 185, 229 and 268.

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 from the book of Nicotine Anonymous.

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $613.73 -- Incoming:  Donations:  $10 from meeting 241, $30 from meeting #231, $20 from meeting #084, $20 from meeting #001, $148.51 from meeting #229 and $100 personal donation from Mark S. to celebrate his 14 years of smobriety.  Thank You All!  7th tradition for May $18.00, (total incoming $346.51).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $35.56; Secretary expenses $33.58; AT&T Long Distance $23.32; PO Box renewal $40.00, $124.00 for Culver City park reservation, (total outgoing $259.46).  Ending balance $700.78. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Meeting with updates: 016: Phone Contact, Secretary and Representative updated.  022 Phone Contact and Secretary information updated. 084 and 163: Phone contact, Secretary and Representative information updated. 268: Meeting night returned to Wednesday. No Meetings were added and no meetings were removed in the past month. All meetings except 059 have USPS contact through the Secretary, the Representative, or both. No H&I Listings were added.  Kaiser Orange was deleted, undeliverable address.  70 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Chuck T. (714) 995-8845 is the new Chairperson, Jane H. will help.   Please let us know if you can help with this responsibility. We’ve lost approximately 21 contacts at local hospitals that we send meeting lists to each month.  Please mention this at your meetings.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline, the phone lines back up.

LITERATURE:  Marty says we were in full stock on books and chips.  Marty asked us to make checks for literature payable to Nicotine Anonymous. Jane H. requested a donation of pamphlets and to borrow some literature to sell at the retreat at the end of this month.  It was decided we would contribute $20 worth of pamphlets to the retreat.  Angela brought back the pamphlets which were not given away and the books not sold as well as the money from books sold at the Freedom Festival 10.

WORLD SERVICES:  Gary passed out a profit/loss statement for the Conference.  Money taken in $5,682, donations from our area $1,498, and people donated directly to World Services $2,100 totaling $9,282 and we spent $10,484.82 leaving us a net of ($1,202).  Next year will be in New Jersey and 2015 in San Francisco.  Please put copies of the Gift of Gratitude out at your meetings as we need only 200 members giving regularly to cover our business costs.  SCINA hasn’t been able to contribute to World Services for over 2 years, so please consider contributing to SCINA as well so that we can contribute to World Services.  A discussion of a donation of $25/mo. to World Services was tabled. It was suggested that meetings do a triple collection, offering 3 envelopes: 1 each for World Services, Intergroup, and the Meeting.  Please discuss at the group level and give us your ideas.

EVENTS:   We are having a retreat on the last weekend of this month.  Please call Jane H. (323) 852-1518 right away if you can commit to coming. Jane is buying all the serving items, soda, paper products, utensils, plates which comes to approximately $150.  The picnic will be September 15th from 10-4 in Culver City.  George R. reserved Veteran’s Park on Overland Avenue. The cost for the park is $124 and the info is on the website.

NEW MEETINGS:  Everyone should think about starting a new meeting.

PUBLIC OUTREACH/SPEAKERS BUREAU/BY-LAWS:  We still need Chairpersons for By-Laws and Speakers Bureau, so please let us know if you can help.  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.  Michelle from Silverlake is going to be our Public Outreach Chairperson.  We do have a list of speakers.  Please sign up on the website form to add your name to the list.  We are including a copy of the speaker list with this mailing.  Please think about being a sponsor to someone who only has access to on-line or phone meetings.

WEB CZAR:  As we move forward with the modernization - We can now have more information on our website.  We currently have an average of 310 views of our website per month - the most popular items are the home page of news and the meetings pages.  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 quitnowla@gmail.com, add yourself to the list!

OLD BUSINESS: Freedom Festival 10 was a complete success, I estimate 200 people attended and we gave away a lot of pamphlets.  Thanks very much to Frank S., Mike C., Wendy, and Judi M. who helped talk to everyone that had questions.  Conference t-shirts are now available for sale at the Intergroup meetings for $10.

NEW BUSINESS:  None

BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The June report was read and approved.

CLOSING PRAYER:  Michelle led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:44 AM.

MINUTES - May 19, 2013

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS: Brian K 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:  001,  012, 022, 023, 029, 047, 076, 163, 186, 231 and 268.

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

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $840.12 -- Balance correction (During February's copy and paste of spreadsheet, Silverlake Meeting's January donation of $198.59 was inadvertently repeated in February).  Revised beginning balance:  $641.53.  Two meetings brought donations for SCINA to the World Conference:  West Hollywood meeting #1 donated $26 and Yucca Valley Meeting #266 donated $150.00.  Thank You!  Additional donations this month: $20 from Costa Mesa Mtg. #076 and $25 from Mtg #1 (Thank You!), (total incoming $221.00).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00; Registrar expenses, $35.54; Secretary expenses (March and April) $76.40; Business Cards $87.20; AT&T Long Distance $46.66 (for two months);  (total outgoing $248.80).  Ending balance $613.73. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes were made to the Administration List. Meeting #016 updated Phone Contact, Secretary and Representative. Meeting #034 updated Phone Contact. Meeting #047 updated Secretary. No meetings were added and no meetings were removed in the past month.  All meetings except #059 have USPS contact through the Secretary, the Representative, or both. No H&I Listings were added. Kaiser Orange was deleted, undeliverable address. 73 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Chuck T. (714) 995-8845 is the new Chairperson, Jane H. will help.   Please let us know if you can help with this responsibility. We’ve lost approximately 21 contacts at local hospitals that we send meeting lists to each month.  Please mention this at your meetings.

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline, the phone lines are down so please use the internet until we can get it working again.

LITERATURE:  Marty says we were in full stock on books and chips.  Gary said there was some literature left over from the Conference and Intergroup will purchase that from him. Business cards have arrived and are available at the Intergroup meetings.

WORLD SERVICES:  The Conference went really well and George thanks everyone who contributed.  Thank you Shannon, Ray, Frank, Joseph, Marlo, Bill, Kim, Angela, Judi, Mary, Jane, Alan, Jack R. and George. Going into the conference we were operating at a loss of $4,500 but donations put us at a loss of approximately $500.

EVENTS:   We are having a retreat on the last weekend of June this year.  Please call Jane H. (323) 852-1518 right away if you can commit to coming.  Jane will need a deposit from Intergroup to the retreat center for $750 to reserve the date.  Jane requested some books to be loaned for sale at the retreat.  The picnic will be the 3rd Sunday of September in Los Angeles.  George R. reserved Veteran’s Park on Overland Avenue in Culver City. The cost for the park is $124 and we will get a flier out for this soon.

NEW MEETINGS.  Jane H. is thinking about starting a Sunday meeting in Hollywood, probably the Drug and Alcohol Center or maybe the Tropical Cafe perhaps in the Fall.

PUBLIC OUTREACH/SPEAKERS BUREAU/BY-LAWS:  We still need Chairpersons for  By-Laws and Speakers Bureau, so please let us know if you can help.  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.  We are compiling a list of speakers.  Please sign up on the website form to add your name to the list or contact the webmaster for a list of people who can come to your meeting to speak.  Please think about being a sponsor to someone who only has access to on-line or phone meetings.

WEB CZAR:  As we move forward with the modernization - We can now have more information on our website.  We currently have an average of 447 Views of our website per month - The most popular items are the home page of news and the meetings pages.  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. We did a minute man lesson on how to post to the website!  If you want to be a contributor to the website - Contact quitnowla@gmail.com.

If you have not yet signed up for the Email list please go to the website - www.scina.org  or quitnowla@gmail.com add yourself to the list!

OLD BUSINESS: We received an invitation from Freedom Festival 10 to man a booth on Sunday, June 9, 2013 from 10am to 6pm.  Freedom Festival is a Sober music event and was created to celebrate life without alcohol, drugs or any mind-altering substances or addictive behaviors.  It is a family event.  Angela P. received a couple of commitments to help so please come and join us if you can attend and be of service at a booth (949) 302-8465. Conference t-shirts are now available for sale at the Intergroup meetings for $10.

NEW BUSINESS:  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Jack Parmeter who passed away recently.

BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays this month.

SECRETARY REPORT: The May report was read and approved.

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

MINUTES - April 21, 2013

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS: Brian K 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:  001, 012, 023, 029, 047, 076, 084, 090, 185, 231 and 268.

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

TREASURER REPORT:  Beginning balance $745.33.  Donations: Mtg #1 West Hollywood $25.00, Mtg #76 Costa Mesa $21.00, Mtg. #23 Costa Mesa $9.00, Mtg. #257 San Juan Capistrano $60.00, Mtg #84 Fullerton $21.00, Mtg #16 Anaheim $20.00 (Thank You!), 7th Tradition $20.00 (total incoming $176.00).  Expenses:  Bank Fee $3.00, Registrar expenses, $35.55; ATT Long Distance $22.66, $20.00 donation from SCINA to Freedom Festival (free pamphlets)  (total outgoing $81.21).  Ending balance $840.12. The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT:  No changes were made to the Administration List.  Meetings 001 and 047 Phone contact information updated. Meeting 059 Secretary mail address removed, returned by USPS.  No meetings were added and no meetings were removed in the past month.  All meetings in the Directory except 059  have USPS contact through the Secretary, the Representative, or both.  No H&I Listings were added and none were deleted. 75 envelopes were addressed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report and we need a new H& I Chairperson.  Please let us know if you can help with this responsibility.  Please mention this at your meetings

COMMUNICATIONS:  Carol is operating our hotline and there are no reports or concerns.

LITERATURE:  Marty says we are in full stock on books and chips.  Brian is ordering business cards this week.

WORLD SERVICES:  The World Services Conference is next weekend at the Golden Sails Hotel on 4/26-28 in Long Beach, CA.  The literature has been received for the conference.  There is talk that we might only have a World Services Conference every other year because it is a big expense.  Six workshops are going on at the conference, see attachment. Jane H and Jack R. will be speakers.

EVENTS:  Our next event will be the World Services Conference in Long Beach in April.  We need volunteers to “man” the Literature and Registration tables, and also monitor the Hospitality Room at the Conference.  If you are able to sign up for a three-hour shift, please contact Bill H. at (818) 800-3449.  We hope to be able to have a retreat on the last weekend of June this year.  Please call Jane H. (323) 852-1518 right away if you can commit to coming.  We need 25 people to commit to attend the retreat in order for the event to occur. We are discussing different locations and bringing attention to this event at the World Services Conference.  The picnic will be the 3rd Sunday of September in Los Angeles.  

NEW MEETINGS.  No report.

PUBLIC OUTREACH/SPEAKERS BUREAU/BY-LAWS:  We still need Chairpersons for the following:  By-Laws, Speakers Bureau, and Hospitals and Institutions (H&I), so please let us know if you can help .  If interested please come to the Intergroup meeting.  We are compiling a list of speakers.  Please sign up on the website form to add your name to the list and contact the webmaster for a list of people who can come to your meeting and speak.  Please let us know if you are willing to be a speaker. Please think about being a sponsor to someone who only has access to on-line or phone meetings.

WEB CZAR:  As we move forward with the modernization - We can now have more information on our website. If you want to be a contributor to the website - Contact quitnowla@gmail.com.  We currently have an average of 248 Views of our website per month - The most popular items are the home page of news and the meetings pages.  The Website is a great resource - and it is optimize 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 quitnowla@gmail.com add yourself to the list!

OLD BUSINESS: We received an invitation from Freedom Festival 10 to man a booth on Sunday, June 9, 2013 from 10am to 6pm.  Freedom Festival is a Sober music event and was created to celebrate life without alcohol, drugs or any mind-altering substances or addictive behaviors.  It is a family event.  Angela P. received a couple of commitments to help so please come and join us if you can attend and be of service at a booth (949) 302-8465.

NEW BUSINESS:  Angela would like to request a donation of $180 worth of literature to bring to the Freedom Festival event.  This would be $20 worth of pamphlets to give away and $160 worth of books to sell.  She will bring the money and unsold books back.

BIRTHDAYS: George O. 11 Years

SECRETARY REPORT: The April report was read and approved.

CLOSING PRAYER:   Mary Led  us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:05 AM.