MINUTES - June 19, 2016

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 met. The following meetings were represented: West Hollywood 001, Costa Mesa 023, Costa Mesa 076, Sherman Oaks 185, Silverlake 229, Long Beach 231, Bellflower 250, and Joshua Tree 266.

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:  Happy Father’s Day!

TREASURER REPORT: Our beginning balance was $608.77.   Income:  Donations:  Meeting #280 Irvine closed, and left us with a $62 donation.  Other donations: $50 from Meeting #250 Bellflower; $50 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa; $10 from Meeting # 23 Costa Mesa.  A 7th tradition of $28 collected at the May SCINA meeting.   (Total incoming:  $200)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $23.24; Registrar expenses $31.27; Grasshopper phone service $31.58. (Total outgoing $89.09)  Ending balance $719.68.    A deposit of $360 has been paid to Joshua Tree Retreat Center and we have not yet received any money from any participants, so please send your checks in to Jane! The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes made to Administration List.  Meeting 185: Room and Parking Directions were updated.  Meeting 197: Phone Contact and Secretary information updated. Meetings 281 and 282 were added.  Both meet at the UnUrban Coffee Shop in Santa Monica at 6:00 pm.  281 meets on Tuesday, and 282 meets on Wednesday.  No Meetings were removed.  All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail. No H&I Listings were added, removed or updated. 200 Directories and 45 envelopes were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: George O. attended the Coalition for Smoke-Free Long Beach. The new 21 and over law to purchase nicotine products is in effect Statewide and George offered Nicotine Anonymous as a resource.

COMMUNICATIONS: The phone lines are running smoothly. There are no concerns at this time.

LITERATURE:  Halli reports he has purchased literature for a total of $553.91.  The income which was in the literature account from previous literature person has not been tabulated.

WORLD SERVICES:  Jeff who is Chair of World Services Public Outreach was able to report there is a new Worldwide List Meeting Coordinator, Joyce, who has started a new meeting in Carlsbad and would like to be included on our meeting list.  Public Outreach has a teleconference meeting every month on the 3rd Saturday of the month.  If you want to attend, call John D. at (818) 618-1501.  The Outreach committee is looking at a national campaign for outreach in November. Checko is the new Board Chair so a lot is getting done and people are excited about being of service.

EVENTS: The retreat in Joshua Tree is scheduled for August 20-21. We have included a flyer with these minutes. Since we’ve heard from no one so far, please call Jane ASAP and let her know if you will be attending. All checks must be received prior to August 10th. A motion was made to move the August Intergroup meeting to the Joshua Tree retreat center on Sunday at 9:00 am and it was passed. Chips and Literature will be available for sale at the meeting.  The picnic will be held at Rush Park in Rossmoor, CA on Sunday, September 18, with the Intergroup Meeting at 10:00 am and the potluck immediately following.  Please mark your calendars.  A flyer for the picnic will go out starting next month.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  (1) A motion was made and passed to approve spending $5.99/month to obtain the following five email addresses with our domain names:  chairperson@scina.org, info@scina.org, registrar@scina.org, communications@scina.org, and literature@scina.org.  (2) PSA from SCINA is going to be created for the City of Los Angeles’ city channel soon.

SPEAKERS LIST: No report.

BY-LAWS: No report.

Director of Web Operations: No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  The August Intergroup meeting has been moved to the Joshua Retreat Center (see Events section).

NEW BUSINESS:  Jeff from Joshua Tree wants to start a monthly email-only newsletter including a Step of the month and Tradition of the month, upcoming events, announcements, short stories, and anniversaries.  He’s hoping he can start sending it out in July.  Sign up with Jeff at jeffinjt@gmail.com.

BIRTHDAYS: Shea R. celebrates 11 years and Patty celebrates 4 years this month. Congratulations. 

SECRETARY REPORT: The April, May and June reports were read and approved as we did have a quorum.

CLOSING PRAYER: Jeff led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:43 AM.

MINUTES - May 15, 2016

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  John D. called the meeting to order at 10:19 AM with the Serenity Prayer followed by introductions.

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED? A quorum was not met. The following meetings were represented: West Hollywood 001, Costa Mesa 023, Costa Mesa 076, Sherman Oaks 185, Culver City 197 and Irvine 280.

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

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  SCINA is about to start a public outreach campaign with Public Service Announcements, ads, Facebook, Twitter, possible Nextdoor, and other types of outreach.  Please remember to do your own outreach when you can by passing out SCINA business cards and putting your meeting on Craigslist, along with other means.  Please let me or anyone at SCINA know if you have any questions or concerns.

TREASURER REPORT: Our beginning balance was $706.08.  Income:  Donations:  $10 from Meeting #23 Costa Mesa and $10 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa.  No 7th tradition was collected at the April SCINA meeting.  (Total incoming:  $20)  Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $20.93; Registrar expenses (April and May) $62.05; Grasshopper phone service $31.33. (Total outgoing $117.31)  Ending balance $608.77.  The report was not approved due to lack of quorum.

Revision to April’s report:  Our beginning balance was $712.57.   Income:  Donations:  $10 from Meeting #23 Costa Mesa and $10 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa.  Thanks to both meetings for being a great example that a small amount each month really adds up!  A 7th tradition of $30 was collected at the March SCINA meeting.  (Total incoming:  $50.)  Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $22.31; Registrar expenses -- will report next month; Grasshopper phone service $31.18. (Total outgoing $56.49)  Ending balance $706.08.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes made to Administration List.  No Meeting updates were received.  No Meetings were added.  No Meetings went dark.  All Meetings except possibly 197 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  45 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: No report.

COMMUNICATIONS: The phone lines are running smoothly. There are no other concerns at this time.

LITERATURE: George O reported he and Halli met at Union Bank on May 4 to update the signature list and change the address on the account but their computer system was out for the day.  They spoke with manager Christopher about changes to the account who wanted to run it by their legal department and called back to say they needed all Officers to sign the minutes and the minutes need to be worded as follows for the changes to be made:  Mary P., Marty W., Michael S., and Susan C. are no longer authorized signers on the Union Bank account and need to be removed.  George O. is still an authorized signer. Halli K. is the new Literature Chair and is to be added as an authorized signer.
Bill H. will look into opening a new account at Bank of America instead.

WORLD SERVICES:  Gary reports this from the workshops at the Conference. (1) There is a work in progress to find a Spanish coordinator for Spanish meetings either for telephone meetings or online meetings.  (2) The prospective mental health pamphlet has been tabled until next year; there were a lot of ideas presented. It might be titled “Challenged Nicotine Addicts.” (3) We are looking for new meditations to put in another meditation book. (4) There was talk about a possible new pamphlet in the future on sponsoring:  how to be one and what to look for in a sponsor.

EVENTS: The retreat in Joshua Tree is scheduled for August 20-21. We have included a flyer with these minutes. The picnic will be held at Rush Park in Rossmoor, CA on Sunday, September 18, with the Intergroup Meeting at 10:00 am and the potluck immediately following.  Please mark your calendars.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH: SCINA email addresses - We must pay for our domain name email address or we can use free email addresses from gmail, yahoo, etc, and make up names like publicoutreachscina@gmail.com. It costs $5.99/month for five email addresses that end @scina.org or @QuitNowLA.com, and $5 for each one after that.  We will know soon if we are able to use @QuitNowLA.com, but we aren’t sure yet.  Action: Quorum wasn’t met so a vote to pay $5.99/month to authorize SCINA to obtain five email addresses with our domain name will take place next month.

SPEAKERS LIST: No report.

BY-LAWS: No report.

Director of Web Operations: No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:  There was discussion about moving the August Intergroup meeting to the Joshua Tree Retreat since it overlaps.  Due to lack of quorum no vote could be taken.

SAD NEWS:  Long-time, good-standing friend and member of Nicotine Anonymous Long Beach Mtg. 012 Stephen Fisher passed away May 6.  In accordance with family wishes, a service for him will be held in September. Prayers for his family are appreciated.  He was an invaluable servant to Nicotine Anonymous Intergroup, his regular Monday night Long Beach Meeting #012 and a great friend.  

BIRTHDAYS: Judi M. celebrates 5 years and William celebrates 33 years in May. Congratulations. 

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

CLOSING PRAYER: Jack R. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:34 AM.

Missing Minutes (51 months)

The Secretary's copies of the following Minutes have been misplaced. Please send us a copy if you happen to have any of the following:

1991-September, October and December

1992-Any month except May

1993-Any month except June, October, and November

1994-Any month except October

1995-April, November and December

1996-Any month except May

1997-January, February, or March

16 months of minutes found and added May, 2016. Thank you William G. of Huntington Beach.

Please contact Angela at (949) 302-8465 or angela.socal9@gmail.com if you find a copy of these minutes. We would love to get a copy from you.

MINUTES - April 17, 2016

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 not met. The following meetings were represented: Costa Mesa 023, Costa Mesa 076, Silverlake 229, and Irvine 280.

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

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  Happy Spring!  Remember, the traditions are the group what the steps are for the individual.  Thank you to all of those who sponsor people, are trusted servants, and others, who keep our traditions alive.  We all depend on it.

TREASURER REPORT: Our beginning balance was $712.57.   Income:  Donations:  $10 from Meeting #23 Costa Mesa and $10 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa.  Thanks to both meetings for being a great example that a small amount each month really adds up!  A 7th tradition of $30 was collected at the March SCINA meeting.  (Total incoming:  $50.)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $22.31; Registrar expenses $31.06; Grasshopper phone service $31.18; $0 parking for Literature Chair. (Total outgoing $87.55)  Ending balance $669.02.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes made to Administration List.  Meeting 231: Secretary Contact Information updated.  No Meetings were added.  No Meetings went dark.  All Meetings except possibly 197 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  One contact at Hubert Humphrey Health Clinic was made ‘e-mail only’ and one e-mail contact was added at HHHC. 45 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: No report.

COMMUNICATIONS: The phone lines are running smoothly. There are no other concerns at this time.

LITERATURE: No Report.

WORLD SERVICES:  The World Services Conference is going to cover:  (A) a possible new pamphlet dealing with mental illness and nicotine.  (B) Updating The Promises is going to be held over until the 2017 conference as it is still a work in progress.  (C) A guideline is being put together to help coordinate how to perform a particular service. (D) There will be six workshops:  (1) Outreach (2) Daily meditations--maybe a new book soon (3) Spanish literature Project to increase our number of pamphlets in Spanish (4) Addressing members with mental health issues. (5) Reviving and maintaining membership, and (6) Developing Sponsorship tools.

EVENTS: The retreat in Joshua Tree is coming up in June or July. We will let you know as soon as we have a date.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH: SCINA email addresses - We must pay for our domain name email address or we can use free email addresses from gmail, yahoo, etc, and make up names like publicoutreachscina@gmail.com. It costs $5.99/month for five email addresses, and $5 for each one after that.  For example, it would be $10.99 for six email addresses.  We are going to think about this more and discuss later.  For now, we will continue to use our personal email addresses.  Note:  No other Nicotine Anonymous Intergroup in the United States of America has email addresses using their name as the domain name.

SPEAKERS LIST: No report

BY-LAWS: No report.

Director of Web Operations: No report..

OLD BUSINESS: We were contacted by Roger F. who informed us he was going to the Conference this year and would be able to represent SCINA. Our letter was sent to the NAWS Secretary informing them of our delegate.

NEW BUSINESS:  No new business

BIRTHDAYS: No birthdays were reported to us.  If you want to have your birthday recognized at SCINA Meetings, please let the secretary know.

SECRETARY REPORT: The April report was not read and approved as we did not have a quorum.  Report was tabled until next month.

CLOSING PRAYER: Tomoko P. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 10:36 AM.

MINUTES - March 20, 2016

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  John D. 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:  West Hollywood 001, Long Beach 012, Costa Mesa 023, Costa Mesa 076, Sherman Oaks 185, Silverlake 229, Glendale 241, Carson 264 Duarte 274, and Irvine 280.

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

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  Fortunately, we have to attend meetings the rest of our life because we need to be reminded of our addiction and we need to be there for newcomers.  And fortunately, there are meetings in this program in the Southern California area for us and the newcomers.  Thank you to all those who are of service that keep Nicotine Anonymous going!  Thank you to Duarte mtg #274 for the idea of emailing the literature and chips order form to our membership.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $588.87.   Income:  Donations:  $90 from West Hollywood Meeting #1; $50 from Meeting #241 Glendale; $50 from Meeting #84 Fullerton; $20 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa; $20 from Meeting #23 Costa Mesa; $25 from Meeting #266 Joshua Tree.   A 7th tradition of $14 was collected at the February SCINA meeting.   (Total incoming:  $269.)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $22.80; Registrar expenses $31.10; Grasshopper phone service $31.40; Mailbox renewal $45. The group agreed to pay for parking for literature chair, $6 for Feb. and $6 for March. (Total outgoing $145.30)  Ending balance $712.57.    The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes made to Administration List.  Meeting 197: Secretary Contact Information removed, awaiting new information.  No Meetings were added.  No Meetings went dark.  All Meetings except possibly 197 have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No changes were made to the H&I List. 46 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  There have not been many calls to the hotline this month. There are no other concerns at this time.

LITERATURE:  Halli K. says that we need to place an order soon.  George found out we need to list that Mary P., Marty W., Michael S., and Susan C. need to be removed from the Union Bank account so that we can add George O. and Halli K. on to it and the address can be changed to Halli’s.

WORLD SERVICES:   http://nicotine-anonymous.org/2016-wsc.html  NAWSO Conference April 29-May 1;   http://nicotine-anonymous.org/two-way-talk-email-communications.html Two Way Talk - get emails from NicA.  Online voice meetings on PalTalk www.paltalk.com. Free download www.voicesofnicotinerecovery.com   (VONR)  There are about 27 meetings a week and tons of speaker shares you can listen to, a message board to leave comments and responses, a worldwide source of online meetings of NicA.  Seven Minutes is published quarterly; the next published edition is Mar 20th and you can read it online for free.  www.nicotine-anonymous.org/sevenminutes-newsletter.html   Seven minutes is always looking for new articles. Write an article and submit it to sevenminuteseditor@nicotine-anonymous.org. Also if you have an anniversary coming, you can submit your time at the same email address.

EVENTS:  The retreat in Joshua Tree is coming up in June or July. We will let you know as soon as we have a date.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  SCINA email addresses - We must pay for our domain name email address or we can use free email addresses from gmail, yahoo, etc, and make up names like publicoutreachscina@gmail.com.  On a separate note, without generic email addresses, we can’t move on to the next step in our public outreach effort which is to create social media accounts with Facebook and Twitter.  We must figure this out before moving to the next step.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No report.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

Director of Web Operations:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:   Nic A table cover with logo. John D. researched this and found that most table covers range from $150-$200.  If you add the pop up stand with Nic A’s info on it, then both start at about $350 together. It was decided to not move forward with this purchase at this time.

NEW BUSINESS:  SCINA’s Officers have not been contacted by anyone going to the World Services Conference April 29-May 1 so, unfortunately, we will not have any representation at the Conference this year.

BIRTHDAYS:   John D. celebrates 3 years, Richard W. celebrates 6 years, and Angela celebrates
12 years - Congrats!

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

CLOSING PRAYER:   Richard led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:15 AM.

MINUTES - February 21, 2016

MINUTES of Intergroup Meeting - February 21, 2016

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  Angela P. 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:  West Hollywood 001, Long Beach 012, Costa Mesa 023, Costa Mesa 076, Sherman Oaks 185, Silverlake 229, Duarte 274, and Irvine 280.

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.

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  John was sick and unable to attend the meeting.  No formal Chairperson report was made at this meeting. Meeting was being led by Angela this month.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $816.63.   Income:  Donations:  $50 from Bellflower Meeting #250.   A 7th tradition of $14 was collected at the January SCINA meeting.   (Total incoming:  $64.)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $26.15; Registrar expenses $31.14; Grasshopper phone service $31.40. Additionally, SCINA paid $64 to literature (Halli K.) for the 4 big books and 20 pamphlets that were raffled and given away during Carry the Message Month, and $136.07 was reimbursed to Angela P. for the business cards. (Total outgoing $291.76)  Ending balance $588.87.  The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: No changes made to Administration List.  Meeting 231: Meeting Location updated.  No Meetings were added.  Meeting 047 Chatsworth has folded.  All Meetings have USPS contact through their Secretary, their Representative, or e-mail.  No changes were made to the H&I List. 47 envelopes were addressed, and 200 Directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  The phone lines are running smoothly.  There are no concerns at this time.

LITERATURE:  Halli K. reported we need to order new literature.  He has not gotten a response from the previous literature chair. As the new person in charge of literature, we need to set up the bank account.  George O. and Halli will handle this very soon.

WORLD SERVICES:   The conference is in Ohio April 29-May 1. Register at http://nicotine-anonymous.org/   Please sign up for two-way-talk on the Nicotine Anonymous website. Please give to the Gift of Gratitude program. If you make a $10 donation every month, you’ll get free issues of Seven Minutes mailed to you each quarter. If anyone is planning on going to the Conference, please contact John D. if you are interested in being a delegate and representing us.  We need to notify World Services no later than March 20th.

EVENTS:  The retreat in Joshua Tree is coming up in June or July. We will let you know as soon as we have a date.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  George O. has a friend who makes signs and made us a sign as a donation.  Thank you George O. and Carlos C.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  No report.  A new speakers list will go out to all the meeting Secretaries.

BY-LAWS:  No report.

Director of Web Operations:  We have had 2,101 visits to the web page in the past 12 months, our average number of visits per month was 175.  Our average audience size is 146 people per month, we have a total audience size of 1,758 viewers to the website. 36% of visitors use a mobile phone to access the website.   In the past month, 38% of visitors use the meeting list, 47% of visitors view the home page, 3% read the 12 Steps, 2.5% read the promises of NicA and 2.14% went to the Literature order form. Approximately 50% of our visitors search for the website before landing on the page, while the other half come to the website directly.

OLD BUSINESS:   It was suggested at the December meeting that we purchase a nice table cloth with NicA’s logo to help draw attention to our table in the future. Everyone thought it was a good idea and John will have more information at the March meeting.  After checking with Brian about creating email addresses with the domain @SCINA.org, there is a monthly cost for that so we will not move forward at this time.  We will look into other options.

NEW BUSINESS:   Delegate elections for the NAWS 31 Conference being held in Cleveland, Ohio will take place at the Intergroup meeting March 20, 2016.  Please make sure you let one of the SCINA Officers know if you are going to the Conference and are willing to be a delegate to represent us.  We must turn in our list of delegates no later than April 2nd.

BIRTHDAYS:   Brian celebrates 8 years - Congrats!

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

CLOSING PRAYER:   Brian led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:15 AM.

MINUTES - January 17, 2016

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

INTRODUCTIONS:  Angela P. 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:  023, 076, 185, 229, 231, and 250.

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

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  Happy New Year!  I was not able to make the meeting this month, but I will be back next month with an update on the use of domain names for SCINA email addresses.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $878.13.   Income:  Donations:  $50 from Meeting #1 West Hollywood; $48 from Long Beach Meeting #231 (they also made a $28 donation to NAWS, which I will forward); $20 from Costa Mesa meeting #23, and $145 from Costa Mesa Meeting #76.   A 7th tradition of $15 was collected at the December SCINA meeting.   (Total incoming:  $278.)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $23.28; Registrar expenses $31.98; Grasshopper phone service $31.24. (Total outgoing $89.50)  Ending balance $1066.63.    A motion was made to donate $250 to NAWS.  It was passed.   Our new ending balance is $816.63 The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration list: Literature Chair information added.  Thank you, Halli K.  Meeting Information Changes: Meetings 185 and 229: Phone Contact and Meeting Format updated.  Meeting 280: Meeting day and location updated.  No new Meetings were added.  Meetings 254 and 279 were removed. All meetings have USPS contact through a secretary, representative or email. No changes were posted to H&I Listings.  47 envelopes and 200 directories were printed. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  The phone lines are running smoothly.  There are no concerns at this time.

LITERATURE:  Halli K. started doing the literature position.  He reports we have $485.60 in the account. Angela ordered business cards to give out to the membership for Carry The Message Day.  Shipping costs put it over the $100 allotted for the purchase, final cost $136.07.  A motion was made and passed to reimburse Angela $136.07.

WORLD SERVICES:   The conference is in Ohio April 29-May 1. Register at http://nicotine-anonymous.org/

EVENTS:  January is Carry The Message month. See the attached flyer and discuss at your meetings how your group may carry the message.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  SCINA encourages every meeting to plan a Carry The Message Day outreach project in January.  It was passed in December that each group that attends the January 2016 Intergroup meeting would receive 20 pamphlets, and that 4 red books would be given away.  Meetings 023, 076, 185, 229, 231, and 250 attended and received free literature.  Bellflower, Silverlake, Irvine, and Sherman Oaks attended and each won a free red book from the raffle.  SCINA reimbursed literature for the pamphlets and books $64.

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:   It was suggested at the December meeting that we purchase a nice table cloth with NicA’s logo to help draw attention to our table in the future. Everyone thought it was a good idea and John will have more information at the February meeting.  It was decided to create email addresses with the domain @SCINA.org, John will have information for us in February.

NEW BUSINESS:   Delegate elections for the NAWS 31 Conference being held in Cleveland, Ohio will take place at the Intergroup meeting March 20, 2016.  Please make sure you let one of the SCINA Officers know if you are going to the Conference and are willing to be a delegate to represent us?  We must turn in our list of delegates no later than April 2nd.
 
BIRTHDAYS:  JudiAh D. celebrates 14 years, Christine C. celebrates 16 years, Ian M. celebrates 13 years.  Congrats!

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

CLOSING PRAYER:   Joseph led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:20 AM

MINUTES - December 20, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

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

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 023, 076,  084, 185, 229, and 280.

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

CHAIRPERSON REPORT:  2015 is coming to an end, and thank you to EVERYONE in the program for helping to keep our program alive.  Thank you to all those with commitments at meetings, SCINA, all the sponsors in the program, those who volunteer at events and for programs, and everyone else.  In our program, we offer a softer and easier way to stay quit.  Our program would not exist without our members as our traditions state.

Action item:  Do we use emails with a SCINA address?  My suggestion is that we have official emails for all the positions, so that when we post to our website, the public/members will easily know what email to send things to for that particular issue.  We can also have an email say a person’s first name and initial of their last name.  According to NAWS this will not break traditions, and will also allow everyone to have their own email.  Emails from our SCINA emails can also be forwarded to our emails.  We just need to talk to Brian, our Web Czar, and figure it out.  Examples of an email could be chairperson@scina.org and johnd@scina.org.  We discussed this last month and the biggest concerns were being allowed to have an email with our name on it.  This does not break our traditions and is allowed.  John D. made a motion that we create email addresses with the domain name @SCINA.org for all SCINA positions.  The motion was passed.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $709.79.   Income:  The November Gratitude Marathon Meetings, after expenses of $10 were paid, brought in $179 [amount per group was not broken down for me]. Thank you all, and a special thank you to host group Bellflower Meeting #250 who donated an additional $100.  Other donations:  $50 from Meeting #84 Fullerton.   A 7th tradition of $14 was collected at the November SCINA meeting.   (Total incoming:  $343)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $24.25; Registrar expenses $31.18; Grasshopper phone service $31.23; P.O. Box rental for 3 months $45.  We also paid $40 cash given for literature at the Great American Smokeout held at Fullerton College. (Total outgoing $174.66)  Ending balance $878.13.    The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration list: Last names replaced by last initials.  Meeting Information Changes: Meeting 274 Meeting Format updated.  No new Meetings were added.  Meetings 279 and 280 are dark, looking for a new venue.  All meetings have USPS contact through a secretary, representative or email. Two H&I Listings were added, both are e-mail contacts.  48 envelopes and 200 directories were printed. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: Angela and John were able to get 2 H&I names to add from the Great American Smokeout.  We were able to get email addresses and promises from them that they would print a copy of our meeting directory that we will send them each month and post it for their clients.

COMMUNICATIONS:  The phone lines are running smoothly.  There are no concerns at this time.

LITERATURE:  Halli K. offered to do the literature position for SCINA, A motion was made and passed to accept. Angela made a motion that we authorize up to $100 to purchase another 5,000 ‘When You Are Ready, We Will Be There” business cards for distribution to the membership. Gary seconded the motion and it was passed.

WORLD SERVICES:   
1.    The conference is in Ohio April 29-May 1. Register at  http://nicotine-anonymous.org/
2.    Seven Minutes can be read free online.  All previous issues of Seven Minutes can be accessed online by going to Nicotine-Anonymous.org and click on Newsletter.
3.    Can get CD recording of speakers at last year’s conference by going to website.
4.    You can give a donation in the form of Gift of Gratitude on website.
5.    Connect to NicA via Two-way talk. Go to http://nicotine-anonymous.org/two-way-talk-email-
communications.html

EVENTS:  Thank you Angela P. and John D. for staffing the Fullerton College Health Fair last month.  The event was fun, but not that many people came by the table.  Fullerton College sent us a letter two weeks later to thank us for attending.  We told them we would be happy to attend again at next year’s event.  The next SCINA event we hope to hold will be the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend for a Pot Luck.  One idea we discussed to help draw attention to our table in the future was for SCINA to purchase a table cloth with Nic A’s logo. Everyone thought it was a good idea and John will get more information.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  SCINA encourages every meeting to plan a Carry The Message Day outreach project in January.  A motion was made that each group who attends the January 2016 Intergroup meeting will receive 20 pamphlets, and 5 red books will be raffled off. It was passed.  See attached flyer.  In regard to a Facebook page and Twitter page for SCINA - John D. will come back next month with information about this.

SPEAKERS BUREAU:  Please invite one of the speakers to your meeting.
BY-LAWS:  No report.
WEB CZAR:  No report.
OLD BUSINESS:   No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.
 
BIRTHDAYS:  Alan C. celebrates 15 years, Frank S. celebrates 17 years, and Emil L. celebrates 26 years today.  Congrats!

SECRETARY REPORT: The December report was read and approved as we did have a quorum.  Angela would like to take a moment to thank the people who help the Intergroup on a regular basis including the Secretaries, Intergroup Reps, and Phone Reps of our meetings as well as Officers and Committee Chairpersons who do a little bit or a lot every day to make sure this program continues in this area of SoCal and is available to people who are willing to try to quit one more time.  Thank you.

CLOSING PRAYER:   George O. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:36 AM.

MINUTES - November 15, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

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

WAS YOUR MEETING REPRESENTED?  A quorum was met.  The following meetings were represented:  001, 012, 023, 076, 185, 229, 279, and 280.

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 REPORT:  This month we celebrate Thanksgiving.  I would like to give thanks to everyone in Nicotine Anonymous.  It was here for me when I needed it, and may each of you continue to provide what was freely given to us.  Possible action:  Do we use emails with a SCINA address?  If yes, the email address will end with @scina.org.  For example, the chairpersons email address might be chairperson@scina.org.  We discussed this and decided to talk to World Services about any rules we should follow.  There could be an email for each role.  John will follow-up with more information.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $777.33.  Income:  $256.17 was moved from our Paypal account into our checking account.  Thanks to Angela P. (personal donations of $10/mo.) and Joshua Tree Meeting #266 for their previous donations.  Other donations this month:  $60 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa and $10 from Meeting #23 Costa Mesa.  Way to go, Costa Mesa!  A 7th tradition of $16 was collected at the October SCINA meeting.  (Total incoming:  $342.17)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; Secretary expenses $24.25; Registrar expenses $31.26; Grasshopper phone service $31.20; Our annual donation in the amount of $120 was mailed to White Memorial Hospital - Cardiac Outreach Fund for 2016 SCINA meeting space. (Total outgoing $209.71) A motion was made and passed to send a $200 donation to Nicotine Anonymous World Services in honor of gratitude month.  Ending balance $709.79.  The report was moved and approved.

REGISTRAR REPORT: Administration list: H&I Chair address updated.  Meeting Information Changes:  Meeting 274 moved to Tuesday 6:30 pm, City of Hope, in Duarte.  No new Meetings were added, and no Meetings were closed.  All meetings have USPS contact through a secretary, representative or email. H&I listings; no additions, deletions or updates.  50 envelopes and 200 directories were printed. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  Vee contacted an office specializing in lung diseases located in Glendale. He left them a flyer and information about our activity and is waiting for them to respond. 

COMMUNICATIONS:  We have heard from 3 volunteers and George O. will contact them this week about helping return calls with information on Nicotine Anonymous meetings.

LITERATURE:  We are currently in need of a nicotine-free volunteer to step up for chips and literature at the Intergroup Meetings.  If interested, please contact John D. at (818) 618-1501.

WORLD SERVICES:  Gary reports (1) World Services is getting 8 pieces of literature translated in Spanish for outreach. (2) If we know of any outreach leads, please share with World Services. (3) If anyone wants to sign up for Two-Way-Talk, an email update from NAWS, you can do so by going to www.nicotine-anonymous.org and click the Newsletter Tab.

EVENTS:  Saturday, November 21st from 9 am to 9 pm is the date of the Marathon meeting this year at Calvary Baptist Church, 14722 Clark Avenue, Bellflower, CA.  See flyer sent previously.  Also remember, we need our membership's support. As part of our recovery, it is important for us to practice reaching out to others.  Intergroup events are an opportunity for that.

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  The “Fullerton College Great American Smokeout event” is Thursday, November 19th from 10 am - 1 pm.  The college asked us to help spread the word about how nicotine is dangerous in any form.  If you’d like to attend and volunteer with us here at SCINA, please call John D. at (818) 618-1501 or email him at johndarnell8@gmail.com.  A motion was made for a $40 donation of pamphlets for this public outreach and it was passed.  Regarding a Facebook page and Twitter page for SCINA - John D. will come back next month or the month after with information about this.

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:  No new business.
 
BIRTHDAYS:  Greg S. from the Sherman Oaks meeting celebrates 6 years this month. Gary M. celebrates 17 years. Congrats!

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

CLOSING PRAYER:   George O. led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:30 AM.

MINUTES - October 18, 2015

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, 076, 185, 229, 279, and 280.

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 REPORT:  During our September picnic, we held annual elections for the positions of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary.  All three people who serve in those positions were re-elected.  Congratulations!  Thank you Nic A members for re-electing me as Chair, Bill H. as Treasurer, and Angela as Secretary.  We appreciate your trust in us as trusted servants, and we love you all.

For me, this is one of the biggest reasons why I am still smober today.  Part of working the program is being of service.  Intergroup is a fantastic way to be of service.  I encourage everyone who is not part of Intergroup to strongly consider getting involved, and to help spread the word that we need more volunteers to those you know.  This is a way to give back what was so freely given to you.  -John D.

TREASURER REPORT:  Our beginning balance was $872.73.   Income:  Meeting #1 West Hollywood donated $50 in honor of Lisa Coble. Also received generous donations of $150 from Meeting #12 Long Beach, $63 from Meeting #250 Bellflower, $30 from meeting #231 Long Beach, $30 from Meeting #84 Fullerton, $10 from Meeting #23 Costa Mesa, and $10 from Meeting #76 Costa Mesa.  Meeting #231 donated an additional $30 to be forwarded to Nicotine Anonymous World Services (NAWS).  A 7th tradition of $40 was collected at the picnic.  Thank you all, and thanks for attending! In addition to all of this, we received a $24.74 rebate from AT&T for an overpayment.  (Total incoming:  $437.74)   Expenses:  $3 Bank imaging fee; The expenses for the picnic (including park rental fees) were $140.  Secretary expenses $26.95; Registrar expenses $31.62 for Sept and $31.26 for Oct; Treasurer expenses (office supplies) $14.15; Grasshopper phone service $31.16; We paid $125 to Calvary Baptist Church for Marathon Meetings, which will be on November 21st.  I am recommending SCINA donate $100 to NAWS, which along with $30 from Meeting #231 would = $130 donation to NAWS.  This motion was approved by the group.  (Total outgoing $533.14) Ending balance $777.33.   The report was moved and approved.  Next month we will be mailing $120 to White Memorial Hospital for our yearly meeting space rent.

REGISTRAR REPORT:   No changes to Administration list.  No Meeting updates.  Meeting 280, Laguna Woods, Monday 7:00 pm was added. Meeting 037, Santa Monica, was closed by Secretary.  All meetings have USPS contact through representative or email. H&I listings; no additions, deletions or updates.  50 envelopes and 200 directories were printed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

COMMUNICATIONS:  We are looking for help on the weekends to return calls with information on Nicotine Anonymous meetings.  If you are interested in taking on this commitment and becoming part of the Communications team, please contact George O. at 562-310-0874.

LITERATURE:  We are currently in need of a volunteer to step up for chips and literature at the Intergroup Meetings.  Marty W. who took care of this for Intergroup for more than 4 years has left this position but the literature and chips we have for sale are very neatly arranged and he has let us know he would be happy to explain to the new volunteer how ordering is done.  Thank you Marty for your service!  This position would require our new volunteer to bring the chips and literature to the Intergroup meeting each month and fill orders by members who come to the meetings.  Our September Intergroup meeting is always at our annual picnic.  We would like to have a monthly accounting of money going in and out and the bank balance.  There is $274.60 balance at this time in the Literature account.  Be advised, there are no chips and literature sales at the Intergroup meeting until we have a volunteer for this position.

Please note: the chips and literature you see at your meetings are there because Marty W. made it happen.  Thank you Marty for your service!  Your fellow members, and most importantly, NEW MEMBERS, count on all of us to keep this program going and filling this position ASAP is a top priority for Intergroup right now so you can still get chips and literature.  Please spread the word so we can fill this very important position ASAP!

WORLD SERVICES:   No report per Gary.  One piece of literature (Our Promises) was brought up for changes which will be shown at the Conference next year for approval.

EVENTS:  Saturday, November 21st will be the date of the Marathon meeting this year at Calvary Baptist Church, 14722 Clark Avenue, Bellflower, CA.  See flyer sent previously.  Also remember, we need our membership's support. As part of our recovery, it is important for us to practice reaching out to others.  Intergroup events are an opportunity for that. 

NEW MEETINGS:  Gary reports there haven’t been any requests for new meeting material.  There is a new meeting starting in Laguna Hills on Monday, November 2nd at 7pm.

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  The “Fullerton College Great American Smokeout event” is Thursday, November 19th from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  The college asked us to help spread the word about how nicotine is dangerous in any form.  Apparently, e-cigarettes are very popular on their campus right now.  Nicotine Anonymous has committed to be there, but we can’t do this if we don’t have people staffing a booth.  John D. is attending, but we need a couple more volunteers.  If you’d like to help, please call John D. at (818) 618-1501 or email him at johndarnell8@gmail.com.

Tip of the month:  “Visibility” - Please consider advertising our program by placing Nic A materials in places where people will see them (coffee shops, medical offices, or online like Craigslist).  Please ask for permission first before doing so.  For example, if you advertised your weekly meeting on Craigslist once a week, and/or made a flyer for your meeting and picked three key locations nearby to post it, then you will be able to reach more people who need help.  Remember, the 5th Tradition says: “Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the nicotine addict who still suffers.”

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:   Bill has agreed to be the Treasurer for Intergroup this year as his last year.  Please think about making a commitment to help Intergroup starting next September.  Bill would be happy to train you on what needs to be done.

NEW BUSINESS:   No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  No birthdays that we were informed of this month.  Please let us know if you are celebrating a Smober birthday/anniversary in November.

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

CLOSING PRAYER:   Gary led us in the Serenity Prayer at 11:05 AM.

MINUTES - September 20, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:   No old business.

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

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

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

MINUTES - August 16, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

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

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

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

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

MINUTES - July 19, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS:  No report.

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

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

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

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

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

PUBLIC OUTREACH:  No report.

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.  Booooring.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

MINUTES - June 21, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP of NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

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

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

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

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

MINUTES - May 17, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:  No new business.

BIRTHDAYS:  No birthdays were reported this month!

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

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

MINUTES - April 19, 2015

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INTERGROUP OF NICOTINE ANONYMOUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

MINUTES - March 15, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

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

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

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

WORLD SERVICES:  Gary M. - no report.

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

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

OLD BUSINESS: 

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

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

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

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

MINUTES - February 15, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

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

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

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

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

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

MINUTES - January 18, 2015

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

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

COMMUNICATIONS:  No report.

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

WORLD SERVICES:   Gary M. says No Report.

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

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

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

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

NEW BUSINESS:    No new business.

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

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

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

MINUTES - December 21, 2014

Southern California Intergroup of Nicotine Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

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

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

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

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

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

NEW MEETINGS:   No new meetings.

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

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

BY-LAWS:  No report.

WEB CZAR:  No report.

OLD BUSINESS:  No old business.

NEW BUSINESS:    No new business.

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

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

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

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

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