COR MeetingAugust 15, 2021

4:00PM

Location: Turning Point

210 8th Street

August 2021STEP 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, andbecame willing to make amends to them all.

TRADITION 8:Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

Copyright © A.A. World Services Inc. Reprinted with permission

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Published Monthly by:

Acadiana Area Central Office, Inc.

Located at: 115 Leonie St., Lafayette, LA

70506

Phone: (337) 991-0830

(24 Hours)

Mail all Contributions

to:P.O. Box 61144Lafayette, LA

70596

Office Hours: Tue-Fri

11:00 - 4:00

COPYRIGHT © 2021Acadiana Area

Central Office, Inc.

www.aa-acadiana.org Email the Central Office at: centraloffice@aa-acadiana.org

MISSION STATEMENTIt is the goal of your Central Office Steering Committee to monitor and improve upon the quality of services provided by the office and its workers. The Steering

Committee meets regularly to review Policies and Operations in order to improve its services to our A.A. Community.

Finding A New FreedomMaking Amends features 55 candid, firsthand stories from AA Grapevine magazine of members’ experiences with Step Nine of the AA program. The book includes chapters on making amends to parents, children, family members, exes, financial institutions, friends and coworkers. These powerful stories illustrate how practicing Step Nine can help us, as AA’s co-founder Bill W wrote, "know a new freedom and a new happiness".

Want to contribute an

item to the Plug-In-Jug?

Email us or send it to Acadian

Central Office by the of

the second Sunday of

the month..

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In Need of a

Service Position?!?

Contact Central Office and

volunteer to answer the

phones after-hours and

weekends

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AUGUST 2021 | SENIORS IN AAThe 73 - year-old Newcomer

BY: RAE C. | WINNIPEG, MANITOBA

For someone who couldn’t believe you could stop drinking after 70, she’s sure loving life now

In January of 2017, I walked through the doors of AA for the first time at the age of 73. My husband of 47 years had died three months earlier and my alcoholic depression was so overwhelming that I could no longer think normally.

I had been a heavy drinker for nearly 35 years and a blackout drinker for 15 of those. I had unsuccessfully attempted to quit on my own hundreds of times. While usually I couldn’t remember what I had done the previous evening, this time I recalled holding a bottle of 90 tablets of my husband’s sleeping aid prescription. I thought death was the only way to end my grief. I didn’t take the pills. Something made me pause and recognize that this was not the solution. I needed help.

Looking back, I realize that this was my first spiritual experience. Instead, I went online and found a nearby AA meeting the next morning. Then I fell asleep.

Walking through those doors was my most humbling experience ever. I honestly didn’t believe I could stop drinking at my age, but I felt a bit of hope that this could be the place where it was possible.

Like most people at their first AA meeting, I tried to be inconspicuous, but this group would have none of that. Everyone was so friendly and nice. One member almost leapt across the room to introduce himself. Most of the newer members were much younger than me, but it soon became obvious that the program didn’t have an age requirement or any other requirement other than a desire to stop drinking.

I was struggling to get sober as much as the younger newcomers. Over time I found that our similarities were greater than our differences. I went to a meeting every day and really listened to what was being said. After several weeks I started feeling stronger and finally asked a woman who had spoken to me on that first day to be my sponsor. She said yes and that changed my life.

This woman painstakingly led me through the Steps. As she told me her story, I related to what she said. The one fact I accepted early on was that because of my age, I do not have the luxury of going back out and returning. I simply don’t have the time. I committed to being fearless and thorough from the very start and to start living in the present and not dwell in the past.

My sponsor was service personified and encouraged me to get involved. I took on the position of housekeeper, organized some club files, volunteered for the group anniversary dinner and went to treatment centers to tell my story with AA members who had long-term sobriety. I found a new purpose and realized I was starting to manage my life without my husband. My grief was still crushing, but the AA tools that help me stay sober also direct me to service work, which does not allow me to focus on my grief.

I’m 75 now and I’ve been sober for nearly two years. It’s hard to believe this is now my life. I joined AA to reduce my depression. I accomplished that and so much more. I learned how to live a better life. It’s never too late to live happily. No one knows how much time we have on this earth, but today, I’m confident I shall live it sober.

Anniversaries are based on group registration dates as recorded by the A.A. General Service Office (GSO) in New York.

Don’t see your name? Go to www.aa-acadiana.org and click on “Update your Sobriety”

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Steering Committee Name Home Group COR/ALT.

Chairman Charlie P. A Vision for You

Recording Secretary Not Present Abbeville Area Group Willis B.

Vice Chair Krissy P. Any Length Patrick B.

Web Chair Hassan I. Back to Basics

Treasurer Tory H. Candlelight Ryan A.

Communications Sandy S. Circle Triangle Terry F.

Activities Rick S. Dry Dock

Contact Eric G. Freedoms Choice

Glum Nots

Gulf Coast Group Jami R.

Hub City Jason N.

Keys to the Kingdom

Kitchen Table Group Yvette G.

Living Sober

Guest Name New Way

13E Liaison Rick S. Primary Purpose Eric G.

Primary Purpose Jan C. (ALT).

Reflections Jamie C.

Sisters in Sobriety

Step by Step Judith P.

Sun-Up

Surrender

There Is A Solution Raphael I.

Twelve at Twelve

COR Meeting Minutes Date: May 16th 2021

Chairman • Charlie opened the meeting with the serenity prayer.

Recording Secretary’s Report • Charlie presented the June COR meeting minutes.

• Accepted as read.

Treasurer’s Report • Tory presented the June financial reports.

• Gross Margin: $511.

Office Report • Charlie presented the June office manager report.

• Looking for more after-hours call volunteers.

Web Chair’s Report • Hassan presented the June web stats.

Communication Chair’s Report • PIJ published on June 17th.

Activities Chair’s Report • Rick discussed upcoming event “Anything Over Rice” set for September

11th at Comeaux park. Looking for volunteer to do raffle and registration.

Also need help picking up material from central office on the 11th

between 3 and 4pm. Group are encouraged to call office to register their

entries.

• Rick mentioned 2021 Christmas party is work in progress.

Contact Chair’s Report • Eric visited several groups in the last month. He announced to groups that

central office is looking for after-hours volunteers and explained to groups

the importance of central office functions to our AA community.

13E District Reports • Rick mentioned that District 13E formed an activities committee to

organize future events.

Old Business • Eric new contact chair.

• Sandy new communications chair.

New Business • Charlie tried to contact IRS to seek tax exempt filing status with no luck. He

will keep trying to reach them via phone and report back to CORs.

Adjournment • Meeting adjourned with the Lord’s Prayer.

COR Meeting Minutes

July 11, 2021

Recently I was reading a story in the Steps section of Grapevine and I remembered how, in early sobriety, I learned the true meaning of the Eighth Step. What I found interesting about gaining understanding about this Step is that the lesson didn’t come from a fellow member of AA. It came from my sister.

When I first heard about the Eighth Step, I understood it to mean that I would need to go around saying sorry to everyone forall the harm that I’d caused. And because I still had a lot of guilt and shame about the things I had done in my past, I almost felt like I needed to go around introducing myself, saying, “Hi, I’m sorry and I’m Gail.”

The relationship I had with my sister, who’s six years younger than me, had been very unhealthy. I got sober when I was 18. She was just a kid then and I had been an abusive tornado in her life.

I was about two years sober when one evening, she and I got into a verbal fight. Today I can’t recall what the fight was about, and neither can she. At the time though, it was important to us. During the fight, she ran upstairs to her room and slammed the door. I instantly felt bad about my behavior toward her and how I had reacted. I didn’t want to be that person anymore and I was disappointed in myself. I wanted to go up to her room and tell her that I was sorry for yelling and fighting with her,but I knew she wasn’t going to listen to me.Instead, I wrote her a letter. It was a letter of amends. In it, I did something I had never done before. I listed out a plan ofaction describing how I was going to change the way I behaved and the different types of tools I was going to use to implement that change.

I slid the letter under her door and went to my AA meeting. When I returned from the meeting, I found at my bedroom door my letter ripped up, with a sign saying, “I don’t think so, not this time,” followed by some more colorful language. My immediate impulse was to run upstairs to her room, grab her and shake her and yell, “Didn’t you read the letter? I said I wassorry and that I love you!”

I didn’t do that, thank God. Instead I realized it didn’t matter that she didn’t believe me because I didn’t want to be that type of sister anymore. I decided to follow through with the plan of action that I had outlined in the letter.

I once heard someone share at a meeting that the word “amend” does not mean “to say sorry” as much as it means “to change.” If I say I’m going to amend a document that means I am going to change something in it. That was the lesson I learned that day with my sister. Instead of just saying that I was sorry, I had written out for her—but mostly for me—a plan of action to change.

This realization has had a big impact on the way I now approach the Eighth Step. Not only do I look at what I‘ve done to harmothers, but I think about what I’ll be doing now to change and not be that person again. Then I have to ask myself whether I’m truly ready to follow through on that plan, because nothing sucks more than having to go back and make an amend on an amend that I already made!

Please don’t get me wrong. It is important to feel remorse and to apologize for harm done to others. In fact, recognizing that Ihad done harm was an important internal shift for me. Before I was only concerned about what others had done to me. AA, however, is a program of action and I have learned that it’s action where I’ve found my recovery. That’s where the big changes happen for me.

So now before I move on to the Ninth Step, I make sure that the plan of action that I listed in my Eighth Step is solid and realistic. I go over it with my sponsor and other close AA friends and I pray about it.I will always be grateful for that lesson from my sister, as I feel it has improved my recovery. Sometimes we can learn valuableAA lessons from people outside of our meetings.

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The letter to her sister may have been ripped up. But the lesson she learned about making amends was delivered.

AUGUST 2021 | SENIORS IN AATorn apartBY: GAIL V. | BURLINGTON, ONTARIO

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COR Resources | Acadiana Central Office (aa-acadiana.org)

Why Have Central Office Representatives?

“A central office is established to carry out certain functions

common to all the groups – functions which are best

handled by a central office- and it is usually maintained,

supervised, and supported by these groups. It exists to aid

the groups in their common purpose of carrying the A.A.

message to the alcoholic who still suffers.”Copyright © AA World Services, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

“I am responsible. When anyone, anywhere,

reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.”

Do you want to live happy, joyous & free?

Want to add an A.A. event to the Central Office Calendar? e-mail us at: plug-in-jug@aa-acadiana.org Phone: 337 991-0830

2021

2021

A flyer for most of the events listed can be found on our website. Visit www.aa-acadiana.org

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COR 4 pm

Turning Point

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