Excerpts from A Step Ahead,
the OA WSO Newsletter
A Step Ahead is a quarterly newsletter produced by
Overeaters Anonymous
World Service Office. Following are highlights from 1999/2000 editions of
A Step Ahead. Further copies of A Step Ahead can be found at the
OA World Service Office Website.
Board of Trustees Tips for
Setting Up an Effective Literature Table
Categorize by topic, such as newcomers, abstinence.
Categorize by format, such as pamphlets, books.
Make signs for categories to give quick access to items.
Know your OA literature.
Announce new materials.
Add recovery medallions, cassette tapes, pocket cards and posters for interest.
Call attention to the table.
Stress the importance of literature as a recovery tool.
Maintain Tradition Six-avoid outside literature.
Emphasize literature's role in OA's self-support.
Handle and store literature carefully.
Staff the table with experienced members before and after
meetings and during breaks to answer questions.
Pass on information to the next literature person.
Contact the WSO to receive the 2000-2001 literature
catalog containing all Board- and Conference-approved literature and
specialty items.
Newcomers Packets
| Pamphlets |
"Before You Take that First Compulsive Bite . . ."
"Maintaining a Healthy Weight"
"A Plan of Eating"
"A Guide to the Twelve Steps for You and Your Sponsor"
"A Guide for Sponsors"
"Tools of Recovery"
"Anonymity"
"Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous"
"A Commitment to Abstinence"
"It Takes Two: Through Our Own Contributions . . ."
|
| Books |
Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions of OA
Alcoholics Anonymous
For Today
Twelve-Step Workbook
Overeaters Anonymous,Second Edition
|
Literature
|
Current literature catalog
|
| Lifeline |
Back issues of Lifeline and subscription forms |
From A Step Ahead, Volume 10, Number 10, 2000
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- CALL TO ACTION! - What the heck is a HIPM?
Is it a new word, a club, a group?
HIPM-an acronym for Hospitals, Institutions,
Professionals and Military-is a working committee of the World Service Business Conference.
The HIPM committee was formed several years
ago to focus on health professionals, military personnel
and others in the professional community.
This committee is important because professionals
have regular contact with compulsive overeaters. Even if your
physician recommends OA to only one overweight, anorexic or
bulimic person per day, and you multiply that by the number of
working days in a year, you have many more people who know that
OA offers a solution.
Professionals are also important because
they lend credibility to OA. Desperate people under professional
care tend to listen to the professional. If, for example, a
doctor encourages a patient being treated for obesity to try
OA, the person hears it.
The WSBC HIPM Committee recently conducted a
survey to determine how many intergroups have HIPM committees.
Only seven of 49 respondents had committees. The 42 that did
not either chose not to or did not know they needed to have one.
Ten said they would begin to form a committee, while 32 said
they would not.
If your intergroup or region does not have the
"HIPM Manual" to help you form a committee, you can order one
from the WSO (catalog item #772/ $9.00). If your intergroup
does not have the resources to form a HIPM committee, have
your PI committee focus on HIPM every other month.
Professionals can help us spread the message,
but first they must know we exist!
-B.S. and K.C., WSBC HIPM Committee Cochairs
From A Step Ahead, Volume 10, Number 10, 2000
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What's New from WSO
New Look for OA's Meditation Book
Because of rising production costs, the For
Today daily meditation book now has a soft cover rather than
the hard cover offered in the past. The pages remain sewn for
durability, and the cover is an attractive material that
resists tears and stains.
We appreciate our members' understanding as
we look for ways to cut costs while continuing to offer
valuable OA literature.
Recovery into the Millennium
Don't forget to purchase your 40th-anniversary
commemorative booklet, filled with 40 years of OA memorabilia.
Fortieth-birthday pins are also still available while supplies
last. See the back page for ordering information.
OA 2000-2001 Catalog
OA's latest catalog is included in the US
mailing of this issue of A Step Ahead. Catalogs will not
be mailed to OA's non-US service bodies because of prohibitive
postage costs. However, all service bodies may access the
catalog through the OA Web site or may contact the WSO to
receive a copy in the mail. Catalogs are included in all
literature orders.
Change in Mailing of A Step Ahead
To reduce postage costs, the WSO will no
longer mail A Step Ahead to individual members who asked
to be on the mailing list. We ask that group secretaries
make copies for members of their groups.
From A Step Ahead,
Volume 10, Number 10, 2000
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What's Wrong with Outside Issues?
I am a compulsive overeater and an abstinent member of
OA for eight years. In that time, I've become aware that
"singleness of purpose" is vitally important to OA.
During my travels years ago, I sought out an OA meeting.
To my dismay, I discovered the group had folded. This
group had evolved into a multipurpose, group-therapy
session. It folded because members stopped attending
as they "healed," negating the paradox of our program:
to keep our recovery, we have to give it away.
Outside issues are a concern at many OA meetings.
What is an outside issue? The World Service Business
Conference adopted the following policy statement in
1994:
"Our primary purpose in Overeaters Anonymous
is to abstain from compulsive overeating and to
carry the message of recovery to the still suff
ering compulsive overeater. Other addictions and
problems may have contributed to the intensity of
our disease; however, OA does not directly concern
itself with recovery from these issues. We should
share about them in OA meetings only as they relate
to compulsive eating. It is in our best interest to
concentrate on our primary purpose and not be distracted
by focusing on issues such as alcoholism, codependency,
abuse or the treatment thereof. We should address these
and similar outside issues in other programs or with professionals."
The main factor is "focus." If I began to recover in another
Twelve-Step program before I found OA, I may choose to share
that as part of my story. It just can't be the focus. My other
problems do intertwine with my eating problem; but if I share a
litany of these compulsive exploits during an OA meeting, those
who don't share my dual compulsions cannot identify.
Long ago, singleness of purpose became evident and necessary
to prevent meetings from deteriorating into sessions of
psychobabble. Other organizations have deteriorated or
died because they lost their focus. A precursor of AA
disappeared because it expanded its focus to promote temperance.
Do we want something like that to happen to OA? How will I
continue to grow without this life-saving program? I need
all of you to help me recover.
Of course, OA should not decide to do or not do something
based on AA or some other program's decisions. Even AA is
an outside issue. OA must do what is best for our Fellowship.
Thus, OA must focus on the needs of compulsive overeaters.
OA must "keep it simple." I tend to complicate things
by analyzing every thought and action. A long-timer
reminded me that the name of our program is Overeaters
Anonymous, not Overeaters Analysis. One compulsion at a
time is enough for any program to address.
-- By a member of the Board of Trustees
Potential Outside Issues
Twelve-Step programs other than OA
Weight-loss programs
Religious figures and beliefs
Prayers of specific religions
Self-help books and practitioners
Individual food plans or diets
Treatment facilities
Specific physicians or practices
From A Step Ahead, Volume 10, Number 2, 2000
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Using the Sponsorship Slogan
The sponsorship slogan offers OA groups and intergroups many opportunities to encourage sponsorship and membership retention. Try the following ideas and report your successes to Lifeline; send us your own ideas for using the slogan. We will publish your responses in Lifeline and A Step Ahead.
Print the slogan in all intergroup and region newsletters.
Pass out to newcomers and members business-size cards
imprinted with the slogan and your name and phone number.
Create bookmarks by printing the slogan on index cards,
with space for members to write the names of sponsors and the
sponsors' phone numbers.
Print the sponsorship slogan in your newsletter, and
under it list names and phone numbers of members available to sponsor.
Live the slogan by suggesting quarterly "Generational Gatherings"
of sponsors and their sponsorees. Two to four sponsors invite their
sponsorees to a quarterly activity, and then the sponsorees invite
their sponsorees. Begin with a potluck meal, a walk or some other event.
After the activity, everyone gathers for an OA meeting. The number of
sponsors participating depends on the total number of sponsorees.
Establish a sponsorship month to encourage each member to obtain a
sponsor and be a sponsor. Use the following activities as part of
sponsorship month or anytime:
Invite each group to select "Sponsorship: Together We Recover"
as the focus for one of its meetings that month.
Invite sponsor/sponsoree teams to share their recovery
experience of working together. Select panels from these teams
to speak at meetings within the intergroup, or plan a "Sponsorship:
Together We Recover" workshop.
Make sponsorship slogan badges and buttons for distribution.
Sponsor a contest for members to create a logo for the
sponsorship slogan. Offer a one-year Lifeline subscription as a prize for the winner.
Use the logo and slogan on a flyer for distribution at
meetings. From sponsor/sponsoree teams, include short quotations
on the benefits of working together.
Make large banners of the sponsorship slogan to post in meeting rooms.
-- By members of the Board of Trustees
From A Step Ahead, Volume 10, Number 2, 2000
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OA's Unique Characteristics
I have kept coming back for almost eight years.
That seems like a long time, so I ask myself what keeps me
coming back.
I have investigated and used other methods of
recovering from compulsive eating, but OA has characteristics
the others don't. These are a few of OA's unique recovery opportunities:
This program is open to everyone. It's not just for women,
people under 30, people with a certain amount of weight to lose
or people with a history of a certain kind of compulsive eating.
Each person is the sole judge of whether he or she belongs
in our program. That creates a freedom I have not found elsewhere.
Just being with other compulsive overeaters gives each
person strength. Even when everyone at a meeting is new to OA
and no one has any real recovery through the Twelve Steps, a
power greater than ourselves starts to work when we leave
isolation and gather together.
We are free to work the program however we want and to take
as much time as we need. That is very different from the way
society tells us we should meet goals. If we don't attain them
in a certain amount of time, we hear that we're not good enough
or even hopeless. In OA, I'm never hopeless.
I always find someone who understands. Whether it's finding
a food plan that works; my eating history; abstaining through
holidays, birthdays, pregnancies or stressful situations--I'm
never alone with my experience.
Last but not least, OA still works for me. I have found
recovery beyond my wildest dreams, and I know that where I
stand now is not even the end.
Thank you, OA!
-- Anonymous, The Netherlands
From A Step Ahead, Volume 10, Number 2, 2000
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-
It's astounding to remember what $1 could purchase in 1960. -
Value of a Dollar Today
From a Member of the Board of Trustees
Overeaters Anonymous is rapidly approaching its
40th birthday. For many of us, this is cause for great celebration.
Before we joined OA, compulsive overeating was killing us! Today,
OA's Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions and tools of recovery keep us
alive and well. With the gift of abstinence, we live a happy,
joyous and free life.
While the 40th anniversary is a happy occasion,
the passing years have brought difficulty as well as victory to
OA's World Service Office. The WSO has had to increase its appeals
for money to support OA's programs and services. Why is the
corporation in great need of funds? Is it because the only expense
to members that has not changed in the past 40 years is the cost
of attending a meeting?
OA charges no membership fees or dues, but we do
pass the basket to cover expenses. In 1960 I was not an OA member,
but some who were tell me they put $1 in the basket. When I came to
my first meeting in 1975, everyone put $1 in the basket. Today, most
of us still contribute only $1. Some people have responded to the
"it takes two" appeal and donate $2. Many just pass the basket.
Contributions and literature sales constitute OA's
only source of income. Literature production and other costs
increase annually, yet income has steadily declined in recent years.
Appeals for additional funds have become a necessity.
As I contribute my $2 in the basket at meetings,
I often think, "What can I buy for $2 today that I bought for $2
in the sixties?" In 1960 my salary was $40 per week. Most one-bedroom
apartments leased for $50 to $75 per month. Today, $600 per month is
reasonable. It's astounding to remember what $1 purchased in the
U.S. in 1960.
In 1960 I paid $6.10 for a telephone bill, 29
cents a gallon for gasoline, and $1,500 for a new small car.
Today, basic telephone service can exceed $20 per month, and a
gallon of gasoline tops $1.59 in some places. By 1975 that small
car cost about $2,700 and now demands about $16,000. In 1960,
you could buy a fast-food hamburger for 15 cents. Today, fast-food
hamburger specials cost 10 times that much.
Salaries and expenses have escalated in other countries as well. In
Australian currency, the average salary in 1960 was $3,640 per year.
Bread cost 12 cents a loaf, milk was $1.07 per liter, and a doctor's
visit cost $1. Today, the average salary is $30,000. Bread is $2.60
a loaf, milk is $1.50 a liter, and a doctor's visit is $30. In
Canadian currency, monthly rental for a three-bedroom apartment
was about $125 in 1960. Today, the rent is between $2,000 and
$4,000 per month. Salaries in 1960 ranged from $2,340 to $3,120
annually. Today's average income is $40,000 per year. Telephone
bills that cost $7 are now about $22.50, and gasoline at 39 cents
a gallon now demands $2.65. A 10-cent coke from a vending machine
now costs $1 to $2.
When I began writing this article, I intended to
urge everyone to contribute $2 at each meeting. After doing this
research, I believe that $2 is not enough for me to donate. For
what I get from OA, I must give at least $3. OA has saved me a
small fortune in bills for therapists and excess food. Should I
put some of that savings into the collection basket? I think so.
What do you think?
From A Step Ahead, Volume 9, Number 4, 1999
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BOT Makes Membership Retention a Priority
At its March meeting, the board of trustees completed its
strategic plan for the next four years. As part of that plan, the
board wants to emphasize member retention by focusing on the positive aspects of OA, encouraging members to work together toward creating a stronger, more unified Fellowship.
Delegates to the May Conference gave high marks to a workshop that focused on membership retention. These are some of the delegates' suggestions for retaining members:
From their first meeting, encourage newcomers
to get a sponsor (even a temporary one) and to put down the food.
Hold newcomers' meetings; offer them a ride.
List meetings in all local papers, large and small.
Hold social times, just to get better acquainted.
Greet newcomers warmly; introduce them to others.
Have your group make a list of what works for them in retaining members. Send the lists to the WSO, and we will share them and other suggestions from the workshop in future issues
of Lifeline and A Step Ahead.
From A Step Ahead, Volume 9, Number 3, 1999
