Hope in the New Year Virtually - OA Virtual Region
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1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 Hope in the New Year Virtually I experienced being apart from in the physical world. I have felt one-dimensional in a three-dimensional Hearing Other People’s Experience world, even non-existent. In active addiction I was In 2020, I witnessed the Virtual Region blossom and physically, emotionally, and spiritually distant, let come into its own. It rose to the challenge laid down alone socially. Program helped me address those, by a virus and led the way in recovery from a virtual helped guide me to a fundamental shift in how platform. Here was challenge and possibility walking I perceived space, presence, how I used my body. hand in hand. Virtual Region helped me acclimatize Program brought me back to Higher Power. Because to the virtual world so that I could help my local group of this, I have been well prepared to migrate to the continue to hold meetings. It also showed me that the virtual platform: online meetings may be remote, but spiritual principles of the OA Steps, Traditions and I feel a part of. I may appear disembodied, a head in Concepts, could remain and thrive in a different kind an oblong box, but I feel fully present. With this new of space. And so could I. I saw this most clearly telepresence, I have become more aware of my demonstrated at the Virtual Region Convention body. Given the nature of my disease, this is helping where I witnessed tech glitches handled with even- me see my body in another way which is improving temperedness and humor and translators who my relationship with it. worked tirelessly to unite us all in our common bond. Happy Our Program Exists But I was reminded that a tech-mediated program is In 2020, Virtual Region gave me a reason to believe nothing new. Back in the day, fellows used the that I can continue with my recovery and deepen my medium of letter writing, telegrams, telephone. The relationship with Higher Power, and I take this hope program had already demonstrated its adaptability with me into this unknown period of time which we and robustness in the face of change whilst call 2021. I take this hope to my meetings, to a space preserving the potency of the message. I learnt that that has no physical existence as such but does not global lockdown was no different in that regard. As it prevent me from connecting with and experiencing says in the Big Book: “Modem-to-modem or face-to- myself, fellows, and Higher Power. As my experience face, A.A.’s speak the language of the heart in all its has taught me, Higher Power is able to dwell in any power and simplicity.” space, at all times. The Language of the Heart has indeed translated —Sarah L, COE well into the Virtual. No matter which meeting I go to, whatever time zone, I am welcome. I belong. Hold On, Pain Ends I have known chaos, unmanageability, unpredict- ability in my life due to the disease. I have known isolation and the loneliness and despair that took me to my rock bottom, my jumping off place. “OA Virtual News” is the quarterly newsletter of the Virtual Region of Overeaters Anonymous. The newsletter presents experiences and opinions of individual OA members and is not to be attributed to Overeaters Anonymous as a whole, nor does publication of any article imply endorsement by Overeaters Anonymous. Comments, suggestions, and articles sharing your personal experience, strength, and hope of recovery in the OA fellowship are encouraged, as well as technical expertise. Articles submitted will not be returned and are subject to editing for clarity, brevity and anonymity.
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Diversity in OA Hello virtual region!!!!! Lots of wonderful things are happening since the region began three years ago, and I am blessed that I can be here to see this region growing, growing, and growing. Since I came to OA in 2010 through the virtual meetings here in Brazil I understood that I can recover through these virtual meetings. Recovery is possible, and I can virtually carry the message to more and more people around the world, not only here in Brazil. When the pandemic came the virtual region was ready to carry the message and give helping hands to all regions, and now we have more than 1000 virtual meetings. This morning I attended a meeting in region 5 and tomorrow I will attend a meeting in We will have the Virtual Region Assembly on April Canada! How amazing that we can recover through 10th which you can attend as a visitor; please think virtual meetings, workshops, conventions and more! about giving service at the region level in one of the committees. We need you! These last months the virtual region received the gift of 2 more virtual intergroups! ‘BIPOC Virtual IG’ and At the World Service level, this year’s World Service ‘La Brigade du rétablissement’ have started! If you Business Conference will be held virtually. I will miss are part of an unaffiliated meeting, have you thought the hugs, the shares, and all in-person service but we about starting a new intergroup or affiliating with an will have it virtually. This year my country is sending existing intergroup? Together is better! There is a list 9 delegates (3 affiliated with the Virtual Region and 6 of existing OA Virtual Intergroups on the last page of from Region 8) this would be impossible if the this issue of the newsletter with contact information. conference were meeting face-to-face and I am trying to see the big opportunity at the OA service level. In February we had our second VR convention and the OA Virtual Region rocks! I could share and I am running for more one term as Virtual Region I could translate to Portuguese; how difficult this Trustee. I am grateful for the opportunity, for the service of being an interpreter is and I am thankful for diversity and inclusivity that I found at the Virtual all people who gave service at the convention to Region. The more I give service the more I recover! host, organize, and translate!!!! It is amazing seeing Thanks to OA for this opportunity! lots of people having the same opportunity! Many —Dora P, OA Virtual Region Trustee thanks to the Virtual Region Board Members who are Visit our virtual region website working to have a worldwide region that is welcoming www.oavirtualregion.org to everyone. Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 2
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Our Experience, Strength & Hope experienced in the very rooms where compulsive overeaters seek safety. Although she is no longer a Last summer, I was invited to attend an Ebony OA member, her legacy lives on. It is because of her meeting. It had been many years since I last that the first Ebony OA meeting was established. attended one. However due to the tragedies that She also was instrumental in the production of were occurring in the world, I like many other OA the pamphlet Black OA Members Share Their members who look like me sought refuge in meetings Experience, Strength and Hope. Imagine what else that were created to be safe spaces for people of she could have accomplished if she had received color. We identified and shared without the threat of acceptance and support instead of racism and zoom bombers using the n-word or having to justify trauma. that race and racism are not outside issues. In Now that BIPOC VIG is a registered virtual intergroup addition to several weekly Ebony OA meetings, new we intend to hold additional events in the future as people of color meetings continued to pop up. And well as support the people of color meetings. All OA week after week, these meetings were discovered by members are welcome to attend. Each of us has other people of color seeking refuge and safety. earned our seat at the table and in the rooms of OA! I continue to attend these meetings to hear and share experience, strength and hope. As I heard a member —Atiya, Member of BIPOC VIG share, "Recovery is Revolutionary!" (Black, Indigenous & People of Color Virtual Intergroup) Almost by accident, I found myself at a service meeting that was spearheaded by two male OA members of color who wanted to create a service board. Their idea was to bring together the numerous people of color meetings. The stated purpose was to carry the message of recovery to people who look like us outside of the rooms of OA while simultaneously giving a voice and visibility to those of us in OA. Before we were even a registered OA virtual service body, we held our first special event “A Seat at The Table” held on Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. Three former OA trustees of color shared their experiences. One of the women has left the fellowship due to overt racism she Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 3
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Were There Three or Four Elephants in the Room ? – January 19th 2021 My reflections after the “A Seat at The Table” Day of Service Workshop hosted by OA BIPOC VIG on Monday, January 18th 2021 with three former Black OA Trustees. Three or was it four elephants in the room? Racism in OA; anger over this racial injustice; a few white people barely acknowledged; the sadness over a fellow compulsive overeater who has left this Fellowship, after all her hard work, and tears, I imagine. I know these elephants are technically in the room. I read Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech after the workshop which sought to honor him and his work. He said, "In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds." This work of justice is for all of us to participate in. Yes, let us "gain our rightful place" as Black, Indigenous, People of Color in Overeaters Anonymous "on the high plane of dignity and discipline" as Dr. King described the struggle. We can and we must work together, all of us in OA for justice to prevail. No one can be left out. Those of like- minds can accomplish so much in unity. My sadness rose for the injustice in OA. I heard the heart-cry of a lone voice of a white participant after the Martin Luther King Event was over. I felt the pain of my Sister no longer a part of our Fellowship because of what she had endured. Let’s stop and have a moment of silence for her. Stop. Hear the voices of the possible millions, crying out, who are waiting for us to rise to “majestic heights” in this process of creating a Fellowship that includes and welcomes us all. “Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively…” (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition) —Janet D, member of BIPOC VIG Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 4
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org BIPOC VIG discrimination since I spent many summers in rural Alabama. My Fellowship-Our Fellowship Experience matters, it shapes who we are and how Hi, I’m Evangelyn a grateful Compulsive Overeater we cope in the world. My experiences as a young girl and a member of Overeaters Anonymous since included traveling on trains from NY to Alabama that 1977. I am also an African American member of the were segregated, and being prohibited from eating in “Black Indigenous and People of Color Intergroup” the dining car. It was always a puzzlement and sense (BIPOC VIG). As a group we were invited to share of shame to see my dad after we started traveling by with the fellowship why we believe it is important to car, purchase gas at service stations in the state of have special focus meetings for BIPOC and a BIPOC Georgia but not be able to use the WHITE ONLY IG to support those meetings. bathrooms. We would have to relieve ourselves in I attended my first OA meeting in the Mid-Hudson fields on the side of the road. Valley Region of NY State, which is a very rural area The majority of members in OA, only in their wildest approximately 75 miles north of New York City. When imagination, could think about not being able to drink we moved there from Westchester County there were very few people of color in the area, so it was not a from a public water fountain in a store where my surprise to find myself the only person of color in grandfather had taken me to buy milk, only to be my first OA meeting. Being the only person of color directed to a pail of water on the floor next to the in the meetings I attended was not a new experience water fountain with a common dipper in it as the for me. All through elementary, high school, and place I would have to get water if I wanted it. These college I was often only one of two possibly three and other experiences too numerous to mention in other African American students in my classes. this article shaped my early life. Whenever I asked Additionally, I am old enough to have experienced WHY? I was always given the same answer. “It’s just the dehumanizing effects of segregation and the way things are!” Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 5
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Even now in 2021 there is still no person of color that better than the White applicants to get a job or being attends my home meeting on a regular basis. told at age 12 by a White teacher after I told her that I continue to attend this meeting, now virtually, I wanted to be a doctor that my parents could never because here and in the OA fellowship overall, I have afford to send me to medical school. Then to be told been fortunate enough to feel welcomed and I could not talk about how any of these issues were accepted. affecting my emotions was devastating to me. This past year there have been two instances that Race and Racial injustice are often difficult topics for opened my eyes and unearthed long buried most people and these difficulties are experienced memories that I now realize have probably been differently by Black, Indigenous and People of Color catalysts for my eating disorder. and people who identify as White or Caucasian. The first incident happened as our country and this However, we in OA know that our eating habits are world struggled to make sense of two global very much tied to our emotions and how we cope pandemics, COVID-19 and Social and Racial with stress. Injustice. The weight of these two pandemics could In the fall of 2020, I started to hear about BIPOC not be ignored, as many in our Twelve Step meetings meetings and the vision of some members to start a shared the negative impact on our lives by the service board for Black, Indigenous and People of deaths, isolation, and uncertainty of what was going Color. Our trustee Dora came to one of our meetings on around us. In all the meetings I attended COVID- and helped us through the process of becoming an 19, something that affected all of us, was discussed Intergroup. over and over again. Not once did I hear an objection to this topic or anyone refer to it as a violation of BIPOC meetings are not meant to divide our Tradition 10. However in one meeting as a member membership but to increase our fellowship. Adhering started sharing her emotional distress at the racial to our Unity with Diversity policy means that unrest, protests, and disturbances occurring around EVERYONE is welcome at our meeting. The BIPOC her, she was immediately interrupted and shut down meetings allow all that attend an opportunity to gain by another member as she was told she was in a deeper understanding of the unique and common violation of Tradition 10. I was shocked and felt like I experiences of Black, Indigenous and People of had been punched in the chest. Color. Black, Indigenous and People of Color are The second occurrence was an OA meeting on so underrepresented in our meetings worldwide and Tradition 10 where the leader also referred to the especially on the levels of decision making like the riots going on at the time as an outside issue. These World Service Business Conference (WSBC). I am two experiences were not only my experience but very happy that BIPOC IG will be sending a delegate also the experiences of other OA members who were to WSBC this spring. in meetings where they were told the racial conflict Yes, it is important that we have people of color was an outside issue and they were breaking meetings and BIPOC IG to support those members Traditions. and meetings. We need the help of the whole Recently at our Virtual Region Convention one of the fellowship to help us attract and retain people of color speakers said she believes Tradition 10 is the most globally who are suffering from this disease of misunderstood tradition of all the traditions, I agree compulsive overeating. Please keep in mind Tradition completely. After years of hearing “It’s just the way Three and Tradition Five. The only requirement for things are”, I had a visceral reaction at hearing that OA membership is a desire to stop eating I could not talk about the issues that I am now sure compulsively and each group has but one primary are a big part of my eating disorder. I cried for days. purpose to carry its message to the compulsive The many years of emotional trauma I have Overeater who still suffers. personally experienced, like being told I had to be —Evangelyn R., Grateful Member of OA Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 6
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Editor’s Response place to discuss them because OA is not political. Holding a workshop is a good idea as people would Hi Evangelyn, know coming into the workshop what the topic I read your article and my personal experience with was, but I was taught that the most important person somebody in a meeting being told their share was an in the room was the newcomer and having people outside issue/tradition 10 violation came years ago at bring up potentially divisive issues like politics or a face-to-face meeting where I was a guest qualifier religion could cause a newcomer to turn away from and someone was talking about problems in the OA. I have heard meetings request people not wear middle east and how they affected her because she political buttons or shirts to a meeting, not mention had friends there but was told that was outside issue, specific churches, pastors, or religious customs as her response was that if somebody else talked about they could be considered promoting them and make a relative in the hospital causing them worry that she those of other faiths uncomfortable. We all ate for a could talk about what troubled her. My sense was reason and we each had a personal reason why that this person brought up this issue frequently and we ate. I would leave it at that and save the other that the other members of the group were sick of discussions for workshops, the parking lot after the hearing about it and that is why it was causing meeting, or a gathering called for the purpose. OA dissension in the group. Several people suggested has no opinion on outside issues and we want to she talk to her sponsor about it instead of the avoid the appearance of outside issues. We need meeting. unity in the meeting room. I think it goes back to Step 1, that we are powerless Thanks for reading this! I hope it made sense. over many things (war, racism, other people's actions, etc.) but an OA meeting may not be the best —Jean B., OA Virtual News Chair Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 7
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Sponsored by Virtual Intergroup of Overeaters Anonymous 712-432-5200 PIN: 4285115# Meetings every hour from 8:00am to 12 midnight ET 2021oamarathons@gmail.com Saturday, June 19 Juneteenth Let Go, Let HP. How Do I Work Step 6? Sunday, June 20 Father's Day Spiritual Principle of Step 6 – Willingness What Am I Willing To Do To Go to Any Lengths Necessary To Work My Program? Friday, April 2 Good Friday Sunday, July 4 Spiritual Principle of Step 4 – Courage Independence Day Do I Have the Courage to Be Me? Spiritual Principle of Step 7 – Humility What Do You Do When Food Thoughts and Cravings Occur? Sunday, April 4 Easter - End of Passover Saturday, August 14 What Does Renewal Look Like in My OA Program? Sponsorship Day Spiritual Principle of Step 8 – Self Discipline Tuesday, April 13 The Rewards of Being and Having a Sponsor. Ramadan Begins Is Every Day A New Beginning for Me? Monday, September 6 Labor Day Sunday, May 2 Spiritual Principle of Tradition 7 – Responsibility Orthodox Easter Am I Contributing My Share At My OA Meetings? Spiritual Principle of Tradition 4 – Autonomy How Am I Taking Responsibility For My Own Actions? Tuesday, September 7 Rosh Hashanah Sunday, May 9 Spiritual Principle of Step 9 – Love Mother's Day How Do I Show I Care About Myself and Others? Spiritual Principle of Step 5 – Integrity How Does Integrity Show Up In My Program? Wednesday, September 15 Yom Kippur Tuesday, May 11 Spiritual Principle of Tradition 8 – Fellowship EID al-Fitr – Ramadan Ends How Does My Participation In the Fellowship Day to Day Living in Steps 10, 11 and 12 Help My Program and Others? Monday, May 31 Monday, October 12 Memorial Day Indigenous Peoples' Day & Spiritual Principle of Tradition 5 – Purpose Canadian Thanksgiving How Do I Carry the Message of Recovery? Spiritual Principle of Step 10 – Perseverance Keep Coming Back Sunday, June 6 Gay Pride Day Sunday, October 31 Spiritual Principle of Tradition 6 – Solidarity Halloween ~ What Does “First Things First” Mean To Me Today? It’s Not What You Are Eating, its What’s Eating You Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 8
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Sponsor-Protégé-Sponsor: candy in one sitting. I lost hope. After attending several OA telephone meetings in late summer, Hope for the Future I heard my sponsor introduce herself and there was something about her voice. I wrote her number down, From the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book: “But the but within 2 days she contacted me. We talked, she ex-problem drinker who has found this solution who told me about her recovery. I was most anxious to is properly armed with facts about himself, can begin the program! generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding Why do newcomers need sponsors? is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.” A Sponsor is a recovered Compulsive Eater whose (page 18) primary role is to guide the Protégé (newcomer) In Overeaters Anonymous (OA) the 12 Steps of AA through the 12 Step program. A Sponsor plays a key are used for recovery. The view is that Compulsive role in the successful recovery of a newcomer. Eating is an illness, and that one must rely on a According to the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, Higher Power to recover. In addition, following the “Even though your Protégé may not have entirely exact steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book admitted his condition, he has become very curious allows overwhelming success for Compulsive Eaters to know how you got well. Let him ask you that (CE). question, if he will. Tell him exactly what happened to you.” (pp. 92-93) There are guidelines, How does a Compulsive Overeater (newcomer) procedures, and formats for success that must be find a Sponsor? shared with the Protégé by the Sponsor. Protégés Sometimes this happens in outreach by OA must be willing to follow these guidelines to be Sponsors. Sponsors reach out by text or phone call successful. to newcomers who leave their names and phone numbers in meetings. It can happen through word of As the Protégé works Steps 1-12 guided by the mouth, recommendations by OA members, or even Sponsor, a personal relationship develops. The through Facebook other social media. Sponsor encourages and sometimes must redirect the protégé when missteps occur. The Protégé A Personal Note begins to respect, admire, and positively respond to Through the years I tried at least 23 different diet the Sponsor. Trust is a key factor in this relationship. plans/programs, but none worked. Or, if they did The Protégé develops admiration for the success work, after the diet, I went back to eating with my old experienced by the Sponsor. The Sponsor respects habits. If I was stressed, I ate. If I was sad or mad, the Protégé’s successes and progress, while I ate. If I was nervous, I went through large bags of providing positive feedback and support. Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 9
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Once the Protégé successfully completes the 12 Protégés complete the 12 Steps. At this point, I have Steps, then the Protégé – now a recovered OA been recovered for 5 months, and have released 28 member – may serve as a Sponsor. This newly pounds. I have a long way to go, but I am working recovered Sponsor continues to live in Steps 10, 11, one day at a time to stay recovered and to help and 12 through constant guidance from his/her others. Sponsor. The newly recovered Sponsor begins There is Hope coaching a newcomer through Steps 1-12. The newly recovered Sponsor learns how to guide the Protégé CEs have struggled with various types of weight loss from his/her Sponsor. The cycle begins, again with programs, embarrassment regarding their outward recovered OA members sponsoring newcomers. appearance, and isolation; not to mention long-term The “Grand Sponsor” (Sponsor’s Sponsor), like a health maladies. Most of them feel that there is no family grandparent, becomes familiar with the hope for their recovery. By working the 12-steps with Protégé through his/her former Protégé. The “Grand a Sponsor, a newcomer (Protégé) makes friends with Sponsor” also serves as a back-up for the Sponsor in other CEs, finds a voice in meetings, and begins to the event of an emergency. The beauty of the experience recovery. OA helps people in all areas of process is in moving from recovery to giving back life. Leadership skills are developed in meetings, “service” to the OA community. The philosophy of OA through sponsorship, and working one-on-one with is that “carrying a message” to struggling CEs Protégés. Sharing one’s story of recovery is another (Compulsive Eaters) is a key to continued recovery. area of leadership and service experienced as So, the Protégé is fundamental in the Sponsor’s individuals qualify and share their personal recovery continued recovery, as well! successes. Gratefully recovered CEs carry a message in meetings, on Facebook, in texts, and A Personal Note phone calls. Participants in meetings, struggling CEs, As a recovered CE, I am currently sponsoring two and interested individuals, gain the gift of hope from Protégés. My Sponsor (the Grand Sponsor) has the ones carrying a message. The message of hope shared materials and procedures for working with shared by a recovered CE has an immensely these two recovering CE’s. I strive daily to develop powerful influence on those still struggling. “Rarely close personal relationships with each of them and have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly they bring me hope and joy in my own recovery. My followed our path.” (Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, recovery is strengthened by my work with them. p. 58) Hope is the cornerstone of the Protégé- Also, my Sponsor and I have developed an even Sponsor relationship. deeper relationship through this “cycle” of —Dianne H., sponsorship. We work together to help the struggling Gratefully Recovered Compulsive Over Eater Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 10
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org The OA90 Virtual Intergroup, We still have work to do, like a policies & procedures manual to fill out the spots not covered in our bylaws, a continuing saga… since we can’t have every contingency in the bylaws. Our intergroup had a successful transition following Bylaws changes need to be approved by our region elections and now we are full speed ahead! We have trustee while policy/procedure changes can be a Zoom account and are fundraising for the changed by the intergroup, so OA suggests we only development of a website which we expect to go live put things in our bylaws that we are not likely to in a few months. I am collecting information on the change. As we continue, the need to create a history of OA90 for an article to be posted on our document to cover what we do on a day-to-day basis, eventual website, we will also include information what decisions we’ve made, and how we will go explaining what OA90 is (and isn’t, like it isn’t 90 forward is becoming clearer and will be one of my meetings in 90 days), meeting lists, basic OA info, next projects. events, and anything else we come up with. We are Thanks for reading! using our Zoom account to start workshops for newcomers (Sat. 3/20, 4/17, and 5/15, noon EST, —Jean B., OA90 Phone Meeting Virtual Intergroup email oa90vig@gmail.com for more information). jean.oama@yahoo.com NEW! Young Persons Podcasts The Young Persons' Committee and some individual young OA members who joined our program by age 30 have produced five powerful new podcasts. These are shares that shine with hope for recovery through OA’s Twelve Steps while speaking to the concerns and experiences of younger OA members. Even if you are of “average age” in our program you will surely find a lot to love in these 20–40 minute podcasts. Listen to them now at www.oa.org/young-persons-podcasts. Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 11
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 12
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 13
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 14
www.oa.org – 1st Quarter 2021 – Vol. 17 – www.oavirtualregion.org GROUP NAME & NUMBER Contact LANGUAGE The Non-Real-Time Virtual Intergroup English oanrtsm@gmail.com in Social Media (#09656) (Translatable) Perseverancia Intergroup anasofiavelez@gmail.com Spanish (#09658) 12 Step 4 COEs Virtual Intergroup info@oa12step4coes.org English (#09659) OA HOW Two-Hour Format Virtual Meetings oahowphonemeetings@gmail.com English Virtual Intergroup (#09660) The Virtual Intergroup of Overeaters Anonymous 09661chair@gmail.com English (#09661) Ebony Overeaters Anonymous Virtual Intergroup vlouise55@yahoo.com English (#09662) Spiritual Fitness & Serenity Intergroup sfsvsb@gmail.com English (#09663) CCA Online Virtual Intergroup jsvccaonline@outlook.com Portuguese (#09664) Despertar Abstinente Intergroup cca.whatsapp@gmail.com Portuguese (#09665) CCA Café Abstinente Virtual Intergroup ccacafeabstinente@gmail.com Portuguese (#09666) R9 WhatsApp Group Conscience Committee r9chairgcc@gmail.com Varies (GCC) Virtual Intergroup (#09668) 90 Day Phone Meeting Virtual Intergroup jean.oama@yahoo.com English (#09669) OA Foot Steps Virtual IG info@oafootsteps.com English (#09670) The Men’s Intergroup of OA dave12step.oa@gmail.com English (#09672) BIPOC Virtual IG BIPOC.IG@gmail.com English (#09986) La Brigade du rétablissement info@oabrigade.org French (#09672) Want to share your ‘virtual stories’ of experience, strength and hope or announce Virtual Events in OA Virtual News? Email newsletter@oavirtualregion.org Subscribe to OA Virtual News: https://oavirtualregion.org/oavirtualnews Page 15
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