A fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who believe their lives have been affected by someone else's drinking
A fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who believe their lives have been affected by someone else's drinking
In light of the COVID-19 outbreak I would like to make the following suggestions to the D7 fellowship. Please keep in mind these are only suggestions!
We have choices. Each group should consider having a discussion and group conscience regarding hugs, touching, or hand-holding. Don't take other people's choices personally.
Consider touching elbows or standing side-by-side instead of holding hands at the end of the meeting. Consider leaving notebooks, fliers and the 7th tradition basket in the center of the room instead of passing them around, so people can make their own choices about whether to touch these items. Consider putting some hand sanitizer in your meeting room.
If you have a cough, stay home. On-line meetings will be happy to include you. Likewise, if you have a compromised immune system or underlying health problems, consider this option as an alternative to face-to-face meetings. Below is a link to the WSO's website where you can find electronic meetings: https://al-anon.org/al-anon-meetings/electronic-meetings/.
The 3 Cs apply to viruses. You're responsible for the effort, but you can't control the outcome.
Yours in Service,
Samantha M .
District 7 Representative
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Service Center COVID-19 (Updated June 23)
The Service Center will reopen on July 1st with volunteers available on Tuesdays 3p-7p and Saturday 10a-12p for selling literature. Customers should call 515-277-5059 BEFORE going in case the volunteer did not arrive for whatever reason. Board of Trustees volunteers are cleaning the facility on June 22nd. Groups who normally use the service center for meetings are welcome to use it again starting July 1st. (Click here for more detailed information.)
All meeting attendees, volunteers, and customers are required to sign a supplied liability waiver one time that will be in effect for one year from the date of signature.
Meeting Announcements have moved. Please visit our new COVID-19 meeting announcement page. They are now organized by day and time. You can download the PDF or follow this link to a clickable spreadsheet.
Please end your meeting on time. There may be another group waiting to begin. If you are the host, click End Meeting for All Participants. We cannot have 2 meetings at the same time.
A temporary Zoom account for the district is now operational. If you are interested, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/VuW6o7UztDLJegeo7
Please note that overlapping meetings may not be possible.
Nervous about the technology involved in attending or chairing a meeting? Here's a Zoom Meeting Guide to get you ready.
Most groups have their opening and closing in a binder at their meeting location. If you need an opening or closing, here is a packet pulled from the service manual that includes opening, closing, steps, traditions, concepts, and a few other things. This is pages 11-20 of the Al-Anon Service Manual which is free to download on the WSO Website: Al-Anon Meeting Guide.
There may be some who are not familiar with our Traditions of personal anonymity in any form of press, radio, films, TV, internet and other electronic media. If so, we respectfully ask that no Al-Anon, Alateen, or AA speaker or member be identified by full name or picture in published broadcast or Web-based reports of our meeting. The assurance of anonymity is essential to our efforts to help families of alcoholics and our Tradition of anonymity reminds us to place Al-Anon and Alateen principles before personalities.
The Iowa Area Fall Assembly will be held virtually on October 9-10.
What does a volunteer do?
You can sign up to volunteer online or email volunteer@al-anondesmoines.org:
How is the Service Center addressing COVID-19 concerns?
Al-Anon Service Center | 939 Office Park Rd #113 | West Des Moines, Iowa 50265 | Copyright © 2018 Al-Anon District 7 | All Rights Reserved.