Northeastern Maryland Intergroup of AA

A Full and Thankful Heart

"One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine - both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude . . . I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know."

As Bill Sees It, p 37, Grapevine, March 1962

Upcoming Events

• NOVEMBER 22nd - Intergroup Council Monthly Meeting
• November 24th - Thanksgiving Day Alcathon - District 30
• December 2nd - New Year's Eve Dinner & Dance Committee Meeting
• December 5th - IGLC Monthly Intergroup Meeting

Office News

Sending everyone wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. The office will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, and will reopen on Friday 10 AM - 5 PM, and Saturday 10 AM - 2 PM.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

GROUP NEWS:

Rising Sun Big Book at West Nottingham Church is having a Potluck Dinner and Meeting on November 23rd. Speaker meeting at 7 PM. Come join us starting at 5 PM and bring your favorite dish.

ANNUAL GRATITUDE MEETING . . . Please join the Early Bird Group, at North East United Methodist Church, Thanksgiving Day at 8:30 a.m., for its annual gratitude meeting. This is an open meeting of alcoholics anonymous, and especially on this occasion, family members are encouraged to join us. Refreshments will be served. Address: 308 S. Main St., North East, MD 21901, Basement Entrance.

Bel Air Women’s Big Book (noon) will not be meeting on Thanksgiving Day.

Living the Steps (5:30 PM) will not be meeting on Thanksgiving Day.

Any Lengths (7 PM) will not be meeting on Thanksgiving Day.

Higher Power will be meeting on Thanksgiving Day at 7 PM at the Mann House.

Back to Basics will be meeting on Thanksgiving Day at 7 PM at Grove Presbyterian Church, 50 E Bel Air Ave, Aberdeen.

Just for Today will be meeting on Thanksgiving Day 7 PM at St Agnes Catholic Church, 105 S Queen St, Rising. The group will not be meeting December 8th due to church activities.

Daily Reflections Meeting at Nesbitt Hall in Port Deposit is having a live band and Lasagna. $5.00 donation at the door. November 27th at 2 PM.

Three Legacies will celebrate it’s 41st anniversary on Tuesday November 29th at 7 pm with food and fellowship followed by a speaker meeting at 8 pm. All are welcome.

December 7th join Joppa Twelve Step in celebrating their 47 year group anniversary . . . Fellowship at 6 PM and Meeting at 7 PM.

DISTRICT NEWS:

District 30’s Thanksgiving Alcathon will be held at Grace Reformed Episcopal Church, located at 560 Fountain St. in Havre de Grace, from 12-6pm on Thanksgiving Day with meetings at 1, 3, and 5pm. Coffee and refreshments will be available during the entire event, and dinner will be served at 4pm. Please join us in sharing gratitude and fellowship. Bring a dish if you wish! Thanksgiving Alcathon FLYER

District 11 will be having a holiday pizza party on Friday, December 9th at Bethel Lutheran Church, off of route 40, behind the McDonalds, in North East MD. Pizza at 6:00 PM followed by the district meeting. All are welcome!

District 30 needs your involvement in service! Elections for the 2023-2024 term (DCM, Alternate DCM, Secretary, and Treasurer) will be held at the next monthly meeting on December 14th at 7 PM on Zoom. The meeting link can be found on the Intergroup website. Feel free to reach out to steffani@nemdaa.org if you have questions about district service.

INTERGROUP NEWS:

Tickets are now available for the Northeast Maryland AA Intergroup New Year’s Eve Dinner & Dance to be held December 31st at the North East United Methodist Church Hall in North East from 7 pm til Midnight. Dinner, speaker, and dance with a DJ to follow. Tickets are $25 each and available through various committee members and at the Intergroup office. For details call the Intergroup office or email committee chair Michele C., michele@michelechynoweth.com. Next committee meeting will be on Friday December 2nd at 7 pm, at North East UM Church, all are welcome. New Year's Eve Dinner & Dance - FLYER

Institutions Committee

We are very grateful to be able to carry the message into facilities. Thanks for everyone's support. For more information email Rex at rex@nemdaa.org.

Service

Gratitude - What is it?

“Gratitude” - that word seems to be a topic of many “discussion” meetings. But how many, who claim to be “Grateful” in these meetings, comprehend the meaning of this often used word? One of my friends seemed to properly define it when he made this statement, “I don’t give a d--- what you think or how you feel when you say you are “grateful”. Just tell me what it is that you are doing to show God how much you appreciate what He has done and is doing for you”. Bill Wilson, in a letter written in 1959, wrote: “Gratitude should go forward, rather than backward. In other words, if you carry the message to still others, you will be making the best possible repayment for the help given you.” So “Gratitude” is far more than an attitude, as is so often heard in our meetings. “Gratitude” is ACTION!!! That is search out (AA, pg 96), go to (AA, pg 102), try to carry this message to other alcoholics! (AA, pg 60 & 89). The first example we have of “Gratitude” in past history is Ebby’s efforts to help Bill Wilson. Ebby, two months sober, had heard that Bill was in serious trouble with his drinking. The first thing he had to do was to find out where Bill was, take a subway and go to Bill’s residence with a single thought, “Can I help my old friend?” Ebby “sought out”, “went to” and “tried to carry” his message of hope to a suffering alcoholic. The second example we are given of “Gratitude” is Bill’s desperate search for an alcoholic he might try to carry his message to on the evening of May 11, 1935. True, his motive was a pretty selfish one. Over the previous five months, he had stayed sober only by searching out and trying to carry his message of hope to serious drinkers in New York. The only success he had was that he, himself, had stayed sober. He knew that his only hope on that most disappointing day was to find a suffering serious drinker to whom he could tell his story. So, he decided to “search out”, “go to” and “try to carry his message of hope” to a problem drinker. It took a call to a local minister plus eleven more telephone calls to reach a lady who said, “Yes, I know of a problem drinker. Please come on out while I will contact him”. Bill’s selfish motive turned into a selfless motive when he finally found a man who did, in fact, want to learn how to live sober. To help insure the sobriety of his new found friend and to help insure his own sobriety, Bill most willingly stayed in Akron until the Fall of 1935. The end result was that a miraculous Solution for Alcoholism became a reality; Alcoholics Anonymous. Since that time, there have been literally thousands upon thousands of similar demonstrations of “Gratitude” within the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Answering Service

Anniversaries