Minneapolis/St. Paul June 15, 1999

Please copy this newsletter for your group.

The meeting will start with a pot luck picnic ­ bring what you would like to grill and a dish to share. The picnic will be followed with a workshop for the committees. We would like to finish our project plan for the individual committees, and complete the staffing of the committees.

We are asking the committee heads to staff the committees as much as possible before the meeting, but urge anyone who wishes to work on a committee to attend and join a committee. Even though a committee may not have any work to do until the last few days before the Convention, the plans and budget need to be planned now.

By July 18, we should know the location of the Hospitality Room, and, hopefully, the dance site. The list of committees include:

Hospitality Room

Welcome to the Twin Cities Social

Visitor Information, Archives, and Ticket Sales

Hosting

Interpreters

Decoration

IAC Dance (Saturday Night)

Hosting

Tickets

Set-up and Clean-up

Refreshments

General Committees

Volunteers

Budget

Outreach

As you can see, there are lots of opportunities to get involved. Over 250 volunteers are needed ­ and that does not include the planning!

The 65^th anniversary International Convention will be held in Minneapolis June 29 ­ July 2, 2000. The theme is "Pass It On ­ Into the 21^st Century." The locations of the Convention will be the Convention Center, the Metrodome, the Hilton and the Hyatt Regency Hotels.

All Convention attendees (including volunteers) must register. Registration has been set at $85 before May 15, 2000, and $95 after May 15.

Registration forms will be sent out to groups in September, 1999. Forms will also be available at Intergroup Offices and, I believe, on the GSO Web Site.

The local general volunteer kickoff will be on Sunday, January 30, 2000. To volunteer for GLBT functions, you can volunteer through the GLBT in A.A. Hospitality Committee or through IAC.

Some of the events that will take place at the International Convention will be a kickoff "Block Party" on Thursday night, as well as dances. (The IAC dance for the GLBT community will be held on Saturday night.) Plans are now for marathon meetings from Thursday midnight until Sunday morning. There will be meetings at the Metrodome Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. The Friday night meeting is one of the highpoints of the Convention will the Flag Ceremony. "These flags are a symbol of A.A.’s message of hope as it continues to be carried worldwide, one day at a time."

The summer got off with LOTS of fellowship. Gopher State Roundup over Memorial Day weekend started things off. There were over 6,000 in attendance. For me, it was exciting to run into three people who I hadn’t seen in over eighteen years! It was nice to do some catch up on what has happened to some of the people I had lost track of. It was also exciting to meet some members of the GLBT community who do not attend GLBT meetings. Hopefully there will be some new links within the community with the use of the web site for communication. The fellowship was not the high point of the roundup, however. I always find the speakers there an inspiration, and at least one has always moved me to tears (also brought lots of laughter).

The following weekend was the GLBT in A.A. "June is Bustin’ Out All Over" Dance. Although it was not well attended, everyone there seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The music was excellent and there were plenty of munchies to snack on.

The Pride Alumni Reunion was the following weekend. Again, the speakers were exceptional. I was only able to attend one workshop, but found a new way to look at the 4^th and 5^th steps. It was also nice to see out of town guests. The Saturday night banquet, speaker, and medallion presentation always moves me. There’s something about that combination shared with friends who are sober, that gives me a boost.

The MC, India, did a tremendous job. I’m still not sure which I enjoyed more ­ the MC or the comedian, Paul Williams. Both had the audience in tears of laughter!

Now that the summer is off to a good start, I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. There will be the meetings for next summers Convention, which, each day gets more exciting. When I think of the way I am moved by 6,000 sober people in one place, I can’t wait to find out what 50,000 will do to me.

In the near future, there will be some additions to the GLBT in A.A. Web Site. There will be the addition of pages for MinneSober, Pride Alumni Association, Upcoming Events, and News About the International Convention. We are also working on a page for loners in this area to make use of the site to communicate with other loner, or others in the GLBT sober community.

We would like to thank all of you who have donated time and money to help us carry the message. Thank you to the groups that have included us in the 7^th Tradition or who have pledged set amounts each month. Also, thank you to the individuals who have pledged monthly amounts to keep the Web Site up and running over the next year.

If you or your group would like to make a donation for the International Convention in the year 2000, or to GLBT in A.A, please send them to the following address:

IAC (the International Advisory Council for Homosexual Men and Women in Alcoholics Anonymous) have the new edition of the World Directory of GLBT meetings. They are $5 each. The IAC newsletter, IACTIVITY is free, but a donation of $5 is suggested to help with expenses including postage. Both can be ordered from IAC: a non-profit corporation, P.O. Box 18212, Washington, DC 20036-8212.

Please check to see if your group is including IAC in the 7^th Tradition. Some members also make a special gift to IAC on their anniversary date of one or two dollars per year. IAC offers many services for our community. Please support them.

For tickets call

Jon L. at 612-337-0190

or Greg G. at 612-824-0062