First Quarter 2007 Volume 17, Number 1    Page 2 of 2 Professional Exhibits Fund Needs Your Support Video Inspiration to Feed Your Recovery! OA Carries Message to Professional Community Twelfth-Step Service Opportunity OA Turns 47 How Lifeline Changes My Life and the Lives of Others Why Should You Subscribe to Lifeline? Lifeline Meeting Format Professional Exhibits Fund Needs Your Support Did you know that service bodies lacking sufficient resources to exhibit at professional conferences and conventions may receive financial assistance from the Professional Exhibits Fund? OA members and service bodies provide the fund’s sole support, so donations directed to the fund are always welcome. By contributing to the fund, OA members, groups and service bodies give service by carrying the message of OA to professionals who may recommend OA to complement their work with still-suffering compulsive eaters. Please send your donations to the World Service Office and indicate “Professional Exhibits special fund” on the memo line of your check. Service bodies interested in applying for funds may obtain an application on the OA Web site. Top Discover the OA video, “American Medical Review Profiles Overeaters Anonymous,” also known as “AMR.” The 12-minute DVD opens with introductory remarks by a clinical psychologist and the former managing director of the World Service Office. It continues with OA members illuminating the purpose of OA. Men and women of diverse backgrounds discuss the difference between suffering from compulsive eating and having a “weight problem.” Their heartfelt stories of recovery convey the experience, strength and hope they found in the OA Fellowship and offer inspiring messages of the emotional and physical benefits that come from living the Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous. The AMR video is ideal for use in intergroup functions and as an informational tool at health fairs. And on those days when you need to hear and see inspiration from OA members but have no meeting available or no one answering your phone call, you can drop in your AMR DVD and feel a wave of recovery inspiration in your own living room. AMR DVD Item #652 US$6 AMR DVD-PAL Item #650 US$24 AMR VHS Item #651 US$6 AMR VHS-PAL Item #653 US$24 US Shipping: $3 for orders up to $18. Orders $18.01 to $100, 17% of total. Above $100, 12% of order. Call the WSO for shipping charges outside the US. Top OA Carries Message to Professional Community In 2005, the Board of Trustees set a goal to carry the recovery message of Overeaters Anonymous to the professional community. In 2006, OA exhibited at two professional expositions: the American Physical Therapy Association and the American Public Health Association. More than 16,000 professionals had the opportunity to learn about OA. Eighty-two professionals signed up to receive the Courier, OA’s annual newsletter for the professional community. To continue this goal, the board has decided to exhibit at two professional expositions in 2007: the American Dietetic Association in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA, September 29 – October 2, with 10,000 attendees expected; and the American College of Nurse Practitioners in San Antonio, Texas USA, October 24 – 28, with 1,500 attendees expected. As more professionals learn about the advantages of complementing their work with referrals to OA, more still-suffering compulsive eaters will benefit from the experience, strength and hope found in the Fellowship. Top Twelfth-Step Service Opportunity Many World Service Business Conference (WSBC) committees perform service not just at Conference, but throughout the year. The Twelfth-Step-Within Committee is one of these. Each year, this committee creates and updates a Speakers List available to service bodies looking for speakers for conventions, retreats, sharathons and other events. It is time to add to the existing list. For example, we have no members listed for Regions Two, Nine or Ten. We understand distances in Regions Nine and Ten can be difficult, but we hope someone is ready to give this service despite the challenge. The speakers-list subcommittee has created a sign-up form to indicate your availability as a speaker. It includes such questions as how far you are willing to travel and what topics you are able to lead. Before adding your name to the list, and since we are unable to know each of you personally, we ask that you obtain the signature of your sponsor or service-body officer to certify you are in recovery. We feel sure anyone who asks you to speak will appreciate that certification. Thank you for considering this new way to serve OA. — Speakers Subcommittee of the WSBC Twelfth-Step-Within Committee Top On January 19, OA Turns 47. Happy Birthday, OA! Ring in the new year AND celebrate OA's birthday with four items by OA's cofounder, Rozanne S. Beyond Our Wildest Dreams How did Overeaters Anonymous begin? When was abstinence introduced? What was the carbohydrate controversy? How did Lifeline get its name? Discover answers to these questions and more in OA's first history book. Softcover; 220 pages; indexed. #998   US$10.99 plus shipping   And Now a Word from Our Cofounder… Five WSBC Speeches by Rozanne S. Listen, learn and be inspired as Rozanne S. speaks with love and hope to Conference delegates about OA’s Traditions, anonymity, principles before personalities, and the impact OA members can make on the future of our Fellowship. Speeches are from 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001. #680   Cassette  US$5;   #681  CD  US$10 plus shipping Anonymity In four articles originally published in Lifeline, OA's cofounder discusses in this pamphlet the origins of the Eleventh and Twelfth Traditions and reviews anonymity as a spiritual principle.  #390   US$0.75 plus shipping   Reflections: A Visit with OA's Cofounder (VHS video) Rozanne describes the birth of OA in this 45-minute interview. For use only within OA by OA members, OA groups and OA service bodies. VHS #670   US$20 plus shipping US Shipping: $3 for orders up to $18. Orders $18.01 to $100, 17% of total. Above $100, 12% of order. Call the WSO for shipping charges outside the US. Give e-Lifeline a Try! Did you know that Lifeline has an online version called e-Lifeline with the same articles and graphics as the print version? For $13 a year, you can access e-Lifeline every month and also have access to the 12 previous issues in the e-Lifeline archives. If you live outside the US, you will save postage every month and know it will be delivered on time, every time. Give e-Lifeline a try. You might just love it! Click here to subscribe to e-Lifeline online. Top How Lifeline Changes My Life and the Lives of Others Catalyst for Action: Lifeline is a catalyst for action. OA members write articles about their experience, strength and hope recovering from compulsive eating. I read Lifeline to replace the inexperience, weakness and hopelessness that permeated my life before I found recovery. I read Lifeline when I need guidance from my sponsor or other members, but reach only voice mails. I find some nugget of wisdom that helps me learn. When I don’t feel like driving in the rain to a meeting I promised to lead, I motivate myself by reading Lifeline’s Service With a Smile section. I see how members give service, fulfill commitments and strengthen their abstinence. I go to the meeting, fulfill my commitment, strengthen my recovery and stay abstinent another evening. On a sunny morning after breakfast, instead of staring at the refrigerator with longing, I read Lifeline. The hope of other members refreshes me when they describe how they stay abstinent when cravings return. I read Lifeline to remember why I must eat abstinently. Members share freely, reminding me it’s better to live without the assistance of extra food. I am grateful to all of you. Thank you. Fresh Perspectives: At an OA meeting I regularly attend, Lifeline is included in the weekly format rotation. The leader picks one or two issues from our Lifeline library and members read selected articles. We seek the wisdom of recovery from members just like us, who share their experience, strength and hope. The meeting members discuss the readings and their relationship to our experience, whether we’re abstinent or seeking that elusive first abstinent day. Using the honor system, we lend our copies of Lifeline to members and encourage them to subscribe and write articles for Lifeline and our newsletter. Everyone benefits because we hear fresh perspectives on problems we may be having, hearing experiences that surprise, challenge, encourage and inspire us. We never know what words in Lifeline will reach a still-suffering compulsive eater, change his or her life and give that person a fighting chance at recovery. Universal Connection: Lifeline is a universal connection for recovering compulsive eaters and those who read it. It’s a permanent record of recovery, inspiring us to work the Steps and use the tools necessary to recover from this food addiction. A Lifeline donated to a doctor’s office by the local intergroup may save the life of someone who picks it up. An OA member may find his way back to these rooms after another member missing him sends him a gift subscription. Yet another person may find hope when she reads an article in a used Lifeline issue passed along by a friend. The more OA grows, the more resources we’ll gain to throw a “Lifeline” to suffering compulsive eaters in and out of the rooms. They will know they’re not alone. Our stories help the Fellowship thrive and bring others into its fold. Will you add your story to this universal connection? — Mike B., Baltimore, Maryland USA Why Should You Subscribe to Lifeline? Have you ever asked yourself this question? In a 2006 survey, OA members shared why they subscribe to Lifeline. Perhaps one or more of these reasons apply to you. Easy to carry around in purse. Keeps me calm and patient. Monthly reminder [that] comes in mail to my home. I never know what will be in there that’s useful. To pass it on. To hear others’ worldwide experience, strength and hope when I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I’ll take all the recovery I can get! Excellent service tool: writing, literature, alternative to eating compulsively, great meeting tool, great sponsor/sponsoree action tool, amazing recovery, opens minds, educates members and readers. Great tool for outreach — subscriptions can be sent to professionals, friends, and relatives. It enriches my sense of belonging and stimulates my thinking. To support the Fellowship. Power of example. See page 181, #1, 2, 3, 4, Big Book. Also to come in mail in case I may drop OA, knowing in my heart today that I have another binge left, but may not have another recovery left. I want to support it because it has value to our membership. I have been one of those who read the meeting copy. Now I am fortunate enough to have my own copy and am subscribing a copy for my doctor’s office. To read it and pass it on to a newcomer. I won a Lifeline subscription at my region conference. I’ll renew because it is an important way to give service: by writing, to share with sponsorees, and to donate to libraries and doctor’s offices. To stay recovered. However, I think it supports recovery as much by irritating as well as by supporting. I like hearing about recovery beyond my intergroup. It keeps me in touch with what current members are doing and thinking. This is Twelfth-Step work at its best. I didn’t understand the need for Lifeline prior to the gift subscription. I will renew my subscription when the original year is up. I couldn’t afford it, so it was a gift from my friend. I am so grateful to receive it. I need to hear from other OA members, especially from all areas. Lifeline has moved me, enlightened me and given me hope for 27 years. To support OA and Lifeline. Because it is FABULOUS. Join the growing number of subscribers to Lifeline magazine, your “meeting on the go.” Give service by supporting this valuable tool. Subscribe online; or contact the World Service Office at 505-891-2664 (USA); or write to Lifeline, P. O. Box 44020, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA. February is Lifeline month. Watch for inspirational stories about Lifeline in the February issue of the magazine and a smorgasbord of Lifeline goodies on the OA Web site after February 1. Top   Change YOUR Life…Find Recovery in Lifeline! Or give it as a gift to a friend or donation to a doctor's office. Want to be a Lifeline rep? Sign up online Lifeline Meeting Format (Number refers to segments in the Suggested Meeting Format available from the WSO; please refer to this format if you do not have opening and closing standards in your own group.) 1. “Welcome to the __________ Lifeline Discussion Meeting of Overeaters Anonymous. My name is ____________. I am a compulsive overeater and the leader for this meeting.” 2-13. Refer to the Suggested Meeting Format or use your group’s choice of opening remarks. 14. “Lifeline is OA’s worldwide journal published 10 months a year. In this meeting, we read and discuss Lifeline articles written by our fellow OAers. By printing our stories in Lifeline, we carry the message far beyond the meeting level to overeaters everywhere. Through Lifeline, we share our experience, strength and hope with members who both can and cannot attend meetings; with those in remote areas, institutions and foreign countries; and with those outside the Fellowship. “When we hold a Lifeline Discussion Meeting, we are, in a sense, meeting with OA members from around the world. We are able, through Lifeline, to bring fresh experiences and renewed strength and hope into our home meeting. We broaden the extent of our knowledge and caring within the Fellowship and gain new perspectives on our recovery. “Remember that Lifeline articles reflect the opinions of the authors and publication of any article does not imply endorsement, either by Overeaters Anonymous or Lifeline.” Reading: Choose readings that will provide good subjects for discussion. (It is always nice when a long reading is shared, so that many can participate and the sound of the same voice does not become dulling.) Some suggestions: Read some of the articles mentioned in For Discussion. Pick a topic that Lifeline has featured, and read several articles on that same topic. Think up motivating questions about the subject. Pick a topic that has aroused interest recently in your group, and locate articles from a variety of Lifeline issues. Discussion: Use the For Discussion section of Lifeline to help get ideas for discussion. Read the articles yourself, and jot down questions and comments that come to your mind; use these to spark comments from others. 15. Follow the “Suggested Guidelines for Sharing” in the Suggested Meeting Format or the sharing guidelines your group has chosen. Optional writing: Ask each member to write on a discussion topic from the previous session and sign his or her initials. Collect the writings and send them to Lifeline for publication. This works best if the topic is not too broad. Instead of writing about relapse as a whole, for example, write on how one prevents relapse every day. Optional Lifeline promo: Make this an opportunity to read something short and positive from Lifeline to end the previous session, such as a positive Share It letter or a humorous Side Dish. Then take the opportunity to open a copy of Lifeline and show some of the featured sections. Mention the different departments and describe them briefly, indicating any that are new. Tell how Lifeline informs us about the organization and service structure of OA, as well as publishes stories of personal recovery written by OA members. Show how a person could have a meeting with Lifeline, using the Steps and Traditions, the Serenity Prayer on the back and the recovery articles along with the For Discussion feature. Introduce the group’s Lifeline representative (if other than yourself), and say that subscriptions can be obtained through him/her. Make subscription order forms available either now or after the meeting. Closing the Lifeline portion: “We encourage our members to submit articles and letters to Lifeline, using writing as one of the tools in the recovery process. If you read something in our magazine that helps your recovery, send a letter to the editor. If you have an experience you would like to share, send an article. [Offer copies of Writers’ Guidelines to those who are interested. The guidelines are also available on OA’s Web Site] Any article may be published anonymously, but first name and last initial, city and state are used unless requested otherwise. “Thank you for allowing me to introduce you to our OA publication. If you would like to volunteer to lead a Lifeline Discussion Meeting, contact the Lifeline representative.” 16. Follow the Suggested Meeting Format or use your group’s customary closing procedure. EACH GROUP HAS BUT ONE PRIMARY PURPOSE — TO CARRY ITS MESSAGE TO THE COMPULSIVE OVEREATER WHO STILL SUFFERS. Top Previous page Attention Intergroups: Please inform the WSO whenever you have meeting changes to your directory. A Publication of: Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. P.O. Box 44020 Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA Phone: 1-505-891-2664 Fax: 1-505-891-4320 E-mail: info@oa.org OA Homepage Registered OA service bodies may reprint articles crediting A Step Ahead and Overeaters Anonymous. © 2007 Overeaters Anonymous®, Inc. All rights reserved.