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Service Opportunities
- Why Service?
- AIS (Al-Anon Information Service) Positions
- Answering Service
- Alateen
- Beginners
- Volunteer at Health Fairs
- WANTED: More Health Fair opportunties!
- At the Group Level
- Public Outreach NEEDS your help
Why Service?
Service is a vital purpose of Al-Anon. The slogan "When I got busy I got better" demonstrates that by taking the focus off your own problems, you may begin to recover.
Anything done to help a relative or friend of an alcoholic is service: a telephone call to a despairing member or sponsoring a newcomer, telling or listening to one's story at meetings, forming and supporting groups, arranging for public information, distributing literature, and financially supporting groups, local services and the Al-Anon World Service Office through voluntary donations. Carrying the message, as suggested in the 12th Step of Al-Anon's Twelve Steps, is Al-Anon's third legacy, guided by our Twelve Concepts of Service.*
- Service can help you to grow. You can see that you are recovering from the effects of someone's drinking by how you can help other people in a healthy way.
- Service can be fun! You can meet a lot of new people, and have people that you already know begin to see you in a new light.
- Service can be rewarding. You can make new relationships, broaden existing relationships, develop new skills and discover things about yourself and the Al-Anon that you may have never known before.
AIS (Al-Anon Information Service) Positions Open
We need volunteers for the following:
- None at this time
- Contact us to volunteer or for job descriptions
Answering Service
Answering Service needs a volunteer for Thursday 1 & 3 pm. We can always use substitutes. Thank you volunteers, new & old for your service. Contact us to volunteer.
Alateen Needs a Female Sponsors!
Towson - THURSDAY - 8:30pm
Alateen Meeting needs a second female sponsor! Sponsor would attend meetings every other week.
BELTWAY ALATEEN; District 4
Location: Towson United Methodist Church
Address: 501 Hampton Ln. (at Dulaney Valley Rd. and Beltway), Towson, 21204
Beginners Meeting Needs 2 New Sponsors!
Towson - THURSDAY - 8:30pm
Beltway Beginners Al-Anon (Thursday nights at 7:30pm); District 4
Location: Towson United Methodist Church
Address: 501 Hampton Ln. (at Dulaney Valley Rd. and Beltway), Towson, 21204
The Beltway Beginners Al-Anon (Thursday nights at 7:30pm) is in need of two new leaders for the meeting. Duties include:
1. Arrive early to set up the meeting (putting out literature, arranging chairs, greeting newcomers)
2. Open the meeting and introduce the topic. Spend about 5 minutes talking about the topic. This meeting always has one of 6 topics, which include Steps 1, 2, 3, One Day at a Time, the Slogans, and the Serenity Prayer.
3. Put literature away after the meeting.
This is a very easy service position - plus you get an Al-Anon meeting out of it! The meeting has regular attendees who have held this position in the past and can help out when needed. There will be lots of support!!
Beltway Beginners is a great Al-Anon meeting. It has a wonderful mixture of newcomers and old-timers. It is very rewarding and exciting so see beginners “getting it” and getting better! Please consider helping out the Beltway Beginners. If you’d like to see just what is involved, come visit us one Thursday!
Volunteer at Health Fairs
The MISSION of the AFG Health Fair Committee is to raise community consciousness of Al-Anon/Alateen's purpose by participating in public Health Fair's in the Greater Baltimore area. This is done by displaying at a booth or table CAL (Conference Approved Literature), giving out directories and networking with other participants at the event, answering questions by calling on our own experience, strength and hope. Public Outreach representatives can be at the booth full or part time, depending on the size and duration of the event. There is an active volunteer list, but additional members and alternates can always be used.
If you would like to add your name to the list, please click here to contact your Public Outreach representative.
Look for the blue sign up sheet in meetings or email us to sign up. More info about volunteering.
WANTED: More Health Fair opportunties!
Please ask the Pastor of your church, or your Rabbi or other religious/community leaders, your neighbors, your child's teacher, principal, guidance councelor, local hospital, anywhere you know of that has an annual or semi-annual fair or similar event, if they would like AFG (Al-Anon Family Groups) to set up a booth or table there. We're unpaid volunteers, so any fee is generally waived for us. If there is any interest in our participation, please click here to contact your Public Outreach representative.
At the Group Level
Check with your home group to see if there are service opportunities available! This can be as simple as helping setup before or after a meeting, volunteering to be secretary or Chair, speaker seeker or Treasurer. Listen for announcements for these positions. Some groups also might need an Alternate Group Rep or Group Rep.
Public Outreach NEEDS your help
It has been said that if AA and Al-Anon groups do not let the public know of our presence, perhaps by announcing the time and place of meetings in local newspapers or by some other means, we block ourselves off from those in need...Let us not make that mistake....Let us REACH OUT NOW!
Are You willing to:
- Attend a Public Outreach Committee meeting
- Help find Public Outreach opportunities
- Post a blue and white "Check it Out" form (p-1) on a bulletin board in your Al-Anon Group's neighborhood grocery store, library, family center, doctor's or lawyer's office, local college (after checking with the respective manager).
- On the poster, write the location and time of your meeting, as well as the Baltimore AIS phone number (410-832-7094) and the URL for the Baltimore AIS web page: http://www.alanon-maryland.org
- Invite a counselor (or group of counselors) to an open meeting of your Al-Anon Group, or bring a few members of your group to a family or treatment center, to introduce them to the potential benefits of Al-Anon.
- Donate 2 hours of your time giving out directories and other literature at an Al-Anon/Alateen, Health Fair table.
- To help others understand Al-Anon and Alateen, encourage Al-Anon members to place a bookmark, "JUST FOR TODAY" (M-12) or "Al-Anon/Alateen Is & Is Not" (m-44) in books those members are returning to the library.
- Suggest that your group "adopt" a doctor or other professional and send them a gift subscription to Al-Anon's magazine, The Forum.
You can reach your Public Outreach Representatives in several ways:
- Their phone numbers can be found in the Baltimore AIS Newsletter
- Contact your local Group Representative (GR)
- Call the Baltimore AIS number: 410-832-7094
- Click here to send an email to your Public Outreach representative
Publications & information reprinted with permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA