General Service District 23 (GSR)
Area 93 District 23 serves Goleta, Montecito, Santa Barbara, Summerland, Carpinteria, and Isla Vista.
General Service Committee Monthly Meeting
- When: 1st Monday of the month at 6:00pm
- Zoom ID: 854 898 114
- Password: 061035
General Service Committee Chair Positions
OPEN – Accessibilities
The Accessibilities Committee Chair explores, develops, and offers resources to alcoholics with significant barriers to receiving the Alcoholics Anonymous message and participating in our program of recovery.
OPEN – Archives
The Archives Committee Chair is responsible for maintaining the District 23 photo display board and coordinates with the Area Archives Committee Chair to transfer District archive materials to the Area archives.
OPEN – Special Events
The Special Events Committee Chair coordinates the location, refreshments, volunteers, and materials for special events hosted by District 23, including the local pre-conference workshop, delegate report-back day, and the District 23 table at the Santa Barbara AA Convention.
Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC)
The CPC Committee Chair shares information about the A.A. program with professional groups and individuals who have contact with alcoholics to further mutual understanding and cooperation between A.A. and professionals.
Public Information
The Public Information Committee Chair helps create a greater understanding of, and prevent misunderstandings of, the A.A. program through public media, electronic media, and social media efforts for carrying the message.
Grapevine
The Grapevine Chair serves as an essential link between A.A. groups and the Grapevine and La Viña journals, ensuring communication about recovery resources.
Literature
The Literature Chair ensures A.A. literature is available for A.A. groups, service meetings, and other A.A. events.
Technology
The Technology Committee Chair is responsible for maintaining and enhancing the District 23 online presence, including the GSR section of the Central Office website.
What is a GSR?
A GSR, or General Service Representative, links their home group to A.A. as a whole.
In 1950, a new type of trusted servant, “group representative,” was suggested to help in the selection of delegates to the newly formed General Service Conference. By 1953, the job of group representative was also seen as a good means of exchanging up-to-date information between individual groups and “Headquarters” — now the General Service Office.
The GSR transmits ideas and opinions, as well as facts. Through the GSR, the group conscience becomes a part of “the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship,” as expressed in the General Service Conference. Like everything else in A.A., it works through a series of simple steps.
Excerpt from the General Service Conference-approved pamphlet G.S.R. General Service Representative.
What is General Service?
The A.A. General Service Office, or GSO, is located in New York and serves as a hub of communications for A.A. groups in the United States and Canada.
GSO coordinates a wide variety of activities and services, including collecting and sharing experience regarding group challenges and solutions, responding to correspondence and public information requests, and publishing books and pamphlets approved by the General Service Committee.
The General Service Office is also the home of A.A. World Services, which oversees the publication, translation, and distribution of official A.A. literature.
For more information on General Service, please refer to the General Service Conference-approved pamphlets Your A.A. General Service Office and Inside A.A. – Understanding the Fellowship and its Services.
Why does my group need a GSR?
The role of the general service representative, or GSR, is essential to the purpose of general service. Bill W. wrote in Concept I of The Twelve Concepts for World Service: “The A.A. groups today hold ultimate responsibility and final authority for our world services.” The role of the GSR is essential to ensuring that groups can fulfill that responsibility.
Only when a GSR keeps the group informed and communicates the group conscience can the Conference truly act for A.A. as a whole. This communication is a two-way street, making the GSR responsible not only for bringing forward the group’s voice, but for taking back to the group Conference actions that affect the Fellowship’s unity, health, and growth.
Excerpt from the General Service Conference-approved A.A. Service Manual / Twelve Concepts for World Services.
Have questions? Please email our District 23 DCM, Carol B., at carolbondbarney@yahoo.com.