Services
Getting Involved with AA Service Work
"You gotta give it away to keep it"... that's what they say, and an easy place to start is in your home group. Making coffee, being the secretary or treasurer, or even just helping set up or cleaning up for starters. It's all good.
After you get some time under your belt, you can move up to the District or Intergroup level. Volunteer to be your group's GSR or Intergroup representative or alternate. Once there you will see other opportunities.
Below are brief descriptions of District 9's service committees. You can get involved with most of them. They need your help. Use the contact page to ask questions directly to the committee chairperson.
Download the District 9 Service Manual that details the description of each service opportunity in the District. It was originally approved by the District 9 Committee Members. The latest changes were approved in September 2023, and will serve as our District 9 service source of record through December 31, 2025. Please download a copy to share with your Home Group members.
(previously the Activities Committee)
The purpose of the Events Committee is to plan events for District 9. This includes the annual Spiritual Breakfast, the annual picnic, dances, etc., and may include workshops. Members of this committee help plan and carry out the various events including time, date, and location selection, menu or food selection, speaker selection, and cost (if any) for the event. The committee may also be asked to assist the Host Committee in any District 9 hosting of Maryland General Service Panel or Assembly events. The Events Committee meets at 7 PM on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Contact the Events Chair for current info on location.
The Host Committee is responsible for setting up and breaking down the District 9 business meetings as well as supplying the coffee, tea, snacks, etc. It is also responsible for "hosting" our Area 29 Assembly or Committee Meetings when it is our turn in the rotation. This entails selecting a suitable location, setting up and tearing down the meeting, and supplying the morning greeting fare like donuts, bagels, fruit, coffee, etc.
The purpose of Public information service work in District 9 is to provide accurate A.A. information to the public when requested. The P.l. committee visits schools, businesses, and community meetings in District 9 (Carroll County) for this purpose. It also serves as a resource for our friends in the local media, emphasizing our Traditions of anonymity, singleness of purpose, and non-affiliation, as well as offering A.A. public service announcements to radio and television stations in District 9.
The Registrar's job is to keep a current list of meetings in the district and place orders for our paper District 9 directories.
Promotes disabled persons' access to meetings in District 9 and works to ensure that meetings listed as "wheelchair accessible" ♿ in our directory are indeed accessible. For information on whether your group is wheelchair-accessible, check out the wheelchair_access_info.
There is also a volunteer available to sign at meetings for hearing-impaired individuals.
The purpose of the Website Committee is to provide information via the District 9 website on the Internet about A.A. in District 9 (Carroll County). This includes A.A. meeting locations, information for the general public about what A.A. does and does not do, District functions, and links to other various A.A. websites. The committee members discuss ways of improving the visibility, ease of use, and take into consideration suggestions for the website.
The purpose of the District 9 Workshop committee is to provide information on select topics of interest to A. A. members in District 9 and A. A. members in general. The topics will be selected in a couple of different ways. The committee will also select a location to have the workshop, get a speaker or speaker panel for the selected topic, set up the room for the workshop, clean up the room and put it back the way it was set up, provide refreshments for the attendees, select a day and date for the workshop and try to work around any District activities, Area 29, Intergroup, and other District events or activities. Contact the Workshop Chair for more information and the committee meeting time and location.
CTC Help Needed
The Corrections and Treatment Committee currently needs home groups or individuals who are available to take a daytime meeting into a local treatment program on a monthly or weekly basis.
The Corrections and Treatment Committee currently has a need for men interested in taking a monthly meeting into a men’s recovery program in Taneytown on Mon or Wed @ 7 pm.
Here are some specific jobs CTC is involved in:
Bridging the Gap
The CTC helps to implement AA's BTG program within our district. BTG's mission is to coordinate a network of volunteers who are willing to get a person who is just being released from a treatment facility to a first meeting in their home area. Here are a couple of flyers for more information on that:
General Information on Bridging The Gap
BTG Signup Sheet to pass around in meeting
Carroll County Detention Center
The committee member responsible for the women's CCDC commitment needs women speakers. They must have been off of probation for 5 years. They will also need to fill out an application & go through an orientation. If interested, contact her via the contact form.
Mountain Manor RecoverySupport Services (MMRSS)
A committee member acts as a liaison for meetings taken into MMRSS. Click here for MMRSS Sponsor Guidelines. The MMRSS liaison can be reached through our Contact Us form or at [email protected].
Members of the C.P.C. committee provide information about A.A. to those who have contact with alcoholics through their profession. This group includes healthcare professionals, educators, members of the clergy, lawyers, social workers, union leaders, and industrial managers, as well as those working in the field of alcoholism in District 9 (Carroll County). Information is provided about where we are, what we are, what we can do, and what we cannot do.
The purpose of the Archives Committee is to gather and preserve information and artifacts pertaining to the history and development of A.A. groups in District 9 and to generate interest in the preservation of our principles for the future of A.A. through ongoing projects.
Click to download the Archive_Chairs_letter_to_groups.pdf
Click to download the Home Group History Form.pdf
and there is a similar outline at AA.org: Researching AA Group History
And here is the 6/16/2016 edition of the chairpersons D9 Group Histories
The purpose of this Alcothon committee is to plan the Christmas Day Alcothon. This includes finding a location, setting up before and cleaning up after, planning food to be served at the event, and finding speakers for the hourly meetings. It is best that at least one committee member be present, at various times, throughout the event.
The purpose of this Alcothon committee is to plan the Thanksgiving Day Alcothon. This includes finding a location, setting up before and cleaning up after, planning food to be served at the event, and finding speakers for the hourly meetings. It is best that at least one committee member be present, at various times, throughout the event.
Again, refer to the contact page to contact our chairpersons
Download the District 9 Expense Report Excel
Download the District 9 Expense Report PDF
A.A.’s Legacy of Service
Our Twelfth Step, "carrying the message" is the basic service that the A.A. Fellowship gives; this is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. Therefore, A.A. is more than a set of principles; it is a society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, or else we ourselves can wither and those who haven’t been given the truth may die. Hence, an A.A. service is anything whatever that helps us to reach a fellow sufferer ranging all the way from the Twelfth Step itself to a ten-cent phone call and a cup of coffee, and to A.A.’s General Service Office for national and international action. The sum total of all these services is our Third Legacy of Service. Services include meeting places, hospital cooperation, and intergroup offices; they mean pamphlets, books, and good publicity of almost every description. They call for committees, delegates, trustees, and conferences. And, not to be forgotten, they need voluntary money contributions from within the Fellowship.
Vital to A.A.’s Growth
These services, whether performed by individuals, groups, areas, or A.A. as a whole, are utterly vital to our existence and growth. Nor can we make A.A. more simple by abolishing such services. We would only be asking for complication and confusion. Concerning any given service, we therefore pose but one question: Is this service really needed? If it is, then maintain it we must, or fail in our mission to those who need and seek A.A.
Reprinted from The AA Service Manual ®, pages S1 - S2, with permission, Copyright © 2005 by A.A. World Services ®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Our Spiritual Way of Life
"...There are two or three things that flashed into my mind on which it would be fitting to lay a little emphasis. One is the simplicity of our program... Our Twelve Steps, when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words ’love’ and ’service.’ We understand what love is, and we understand what service is. So let’s bear those two things in mind.
"Let us also remember to guard that erring member the tongue, and if we must use it, let’s use it with kindness and consideration and tolerance.
"...None of us would be here today if somebody hadn’t taken time to explain things to us, to give us a little pat on the back, to take us to a meeting or two, to do numerous little kind and thoughtful acts on our behalf. So let us never get such a degree of smug complacency that we’re not willing to extend, or attempt to extend, to our less fortunate brothers that help which has been so beneficial to us..."
Reprinted from "DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers", page 339 with permission, Copyright © 1980 by A.A. World Services ®, Inc. All rights reserved.
You can buy "DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers" at most meetings.
