Chairperson Corner – November 2024

 Serving Pennsylvania with our PA Meeting Finder

The entire Al-Anon/Alateen fellowship service structure exists for the sole purpose of helping the groups to help people. At the Area World Service Committee (AWSC) we have Officers, District Representatives, Coordinators and other AWSC members that fill roles to do just that.  In this article I would like to highlight where two of them, Website and Group Records, collaborate with each other to serve Pennsylvania. 

Did you know our PA Al-Anon website, serves PA newcomers, professionals and members by offering a meeting finder search for all our Al-Anon and Alateen meetings?  Our meeting finder uses the group records information that our Area Group Records Coordinator, Christal R., keeps updated on the World Service Office (WSO) database.  

I would like to offer a heartfelt thank you to all the members, Group Representatives, and DIstrict Representatives who work to keep their group meeting information accurate in our group records database by submitting group changes to Christal or to the WSO directly.  Thank you for your service! 

This is all vital in fulfilling Al-Anon’s primary purpose of offering help and hope to family and friends of alcoholics.  If you need assistance submitting group changes, please contact your District Representative or reach out to Christal at [email protected].

If you are new to the meeting finder or to the PA website, I invite you to check it out!  The meeting finder can be located by going to pa-al-anon.org and clicking on the Meeting tab.  The PA Meeting Finder lists all our active PA Al-Anon and Alateen meetings and where to find them.  Here is the direct link for your convenience:  https://pa-al-anon.org/meetings/

As you will see, Groups may have a Physical location (In Person), Electronic location (Online), or be a Hybrid meeting (meets both In Person with an Online access at the same time). A handy feature is the direct link button for online and hybrid meetings that meet on Zoom, Conference call or another platform.  For physical groups, the meeting finder links to a google map to help with directions.  

Using the search field on the far left, you can search for meetings in a particular city or county/region. Also, you can search by district by typing district## in the search field, where ## is replaced with the two-digit district number, e.g. district05.

When you click on the Meeting Name, you can view more of the meeting’s details such as any special location instructions and other specifics about the meeting.

If you or your group would like more information about the meeting finder, there is an Area trifold pamphlet that you may find helpful.  It is available for download > click here.  It contains a description of some of the features of the website and details regarding the PA Meeting Finder.

When you go to the PA Meeting Finder, please consider searching for your home group and making sure that everything looks good.  It is important that when someone searches for an Al-Anon or Alateen meeting that the information they receive is correct so they can find us.  

We are blessed in PA to have many people serving our fellowship so we can offer services like our website and our PA meeting Finder.  I am grateful for them and for the opportunity to serve alongside so many beautiful people.  

Thank you to the 386 Al-Anon Family Groups which include Alateen, that are carrying our recovery message at their 426 meetings all across Pennsylvania!