WHAT I LEARNED: There’s also info in this guideline about the Alternate District Rep &, if needed, they can serve as several other positions as well such as Secretary, Treasurer, or Public Outreach contact. Whew – hopefully not all once! 😄
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**UPDATE (5/5/17): This guideline was revised in 2014 & the changes are somewhat substantial. It was previously 2 pages & is now 3 total to give more space to a larger expense sheet example. Listed below are a few update examples:
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- The title has changed from the singular “District Representative” to now be plural: “District Representatives.”
- The World Service Office’s (WSO’s) newsletter “Group e-News” is referenced.
- There is a definite shift to communicating electronically rather than by regular mail or newsletters.
- Any references to the service event “Regional Service Seminar (RSS)” have now been changed to: “Together Empowering Al-Anon Members (TEAM).”
- The e-Communities Discussion Board appears as a resource tool.
- A reference to the WSO’s two websites (“www.al-anon.alateen.org & www.al-anon.alateen.org/members”) appear as clickable links!!! 🎉
- The word “Alateen” appeared only 7 times in the 2003 version, but now appears 13 times in this 2014 version.
- The WSOs website address (www.al-anon.alateen.org) also now appears on this guideline at the bottom of page 2.
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Because I’ve now started the “CAL Chat” podcast, it’s probably obvious that my favorite line in this guideline is: “There are many resources for members and groups posted on the Members’ Web site, including the complete Service Manual, Al-Anon/Alateen Guidelines, and group service podcasts.”
If you’d like to see all the changes that were made, I’ve highlighted them on this 2014 Version of G-37.
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***BONUS CAL QUESTION: What pamphlet still mentions both “Regional Service Seminars (RSSs)” & “TEAM (Together Empowering Al‑Anon Members)” service events? (Hint: see item # AR-2!)
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****UPDATE (10/13/21): This guideline has been recently revised in 2021 & the changes are minimal – mostly grammatical/punctuation corrections & changes made to keep up with the latest trends in technology. Listed below are a few update examples:
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- The title has gone back to the singular “District Representative” version instead of being plural. (Not really sure why since most of the other guidelines for service positions are pluralized…)
- The word “district” is now capitalized.
- The words “web site” & “e-mail” now appear as one word: “website” & “email.”
- Any references to the service event “Together Empowering Al-Anon Members (T.E.A.M.)” have been removed completely.
- References to the “e-Communities” & “group service podcasts” have been removed. 😢
- A reference to WSO’s two websites (“www.al-anon.alateen.org & www.al-anon.alateen.org/members”) has been replaced with the World Service Office’s shortened website address: al-anon.org – without the “www” prefix oh by the way – but it’s strange that it’s not a clickable link like the other 2021 revised guidelines. 🤷
- Both the shortened WSO website & the email address (wso@al-anon.org) now appear for the first time on this guideline at the bottom of page 2.
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I’m a little surprised that the “In The Loop” newsletter was not mentioned in this update since the previous one mentioned “Group e-News.” Also maybe on future updates, anytime another guideline is referenced within the text, hopefully it will be a clickable link since WSO’s hyperlink addresses for the guidelines don’t change even though the documents behind them do. It would be nice to see these guidelines a little more interactive – just sayin’!
If you’d like to see all the changes that were made, I’ve highlighted them on this 2021 Version of G-37. And a clean, unmarked electronic copy of this new 2021 version can be downloaded directly from the World Service Office website by clicking this link: G-37 Guideline