Our intergroup has struggled with having fewer funds than we’d like when it comes to covering our expenses. We need to pay for our website, buy liability insurance for meetings, facilitate workshops, and send representatives to regional conferences and World Service Business Conference to help OA grow and make vital changes. We need resources to carry the message to those …

In 2015, as a first-time delegate to a World Service Business Conference, I was assigned to the Young Persons’ Committee. I replied, “Okay. But I’m not young.” In fact, my adult son was five years past young by OA standards! Perhaps my Higher Power had a sense of humor. During committee meetings, much to my surprise, I found a new …

The OA group conscience meetings I’ve attended that were successful allowed members to practice recovery principles in an open, orderly manner with surrender to a Higher Power and the goodwill of all OA members. Successful group conscience meetings were announced ahead of time at regular meetings. They used the Suggested Format for a Group Conscience Meeting available at oa.org and …

Without a commitment to unity, OA would be a diet and calories club. Everyone would follow the food plan of the most convincing or loudest member. There would be no world service, so groups would only be supported locally. Literature would not be developed and sourced from a central body, and groups would have no reason to meet and reach a …

I recently went to an OA marathon that focused on diversity within the program. I have multiple chemical sensitivities and sometimes meetings can trigger problems for me. I’m allergic to many commonly used chemicals, including perfumes, odorous hand creams, hand cleaners, hairsprays, and more. Since I started speaking out about these sensitivities, many people in program have thanked me for …

Back in 2007, I had the pleasure of hearing the chair of the OA Board of Trustees talk about how to strengthen meetings. She mentioned five simple (but not necessarily easy) concepts that may help all meetings and OA as a whole. 1. Offer radical hospitality. Newcomers want to be at the meeting. They are there because they are ready …

The US state of Florida celebrates Unity Day in a special way. For twenty-eight years, we have joined together to hold the annual Florida State Convention of Overeaters Anonymous (FSCOA). The planning committee consists of those intergroups in Florida that choose to participate, sharing in unity to carry the message of recovery in our state. As the FSCOA grew, we …

I learned about service when I first came into OA long ago, working the Steps and using the Tools. I learned it was good for my recovery to get out of my head and do things for others—that one recovering compulsive eater reaching out to another is the foundation of OA. I learned that no CEO presides over us. Rather, …

I would like to address the Concept for substantial unanimity (part of the Twelfth Concept of OA Service), which reads, “The spiritual foundation for OA service ensures that . . . (d) all important decisions shall be reached by discussion, vote and, whenever possible, by substantial unanimity; . . .” (The Twelve Concepts of OA Service, p. 13). It is a …

On September 12, 1991, I completed thirty days of abstinence, answered my 30-day OA-HOW questions, and I “stepped up.” To celebrate, my wonderful sponsor gave me a little plant to symbolize my growth in the program. Today, 9,190 days later (that’s 25 years, 1 month, and 28 days), my plant is still alive and growing. It even needs to be …