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Remember Small Towns

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By the grace of God and the miracle of Overeaters Anonymous, I currently have over thirteen years of continuous abstinence and have maintained a 150-pound (68 kg) release.

Over two years ago, I was blessed to run for regional representative for my intergroup. So many gifts and blessings have happened since I started going to our region assemblies and World Service Business Conference. But when I moved to a city with only one OA meeting, I discovered how small communities can be isolated and left out of the OA information loop. In my opinion, the big groups in large cities and their intergroups need to take action to make sure every group (big or small) is being kept in the know. Compulsive eating is life and death out here for us, just as it is for the big cities and their members.

I suggest that whenever the intergroup chairs receive information from the region or the World Service Office, they send that information to all their region representatives. In turn, the region reps can send it on to the contact people who represent all the OA meetings. Finally, the contact person of each meeting can share the information with members.

I have been sending all information I receive to all of the affiliated and unaffiliated OA meetings in my state. All I did was call the contact people listed on the oa.org website. I told them that I was trying to welcome them to our region, keep their meetings updated, and help in any way I could. Not one of the contact people turned down my offer.

As a result of honoring my service commitment, awesome things are happening. A gentleman from one of those unaffiliated meetings came up to me at a recent convention and introduced himself. He’d only heard about the convention since I began updating his meeting on what was going on in the region and at the WSO. I met another woman in my state who is now planning to attend a workshop because she heard about and then read the information I sent to her group. Service is for me, and the gifts from it are truly surprising, rewarding, and inspiring.

Members who live in large cities and go to large meetings with plentiful attendance: Please don’t forget those who live outside your big-city limits. Please remember the small towns and rural communities who are struggling and still-suffering. They need our support too. Let’s help these OA members have a spiritual awakening, not a rude awakening. My hope for the future is that all OA groups, affiliated or not, be kept up-todate about what is going on in their region and in Overeaters Anonymous as a whole.

— Jan H., South Dakota USA

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