Service Tools & Concepts Elect to Serve! By admin Posted on November 1, 2019 3 min read 0 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Share on Linkedin Share on Tumblr The next time you see upcoming nominations and elections of your intergroup’s board members, I want to encourage you to participate in the nomination and election process. Do it for your fellows and do it for yourself. Here are some of the benefits that I have received in the past year doing service at the individual, meeting, and intergroup level. Perhaps they are the same that you have received by doing some service yourself. I got to know many more of my OA friends and grow with them at a deeper level of fellowship. I got to help carry the message to the compulsive overeater. I had a growing awareness that I was a part of something much greater than myself. I lost 43 pounds (20 kg) within the last year. (I am maintaining a 70-pound weight loss since I became a part of the Fellowship in May 2014.) Service really is slimming. I learned how to interact with people from a place of love and caring. I got a key to the intergroup office. I developed a feeling that my being here really does matter. I learned that I could make mistakes without feeling that I was a mistake. I learned in OA how to safely deal with people in groups so that I could take that knowledge and use it in the outside world. I became aware of the many little acts of service that other people did for OA. Without people willing to serve, there is no OA. Join in your intergroup elections and be a part of something that is greater than yourself. To those of you in my intergroup, I look forward to giving you a big hug and greeting you with a smile of gratitude for your service. — Edited and reprinted from SGVIE Briefs newsletter, San Gabriel Valley Inland Empire Intergroup, Sept./Oct. 2015
