Richard L presents the report.
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CLOSING REPORT C.A. WORLD SERVICE CONFERENCE 2014
WSOB REPORT
INTRODUCTION AND OPENING COMMENTS
The World Service Office Board is thankful for the opportunity to serve the fellowship of Cocaine Anonymous. We continue to hear your voice and we look forward to meeting your needs in a swift and efficient manner throughout the year.
The WSOB is planning for the completion of the new website by the end of this calendar year. We are particularly excited for the launch of the donation button, on the website, which will allow members a much simpler way to donate directly to the World Service Office, in all denominations. Thank you to the international ad-hoc committee for their continued help on this very valuable project.
We are also anticipating the unveiling of the European Fulfillment Center. This will allow us to meet the needs of our members, around the world, in a more cost effective manner. We hope this helps the fellowship of Cocaine Anonymous to better carry the message to the newcomer, wherever they might be.
The WSOB continues to be thankful to LCF Committee for all of their hard work to complete the new meditation book. We are excited for this conference to take A Quiet Peace back to their area, which can provide a new tool in their recovery. Orders can be placed by visiting www.ca.org or by calling the World Service Office at 310-559-5833.
We are fired up for the 2015 World Service Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA! We hope to see everyone there for another great party!
The WSOB has many referrals we look forward to working on throughout the year.
COMMITTEE WORK THAT RESULTED IN MOTIONS None
REFERRALS THAT RESULTED IN MOTIONS
None
REFERRALS OR ITEMS TABLED UNTIL NEXT YEAR; AND ITEMS THE COMMITTEE WILL CONTINUE WORKING ON THROUGH THE YEAR #2014WSO-1
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To transfer the maintenance and content approval from the office to the Public Information Committee. The website is a Public Information tool. Its content, is relative to its public appearance therefore CA awareness. It’s the first contact that a prospective new member, family member or healthcare professional may find when searching the internet for addiction recovery. Therefore its primary role is that of public relations. It serves as the online identity of Cocaine Anonymous. Public Information is the pathway from the Public to Cocaine Anonymous, with a committee group conscience and assigned trustee oversight, Public Information committee should be given the responsibility to manage content, implement ranking strategies within the site, create social media tools while ultimate authority rests with conference approved changes that the committee can present annually for conference approval.
#2014WSO-2
That the Online Area allow itself to be linked to InTheRooms.com. There are over 3000 C.A. Members on the site and this would be a great way to showcase our Fellowship. I happen to know them, so if you are interested, I would be happy to make the introduction.
#2014WSO-3
That Cocaine Anonymous retain rights of 1st refusal for submissions to C.A. books and publications for a period of 2 years only and not become property of C.A. outright, in perpetuity. The notion that someone’s original content be submitted in good faith, not used by C.A. and then sit in a file unable to be used elsewhere forever is unreasonable. I have not spoken to anyone from LCF who remembers going back and utilizing rejected project content. That is the basis for this referral. It gives me pause to wonder how much great material are we losing from this Fellowship do to this practice? Thank you for your consideration.
#2014WSO-4
Amazon.com offers buyers a program where they can chose to donate 1/2 of one percent of their purchases to recognized charities, without increasing their own costs. CA World Service Office is among the charities they list. While there is a possibility, however small, that non-members might use this to donate, that possibility exists in any donation scheme, whether online, by mail or even the meeting basket. It has often been said that even a dollar a year from each CA member could make a huge difference for CAWSO. This is a way to get that dollar and more. Not sure how to communicate this without implying an endorsement, but the WSO should consider this painless method of obtaining member donations as part of the mix.
#2014WSO-5
(This may be a duplicate since I was kicked off line when I tried to submit it earlier.) Please provide a service at each conference where we can upload current years agenda, reports, etc to the memory stick we purchased last year.
#2014WSO-6
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Please shut down the 800 National Hotline until such time as the operating system can be replaced. Many times, the hotline operating system freezes up and the caller receives no answer. When the caller does receive an answer, after they input info for their requested geographic location, often times the phone number they are provided with is not for the geographic location they requested. The current operating system is difficult to update and only 3-4 people even know how to update it, so many of the numbers provided to the caller are no longer affiliated with C.A.
#2014S&B-3
To add a minimum of 10 years sobriety and Professional Skills to the qualification for World Service Office Board Director. The public face to Cocaine Anonymous resides in the World Service Office Board of Directors, they are official Directors recognized as such in the California Code of Corporation and should maintain a minimum 10 years of sobriety and professional skills (ie: accounting, business, legal, administrative, creative, etc) in addition to being a Member of Cocaine Anonymous. Cocaine Anonymous is 32 years old – our requirements for sobriety should be a third of our age as a minimum. Bringing unqualified Directors to a Board of such significance undermines our effectiveness and creates risk and liability for CA, of which it can’t afford.
#2015WSO-1
Consider changing the type of paper you use to print the Contribution Program on. It is sometimes hard to write on that type of glossy paper.
REFERRALS OR ITEMS REFERRED TO OTHER COMMITTEES; WORLD SERVICE OFFICE, OR BOARD OF TRUSTEES
None
REFERRALS THAT DID NOT RESULT IN MOTIONS None
CLOSING COMMENTS
The WSOB would like to sincerely thank Kathy Jo R, our WSOT, for her hard work and dedication to the World Service Office and the fellowship of Cocaine Anonymous.
We look forward to continuing to serve you and the rest of our members throughout the next year.
Chair – Richard L
Vice Chair – Susan D
Treasurer – Laurie R
Secretary – OPEN
Director at Large – Morgan T
Direct at Large – Frank P
Direct at Large – Jay H
Director of Operations – Linda F
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WSOT – Kathy Jo R
WST – Ira L
Respectfully Submitted: Richard A. L
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tony D – Any questions for the WSOB?
Joy H – Did you approve the H&I letter for the 2015 Convention that needs to go out soon? Richard L – It went to your convention Trustee.
Dwanna R – I had asked earlier about the website being hacked? Did you find out what happened? Linda F – Last year, our ca.org website was hacked. Forms that you used to be able to fill out were taken down because of that. The website didn’t have the proper security in place. It is now on its own server and protected by all the security necessary. Our IT Consultant is amazing and part of his contract is to keep an eye on that.
Dwanna R– We couldn’t register because of the hack, was that fixed?
Linda F – If that was just recently, that was an issue due to an interruption in power to the server. Susan B – I would like to understand the process the people use to submit items to LCF for some of our book projects. Do these submissions become property of Cocaine Anonymous? If someone submits an item for a specific project, does that item become property of CA? Susan D – Yes
Patrick P – 3 years ago, it was approved that Archives would go into climate controlled outside storage and budget was approved. Please provide a timeline on when that will happen.
Susan D – Our current archives is in-house. We built a special room that is climate controlled. Cost was significantly less. We are doing the best we can.
Laurie R – There is a line item for this expense, we are discussing this in our next meeting
Dwanna R – A referral was submitted a couple years ago to LCF, then was sent to WSO about offering HFC in electronic versions for e-readers, etc.
Susan D – We responded to that last conference, I can get that response for you.
Susan B – Just to clarify, the space at the office is not climate controlled
Susan D – It is actually a separate room and insulated.
Susan B – Stories submitted for HFC, but not used in that publication end up in Archives at the WSO.
These submissions should be given back to the submitters so they can be used in newsletters, etc.
Susan D – That was a referral for this year and we will address it throughout the year.
Jay P – Is it true that the WSOB has a lot of financial responsibilities and it is hard to stretch money to cover everything?
Richard L – Yes, we have cut back where we can.
Russell S – Thanks for the hard work. We spoke with a former Trustee recently, for some time we used to display our merchandise in on-line areas such as Amazon as an opportunity to get our name/etc out there.
Susan D – We are working on how to do this with Amazon, etc to offer books for sale that way.
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Tony D — Break #3 at 2:43 pm.
****** Break #3 ******
Tony D – We are now back in session.
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