WHAT IS DISTRICT 15?
District 15 is a service entity of Alcoholics Anonymous that represents and serves AA members in Washington County and parts of several surrounding counties, including the towns of Afton, Bayport, Center City, Centerville, Cottage Grove, Forest Lake, Hugo, Lake Elmo, Lakeland, Lindstrom, Mahtomedi, Marine On The St. Croix, Oakdale, St. Paul Park, Stacy, Stillwater, Woodbury, and Houlton and Hudson in Wisconsin. District 15 is part of Area 36, another AA service entity, which is roughly the southern half of Minnesota.
WHY IS DISTRICT 15 VALUABLE TO ITS AA GROUPS AND INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS?
District 15 is YOUR link to having a voice in Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole. A General Service Representative (GSR) elected by your group attends monthly District 15 meetings to share your group's contribution of news, ideas, concerns, and viewpoints on the AA issues of the day, large and small. Your GSR gathers the news, ideas, concerns, and viewpoints shared by other GSRs and the District Committee – comprised of District 15 officers and the various committee chairpersons- and brings it back to your group, so that your group remains aware and connected.
AND WHAT'S MORE...
Always, our primary purpose is to carry the AA message to the alcoholic who still suffers. District 15 assists groups and members in serving this purpose by working through committees to reach alcoholics outside of our meetings: in prisons and jails, in treatment facilities, by working with professionals who encounter alcoholics and by informing the public about Alcoholics Anonymous. Individuals and groups already contribute service in some of these areas , but some projects take more resources (time, money, connections) than most groups are able to contribute. Working together at the district level, more can be done to carry the life-saving message that we, ourselves, have been fortunate enough to have received!
FURTHERMORE...
Your GSR also contributes your group's voice and vote at Area 36 assemblies, where area issues are discussed and voted upon, and where Area officers and the Area Delegate are elected. The Area Delegate serves Area 36 at the General Service Conference in New York, where the biggest AA issues of the day are decided.
IF YOUR GROUP DOESN'T HAVE A GSR...
You can easily elect one! Contact an officer using the contact page and we can help walk you through the steps.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A GSR...
The responsibility for preserving AA now and into the future is borne most effectively if shared by as many groups as possible, by way of their participating GSRs. With more group participation at the District level there are more persons available to assume service positions at all levels, more talent for those service positions, more possibility for creativity and innovation in how to carry the AA message to the still suffering alcoholic, more experience, wisdom, and inspiration, upon which the fellowship can reflect and draw in making the myriad of important decisions that need to be made on a regular basis at all levels of service. Every group that has a participating GSR extends the “WE” of the program beyond itself to strengthen the very structure designed to sustain Alcoholics Anonymous now and into the future.
