SENIORS IN SOBRIETY

Happy New Year to one and all. Your self-appointed webmaster/editor will be publishing site updates on a more regular basis going forward this year. We still seek volunteers to form an editorial committee (of sorts) so that the words you read here are more representative of more of our SIS or CEC members. We all know the trouble that alcoholics get into when left to their own wiles at the mercy of an obsessive, compulsive brain. So please connect and help out. We don’t need a village at this point, just a couple of helpers.

On another note – there are some minor expenses to pay for the hosting of the website and domain registration that were paid by one of our senior friends out of pocket for charges that came due at the end of December. I suggest that some of us consider our 7th Tradition obligations and find a creative way to financially support the website and any other SIS obligations (besides those connected to a conference itself) that arise going forward. Ideas?

I have continued to communicate with the 2017 Coonference Committee about the site and other potential hosts for the next conference. As of this month I am not aware of any conference sponsors or host areas. So if your Area or any other groups want to bid, please let me know.

Please feel free to comment. We want to hear from other Seniors and friends of SIS.

As 2017 seems to be flying by, here’s an update on the SIS Website and previews of possible coming attractions.

If you look to the lower right side of the page that you land on when you first get to the SENIORS IN SOBRIETY site, you will notice that there is now a bunch of calendar listings labeled “UPCOMING EVENTS”.  I am taking the meeting lists that have been submitted over time and am putting them into a handy scrolling calendar that can be filtered by the state or country where you reside.  As soon as I get them all loaded, all meetings throughout the US and Canada that have been submitted will be listed there.

If you happen to see meeting or group that is no longer active or has an incorrect time, day of the week, or venue, please email me and I will correct it.  Similarly, if you know of a new SIS or CEC meeting, or a senior friendly meeting, please email me as well so I can get it listed.

And if you happen to be really techy, you will discover that you can link this calendar to your smartphone or computer using a feature called iCalendar that most mobile devices, Google, Apple, and others use as their standard calendar format.  Click on the “view calendar” link at the bottom to view more calendar entries and once there you will find a “subscribe” tab at the bottom right from which you can select your smart device.  If it’s still mysterious to you, email or text me and I will walk you through it.

Your feedback and input is most welcome as we continue to try to make the site more relevant and interesting for seniors to use regularly.  We also need contributors, so if you want to submit your ideas, articles, memes, pictures, quotes, and other events of interest, please do so.

Our 2017 11th Annual Seniors in Sobriety International Conference was held in Van Nuys California from September 14th to 17th at AirTel Plaza Hotel.

The program included our traditional introductory session on Thursday evening, History of SIS.   The presentation included a valuable explanation of the difference between Seniors in Sobriety (SIS) and Cooperation with the Elder Community (CEC), service entities that have seemed to get confused by some members.  SIS has traditionally held an annual “conference”, SIS meetings are started in some communities, while CEC has developed over the years as a type of service committee that provides outreach to various senior rest homes, retirement communities, and AA meetings or seniors-only groups.  CEC Service groups have started in various parts of California, in Arizona,and in Hawaii.  There are some CEC meetings as well.

General Sessions, workshops, and panels were held Friday and Saturday.  A traditional Al-anon luncheon was held Friday, The banquet was held Saturday evening, and a traditional speaker breakfast was held early Sunday morning.  All were well attended and the prevailing opinion of the guests was that the conference was a success, although attendance was down a bit from prior years.  The conference was scheduled earlier in the year than past conferences and the committee concluded that in the future it will be better to schedule it later in the fall or mid-winter to attract more Sun-birds and vacationers.

The host committee met after closing ceremonies on Sunday and a group of attendees and planning committee members debriefed the weekend and made suggestions for future conferences.  As of the date of this posting a 2018 Planning Committee has not been formed. However, if you are reading this post and wish to suggest that your Area of an interested planning group might consider hosting, please contact the 2017 Chair.

We look forward to continued participation from Seniors wanting more senior friendly meetings as well as General Service support from their Areas and other service entities.

October 17, 2017

A few SIS folks met at 2017 PRAASA in Sacramento, California.  I mention it in this post because there was a Senior Outreach Round-table Friday night March 3rd at 8:30 p.m.  We had an opportunity to provide other attendees interested in learning more about SIS some of the background of SIS and CEC.  There were representatives from various California entities, CEC groups, an SIS group, as well as a few Area Committee members from a variety of different committees who serve seniors in their Areas:  Hospitals and Institutions (H&I) , Accessibility, Cooperation with the Professional Community (CPC), Public Information (PI), and Special Needs.  We even met a member from one of the Southern California Areas where a number of their committees have liaisons to CEC and share the responsibility for education, administration, outreach, and liaison with various senior facilities and organizations in their locale.  We agreed to share information where possible.

As of this post (which I apologize began in February, and which needed to develop a bit), I am told that the 2017 Conference Committee is in action, emails are flowing, the program is developing, registrations are being filled, and the groundwork for this year’s conference is moving along.

So please look to this website as the current (2017) repository for information about CEC and SIS activities at the Area, Committee, District, and group level going forward.  The 2017 SIS Conference companion site contains information about the September 14-17th event being held this year in Van Nuys, California.  So please use the links and contacts posted on that site for registration, hotel, and other activities there.

In Love and Service,
Colin M. – temporary website custodian
(please click in my name to reach me via email)

 

 

Seniors in Sobriety held its 10th International Conference on November 3-6, 2016 at the Bahia Resort in San Diego California.  The conference attracted more than 250 participants, most from the western region of the United States, but a few others from the mid-west, east coast, and even Australia and Ireland.

The program included an introductory session on Thursday evening, History of SIS + How We Got Here, presented by Lee G.   The presentation included a valuable explanation of the difference between Seniors in Sobriety (SIS) and Cooperation with the Elder Community (CEC), service entities that have seemed to get confused by some members.  Basically, she noted, SIS has traditionally been an annual “conference” while CEC has developed over the years as a type of service committee that provides outreach to various senior rest homes, retirement communities, and AA meetings or seniors-only groups.

General Sessions, workshops, and panels were held Friday and Saturday.  A traditional Al-anon luncheon was held Friday, The banquet was held Saturday evening, and a sprititual breakfast on Sunday morning.  All were well attended and the prevailing opinion of the guests was that the conference was a success.

The host committee met after closing ceremonies on Sunday and a group of members from Area 93 in California volunteered to consider hosting the 2017 Conference.  Since, they have received support from their Area and are planning the 2017 Conference.

By the time you read this, material for the 2017 Conference should be available from the menu of this website.

January 4, 2017