• If you've only listened at telephone meetings, introduce yourself when the meeting asks for newcomers to introduce themselves
• Arrive 5-10 minutes early so that you can participate in any informal fellowship before the meeting, or offer to do any readings; it's a good way to get to know people so you'll feel more comfortable
• Take down phone numbers of other meeting attendees you'd like to reach out to in between meetings; most OA members are happy to answer any questions you may have
• When you introduce yourself, offer your own phone number so that people will know who you are when you reach out to them; they may also reach out to you
• Stay on the line after the meeting to participate in any informal fellowship after the meeting; again, it will help you get to know people and feel more comfortable
• As you get more comfortable at the meeting, share when you're able to
• Sign up for the GPI Email List and bring information back to your group
• Reach out to people from the meeting in between meetings, and see what other meetings they attend that you may be able to attend as well; you'll be more comfortable at meetings where you already know some of the people
• Get an abstinent sponsor to guide you as you work the Twelve Steps.
• Call a newcomer or other member of your group and see how they're doing
• Call someone you haven't seen at meetings in awhile to let them know you're thinking about them
• Choose a home group (a home group is a meeting which you commit to attend regularly and where you get involved in service)
• Sign up to chair your home group or another meeting you attend regularly
• Take on a service position at your home group or another meeting you attend regularly
• If you are abstinent and have worked at least the first three steps, become a temporary sponsor (suggestions available at Temporary Sponsors: Newcomers' First Twelve Days)
• Continue to sponsor other members; more information available at:
  https://oa.org/working-the-program/sponsorship/
  Sponsorship Kit (available via the OA bookstore)
• Attend a new Telephone or Online meeting
• If possible, attend a Face to Face meeting or Event
• Serve on a GPI Committee

• If you've only listened at Online meetings with your camera off, turn on your camera and introduce yourself when the meeting asks for newcomers to introduce themselves
• Arrive 5-10 minutes early so that you can participate in any informal fellowship before the meeting, or offer to do any readings; it's a good way to get to know people so you'll feel more comfortable
• Take down the contact information of other meeting attendees you'd like to reach out to in between meetings; most OA members are happy to answer any questions you may have
• Share your own contact information, so that people will know who you are when you reach out to them; they may also reach out to you
• Stay on the Zoom after the meeting to participate in any informal fellowship after the meeting; again, it will help you get to know people and feel more comfortable
• As you get more comfortable at the meeting, turn on your camera and share when you're able to
• Keep your camera on for the entire meeting
• Sign up for the GPI Email List and bring information back to your group
• Reach out to people from the meeting in between meetings, and see what other meetings they attend that you may be able to attend as well; you'll be more comfortable at meetings where you already know some of the people
• Get an abstinent sponsor to guide you as you work the Twelve Steps.
• Call a newcomer or other member of your group and see how they're doing
• Call someone you haven't seen at meetings in awhile to let them know you're thinking about them
• Choose a home group (a home group is a meeting which you commit to attend regularly and where you get involved in service)
• Sign up to chair your home group or another meeting you attend regularly
• If you know someone having difficulty with Zoom meetings and you have the skills/ability, set up a phone call or visit so you can help
• Sign up to Zoom Host your home group of another meeting you attend regularly
• Take on a service position at your home group or another meeting you attend regularly
• If you are abstinent and have worked at least the first three steps, become a temporary sponsor (suggestions available at Temporary Sponsors: Newcomers' First Twelve Days)
• Continue to sponsor other members; more information available at:
  https://oa.org/working-the-program/sponsorship/
  Sponsorship Kit (available via the OA bookstore)
• Attend a new Telephone or Online meeting
• If possible, attend a Face to Face meeting or Event
• Serve on a GPI Committee

• Arrive 10-15 minutes early so that you can help set up, participate in any informal fellowship before the meeting, greet newcomeres, or offer to do any readings
• Take down phone numbers of other meeting attendees you'd like to reach out to in between meetings; most OA members are happy to answer any questions you may have
• Put your own name and contact information in the We Care Book so that people will know who you are when you reach out to them; they may also reach out to you
• Stay after the meeting to participate in any informal fellowship after the meeting
• As you get more comfortable at the meeting, share when you're able to
• Sign up for the GPI Email List and bring information back to your group
• Reach out to people from the meeting in between meetings, and see what other meetings they attend that you may be able to attend as well; you'll be more comfortable at meetings where you already know some of the people
• Get an abstinent sponsor to guide you as you work the Twelve Steps.
• Call a newcomer or other member of your group and see how they're doing
• Call someone you haven't seen at meetings in awhile to let them know you're thinking about them
• If someone you know has trouble getting to Face to Face meetings, offer to drive them if possible
• Choose a home group (a home group is a meeting which you commit to attend regularly and where you get involved in service)
• Sign up to chair your home group or another meeting you attend regularly
• Take on a service position at your home group or another meeting you attend regularly
• If you are abstinent and have worked at least the first three steps, become a temporary sponsor (suggestions available at Temporary Sponsors: Newcomers' First Twelve Days)
• Continue to sponsor other members; more information available at:
  https://oa.org/working-the-program/sponsorship/
  Sponsorship Kit (available via the OA bookstore)
• Attend a new meeting (Telephone, Online, or Face to Face)
• Serve on a GPI Committee
• If you need more meetings in your area, start one. See Start a Meeting for information and suggestions.

• Arrive 15-20 minutes early
• Most newcomers arrive early; you want your meeting to be ready for them
• That means the meeting place is unlocked and any signs showing how to find the meeting are posted at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the meeting
• Ideally newcomers arrive to a completely set up meeting, but if they arrive while you're still setting up simply welcome them and include them in the setup
• Having time to chat before the meeting allows for informal fellowship, which is vital to strong meetings
• Not being in a rush before the scheduled start time allows for a more relaxed meeting
• Start and end the meeting on time
• Stay after the meeting to talk to newcomers, each other, and help clean up
• Hold regular group conscience meetings. Don't know how? See Group Conscience Guidelines
• Compare your meeting to the Strong Meeting Checklist; how does the group compare and what needs to improve or change?
• The Strong Meeting Checklist asks if service positions are filled and if rotation of service is practiced.
• Typical service positions include a Secretary (who may or may not be one of the group's contact people for the meeting list), Treasurer, Literature Person, Intergroup Representative, and Newcomer Greeter; each group decides on what positions best meet their needs.
• Rotation of service means that no one holds a service position forever; each group decides what the term of service will be for each position.
• Compare your meeting to the Unity with Diversity Checklist; how does the group compare and what needs to improve or change?
• See if your group would be willing and able to sponsor a workshop on an OA topic
• See if your meeting would be willing and able to sponsor an OA event such as the OA birthday, Unity Day, Sponsorship Day, IDEA Day, or 12th Step Within Day
• Find our when your group was founded and plan a special celebration for your group's anniversary
• Stay after the meeting to talk to newcomers and other members, and help clean up
• Reach out to newcomers and stay in contact with other group members during the week

• Arrive 10 minutes early to greet newcomers (who tend to arrive early), allow the chairperson to assign readings, and share informal fellowship
• Start the meeting on time
• Apply the guidance in GPI's Online Best Practices document as best meets the needs of your group
• End the meeting on time
• Stay after the meeting to talk to newcomers and each other
• Hold regular group conscience meetings. Don't know how? See Group Conscience Guidelines
• Compare your meeting to the Strong Meeting Checklist; how does the group compare and what needs to improve or change?
• The Strong Meeting Checklist asks if service positions are filled and if rotation of service is practiced.
• Typical service positions include a Zoom Host/Security Person, Secretary (who may or may not be one of the group's contact people for the meeting list), Treasurer, Literature Person (while not meeting Face to Face, some Online meetings have chosen to mail newcomers or other members literature and/or recovery coins), Intergroup Representative, and Newcomer Greeter; each group decides on what positions best meet their needs.
• Rotation of service means that no one holds a service position forever; each group decides what the term of service will be for each position.
• Compare your meeting to the Unity with Diversity Checklist; how does the group compare and what needs to improve or change?
• See if your group would be willing and able to sponsor a workshop on an OA topic
• See if your meeting would be willing and able to sponsor an OA event such as the OA birthday, Unity Day, Sponsorship Day, IDEA Day, or 12th Step Within Day
• Find our when your group was founded and plan a special celebration for your group's anniversary
• Stay after the meeting to talk to newcomers and other members
• Reach out to newcomers and stay in contact with other group members during the week

• Arrive 10 minutes early to greet newcomers (who tend to arrive early), allow the chairperson to assign readings, and share informal fellowship
• Start and end the meeting on time
• Stay after the meeting to talk to newcomers and each other
• Hold regular group conscience meetings. Don't know how? See Group Conscience Guidelines
• Compare your meeting to the Strong Meeting Checklist; how does the group compare and what needs to improve or change?
• The Strong Meeting Checklist asks if service positions are filled and if rotation of service is practiced.
• Typical service positions include a Secretary (who may or may not be one of the group's contact people for the meeting list), Treasurer, Literature Person (while not meeting Face to Face, some Telehpone meetings have chosen to mail newcomers or other members literature and/or recovery coins), Intergroup Representative, and Newcomer Greeter; each group decides on what positions best meet their needs.
• Rotation of service means that no one holds a service position forever; each group decides what the term of service will be for each position.
• Compare your meeting to the Unity with Diversity Checklist; how does the group compare and what needs to improve or change?
• See if your group would be willing and able to sponsor a workshop on an OA topic
• See if your meeting would be willing and able to sponsor an OA event such as the OA birthday, Unity Day, Sponsorship Day, IDEA Day, or 12th Step Within Day
• Find our when your group was founded and plan a special celebration for your group's anniversary
• Stay after the meeting to talk to newcomers and other members
• Reach out to newcomers and stay in contact with other group members during the week
• If possible, plan a get together of the group's members so that members can see each other face to face.
• Meetings that existed prior to covid and transitioned to being phone meetings have the advantage that some group members already knew each other, and getting together face to face outside out of meeting time allows the meeting to extend the warmth and camraderie of the group to newer members who don't have the advantage of knowing everyone from before covid
• This informal get together doesn't have to be on the same day and time as the meeting
• The get together can happen as often or as rarely as the group chooses

Each GPI position has at least one email address associated with it in order to provide continuity between elections and anonymity to GPI members as they perform their duties. For a list of emails associated with each position, please see the GPI Roster. Email sent to these addresses automatically forwards to each GPI member's individual mailbox, so there is no need for GPI members to check their box in order to get their messages.

However, these email boxes have size limits, and so each GPI member is responsible for cleaning out these email boxes at least once per month. Reminder emails are sent monthly prior to the GPI meeting and include detailed instructions, but those instructions are repeated below for reference. The email password will be given to each GPI member by the webmaster.

1. go to this link: https://rc.webmail.pair.com/
2. enter the email address you are responsible for in the username@domain box (remember, you are responsible for not only the chair email; for example, marathon@gpioa.org, but also your committee email address, committee_marathon@gpioa.org.)
3. enter the password
4. now you're into the email interface; it will resemble MS Outlook. In the bottom left corner is a piechart, with a percent next to it. This is the percent of your mailbox size that you're using. If you hover the mouse over the percent (not the piechart), it'll tell you how much disk space you're currently using, and how big your total mailbox is. Remember, if you go over your size limit, the box closes down and doesn't receive mail.
5. To select a message, just click on it, then click the trash can to delete it. You can select one message, and use control click to select other non-contiguous messages, and shift click to click continuous messages. That way, you can delete all at one time. There will be some spam to delete, and you'll want to delete any messages that will not be of use to whomever replaces you in your position down the line. **The goal is to only save emails that will be useful to your successors.**
6. once you delete messages, click the "Trash" folder, then re-delete the messages from the Trash like you did in step 5 above. If you don't do this, the files aren't truly deleted and continue to take up space, putting your mailbox at risk of filling up and not receiving mail.
7. go back to your inbox and click "Refresh" (it's in the upper left corner with 2 arrows overtop); this checks the mail again, so you can see if you've received any new spam. If you have, repeat steps 5 and 6.
8. logout (button is in upper right corner of page)

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GPI maintains a storage locker at U-Haul Moving & Storage of Oakland (formerly Iron City Self Storage). GPI members and committee members can access this locker as needed.

Please review the following instructions before going to the storage locker to save yourself a wasted trip:

1. be sure you have the locker number and combination before going to the storage unit
2. you *must* go to the locker during standard hours (when the office is open) from 8a-6p Mon-Sat or 9a-5p Sun; check the website at https://www.uhaul.com/Locations/Truck-Rentals-near-Pittsburgh-PA-15213/809082/ to be sure that these hours haven't changed
3. once you arrive at U-Haul, go to the office and get the key for GPI's locker
4. let the office worked know that, as a volunteer driven non profit organization, we do not have a fob to turn off the alarm which will go off when the storage locker door opens (so that they don't panic when they hear it going off)
5. once you get to GPI's locker, unlock both locks
6. be prepared for a loud alarm to go off when the door opens and breaks a security beam, the alarm will last for 30-45 seconds and then stop -- you do not need to do anything so long as you keeo the locker door open the entire time you're at the locker
7. the combination lock is a little tricky, you must make sure that the numbers align exactly with the dashes, and once they do you just press on the numbers like a button to release the lock
8. to lock the combination lock, you must change the numbers so the proper combination isn't set, otherwise the lock will not engage
9. after accessing the locker, you must return the key to the office; failure to return the key will result in you being charged for a new secure lock for GPI's locker

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• Tuesday May 7: Beaver 43rd Anniversary
• Saturday February 24: 2024 Unity Day Event (via Zoom)
  Event Document: Service at All Levels
• Saturday January 20: 2024 OA Birthday Celebration (Face to Face)
• Thursday January 11: Thursday 5:30p Bellevue First Anniversary Celebration (Face to Face)
• Monday January 1: Annual New Year's Day Meeting Hosted by Aspinwall group (via Zoom)

• Monday December 25: Annual Christmas Day Meeting Hosted by Aspinwall group (via Zoom)
• Tuesday December 12: 12th Step Within Day (various)
• Thursday November 23: Annual Thanksgiving Meeting Hosted by Thursday Aspinwall group (via Zoom)
• Sunday July 30: GPI 12th Step Within Committee Abstinence Workshop (via Zoom)

October 6

• October Agenda
• October Reports
• September Executive Board Minutes
• September Financial Statements
• October Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

September 8

• September Agenda
• September Reports
• August Executive Board Minutes
• August Financial Statements
• September Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

August 4

• August Agenda
• August Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• July Executive Board Minutes
• July Financial Statements
• August Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

July 7

• July Agenda
• July Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• June Executive Board Minutes
• June Financial Statements
• Proposed Policy & Procedures (PnP) Manual Amendments
• July Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

June 2

• June Agenda
• June Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• May Executive Board Minutes (There was no April Executive Board meeting)
• April and May Financial Statements
• June Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

no May GPI meeting was held

April 7

• April Agenda
• April Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• April Reports
• March Executive Board Minutes
• March Financial Statements
• April Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

March 3

• March Agenda
• March Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• February Executive Board Minutes
• February Financial Statements
• 2023 Annual Financial Report
• March Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

February 4

• February Agenda
• February Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• January Executive Board Minutes
• January Financial Statements
• Local Colleges List
• February Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

January 8

• January Agenda
• January Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• December Executive Board Minutes
• December Financial Statements
• Local Colleges List
• GPIOnlineBestPractices.pdf
• January Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

December 3

• December Agenda
• December Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• November Executive Board Minutes
• November Financial Statements
• Proposed Policy and Procedure (PnP) Manual Amendments
• December Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

November 12

• November Agenda
• November Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• October Executive Board Minutes
• October Financial Statements
• November Chair Presentation
• 2024 Proposed GPI Budget
• November Post Meeting Highlights Document

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

October 1

• October Agenda
• October Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• September Executive Board Minutes
• September Financial Statements

back to Past GPI Meeting Documents

September 10

• September Minutes (Final Approved version including Reports)
• August Financial Statements

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August 6

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July 9

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June 4

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April 2

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March 5

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February 5

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January 8

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December 4

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November 13

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October 2

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September 11

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August 7

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June 12

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April 3

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March 6

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February 6

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January 9

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