Service is Vital to Our Own Recovery

100 Opportunities for YOU to be of Service   

 Reach Out Within the Fellowship

1. Live the 12 steps of recovery; carry a message of hope.

2. Reach out to those who still suffer.

 Welcome Newcomers

3. Greet newcomers warmly at meetings.

4. Call newcomers; share your story, your experience/strength/hope; help answer their questions; plan to call x   number of newcomers per day or week.

5. Serve as a meeting contact person on the list of local meetings.

6. Offer to lead newcomer welcome sessions prior to or following the regular meeting.

7. Help Intergroup respond to inquiries made to the Answering Service.

8. Help Intergroup respond to inquiries made on the web site.

9. Help Intergroup conduct special newcomers meetings.

 Reach Out Within the Fellowship

10. Reach out when you see/hear others struggling; offer to listen to them, be with them, hug them, support them.

11. Call or write to persons you haven’t seen at meetings lately.

12. Bring meetings to member’s homes or hospitals/rehab facilities when they are ill, disabled or otherwise cannot get to meetings.

13. Give encouragement and support.

14. Sponsor or co-sponsor others, sharing up to your level of experience with the twelve steps.

15. Call to see how others are doing and to share your recovery; plan to call x number of people per day.

16. Offer rides to meetings.

17. Offer to meet with people before or after meetings – go to coffee, take walks, etc.

 Ensure the Health of Your Group/Meeting

18. Show up.

19. Carry the key to open up your meeting facility.

20. Serve as group leader.

21. Volunteer to be a speaker.

22. Share your experience, strength, and hope at meetings.

23. Set up chairs for the meeting and/or put them away after the meeting.

24. Volunteer to order and/or bring literature to your meeting.

25. Volunteer to time speakers/sharers, when needed/requested.

26. Serve as group treasurer.

27. Serve as group secretary.

28. Serve as your meeting’s Intergroup Rep or as an alternate rep when the main rep can’t attend meetings.

29. Serve as your meeting’s Public Information Rep.

30. Bring/make coffee and/or tea for the meeting.

31. Participate in group conscience/business meeting sessions.

32. Help your group to sponsor an area-wide/Intergroup workshop/retreat or social event (picnic, hike/walk, dance, etc.).

33. Place notices about the group meeting in the newsletter affiliated with the meeting site (e.g., hospital or church bulletins).

34. Organize a group conscience to determine what the group can do to carry the message of recovery.  Consider the group’s approach to newcomers and “twelfth step within.”

35. Ask to take a “group inventory,” using an entire meeting or a special business session for an honest and fearless discussion of the group’s weaknesses and strengths.

 Carry the Message of Recovery

36. Offer your story and support to the still-suffering compulsive overeater.

37. Put up bulletin board notices (at your place of work, in local libraries, grocery stores, coffee shops, student lounges/unions, health clubs, beauty salons, shopping malls, etc.). (Note:  “Business cards” and tear-off sheets are available from Intergroup.)

38. Ask your health care professionals (doctors, nutritionists, therapists, substance abuse counselors, etc.) if you can leave literature (OA pamphlets and Lifeline copies) on their coffee tables and magazine racks.

39. Ask other places that you frequent – schools, hospitals, treatment centers, crisis centers, religious organizations, etc. – if you can leave OA literature in waiting rooms, etc.

40. Talk to your health care professionals about your recovery in OA as a means of encouraging them to mention OA to other patients, when appropriate.  Indicate that you are available as a reference, if another patient would like to call you for more information.

41. Start a new meeting, where/when needed.

 Help Intergroup Serve the Fellowship and Carry the Message

42. Help respond to voicemail telephone messages on Intergroup’s Answering Service (usually those left one day per week).

43. Help prepare and/or distribute Intergroup’s list of meetings.

44. Help with Intergroup’s web site and answer inquiries made to the web site.

45. Volunteer to be on the web site list of available sponsors.

46. Help organize or work at Intergroup’s special events (workshops, marathons, retreats).

47. Help Intergroup to start new meetings.

48. Help with the publishing of Intergroup’s monthly newsletter and/or write articles for the newsletter.

49. Volunteer to be on Intergroup “Early Bird” and “Night Owl” telephone lists.

50. Help visit hospital patients and make other “twelfth step” calls.

51. Help bring OA meetings to hospitals and shelters.

52. Ensure that local hospitals include information about OA and nearby meetings in their newsletters and other information to health care professionals.

53. Participate in health fairs; volunteer for a shift (usually one or two hours) at a booth/table, distributing OA publications and answering questions.

54. Speak at community groups and professional conferences about recovery in OA.

55. Help maintain speakers lists for OA meetings, community activities, media interviews, etc.

56. Participate in a newspaper, radio or TV interview regarding the OA program.

57. Help get feature stories in local newspapers and on radio and television shows.

58. Assist with sending information to newspapers, magazines, radio, and television stations about OA meetings and events; help place Public Service Announcements on TV and radio stations.

59. Help with outreach to health care professionals, including mass mailings and conference presentations.

60. Contact local hospitals to request a meeting to introduce them to OA, perhaps at a meeting of social work unit or nursing unit that deals with patients with eating disorders.

61. Identify eating disorder programs in the area and introduce them to OA.

62. Assist with getting videos and literature to libraries, schools, hospitals, etc.; assist with ordering materials, developing a list of institutions, contacting/visiting institutions, bringing literature to these institutions.

63. Organize a bulletin board campaign; help design and post notices in libraries, grocery stores, office buildings, and other public places; develop a list of locations and request permission (when appropriate).

64. Respond to telephone and Website inquiries.

65. Place OA books, videos, and Lifeline subscriptions in libraries.

66. Serve as liaison to library systems and organize public information sessions and bulletin board announcements.

67. Place OA literature in schools, hospitals, treatment centers, crisis centers, religious organizations, etc.

68. Help put on special public information/newcomers’ nights or other workshops.

69. Help design and/or purchase billboards and bus ad posters and purchase ad space.

70. Help place OA videos in the complementary public service section of local video stores.

71. Chair or volunteer to work on an Intergroup Committee.

72. Serve as an Intergroup Officer.

73. Work within Intergroup to put people together in mentoring relationships – each person doing either executive board service or committee work should have a newer Intergroup Rep assigned to them to help share the job and train new people to be ready to take positions as others rotate out of them.

 Help at the Regional/National/International Level

74. Write articles for Lifeline Magazine.

75. Volunteer to be a sponsor-by-mail.

76. Volunteer to be an OA pen pal.

77. Volunteer to be a Region or World Service Delegate.

78. Serve on World Service Committees.

79. Serve on the Board of Trustees.

 Other

80.  – 100.  Other service opportunities – Help us to expand the list: