Trustee Applications

Home: Massachusetts, USA
Years in OA: 10
Years of service beyond the group level: 9
Date continuous abstinence began: April 2, 2015
Date maintenance began: March 25, 2019 (spiritual); July 18, 2022 (physical)

Summary of OA service responsibilities

Group Level, 2015 – Present: Leader, treasurer, secretary, speaker bookie, intergroup representative, literature person, archivist, speaker (meetings and conventions), meeting space liaison, and technology support and security (2020 – present). I helped start a person of color meeting in 2020.

Intergroup Level, 2016 – August 2024: Member of ad hoc subcommittees (budget, retreat, and diversity and inclusion), technology support and security 2020 – present; vice chair 2017 – 2019 and January – June 2024; Region Six representative 2018 – 2019; World Service Business Conference delegate 2019 – 2024; chair 2019 – 2020 and June – August 2024; recording secretary 2021.

Region Level, 2018 – 2020 and 2022 – September 2024: Member and secretary of Public Information/ Professional Outreach Committee 2018 – 2019; secretary, Region Six Board and board mentor to the Public Information/Professional Outreach Committee 2022 – September 2024.

World Service Level, 2019 – May 2024: Delegate and member of Public Information/Professional Outreach Committee 2019 – 2020; World Service Business Conference Mentor 2020 – 2023; delegate and delegate cochair of Public Information/Professional Outreach Committee 2020 – May 2024.

Trustee appointment, June 2024 – May 2025: Trustee cochair, Young Adults Committee; member of Website Review Committee; member of Executive Committee

I can bring the following business, professional or other experience, and skill to the board

In my professional life, I am a medical researcher at a hospital. Over the last twenty-four years (and ongoing now), my work has centered around hiring, training, and building successful teams, developing our division of clinical research, managing the finances and budget of the division, and ensuring regulatory compliance for our clinical research trials and studies. I have published scientific articles and presented our clinical research locally, nationally, and internationally.

In 2000, a group of medical research educators in the northeast area of the United States formed a nonprofit organization. The goal was to create an annual conference to present local clinical research for the eight to ten emergency medical residencies within the area. From 2003 – 2018, I participated in the planning of these conferences, and in 2016, I was the conference cochair. In 2018, our local nonprofit dissolved, and I was responsible for filing the final tax forms. From 2000 – 2006, I volunteered on the board of a nonprofit organization for an LGBTQIA+ artistic/singing group. My roles included chair, vice chair, and treasurer.

I’ve lived abroad for a cumulative total of about ten years (in the UK, France, and in the Caribbean). I speak French, and I am used to adapting to and being comfortable in new environments.

I am very comfortable with technology and can type more than 75 words per minute. I am experienced in using Microsoft Office and G Suite (Google).

I am always looking to improve on my skills and learn new tools for service roles.

I would like to be a trustee for the following reasons

As I continue to work the Tool of service, my Higher Power has led me to apply for this trustee role. When I look toward the future, I always thought my time to apply to be a trustee would be “later.” I was very surprised to be sitting at World Service Business Conference (WSBC) 2024 and to have heard the call for service from both the Conference floor and from my Higher Power.

At WSBC 2024, unity was a recurring theme. I hope that my perspective as a younger person, a woman of Hispanic origin, and a lesbian will help support the cultivation of unity, love, tolerance, and acceptance both from within and among our Fellowship.

I would like to serve as a trustee to give back to OA that which has been so freely given to me. Serving allows me to grow in recovery, both spiritually and emotionally, through the practice of the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions, and the Twelve Concepts of OA Service.

After WSBC 2024, I applied for and was appointed as a trustee in June 2024 for a one-year term. In the one VERY short month of my trustee service, I have listened, observed, sat in quiet reflection, and participated in four trustee meetings. And I can’t wait for our next meeting. I am excited for the opportunity to serve the Fellowship on the Young Adults (Young People’s) Committee, on the Website Review Committee, and on the Executive Committee.

Brief account of my OA recovery story—physical, emotional, and spiritual

I was born very prematurely in the late 1970s. I weighed 1lb 11 oz (765 grams). My bones didn’t fully develop in my knees, leading to early onset of severe osteoarthritis at age 15. I became a vegetarian at age 10.

In high school, I helped care for my mother who was an alcoholic. Also in high school, I was assaulted by a dear friend. I plunged into a depression, stopped eating, and became anorexic. After three years, and with medical intervention, I recovered. In college, with no one watching, I began to eat compulsively. I ate when I was happy, sad, angry, frustrated, scared, annoyed, and bored. You name it, I ate over it. After college, I stole food from roommates and lied about it. I ate burned and freezer-burned food. Nothing was off-limits. I stopped weighing myself at 350 pounds (159 kg; 25 stone). I blamed everyone for my weight: my parents, my brother, my wife, my friends; I never blamed myself.

My mother got sober and began attending Twelve Step meetings. Many members of my family are in Twelve Step programs and are living a life of recovery. I thought Twelve Step programs were cults that told you to believe in God in a very certain way. I didn’t agree and that kept me out of the rooms—this would become my first awareness of “contempt prior to investigation.” For several years, my brother kindly suggested we attend an OA meeting. I refused; I had given up. Then, one day, in late March 2015, I said “yes” and I attended a meeting in New York City with my brother. I cried through the entire meeting. I returned to Boston, Massachusetts, and began attending meetings, asked someone to be my temporary sponsor, committed to a food plan, and became abstinent on April 2, 2015. I’m still in occasional touch with the first person I met at that New York City meeting.

I began attending OA Big Book Step Study (BBSS) meetings in 2015. I found a medical dietitian who gave me a food plan. After I began working the Steps with a BBSS sponsor in August 2015, I quickly realized that my issue was that I had a higher power-shaped hole in my body, and I was trying to fill it with food. My malady was spiritual. I have worked through all the Twelve Steps and practice the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to the best of my ability on a daily basis.

Home: New Jersey, USA
Years in OA: 21
Years of service beyond the group level: 20
Date continuous abstinence began: March 11, 2004
Date maintenance began: April 2005

Summary of OA service responsibilities

Service has been a very important part of my recovery in OA. In fact, I met my first sponsor at an intergroup meeting! God has blessed me with many talents, most of which I was not aware of until God gave me the courage to try them.

Personal: Speaker and workshop leader at various retreats and marathons. Led a weekend retreat for Greater Seattle Intergroup; keynote speaker for the Region Seven Convention.

Group: Treasurer, intergroup representative, speaker-getter, leader and literature person. Current meeting contact for a group in South Jersey Intergroup (SJIG) started with a sponsee.

Intergroup: SJIG website chair 2 years (October 2004 – September 2006); acting treasurer (as needed); chairperson (4 years October 2006 – September 2008 and October 2017 – September 2019); Region Seven rep (October 2006 – September 2010) and World Service Business Conference (WSBC) delegate (October 2008 – September 2012, October 2016 – September 2018, and January – June 2021). Men’s Intergroup of OA (MIGOA): chair October 2020 – January 2021; past chair January – June 2021

Region: Region Seven vice chair (October 2019 – June 2021; appointed February 2019); Region Seven treasurer (October 2010 – September 2014); SJIG rep (October 2006 – September 2010, October 2016 – February 2019); Website Committee chair (October 2007); Ways and Means chair (April 2008 – September 2010)

World Service: First WSBC May 2009 and tenth Conference May 2024; Bylaws Committee 2009 and 2010 (Reference Subcommittee 2010); 2011 and 2012 Finance Committee delegate cochair; 2012 WSBC co-led workshop on Money Matters; 2016 and 2017 Outreach Committee; 2021 Young Peoples’ Committee; appointed as trustee June 2021; elected as trustee in 2022 for three-year term; liaison to Region Seven 2023 and 2024; elected treasurer 2023 and 2024.

I can bring the following business, professional or other experience, and skill to the board

Education:  Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting in 1990; passed the CPA exam (license currently inactive); certified as a Municipal Finance Officer, Tax Collector, and Qualified Purchasing Agent in New Jersey. 

Career: Out of college, I worked as a governmental auditor for six years. I then worked for the State of New Jersey as a State Fiscal Monitor over a municipality for one and half years before becoming the municipality’s Finance Director for another one and half years, overseeing approximately ninety employees and a $100 million budget. The stress level was very high, however, and I was at my top weight here, so I left to work for a smaller municipality in 1999, where I still work today, twenty-five years later.

Currently, I work as the Chief Financial Officer and Grants Coordinator at a New Jersey municipality, and I manage operations with a total budget of $24 million. I am also involved with my church as the chair of our Finance Council since the mid-1990’s.

General: While I possess good skills with budgeting and accountability, I also like to brainstorm ideas with others. I enjoy working as a team and feel that I can continue contributing to the Board of Trustees in this way as we try to match our budget with our strategic planning goals.

In my career, I must attend continuing education to maintain my licenses. I enjoy continuing to learn in my profession, and that carries over to my OA journey, where I am willing to learn new service positions and not be fearful to step out of my comfort zone.

I would like to be a trustee for the following reasons

I love OA and I want to continue to do service as a trustee for another three-year term, if that is the will of the body. It is amazing to think that I have been a trustee for over three years now and I have enjoyed my responsibilities on the Executive Committee, as well as being the treasurer and liaison to Region Seven for the past two years. Working as a team with my fellow trustees and region board members on various committees, as well as our highly skilled World Service Office staff, has been a blessing to me and my recovery. I commit to working hard and will continue to grow and learn, as well as share my God-given talents and experience, strength, and hope with others.

I have a busy career, but I have sufficient vacation time available to continue as a trustee. While it is sometimes difficult to juggle a family life, a full-time career, and my OA service, I have established a happy balance that works for my lifestyle and hasn’t affected my peace and my abstinence.

If I stop having the willingness to grow, I believe I will die, plain and simple. God has a plan for me, and while I don’t always know what it is, I can try and put myself in a position to help others, even when I have to step out of my comfort zone to do so. I am grateful to be part of our WE program—together, we can do some amazing things!

Brief account of my OA recovery story—physical, emotional, and spiritual

I came to OA on November 3, 2003, after hearing about OA from a friend three years prior to that date. Since it took me three years to walk in the rooms, I never give up hope for others after planting the seed. I have always been an introvert and a shy person, so it was hard for me to find the courage to try new things, even if it was something that would benefit me. I was always leery that there would be a “catch,” even with OA. I had been a heavy child coming from a large Italian family and often found myself compulsively eating at buffet restaurants with friends. I am a stress and emotional eater, as well as a people-pleaser, often finding my self-worth through others. After reaching my top weight of around 300 pounds (136 kg; 21 stone) for the last time, something was triggered in me and I was no longer willing to diet. I am grateful for this now as that finally helped me admit my powerlessness and brought me into the rooms of OA. I quickly found a common bond and accepted myself as a compulsive eater. When I finally found the courage to ask someone to be a sponsor four months into program, I got a food plan and was led through the Steps, which transformed me into a new person with a purpose to do God’s will. My sponsor abstained from sugar and flour and weighed his food, so I tried the same. God gives me what I need, not necessarily what I want!  OA has helped me with discipline to weigh my food and to use the phrase “that is not my food” when it comes to food for normal eaters, and I still do so today. By the grace of my Higher Power, I have released 120 pounds (54 kg; 9 stone) and am maintaining a normal body size since April 2005.

When I lost the weight, I was a new person on the outside but I still had the same emotional issues on the inside. Emotions that left unchecked would bring me back to compulsive eating. Step Six really helped me in this area, allowing God to mold me into a brand-new person, and to remove my defects in His time in Step Seven. The Steps helped remove so many blockages that I had in my life and the amends I have made have removed the weight from my shoulders—shame that I have been carrying around for many years. After working through the Steps, I now have the peace and serenity that first attracted me to my sponsor—I wanted what he had, and I am so grateful to have it now. I can now share that experience, strength, and hope with others that I sponsor. I love to work the Steps in different ways with my sponsees, and I like to use the OA Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide, which I found to be a great way to transition my sponsee into being a sponsor for others.

I have grown in my spirituality over these twenty-one years and am blessed with abstinence and the peace that comes with working the Steps. Living the principles in all my affairs means that I can surrender to God on a daily basis, doing His will. In exchange, I can now be Bob 24/7 and no longer have to wear different masks depending on who I am talking to at the moment, being honest with myself and others. I now look for God in my daily activities and have much gratitude as a result. My religious life has been impacted so much by my spiritual life, which is not what I expected to happen when I joined the OA program. I have a much stronger bond with God now and a personal relationship with Him. I am grateful to be a compulsive eater and to be part of the caring and loving Fellowship of OA.

Home: Ontario, Canada
Years in OA: 24
Years of service beyond the group level: 18
Date continuous abstinence began: April 21, 2005
Date maintenance began: September 2013

Summary of OA service responsibilities

Group: Speaking at group meetings and minithons, setting up and taking down face to face meetings, chair, treasurer, secretary, intergroup rep, Zoom hosting.

Intergroup: Region representative 2003 – 2004, 2006 – 2009, 2012 – 2014, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024; chair of intergroup 2009 – 2011, 2019 – 2021; Bylaws Renewal Committee; chair of Publications Committee and webmaster; World Service Business Conference delegate 2012 – 2018 and 2020 – present; service at conventions including speaking, giving workshops; setting up Zoom account meetings, maintaining virtual meeting list Region Six; Centre Mic Monitor, spring and fall 2022; assembly Zoom host, fall 2020, spring and fall 2021; Website and Publications Coordinator, 2009 – 2011; chair of Bylaws Committee 2006 – 2008

World Service Business Conference: Service on Bylaws Committee and Reference Subcommittee, Unity with Diversity, and Web/Tech Committee

World Service: Trustee appointed June 2024

I can bring the following business, professional or other experience, and skill to the board

Having worked for the Canadian Federal Government for the past twenty-three years in policy and legal analysis, I have developed an expertise in intellectual property law, as well as international law, but am also at ease reading and editing contracts. This has brought me into working with bylaws with various not-for-profit corporations and organizations, and an intermediate knowledge of parliamentary procedure. I have a law degree, am in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario. I have two master’s degrees in law and technology, and in Applied Statistics. My writing and editing skills are very good and possess exceptional organization skills.

I am fluently bilingual in French and English and am at ease with audio visual equipment and electronic media, including virtual meeting software (Zoom). I am at ease using Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

I would like to be a trustee for the following reasons

Service has always been an integral part of my recovery. I have been involved in service beyond the group level nearly all the years I have been in OA, and definitely the entire time I have been abstinent.

Having served at the group, intergroup, and region levels, as well as being a delegate to the World Service Business Conference (WSBC) on several occasions, it makes sense for me to consider service as a trustee. I have learned that service is one of the major pillars of my program, along with the Steps and Traditions, and a three-legged stool wobbles when all three legs are not the same length.

While at the last WSBC, a member I admire asked me if I was considering putting in an application for trustee. I said no, but was open. Another member, a good friend, suggested that events may have turned as they did because my Higher Power had something in mind: trustee. I told him he was the second person to ask me about that, and if there was a third, I would seriously considering. Not less than half an hour later, a third member suggested I apply for trustee, so here I am. My first inclination was that trustee positions were for those at the front of the room in the robes and glowing halos, and I was not good enough. Someone else reminded me about the acronym BINGE: Believing I’m Not Good Enough. That is a dangerous road to go down, which leads me only to sorrow and strife. My sponsor asked me three questions: Do I have the time? Do I have the health? Do I have the willingness? My answer to all three is “yes.” I remember someone telling me that we grow into our service positions, and I am looking to grow.

Brief account of my OA recovery story—physical, emotional, and spiritual

Physical. I was always overweight, as long as I can remember, although I am certain that the image reflected in the mirror looked, to me, much larger than what was really there. Being the youngest of a family of thirteen, I was starved for attention, and I found food to be willing to give me all the attention I craved. I moved away from home at 17 to start university in a new city, but as it turned out, when I moved there, I came with me. It was not until I consciously tried to control my weight when the weight went out of control. I came into OA having lost 40 pounds (18 kg; 3 stone) on a diet but realizing that I was unable to stay on it. After about a year of abstinence, I decided I was no longer willing to go to any length to get what you have. After some research and being convinced I was not only a compulsive overeater, but that my life was unmanageable, I came back to OA, quite certain the answer was here. That was on April 21, 2005.

Emotional. A member once commented on how we addicts do not find friends, rather we take hostages. That comment described me to a “T” regarding my life in the food. I so longed to be accepted yet acted as if everyone hated me. I craved to be loved yet hated everyone else. I desired to be independent yet became codependent upon everyone in my life. My typical day in the food started with resolve to change everything that was going on, and ended with my face in a pillow near tears wondering if anything would ever change. Today my morning starts with gratitude, and my evening ends with more gratitude. I stopped being angry long enough to release my hostages and have them stick around to become real friends. I can truly say that I can love and accept love.

Spiritual. The God of my upbringing was vengeful, partial, punishing, and too busy to contend with the world’s malaises to deal with me and my petty problems. In OA I learned that I could fire that God, create some terms of employment for a new Higher Power, and being searching for a candidate that fit those terms. I have since found a Higher Power (whom I call Light) that is loving, nurturing, and patient, but most importantly is genuinely interested in the personal details of my life, even in the food choices I make daily.

Home: Ohio, USA
Years in OA: 34
Years of service beyond the group level: 7
Date continuous abstinence began: April 11, 1990
Date maintenance began: 1998 (date unknown)

Summary of OA service responsibilities

Group Representative to Cleveland Central Intergroup 2011 – 2013. Bylaws Chair of Cleveland Central Intergroup 2012 – 2013. Chair of Cleveland Central Intergroup 2014 – 2018. Delegate to Region Five 2014 – 2018. (Chair Twelfth Step Within Committee and served on the Bylaws Committee) Delegate to World Service Business Conference 2014 – 2018. Attended four Conferences. Conference-Approved Literature Committee 2014 – 2018. Body Image, Relationships, and Sexuality Committee. Mentor 2016, 2017. Conference Program Committee Region Five Convention 2020. Conference Program Committee Region Five Convention 2024. Thirty-four years of service at the group level: secretary, treasurer, literature, chairperson, newcomer greeter, and a sponsor.

I can bring the following business, professional or other experience, and skill to the board

I rely on and fully trust the group conscience to inform and guide. I ask for help. I am one of many and cannot do it all. I have a practical and working knowledge of the Twelve Traditions. I enjoy tackling bylaws, policies, and procedures. I grasp them. I am intrigued by the Twelve Concepts. I have been an interpreter in our court and legal systems so I have training to absorb what can often be tough language to understand. I am a good listener, and I listen to everyone. I am able to stay on task and remain focused. I have excellent writing and speaking skills. Professionally, I am an actor and playwright as well as an interpreter. I am creative. I can see a bigger picture and can take a long view. I can apply our principles to current Issues or problems. I am well organized and thorough.

I would like to be a trustee for the following reasons

In 2011 after twenty-one years of abstinence and actively working a program, giving service at the group level, I intuitively knew it was my turn. It was clear that my life had had an enormous turnaround and OA and the Twelve Steps were responsible for that turnaround. The need for service above the group level was so evident. And so, for the next seven years I devoted myself to our intergroup, our region, and to World Service. I knew also when the time came that it was time to rotate out. It is now time to rotate back in. I have been a group rep again. I have attended region assembly again. I am serving on the Region Five Convention Committee again. I meet the qualifications to apply. I can serve at this level. It is again the right time, and I am called to do something I haven’t yet done. I cannot think of a better honor or way to give back all that I have received. To serve this body, the collective-all seems the next right thing to do. To be a guardian, a trustee, a trusted servant again of our collective whole in this manner. All that said, and this is most important, the real recovery from this disease happens on the ground at meetings between one compulsive overeater and another. I want to serve that. I want to be a part of how this upside-down pyramid structure can and does support and serve those crucial on the ground real connections where people are set free.

Brief account of my OA recovery story—physical, emotional, and spiritual

I came into the rooms in April of 1990 and have been abstinent and trudging the road for thirty-four years. My earliest memories and photographs show that I had been overweight since the age of 2 and I always felt like I was on the outside looking in. I was raised on the images of Marilyn Monroe, Playboy models, and Barbie dolls. As a fat child, teenager, and young adult, I tried so hard to conform but because I was powerless over food, could not stop eating, and no one understood the disease concept, I was never able to diet long enough or maintain any weight loss to become what I so desperately wanted to be. I did not match those images and repeated the same old tired solutions until I was 30 years old. Wrapped in a cocoon of disease, I ate. To make matters worse, I am an actor/singer/playwright by trade and image ruled my thoughts. In 1988, I found myself in Alcoholics Anonymous, got two years of sobriety and awakened to what I had been hiding from myself. I began to face what I was and am and entered the rooms of OA. I have released 90 pounds (41 kg; 6 stone) and have kept it off. I am of a normal body weight today. In addition to the weight, and as a result of working the Twelve Steps, I have had a spiritual awakening and the problem has been removed contingent on the maintenance of my spiritual condition. I go to meetings, I sponsor and am sponsored, I am living in and working Ten, Eleven, and Twelve. The years of drama and unmanageability are gone; my emotional stability and mental health are addressed in my daily inventory. My life is centered in a God-consciousness with a devoted spiritual practice and I am of service.

Home: Illinois, USA
Years in OA: 16
Years of service beyond the group level: 5
Date continuous abstinence began: January 9, 2016
Date maintenance began: July 19, 2023

Summary of OA service responsibilities

My service history in OA is vast. I have actively served over several years and in many different positions. Service has been so important to me because I know how vital our help within the organization is needed. Over the fifteen years that I have been involved with OA, I have served as a meeting leader, literature chair, treasurer, sponsorship broker, phone list aid, and participated in several workshops at the meeting level. Additionally, as it relates to intergroup, I have served as Chicago Suburban Southwest Intergroup chair for two terms, chaired the Twelve-Step Within Committee, volunteered as a Region Five and World Service representative, and served on the Public Information/Professional Outreach Committee. Within Region Five, I served as cochair during the 2022 summer convention, chaired the Sponsorship Task Force Subcommittee, and served on the Virtual Conference Ad Hoc Committee. Finally, I have had the opportunity to serve as a delegate for World Service Business Conference in 2019, 2021, and 2024, and participated as a committee member on the Unity with Diversity Committee for the past four years.

I do not shy away from actively serving on within OA because I find OA vital to my wellbeing. I hope to give back as much as I’ve taken.

I can bring the following business, professional or other experience, and skill to the board

With my background as a licensed respiratory therapist and a social worker, I bring an array of skills and knowledge pertaining to the healthcare field. I have been employed as a healthcare clinician manager for over twenty years. Because of my background and expertise, I currently manage and oversee two case management departments at two separate hospitals. I manage a staff of twenty social workers and nurses that are full-time and per diem. My professionalism and character have earned me the responsibility of managing budgets, payroll, annual evaluations, disciplinary actions, and counseling. My work requires me to be proficient in Word, Excel, and Meditech Expanse. I have the privilege of being involved in matters that result in insurance denials. I schedule physician peer conferences, submit appeals, and do all of this while managing the department’s operating budget. My work and management of those who report to me has impacted the hospital system in a positive way and allowed me to help minimize hospital-wide denials. In addition, because I am always working to ensure everyone feels included and supported, I have made it my mission to lead efforts to improve employee engagement within the department.

I would like to be a trustee for the following reasons

Becoming a trustee is a goal of mine because I am confident. I have the skill set, professional background, temperament, and knowledge to impact OA in a positive way. During my involvement in several service opportunities in and above the group level, I knew that I wanted to take my program to the next level. I have struggled with not feeling qualified for previous service opportunities, including the trustee position, but I am reminded that “God does not always call the equipped, he equips the called.” And I truly feel called to this appointment.

I believe my continued recovery will be positively impacted by my efforts to serve in this capacity. As a trustee, I will continually practice and protect the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of OA Service. I have the capacity to act reasonable and competently in all matters that are entrusted to me, and I believe my background within OA as well as my professional experience proves that. I am not afraid of hard work and know that when given the opportunity, I will lead effectively, equitably, and purposefully.

Brief account of my OA recovery story—physical, emotional, and spiritual

In 1970, I attended my first OA meeting at the age of 12, and although I admitted that I was a compulsive overeater—mimicking the others in attendance—I did not fully comprehend what a compulsive overeater was.

Several years later in 2008, I attended my second meeting after having been assigned in an undergraduate class to attend a Twelve-Step fellowship group. I located a meeting in my area under the assumption that I was not a compulsive overeater. I expected to attend the meeting, falsely admit that I was a compulsive overeater, and simply take notes to complete my assignment. However, I was welcomed with the phrase “welcome home” and from there, my life began to change.

My first day of abstinence was in March 2010 and that ended in 2014. Although I lost my abstinence in 2014, I continued to attend meetings while in relapse. I attended a workshop on January 9, 2016, and heard about developing an “action plan,” and left with my first day of abstinence.

My current abstinence date is January 9, 2016, and I have shed over 135 pounds (61 kg; 10 stone). In addition, I continue to work towards a healthier body weight. All of this through the help of OA and through my service within the organization.

OA has saved my life, while working the Twelve Steps of the program, service, and fellowship. I have overcome many health challenges. Through my recovery, I have experienced physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. I hope to continue this journey and great work as a trustee.