The Summer edition of Box 459 has hit the streets. It is a quarterly bulletin from the U.S./Canada General Service Office. This newsletter includes information about A.A. service, literature, events, sharing from groups, service committees and individual U.S./Canada A.A. members.

The current issue contains a recap of the 2013 General Service Conference. In that recap, the CNIA 07 delegate is quoted from her presentation of “Why is an Inventory Necessary?”

Also, there is a side-bar to the conference that is touching.

“It has happened before, perhaps thousands of times. Outside a gathering of A.A.s, be it the meeting of a local A.A. group, a Regional Forum, an area assembly, or even at an International Convention, there will be a lone drunk, just hanging around. How he or she knows where we are will most likely remain a mystery forever.

“So, as it happened on this particular Friday evening, when members of the 63rd General Service Conference were leaving the hotel for dinner, there he was, asking someone—anyone—to help him get into detox. Some A.A.s went back to the Conference workroom and enlisted a G.S.O. staff member, who took the man to a hospital unit to dry out.

“We will probably never know what happened to this potential member. But one thing is a given; those who witnessed this Twelfth Step action will not likely forget him and might take another look at ‘Why We Need a Conference,’ in Alcoholics Anonymous.”