It’s FINALLY warm! We’re almost sorry for all those seemingly false starts we made about spring arriving in March and April. It’s now beginning to feel like spring in ways appreciable to most of us.
But the truth of the matter is that spring, like any season of growth, can almost feel as uncomfortable as winter in it’s own wetter way. Spring is rain soaked and muddy; it’s a queer ballet that flirts between frigid and warm.
The lesson of spring is that growth of any kind is awkward, but well worth the work: the end of change arrives as a summer, warm and glorious. Our summer together is nearly here!
We’ve got a few more changes to work through together this month. We need to find new homes for our New Hope Meetings; we need to introduce some new facilitators to lead our existing meetings; and we NEED to hang out and enjoy each other’s company now that the weathers given us so much more city to explore.
Check out the announcements below to find out different ways to get involved with us this summer, and to volunteer for special service opportunities. Check out the facilitator testimonials towards the end of the letter if you’re at all interested in learning how to lead a meeting sometime this year.
Remember: Service Serves Recovery.
Call for Hosting Volunteers
The Welcoming Committee for the Refcon 5 is seeking community members who would be willing to host one or more out-of-town guests attending the conference.
Refcon 5 is our 5th annual national Refuge Recovery Conference: this year it will be taking place here in Chicago from July 12-July 14. This is the first time it’s happening outside of LA: let’s not miss out on a chance to show our guests some of our famous midwestern hospitality!
We ask that any host be someone who is willing to provide a guest basic bedding and a comfortable place to sleep. Beyond that, anyone thinking of hosting may want to consider your preferences regarding gender, smoking cigarettes, number of guests, and any other preferences you might have.
If you would like to host, please email Chris Williams with as much information regarding your guest preferences as possible. Chris will also be receiving requests from potential guests and will determine if a guest’s preferences match your own, and provide an introduction via email once approved by you. We’re hoping that even a few volunteer hosts might make the conference an easier experience to afford for our broader sangha. This little bit of service is a great way to help someone’s voice be heard by us this year, and to make new friends!
Many thanks in advance to anyone who is able to offer their home to someone during this very important and exciting conference.
What to do: send an email to Chris! Include a Description of your accommodations, your guest preferences, and your address
Questions/Issues: Reach out to Chris to volunteer, or to us with questions @ Refuge Recovery Chicago
Events & Announcements
* Thursday Night Oak Park Meeting
The Oak Park meeting has a new location. We will meet at 124 North Kenilworth Avenue in Oak Park for the next 8 weeks, more or less. The location is called Gale House and it’s directly south of Unity Temple. We will be in the living room. Closest Green Line stop is the Oak Park Avenue stop. Join us!
When: Thursday Nights, May and June @ 7pm
Where: Gale House
* Welcoming Committee
Now is the time to join us to get involved in producing the event. We’re nearly done finding donors for raffle items and sourcing swag to help cement this event. From this meeting on our focuses will be on regional outreach and on planning the team logistics of the event dates day by day. We need people who are excited to help run the show. See you there!
When: Thursday, June 13th @ 6pm-7pm
Where: Center on Halsted in Lakeview
* Meeting Facilitator Support
Refuge Recovery in Chicago is growing quickly and for good reason. We are reaching people in a way that feels both refreshingly new as well as deeply personal.
This Saturday, June 8th, we are holding our first Facilitator Support session to talk through what it means to facilitate a meeting and provide an open, safe place for all people who come to the meetings. This session is open to anyone, no matter if you are interested in chairing meetings or simply looking for a place to talk about your personal experiences. Your presence will make an impact on recovery in Chicago!
When: Saturday, June 8th @ 10am-12pm
Where: New Hope Recovery Center
* Picnic in The Park
We are going to be having a little outside picnic right after our Welcoming Committee meeting on Thursday, June 13th. The picnic will start just a little before 7:30pm. We’re planning on meeting on the grass near the lake, right next to The Clocktower Cafe at 3600 N Recreation Dr. Please feel free to bring a snack to share, plus and anything that you might need to be comfortable sitting outside (a blanket to sit on, or a folding chair). We will hang out together for a couple of hours enjoying the evening air. Can’t wait to see you all there!
When: Thursday, June 13th @ 7:30 pm
Where: Clocktower Cafe in Lakeview
* Weekly Inventory Writing
Enjoy some company as we begin to find time each week to fumble through this important exercise together. Come to find a friend to share your story with, or to meet one to help you find the courage to start writing it!
Also, join us upstairs at 7pm for our weekly LGBTQIA meeting, and then for fellowship afterwards!
When: Every Saturday from @ 6pm-7pm
Where: 1st Floor lobby of the Center on Halsted in Lakeview
* Book Orders – New Hope Recovery Centerwill be holding a back stock of literature for until the end of June. If you’re interested in purchasing replacement literature at cost for an existing meeting, or getting help furnishing a new meeting, contact us at Refuge Recovery Chicago.
Facilitator Testimonials
Michael Kramer, Oak Park Thursday Nights
“I knew very early on that Refuge Recovery was the path and program that I had been looking for. Refuge was still getting off the ground in Chicago and I was drawn instantly to offering help in any way I could. I knew my patterns very well by that time. If I didn’t invest in something larger than myself, I was likely to repeat my old patterns of relapse. Sitting in the chair to help facilitate the meeting for the first time was a big shift for me in so many ways. Leading people through a meditation, hearing people’s comments, putting myself in a position to really pay attention to the dharma as it’s laid out in the book all helped me move past the smaller sense of my own recovery into a much wider view, a lifestyle and understanding that helping others along with myself is where all of the “magic” is at. Still, to this day, I get a charge out of being of service as a facilitator.”
Daniel Wittenberg, Center on Halsted Saturday Nights
“I moved back to Chicago after 6 years away in September. I was intimidated about coming back to the city where I’d lain so much of the groundwork for my struggle with addiction. Looking back, I needn’t have worried: I was coming back armed with nearly a year in the LA Sangha. I walked into my new community within 3 days of getting back to town. I took over the LGBTQIA meeting at the Center on Halsted in December: it had become my home meeting in so many ways, so saying yes to the opportunity felt obvious. It’s paid dividends; leading a Saturday evening meeting has helped me build an engaged, accountable social network faster than I could have dreamed. I’m so happy to be back in Chicago because of my meeting: leading a Refuge meeting has helped me finally feel like this is a city I could call home.”
Refcon 5 Tickets!
Tickets are still available! The agenda for Refcon 5 is now online: please check out a list of the panels if you’re curious about attending, and find a solid reason to come!
When: July 12-14, 2019
Where: University of Illinois – Chicago
Service Opportunities!
March was a great month for our intersangha: just this Saturday, we enjoyed an architecture tour of the Chicago Cultural Center, pictured above. And earlier this month we gathered for our first inventory workshop! Our Outreach committee members lead education events on Refuge at local recovery center’s, and began talking directly with several local Health Care providers. Work like this happens when we work together; join us in doing so this April! Enthusiasm is the only requirement; experience with any of this kind of work is a blessing
If you’re interested in joining us in working to spread Refuge Recovery, by finding new homes for meetings, or in introducing our practice to institutions, Outreach needs you! Reach out to Michael Kramer if you’re interested in hearing more.
Are you a Social Butterfly? Come create great opportunities for fellowship with your friends amongst the Sangha (both those you know and those you haven’t met yet) with our Activities Committee! Get ahold of Zoe Winter if you want to work with Sangha on the Third Jewel.
If you’re interested in helping us prepare for our part in producing RefCon 5 this July, join our Welcoming Committee by sending us an email directly at Refuge Recovery Chicago
Please Consider Donating!
We are funded entirely through the generosity of our local meetings, as well as from donations from the public. We use donations to help support the local community for things such as outreach and activities, retreats and workshops, and other operational expenses. Please help support us in getting our message out to those who are still suffering by donating today!
DONATE NOW!
Happy to be of service!
Have some ideas or suggestions to share? Need to order books for your local meeting? Do you just want to say hello? Please be sure to reach out via email at refugerecoverychicago@gmail.com at any time an we will be sure to get back to you!
