My first meeting was in January 2018, at the St. Eulalia church in Winchester. The next one was the Saturday morning 8:30 meeting at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford (now held at the Medford High School library). I was also sent to the OAMBI website. At exactly that time the office worker, Pat, was moving from Arlington to Nashua, so she could not continue as our office worker. At the top of the screen on the main page of the website there was a red scrolling banner with a request for an office worker, part time work, a few hours a week, who needs to be able to work with a computer, Word, email, printing, CD copying. I was already retired, so I said to myself: “Why not? This way I’ll be in the middle of things, and my OA learning curve will be easier.” I volunteered.
It was a wonderful job, initially because by taking voice messages, and calling people back, I indeed learned a lot about OA members. Then there were the emails from OA members, other intergroups, from Region 6, from world OA, which I either replied or forwarded to the appropriate people. My strongest relationship became the one with the webmaster – there are always things to add or change on the website. Sending the snail mail newsletter to a few people created warm connections as well.
Then the pandemic hit, and the job changed dramatically. I started working from home, moved the filing system from paper to computer (Google drive, Google documents, Google sheets), and visited the office only for voice messages and for printing the newsletter. The post office box was near the office, in Arlington Center, so I combined the two trips.
Then we changed the phone system to a digital one, taking advantage of the new Verizon FIOS capabilities. I could now listen to voice messages from home, and also get them as audio attachments to the office email. I moved the printer to my home to complete the “work at home” situation. The office became a repository for pamphlets, books, the suitcases used for Health Fairs, the banners for the same, audiovisual equipment, and a vast number of other things. With many meetings moving to zoom, the office became a repository for the donated literature of those meetings.
The MBI intergroup discussed and then decided to eliminate the office and move the literature to a storage unit, a wise financial decision. The Verizon phone system was dropped in favor of Google voice. The P.O. Box number remained the same. We were fortunate to find a very nice and inexpensive storage unit in Burlington, 15 minutes from my home.
The transition of the phone line was a true adventure, with many scenarios considered and found unfeasible (we wanted to keep the same number). In the end we bit the bullet and got the new number, which is now scrolling in blue at the top of our website. The old number now has a message informing callers of the new number. I reproduced the old greeting on the new line, for continuity, and now it is working like a charm. I get an email, as before, at [email protected], and the attachment opens in Google voice. Very nice.
The physical move was another adventure. Many people came to the old office to help sort things through. Kudos go in particular to Paulina, our new chair, who was with me throughout. We donated some stuff, recycled a lot of old papers and old pamphlets, and moved the rest. The storage unit must still be sorted out. This will happen in time.
Yesterday I mailed the first 2 pamphlets from the storage area.
After seven years as the office worker, I feel ready to pass the baton. If anyone out there would like the job, please contact me at [email protected].
Yours in recovery, Marina S, 781-205-9606