2026 World Service Business Conference

Delegate Report - Jessie

Dear Los Angeles Intergroup:

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as a delegate to the 2026 OA World Service Business Conference (WSBC). I found myself engaged and enthused about our fellowship in a way I probably had not felt in 15 years when I was newly abstinent. To come face to face with the service of fellows near, far, and incredibly far was truly humbling. Some took four planes to get to ABQ and/or spent over 24 hours in transit. Many worked tirelessly to constantly translate and participate in English despite it not being the language spoken at their home meetings. Over USD $7,000 was contributed for the WSBC 7th Tradition. There were 162 voting members from 22 countries, but many more fellows made this the invaluable experience that it was. Our fellows in New Mexico and beyond flocked to Albuquerque (one fellow drove in from Colorado!) to spend whole days on their feet not for a chance to vote or have their opinion heard, but simply to be of loving service to our fellowship. 

I was humbled by the attention and sincerity with which our trusted servants handled matters as seemingly trivial as streamlining administrative processes to those more controversial concerning our less heavily represented constituents. The adopted Proposals B and 1 (concerning the use of the Plain Language Big Book and the term “service bodies”) allow for more logical translations for non-English speakers. The adoption of Proposal I fosters inclusivity of atheist fellows by providing the Serenity Statement as one of OA’s suggested prayers. The OA Preamble was revised via adoption of Proposal E to be more inclusive of anorexics, bulimics, chewers-and-spitters, and other compulsive eaters who do not identify with the term “compulsive overeating.” The constituency voted in favor of granting the Conference Seal of Approval to two pieces of literature that speak to our fellows’ diverse backgrounds: the Unity with Diversity Checklist and Healing the Mind, Body, and Spirit: Mental Health and Recovery in Overeaters Anonymous. The passing of an emergency motion to resume issuing of License 2 by a hard deadline of September 1, 2026 ensures that our fellows abroad will have sooner access to translations of the OA literature that we read daily and rely on for recovering through the steps.

Our Region’s delegate from the South Bay IG, Michelle, was newly voted in as one of the six elected Trustees. Gary, Beverly and Karen were re-elected as Trustees, and Alexandra and Alice were elected as new Trustees. With seven vacancies to fill, that left the Board of Trustees the job of appointing a 7th Trustee to serve for a year until elections at the 2027 WSBC. With our Region 2 Trustee Liaison Mike concluding his term, our Region was overjoyed to learn that Californian Michelle was appointed to be the new Region 2 Trustee Liaison. Sadly, due to current events, our Mexican neighbors were unable to join in on these festivities, but our Region, led by Region 2 Chair Jeremiah, nonetheless spoke up on Mexico’s behalf. 

Mexico was one of those notably affected by WSO’s pause on licenses since December 2025 due to the Trustees’ duty to review outdated licensing protocol. Our fellows overseas do not need our tools of recovery with any less urgency or quantity than we do. Food addiction, as a longtimer would say in my old home group, is an “equal opportunity” disease. The WSBC body reviewed multiple amendments of the emergency business motion to agree upon a workable compromise so that publishing of translations can move forward this fall. In the meantime, attending and/or spreading the word about the 47th annual Region 2 virtual convention this July 10-12, 2026 is one way we can support our fellows across the border (while supporting our own recovery) and show them that OA works if you work it! 

The themes of service and inclusivity were not just limited to business matters. WSBC provided space for fellows to hold meetings throughout the day. Fellows volunteered their home meeting formats, and I noticed some stark differences between their meetings and mine back in LA. A statement on OA’s Unity with Diversity Policy was a regular part of their format. The OA Promise (a.k.a., Unity Prayer) was frequently used in closing. I realized these were things I could bring back to my meetings as suggestions to make them more welcoming to newcomers and longtimers alike. I thought back to the first time I heard the OA Promise as a newcomer in NYC. The longtime meeting leader had us each turn to the person to our right and say, “I put my hand in yours because I care,” until we had all joined hands in a circle, finishing in unison with the full version of the OA Promise. Almost 20 years later, it is still one of my most cherished memories. 

I came into OA as a young adult, and though I am no longer young, I was assigned to the Young Adult Committee. Three subcommittees were formed, and I raced to join the Lifeline subcommittee because it seemed to provide the most opportunity to apply our resources toward appealing to a wider audience rather than strictly limiting our impact to individuals between the ages of 18-30 years old. (Personally, when I was new, way more “unattractive” than a lack of similarly-aged people would have been a lack of people period.) By working on a “Young Adult” category of Lifeline articles and collecting stories from current young adults as well as longtimers who joined OA as young adults, our subcommittee aspires to not only offer hope to young adults, but also to anyone who is tempted to leave before the miracle happens. If you would like to be a part of this project, please be on the lookout for our Call for Submissions flyer in the near future!

In my early days, dollar signs covered my eyes every time I heard the 9th Step Promises read (but at least it kept me coming back!). In hindsight, I realized that practicing the 7th Tradition as I worked the Steps was an investment towards Promise 10, “Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.”  As a newcomer, I had such fear of destitution that making financial 7th Tradition contributions was an exercise in strengthening my faith in my HP’s Providence. Attending the WSBC made clear to me the critical importance of supporting our program beyond the meeting level. The WSO reported a significant decrease in general contributions and literature sales this past year. Compared to last year, the number of registered groups has declined in all but 2 of our 11 Regions.  While the WSO is fortunate to own its office building and not worry about rent increases, the building is nonetheless very old and due for costly repairs. There are 14 friendly office staff who wear multiple hats and were very present at the WSBC, but they cannot make OA immune to inflation. Workshops at the WSBC served as platforms for brainstorming across intergroups:

• Workshop attendees stressed the importance of ordering literature directly from the OA Bookstore as a means to support the WSO rather than a 3rd party reseller such as Amazon.

• On the same exact page where one-time donations are made, https://oa.org/contribute/,  a fellow can easily opt to make their donation an Automatic Recurring Contribution. 

• As some of our virtual Zoom meetings do with their 7th Tradition QR codes, other intergroups advised screen-sharing for one minute and pausing their format so that attendees could have sufficient time to donate rather than miss hearing shares or announcements.  

• Increased costs and especially decreased income were the reasons WSO revised recommendations for meetings to change 7th Tradition distributions from 60% LA Intergroup / 30% World Service Office / 10% Region 2 to 50% LA IG / 40% WSO / 10% R2.

• A workshop facilitator explained that legacy gifts of any dollar amount can be gifted after passing without conflict with the 12 Traditions; since the bequest would be received after death, OA would not run into issue with an individual donor then having active influence over the fellowship.

• Various intergroups shared budget-friendly success stories, such as receiving free air time for public information services from a radio station that could then receive a tax deduction since the group is a registered nonprofit. 

The OA WSBC community managed to break through my default cynicism and open my heart to deeper purpose. I was reminded of the OA Responsibility Pledge: “Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion; for this I am responsible.” Frankly, my OA “resume” has not been a glittering one full of sponsees or lifetime achievement milestones, nor did I think I could fulfill this role well (and indeed I am slower than I would like in writing this report); so, my perfectionism said “no” every time I heard this opportunity mentioned. Better late than never, I got that Divine Nudge from my Higher Power, and it turns out all I had to do was ask. Thank you for giving me space to take that leap of faith and having faith when I still had doubt. I am humbled to have had the opportunity to vote on behalf of our Intergroup’s welfare and feel that wonderfully united, true sense of purpose. I was not the most educated or eloquent person in the room, the outcomes of the votes did not always land how I chose or predicted (thankfully!), but I am confident that HP’s Will was done. It is similar to how when we speak at a meeting, we may judge ourselves afterwards for forgetting to say something important or not phrasing it well enough, and then the way someone responds to us afterwards reminds us we are just the vessel and HP is doing all the translation to our fellows. My experience of WSBC was a remarkable reminder of how our responsibility plainly is to show up, and HP takes care of the rest. We can say yes without guaranteed “success.”

Keep Coming Back,

Jessie