Some area committees set aside one day each year for conducting an area service inventory. Why? For much the same reason as NA members do personal inventories: to stop, consider their actions and attitudes, and rededicate

themselves to their ideals. The area inventory considers three general topics:

1. How well has the area committee done this year at serving the groups, and how can it better serve them in the coming year?

2. How well has the area committee served the larger community, and how can the committee better serve the community-at-large?

3. How well has the area committee done at supporting NA’s regional and world services? How can the area provide better support for these services?

A substantial amount of preparation is required on everyone’s part for an effective area inventory. GSRs, officers, and subcommittees must take a fearless, searching look at their work over the last year and come to the inventory session prepared to review their roles on the committee. GSRs should spend time with their groups considering what needs might be addressed by the area committee in the next year and come to the inventory session with ideas in hand. Officers and subcommittees should take the time to look at the make-up of the larger community in which they live, ask themselves how NA could be more effective in reaching out to that community, and be prepared to share their thoughts with the entire area committee. And perhaps most importantly, all area committee participants should make an extra effort to prepare themselves spiritually to make the most of the area inventory meeting. Materials available from your World Service Office may provide additional help, especially in developing an agenda for your inventory session. Having conducted an area inventory, many committees will come to the conclusion that certain aspects of their work need to be altered. It should be remembered that there is no one model for area service committees that will be completely appropriate to all areas. A number of factors will affect the kinds of services an area committee offers and the ways in which it offers them: community size, number of meetings, availability of experienced NA members,geography, local laws and customs, and other such considerations. What works in a major metropolitan setting probably won’t work at all in a rural community. What will work in any setting is an effort to maintain sensitivity to the needs of the groups and the community. Each area committee will, to a great degree, have to find its own way of effectively providing services to those groups and the larger

community of which those groups are a part. Versatility is called for. Area committees in small or mid-sized communities may see fit to combine the work of some subcommittees, while well-established metropolitan committees might find themselves with a large number of highly specialized subcommittees, each with its own specific focus. Given reasonable consideration, an area committee should not be afraid to configure its services in whatever way it sees fit so that it may help carry the NA message in the most effective way possible.