https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85900479873
Doubletree, 1011 W Holmes
Mesa, AZ 85210 United States of America
Our hybrid meetings are held weekly on the 1st thru 4th Thursdays of each month. The meetings are broadcast via Zoom to include all, whether attending virtually or in person.
There will be no in-person meeting Thursday March 14 at the Doubletree. Many Mesa West Rotary Club members will be participating in a spring multi-club social event - enjoying a Cubs Spring-Training Baseball Game.
Recently, SonHee Williamson volunteered to make some crocheted purses for little girls if President Colleen had a place to use them. She thought of Mark Cary who had spoke to our club a few months ago about his missions to Ukraine in support of their war effort. She reached out to him and he responded he would be happy to take them on his next trip. There were about two dozen of the little purses with draw strings finished with cute oversized beads a the end of the strings. Colleen received this photo and note from Mark after the delivery:
"We are at a children's shelter in Kramatorsk Ukraine and we filled the purses with chocolate and toys and gave them to the kids. These are my friends Hymie and Anna. I can't show the kids, but they love them. This city is about 18 miles from the Russian advance and these kids are displaced from areas already captured. Kramatorsk, like all the cities in Donbas, is under constant missile and artillery attack."
Start your Rotary journey HERE! Registration for Rotary Leadership Institute - 1 (RLI-1) is now open! (RLI-1 is being offered in conjunction with the Club Leadership Academy)
The Where & When: March 23, 8:30 - 4:00 at the Desert Willows Conference Center in South Phoenix; 4340 E. Cotton Center Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85040
Registration: Click HERE & Select “RLI; full day, lunch included”
Why Attend Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI)?
Explore the wide world of Rotary
Learn from fellow Rotarians how, through Rotary, we change lives — including our own!
Share experiences with members from across northern and central Arizona
Come interact with fellow Rotarians about:
The Basics of Rotary
Rotary’s Impact Worldwide
Community Service Ideas
Leadership Styles that Work
Rotary’s Core Value - Ethics
Engaging Members
RLI is a world-wide organization that some refer to as Rotary’s “College of Knowledge”. RLI gives participants a ranging tour of the world of Rotary. The Institute consists of three one-day Sessions to give participants an overview of the reach of Rotary and what and how we accomplish life-changing projects worldwide….all in an environment of friendship, fellowship and fun!
Warren Williamson for leading the Pledge of Allegiance
Steve Ross for serving as greeter
Jeanie Morgan for handling check-in
John Pennypacker for setting up the room
Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
Dick Myren for handling the raffle
Ed Koeneman for serving as master of technology
Introduction of Guests
Ted Williams introduced his son Elijah Williams.
Member Tim Troy who rarely gets to attend was seated next to and getting acquainted with new member Andy Bradford.
Blaise Vitale, a visiting Rotarian from Minnesota introduced himself.
President Colleen welcomed another new member, Justin Failner.
One of our newest members, who has not yet been inducted, Shawn Buntin, was introduced and invited to share a little about himself. He was formerly in the Cottonwood Rotary Club and the Tyler Texas Rotary Club. He is a Funeral Director with Legacy Funeral Homes for their Chandler and Mesa locations. He has been married 36 years and has four sons.
President Colleen took a moment to acknowledge our own Jim Schmidt who is in line to be District Governor in 2025-26. She thanked him for all the time and energy he is investing in preparing for that role.
Seasonal visiting Rotarians Harry Short and Tom Yuzer were introduced.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Dick Myren
After announcing the small daily pot was $30 and the large accumulating pot was up to $281, Dick asked Elijah williams to draw the winning ticket. Ersin Reimann was the lucky winner of $30 plus the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck. After shuffling the cards, the card Erwin drew was the Two of Diamonds.
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms Ron Thompson
Dick Myren was the first to contribute, putting in his traditional $2 - happy that he and honorary member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs. He made an additional contribution to celebrate Iowa Hawkeyes' Caitlin Clark who is now officially the NCAA's Division I top scorer and one of the top women basketball players of all time. He also asked to be billed $100 for the sponsor program to celebrate his 88th birthday coming up March 12.
Ed Koeneman contributed. He was happy about several youth services-related things.
The 60th anniversary celebration of Westwood High School Interact Club which is sponsored by Mesa West Rotary Club.
The Interact District Conference
Cassandra from Westwood High School Interact is the District Governor of Interact this year. Ed said she did an excellent job leading the conference held March 2
Cassandra was named a Paul Harris Fellow at the IDC.
Ed was back from Georgia. He had a minor fender bender which extended his stay. James is already going to be deployed March 13 to central Europe.
He hopes most members will plan to attend the Spring Olympics event at his and Deb's home Saturday, March 16.
Warren Williamson - Since we won't meet again before St. Patrick's Day, he wanted to share an Irish story. The government sent an agent to deliver a package to an agent named O'Malley in a small Irish Village. He was instructed to say to O'Malley, "The shadows of the moon are getting darker." If O'Malley responds, "But the sun will guarantee the light," give him the package. As he approached the village, he saw a farmer and asked him for directions to find O'Malley. The farmer said that would be hard because about half of the town were named O'Malley - in fact, he was one of the many O'Malleys. The agent said, The shadows of the moon are getting darker." The farmer replied "Oh, you're looking for O'Malley the spy. He lives down by the church."
Tom Yuzer ran into a high school student from St. Paul at Long Bow Golf Course. He remarked it was 3º at home and 75º in Arizona. Tom offered him some sun block saying he had seen sheets that weren't as white as the young student was.
Pam Cohen was happy to be back, but didn't regret missing a couple of meetings. One week she was baby-sitting Wilder, her almost-four-year-old grandson. The next week she was in California watching the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds practice their aerial performances. She also reported that Chuck Flint is home and doing well and would be glad to have visitors.
Don LaBarge was happy to report that his granddaughter who recently visited our club a couple of times would be moving to Arizona and living with them. So far, the only job she has lined up is to "wait on her grandpa.
Tom Yuzer was happy that he and his wife Liz had enjoyed a pleasant "reunion of PDG's" at a dinner hosted by John Pennypacker.
Harry Short contributed. He was happy and wanted to thank all the younger members who are still working and funding social security, saying it sure comes in handy.
Ron Thompson contributed. His son had gone to Europe and left his two dogs with Ron and Toni. He seemed relieved the dogs would be going home. He had looked forward to visits from grandkids at this time in life but as of yet, he has none.
Shawn Buntin said they had recently enjoyed a visit from four grandchildren from San Antonio. He said the three-year-old came into his room during the night and said "Grandpa, I'm scared. Can I sleep with you?"
Warren Haeussler was happy to again be visiting with Mike Whang, a potential new member.
Ted Williams said he has fifty-seven grandchildren, and that two of his grandsons have asked him if he was going to have a baby.
Tim Troy contributed $100 from his wife to be credited to Colleen Coons' sponsorship team. Tim's wife provides equestrian therapy for special needs kids. Some of her helpers were unable to be at her place recently and Colleen helped tremendously in their absence.
Colleen Coons said she was honored to help. She also added that she had sent a survey to the nine McKinney Vento students we are helping this year and would be sharing their feedback. One of the students was especially happy for the bike she received. Another was accepted into the Aspire program offered by the Mesa Fire and Police Departments. One who went to RYLA is now in Westwood HS Interact. She reported that the Meta grant recently received would likely enable us to place ocular technology in the Mesa library, EVIT and Westwood High School.
Announcements
Steve Ross provided a brief update on the sponsor program. He said we have gathered over $18,000 so far. John Pennypacker's team is currently in the lead with Bob Jensen's team running a close second. There were brochures on the table as well as lists of team assignments.
Logan Harper encouraged club members to attend the Club Leadership Academy to be held March 23. Track 1 of Rotary Leadership Institute will be offered at the Academy as well as many club officer-related courses for club leaders and may courses that will enhance understanding of Rotary beyond the club level. Logan will be co-facilitating a session on action plan/visioning.
President Colleen reminded those present that there would be no meeting at the Doubletree March 14. Many members will be attending the Cubs Game in a joint club activity on that date.
March 22 five volunteers are needed to cook breakfast for participants in the Aspire Academy.
Members who are Mesa residents are invited to a meet the mayorial candidate event at the home of Liz Paulus.
March 29, volunteers will again be needed to provide dinner service at Paz de Cristo
April 20 for our Rotary Week of Service activity, volunteers will be cleaning and repainting the pool deck at the East Valley YMCA.
Program - Liz Paulus - College Bound
Erick Silverberg introduced Liz Paulus. She co-founded College Bound with her husband Gerry. She is a 31-year US Army veteran, a retired Lieutenant Colonel who started in the Women's Army Corps, and airborne qualified. She left active duty to move to Phoenix where she has lived for forty years. She graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in Chemistry to become an Environmental Specialist at the City of Phoenix. She returned to college at Upper Iowa University for her master's degree in Education. She designed and trademarked RISE Scholars, a college access program being imlemented at the East Valley Institute of Technology since 2018.
College Bound is a 501(c)(3) that goes on the journey to college with underrepresented students for their advancement to a better future through education. They provide guidance, scholarships and other education supports to unleash the brilliance within. Over 2000 students have used their program to go to college. They have garnered over $34 million in financial support to defray the cost of college.
When they first started College Bound in 2010, they began working with students in 7th and 8th grade. They now provide one-on-one support for 400 underrepresented 12th graders annually. Over 2,000 students who have been served by College Bound have gone on to college.
Liz said she was not personally a poster-child for college. It took her thirteen years to earn her four-year degree. She described herself as a runaway who hitch-hiked across America. At one point, she picked apples to provide for herself. She said she wasn't very good at it. Her enlistment into the military moved her to a place where she could afford an education. She learned an appreciation for the simple things in life.
College Bound is committed to being a force for change. They work with 65 each year who are among our neediest. Providing mentorship and connecting resources enables needy youth to aspire to a realistic goal of obtaining a college degree. Combined with a partnership with Midwest Food Bank, where students volunteer and acquire a heart for service. Other collaborators are East Valley Institute of Technology, Mesa Community College and Education Forward Arizona.
CLICK HERE to see the slides Liz used during her presentation. They contain several brief success stories.
Finding hindrances and doing something about them is necessary to ensure success of those who are underserved. For instance, putting in a food pantry at EVIT improved attendance. Being intentional with students is important. Many students they work with will be the first in their family to graduate. She shared a shocking statistic - 35% of MCC students are homeless. College Bound is a QCO - donations to their organization qualify for Arizona Tax Credit. The mentors with College Bound are all volunteers.
Mesa West Rotary Club operates two separate legal entities. Our Rotary Club is a 501(c)(4), which is not a tax-deductible charitable organization, but is exempt from income tax. Our club operations income from dues, most happy bucks (unless otherwise designated), raffle income, etc. is used to pay for the cost of operating the club - our meal expense, supplies, education of our officers, etc.
The charitable work and giving that we do is funded through Mesa West Rotary Foundation. It is a 501(c)(3) public charity. It is the fundraising and funding vehicle for our charitable endeavors: Donations to MWRF are tax deductible.
For the past several years, rather than have major public events to raise funds, we have quietly gone to our friends, family, current and past business associates, etc. and simply asked for sponsorship donations. We have averaged about $50,000 each year in revenue from our sponsorship drive. So our members will be better acquainted with those who are involved with the MWRF Board of Trustees, each of the five Trustees will be team leaders this year. CLICK HERE to down load a list showing who is on each Trustee's team. Traditional fundraising events are very time and effort intensive and rarely yield the kind of results this effort has produced. The Sponsor Drive has allowed Mesa West Rotary Club members to focus their Rotary effort on service projects. The other advantage is that our donors can be assured that their donation will go entirely to charity as there are no cost-of-fundraising expenses.
Sometimes donors hesitate to give to a fundraising dinner where names of sponsors are published because they don't want others knocking on their door asking for more money. There are probably many people we know who admire what we do that would like to be a part of it, but cannot afford the time to be involved. More people would admire what we do if we bragged about it outside of Rotary more often. You might be surprised that someone would offer to donate if you bragged about the fact that we don't waste our time and resources putting on lavish events. Some of those donors may have the opportunity to have their gift matched by their employer.
Have fun telling why you are proud to be a Rotarian, and get your "ask" in gear.
As most of you know, Arizona has a very unique state tax credit program. If you pay taxes to the state of Arizona, you can specify where your tax dollars go (state taxes only). These instructions are for your reference only. Please consult a tax prep professional with any specific questions about state tax credits.
There are many different nonprofit organizations that AZ recognizes as authorized recipients of these tax funds. Mesa West sponsors the Interact Club at Westwood High School, and they are a qualified recipient of these tax credit funds in the Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) category. Here's how you can donate up to $200 as an individual or $400 as a couple filing jointly and deduct that amount from your state tax burden.
If you have children currently enrolled in Mesa Public Schools, you can use your existing login information. Otherwise, it's easy to setup a guest account.
Once you are logged in, select 'Items At All Schools'under the 'Shop/Donate' list on the Home page.
On the next page select 'High Schools', then select 'Westwood High'
Select the link for 'ECA Tax Credit', and then 'Programs G-K' on the following page.
Interact - ECA is under code 8646. Enter a dollar amount in the box, and click the Add button. That dollar amount should then appear in your cart (highlighted in green at the top of the page).
You can then proceed to the Checkout process and pay with a credit card. You will receive a receipt that you can print out and save for when you do your taxes.
Thank you for supporting Westwood Interact and all of our youth programs.
As Rotarians, we are regularly exposed to opportunities to support various causes with our time, talent and treasure. Sometimes it is hard to sift through all the information and decide where we are going to use our available financial resources.
It would be wonderful if every Arizona Rotarian would make the following BIG FOUR their Rotary charities of choice and support every one of them every year, we could make a bigger difference than we are making today.
The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Annual Fund - The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world." Giving a small amount each month adds up. CLICK HERE to download a form you can use to sign up for Rotary Direct, electing "Annual Fund - Share" for your recurring donation.
The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Polio Plus - Rotary's commitment to eradicate polio is so well known and respected that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matches donations $2 for $1. To take advantage of this opportunity to multiply the effect of your giving, CLICK HERE and download a second Rotary Direct form, this time electing electing "Polio Eradication" for your recurring donations. Those who donate $100 or more annually to Polio Plus qualify in District 5495 as Polio Plus Society Members. If you would like to make that commitment, CLICK HERE to download the commitment form.
The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona (TRVFA) provides vocational education grants to Arizona Residents who meet specific low-income guidelines. The grants enable the recipients to lift themselves out of poverty, benefitting themselves, their families and the economy of our state. TRVFA is a 501(c)(3) charity. They also are a Qualifying Charitable Organization for Arizona Tax Credit Donations. Their QCO Code is 20698. Many Arizona Rotarians say giving to TRVFA is a "no brainer." If you can help someone lift themselves out of poverty and it won't end up costing you anything why would you not do it? Mesa West Rotary has the highest number of members who have signed up for automated monthly recurring donations by electing that option on the "Donate Now" button on the TRVFA website. Click the image to learn more or CLICK HERE to DONATE NOW.
Mesa West Rotary Foundation, Inc. is the funding and fundraising arm of our own Mesa West Rotary Club. It is a 501(c)(3) charity. We have had successful sponsorship campaigns the last few years enabling us to spend our energy on service rather than on holding fundraising events. Charitable grants that we get involved with are funded through our charitable foundation, Our signature Gift of Hearing Project in Guaymas Mexico is funded through this foundation. Scholarships are awarded annually to Westwood High School Students (the high school where Mesa West Rotary sponsors an Interact Club). Funds are used to support a variety of activities in four of the Rotary Avenues of Service:
Community Service
International Service
Vocational Service
Youth Service
The process isn't quite automated at this point in time, but we hope it soon will be. For now, you can email our executive secretary who can help you work out a recurring donation plan should you wish to make that arrangement to support our own club's charitable activity.
Recently, SonHee Williamson volunteered to make some crocheted purses for little girls if President Colleen had a place to use them. She thought of Mark Cary who had spoke to our club a few months ago about his missions to Ukraine in support of their war effort. She reached out to him and he responded he would be happy to take them on his next trip. There were about two dozen of the little purses with draw strings finished with cute oversized beads a the end of the strings. Colleen received this photo and note from Mark after the delivery:
The charitable work and giving that we do is funded through Mesa West Rotary Foundation. It is a 501(c)(3) public charity. It is the fundraising and funding vehicle for our charitable endeavors: Donations to MWRF are tax deductible.
As most of you know, Arizona has a very unique state tax credit program. If you pay taxes to the state of Arizona, you can specify where your tax dollars go (state taxes only). These instructions are for your reference only. Please consult a tax prep professional with any specific questions about state tax credits.
Mesa West Rotary Foundation, Inc. is the funding and fundraising arm of our own Mesa West Rotary Club. It is a 501(c)(3) charity. We have had successful sponsorship campaigns the last few years enabling us to spend our energy on service rather than on holding fundraising events. Charitable grants that we get involved with are funded through our charitable foundation, Our signature Gift of Hearing Project in Guaymas Mexico is funded through this foundation. Scholarships are awarded annually to Westwood High School Students (the high school where Mesa West Rotary sponsors an Interact Club). Funds are used to support a variety of activities in four of the Rotary Avenues of Service:.png)
