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Program - Youth Services - Ed Koeneman Ed said that Mesa West Rotary has been very involved in Youth Exchange this year. Our own Donna Goetzenberger is the Youth Exchange Chair for our District. Machel Considine has served the district as inbound chair. Margaux 's inbound exchange is sponsored by Mesa Rotary Club. Her first host family was Liz and Gerry Paulus. Ed and Deb Koeneman are her second host parents. Masa is sponsored by the Sun Lakes Rotary Club. Colleen and Dan Coons are his fourth host family. Mesa West is Olivia's sponsoring club. Her host families to date have been from the Gilbert Rotary Club. Carlotta is sponsored by Tempe South Rotary. Her first host family was the Koenemans. She is now with Bert Millett and his family. Frank and Amanda Rosenberg were host parents for Lotte. Ed said Interact members think Rotary is Interact for old people. Kassandra is currently President of the Westwood High School Interact Club. She also is serving as District Governor of the Interact District Council. Natalie is Vice President of WHS Interact and serves as an Assistant Governor on the IDC. Kassandra said that she joined Interact in her freshman year. Her older sister was a member. Kassandra said she used to be shy but she wanted to get out of her comfort zone. She definitely got that when she attended RYLA. She has been a RYLA volunteer ever since! She encourages others to get into Interact - the younger the better. RYLA is an acronym for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. It is a four-day experience in January in Prescott. It involves public speaking, leadership and team-building experiences. You meet international students Myla said it changed her life. She was on "team Germany with Lotte." One exercise was supposed to simulate what it is like for exchange students when they first arrive. They learned some simple communications in jibberish then had to meet with others and attempt to communicate with them. They had learned a different form of jibberish. Communication was impossible and emotions flared. Kassandra told about having to spontaneously tell a story about a dog house during her public speaking exercise really forced her out of her comfort zone and shy shell She said her decision to run for Interact President was born in that moment. Junior RYLA is for middle school students and is held at a different camp near Prescott. Some of the Westwood Interact students at the meeting have volunteered to help at that camp and witness the transformative changes in the participants. They talked about the Interact District Conference, saying it is kind of like a RYLA reunion. About 200 students from all over the district attend. At this year's RYLA which was held a few weeks ago, Kassandra was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow and was also honored by being named Interactor of the Year. Myla and Jazmine are in their junior and sophomore years. and are up and coming leaders. Jazmine said when she was at RYLA she was blindfolded and had to listen to directions to take a walk in the woods. She had to learn to listen and trust. She said that exercise got her out of her shell. Masa said that Sweden and Japan did teamwork at RYLA together, saying they are good friends. He said they learned from each other and gained confidence. Margaux said at first at RYLA some were yelling "Where am I - I want to go back." One of their first exercises was to make a costume for their mentor. She said her team's mentor became a french fry. She said the people on her team became good friends and still stay in touch with each other. She said when she first arrived on her exchange she had to get over some preconceptions. She has learned to appreciate American high schools. She is no longer afraid of the food and likes it here. Masa said he thought he would spend a year eating hamburgers and hot dogs, which he likes. He loves baseball and enjoyed visiting the spring training Cubs game Rotary event. He said when he first arrived it was dry and hot. He loves this time of year. He said he didn't know before how hot it would be in the summer here. A bit was explained about the Interact District's Crutches for Africa missions. They collect crutches, walkers, canes and wheelchairs to distribute in Kenya. Jim McMahen helps Ed transfer the devices to the storage facility. Kassandra was an ambassador on the Kenya trip last year. She learned that one person can make a difference. She said that lesson will stay with her forever. She wants to make change throughout her life. Natalie said that it was super inspiring. In addition to the wheelchair distribution, they gave out supplies. Seeing how excited the students there were to receive the supplies made her realize how privileged she was. She also wants to continue to make change. Jazmine will be going on a trip to Mexico this year to a facility where they repair wheelchairs. She said she applied for Crutches for Africa after she heard about it at club. At first, she didn't tell her mom. She was interviewed for Kenya but was selected for Mexico. The team meets on Sundays to prepare working to learn as much as possible about language, culture and history. Natalie said Junior RYLA is run by Rotaractors. She said they don't know much and it was fun to see them learn how to treat each other. Myla enjoyed being mentored by others at RYLA. She thought it would be a good experience to be the mentor. She applied to be a junior counselor at Junior RYLA. Colleen wrapped things up saying we are preparing Rotary's future. She said she was looking around the room and seeing several future Rotaractors. She also declared Youth Exchange students are the bravest!
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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)
