Pam Cohen opened the meeting in the absence of President, Chris Krueger.  Dick Myren offered the Invocation.  Jack Rosenberg led the Pledge of Allegiance.  Pam recognized Steve Ross and thanked him for serving as Greeter.  Ray Smith led all present in singing Auld Lang Syne.

 

Dan Coons introduced Caio, our inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student.  Don Boucher introduced three guests at his table:  PDG Alex Hopkins from Washington, Chris Cuffaro, a former Tucson Rotarian who is now living in our area, and Tom Bradford, who has attended at least five meetings now, and has a Mesa West Rotary membership application in process.  

 

Chuck Flint announced that the ticket holder for the weekly drawing would automatically win $25 and have a chance to draw the ace of clubs which would net accumulated winnings of $334.  Our guest Chris drew Warren Williamson's ticket, but when the remaining cards in the deck were shuffled, Warren drew the eight of diamonds.  

 

John Pennypacker served as Sgt. at Arms, collecting happy bucks first from Warren Williamson.  Dick Myren sadly reported that Rod Daniels' wife had recently passed away as he paid his weekly $1 for being happy to be a member of Mesa West Rotary as Rod always did.  Tim Troy had quite a story to tell.  He and his family had recently gone to Barnes and Noble.  One of his children noticed some poker chips on the ground.  He also noticed that they said "Mesa West Rotary Club" on them.  Now we know where at least some of the weekly attendance drawing chips ended up, with no clue how they got there.  It is an amazing coincidence that the chips were found by members of the Mesa West family.  Bert Millett asked how many squares were left on the Buck Board.  After he knew more than enough were still available he said he wanted to buy ten squares to celebrate his practice's successful year, adding a new attorney to their practice, and their move to their new office location.  That purchase gave Pam an opportunity to tell members that when Mesa West Members have purchased a total of ten squares (not necessarily on the same buck board) cumulatively that the club would transfer $100 in Rotary Foundation recognition points to that Rotarian.  Aubry is keeping track of the cumulative number of squares purchased by each Rotarian in the club.  After telling quite a stray dog story about the reason the Buck Board is looking more than a little stressed, Chuck explained how our Buck Board works.  It encourages our members and guests to support The Rotary Foundation $10 at a time, with the hope of buying the winning square, which will be determined by an elimination drawing once all 100 squares on the board are sold.  The winner will receive a receipt from TRF for the $1,000 donation which will be sent toTRF in the winner's name.  

 

Pam Cohen paid a $5 fine because she forgot the signup sheet and flyer for the January 19 post-holiday party, which will be held Saturday, January 19 at the home of Dan and Colleen Coons.  An innovative Rotarian who had a writing pad, created a signup sheet manually and circulated it at the meeting.