Pam welcomed everyone to the meeting.  She explained her black eye.  She had a basil cell carcinoma removed from her lower eyelid.  She wanted to make sure everyone knew she had not had an altercation with Don LaBarge.

 

The Invocation was led by Dick Myren and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jack Rosenberg.  President Pam thanked Shelly Romine for serving as greeter welcoming everyone to the meeting.

 

 

On the screen, Lu shared the Rotarian Code of Conduct:

 

As a Rotarian, I will:

This is the essence of what we as collective Rotarians say and believe we should be doing.  

 

The world lost a very impressive leader - Queen Elizabeth.  At a formal ceremony on April 21, 1947, when she was 21 years old.  She said, "I declare before you that my whole life - whether it be long or short - shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.  That was a 21-year-old woman speaking, and she adhered to that value her entire life.  Lu then shared an ancillary Rotary moment.  In 1959, Queen Elizabeth's daughter Victoria was making a trip to Australia.  The Rotary District which was geographically where Princess Victoria was visiting was where the first RYLA was invented, and the Princess was a RYLA attendee.  You can see that the ethics of the monarchy and the ethics of Rotarians have had a very nice overlap for a long time.

 

Mesa West Rotary has come to an awakening that planning internally is not the most sustainable way to move into the future.  We are now in a process of visioning where we need to form a plan that is a product and reflection of our community.  This is the thing Lucinda said everybody in the room should try to answer in their head:  Can you name a person who you see as living their life in coordination of their beliefs.  Lucinda suggested PDG Chuck Fitzgerald who believes in the cause of Peace and works to host a Peace Forum every year would qualify.  Our own Ed Koeneman has picked up on the mentoring theme and is working to make that happen  George Wheeler never stopped serving.  Buey with Aqua Africa is living his convictions.  Every person needs to own the Visioning Process.  It is not a one and done process.  It will be ongoing.  We will need to use electronic polling and other means of communicating.  We all need to respond and offer suggestions, and challenges.  Lucinda implored everyone to take a commitment to fully participate.

 

John added another quote attributed to the Queen:  "The world is not the most pleasant place.  Eventually your parents leave you and nobody is going to go out of their way to protect you unconditionally.  You need to learn to stand up for what you believe and sometimes, pardon my language, kick some ass."

 

 

 

Steve announced the big pot was up to $162.  The holder of the winning ticket would automatically win $35 and the chance to try to win the big pot by drawing the Ace of Clubs from the deck.  He asked Selina Graves to draw the winning ticket which was held by Jim Erickson.  Jim drew the 5 of Diamonds.

 

 

 

 

This has been a challenging year for all humanitarian hearing missions throughout the world.  Like many other programs, our club decided that it would be too risky for our volunteers, patients and others in Guaymas if we conducted what would have been our 28th Annual program.

 

After consulting with health professionals and officials here and in Guaymas, it was decided that we would wait and see what would develop in terms of access to patients, availability of a proven vaccine, and feasibility of conducting a reduced program sometime in 2021.  In talking to other audiologists who conduct programs in Nicaragua and Belize, this seemed to be the common opinion.

 

In the meantime, I continue to have dialogues with our friends in Guaymas and Alamos regarding the prevalence of COVID-19 cases in their areas and what they see as a plan of action for the future.  Rudolfo Fernandez, our audiology technician in Alamos, is in constant contact with the school in Guaymas where we conduct the clinic and doctors in Guaymas to see what he can do to start up a testing and training program which will be fundamental to achieving a sustainable on-going program in Guaymas.  This would allow patients to be seen on a quarterly basis, reduce the number of patients seen during our two-day clinic and, consequently, reduce the need for a very large team to travel once a year to Guaymas.  It might take some monetary support from our club but would lower the overall cost of the mission if we support him in his efforts.  The cost savings to our club could be as much as $10,000 to $15,000 a year.

 

We know that the need for our services is great in Guaymas but we must approach the solution to the need in a safe and prudent manner.  I will keep the club updated and hope to meet with the Mission Committee in the early part of 2021 to form a plan of action to help our friends in Guaymas.

 

Thanks to the club members for your continued support of the mission

 

Bob Jensen