So far this fiscal year, we have funded $83,727 in vocational education grants to fund life-changing education for 47 grant recipients.  At the bottom of this article, you will see the programs of study and the number of students who have elected to study each.

 

It is apparent that the majority of students we have funded have elected medical-related vocations.  What is not so apparent is that in many cases, the level of the program they have elected to begin with will result in improving their household income and quality of life, but is also selected because it is within their economic reach with the help of our grant.  Many vocational programs cost far more than our current $2,000 maximum grant will cover.

 

Only thirteen of the grants funded were for less than the current cap of $2,000.  It would be conservative to think that if our maximum grant had been $3,000, that we would have funded $100,000 in grants by now.  In fact, it would likely have been closer to $120,000.

 

What we cannot measure is how many students look into enrolling in a vocational education program, but give up because the cost of the program after our grant would still be far beyond their means.

 

The officers, board members and advisors of TRVFA know that to be the resource originally envisioned by those who gave birth to this uniquely Arizona Rotary vocational education resource, we have to expand the number of Rotarian donors as well as expand our sources of revenue beyond Rotarians.  There are several ways you can help:

We realize we have just entered our "season of giving."  The majority of our donations come in between December 1 and April 15.  At this point, we are only about 10% of the way to our $300,000 2020-21 fundraising goal.

 

It would be a huge help if more donors would elect the automatic giving option available through our on-line donation page.  It would help the donor by making their "remembering to give" effortless going forward.  It would enhance our ability to plan since it would provide some reliable year-round cash flow.

 

During the pre-meeting social time, the annual task of putting up Christmas lights was discussed.  Warren mentioned that he had a neighbor that could fold his lights up somehow so they were completely out of sight, then easily drop them down each year when it was time to display them again.  Dan told about LED lights that are not that noticeable and can be programmed to display different colors for different occasions.

 

Joan Reimann was happy to announce she was "on the mend" and would be graduating from physical therapy on November 20.  

 

John Pennypacker is golfing again.  Allan Cady talked about a golf fund-raising event coming up at Wickenburg Ranch with an evening dinner and social.  He said there would be four four-star generals there.  Funds from the event will go to the Marine Education Foundation.  $500,000 had already been raised.  John declined participating - he's up to playing nine holes, but has not played eighteen holes since May.  

 

President Dan introduced himself, and recited the Rotary International theme for the year - "Rotary Creates Opportunities."  He also shared the Rotary Vision Statement - "Together we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change - across the world, in our communities and in ourselves."  He asked Darl Andersen to lead the invocation.

 

Carla shared some history and interesting facts about The Rotary Foundation that were put together when the Foundation began the celebration of its centennial year July 1, 2016:

 

"We should not live for ourselves along, but for the joy in doing good for others."

 

"It seems eminently proper that we should accept endowments for the purpose of doing good in the world."

 

In its first 100 years, The Rotary Foundation had spent over $3 billion on programs and projects to support humanitarian efforts and scholarships.

 

PDG Tom Yuzer from District 5960 in Eastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin was recognized.  He and his wife will be leaving Minnesota in about a week headed to Arizona where they plan to spend the winter.  He will be with us at our December 3 meeting.  PDG Terry Cowan was also recognized.

 

Mesa West Rotary has raised funds to support their charitable work two times.  In 2017-18, we raised a little over $40,000.  In 2018-19, the program raised around $50,000 for our Mesa West Rotary Foundation..  We did not repeat the program in 2019-20, but are going to kick it off again this Rotary year.  Because of all the challenges everyone is experiencing due to the COVID pandemic, the goal has been set conservatively at $30,000.  Allan is in the process of recruiting team captains and getting the stage set to be off and running for another Steak and Beans competition.  Winning teams will get steak and the losers will get beans.