President Jim Schmidt opened the meeting asking Ray Smith to lead everyone present in singing America the Beautiful.  Dick Myren offered the invocation and Tim Troy led the Pledge of Allegiance.  

 

President Jim introduced his wife, Rosalyn.  Jeanie Morgan introduced PDG Jim Erickson and Amber Zenteno who had been interviewed prior to the meeting for consideration by Mesa West Rotary Club to sponsor her grant request from The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona to study at East Valley Institute of Technology to become certified as a surgical technologist.

 

Carolyn Jones was the lucky $5 winner in the weekly attendance drawing.  Chuck Flint explained the weekly raffle.  Of each $5 ticket sold, part goes to the club operating account, part becomes the daily raffle prize, which at the November 14 meeting would be $35, and part goes into the accumulating prize (now $681) to be won if the holder of the winning ticket should be lucky enough to draw the ace of clubs (which we believe we are) from the dwindling deck of cards.  Any card drawn other than the ace of clubs or the joker, the card is destroyed.  Should the ticket holder draw the joker, they would win $20, and the joker would be returned to the deck.  Looking for an honest face, Chuck asked PDG Jim Erickson to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Chris Krueger.  Chris drew the king of hearts from the deck.

 

Dr. Ron Thompson served as Sgt. at Arms and said he planned to "fill the bucket" as he began collecting happy bucks.  The first to contribute was Chuck Flint who reported that he had enjoyed the Guaymas trip.  He had a great time with all the Rotarians who were there.  He reported that Wendell Jones and Ray Smith "lived on candy" while they were there.  Chris Krueger also contributed for a great time on the Guaymas trip, and thanked Bob Jensen and Ray Smith for doing so much work in preparation for and during the trip.  Tim Troy contributed.  He was happy to be able to attend the meeting as he has missed several this year.  He reported that he and Angie had purchased a house in Cornville, Arizona.  He announced that in the near future, he would make a three-night stay at the new house available for the club to auction.  Pam Cohen had a birthday (somewhat) recently.  One of her gifts was a new nickname - Bubbe. The reason for the nickname - Pam's daughter, Alex, will be presenting her with a grandbaby next spring.  To celebrate this exciting family event, Pam contributed $100 toward Alex' 2nd Paul Harris.  Don Boucher contributed sad dollars for the shooting victims at Saugus High School in California.  Don has many reasons to feel close to that community and was deeply saddened by this tragic event.  Lucinda General contributed - she was Jim's seatmate on the trip to Guaymas and now "has all the dirt on him."  She said she began her term as District Governor scooping poop at a parade in Springerville and has not been elevated much as her official duty at the Guaymas Gift of Hearing mission was that of bathroom monitor attempting to ensure that only one gender at a time was using the only available working restroom.  Wendell and Ray's sweet tooth tendencies are apparently epic.  Story is that some cookies fell to the floor, but Ray ate them anyway.  A confession that Ray and Wendell were NOT served key lime pie as they were told, but instead were served margarita pie.  Polly Cady contributed, happy to be a member of the best Rotary Club ever.  While she and Allan were at the Friendship Conference at the Grand Canyon, they could see the pictures posting on Mesa West's Facebook page and know what was going on in Guaymas.  Shelly Romine reported that President Jim's company made the list of top Corporate Volunteer Programs in the state.  They were ranked 24, but made that achievement with only 38 employees who contributed 1900 hours of volunteer service.  The firms that placed higher on the list were MUCH larger than Jim's.  Dick Myren contributed in the tradition of honorary member Rod Daniels as a proud member of Mesa West Rotary.   John Pennypacker contributed for a very special Veterans Day experience.  He was at a park in Anthem where there are five pillars lined up representing the five branches of the US Armed Forces.  They are lined up so that holes in each pillar align perfectly on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11 minutes after the 11th hour, the sun shines through the holes and illuminates the Seal of the United States.  John also had the opportunity at the event to meet an Admiral who was instrumental in the development of the Anthem Veterans Memorial.    He was Captain of the battleship USS New Jersey and was in command when it was taken out of service in the late 80's or perhaps a few years later.  In 1968, John's unit flew several combat assaults with supporting fire from the New Jersey.  "The rounds they fired were 2000 lb. bombs and an entire grid square (1000m x 1000m) was obliterated.  It definitely got their undivided attention the first time they fired for us."  John's experience with this awesome war machine preceded the Admiral's time by two decades plus.  Bob Jensen contributed celebrating 33 years of doing the Gift of Hearing project.

 

Ray smith reported on highlights of the Guaymas trip.  The Gift of Hearing mission had the entire front page of the local newspaper and the story continued onto the second page.  Ray reported that President Jim cannot roll his r's, as required to properly pronounce some words in Spanish.  Ray advised anyone to stand back should Jim attempt to roll his r's.  Failing to stand back could cause you to get wet.  Several on the trip ordered local tortillas while in Guaymas.  On the bus ride home, the tortillas were distributed, but at the end of the distribution, they were short - not good when at least three CPA's were on the trip.  It was particularly vexing for Ray Smith who was in charge of keeping the mission in balance.  It was discovered that one of the CPA's (President Jim) had ordered two packages but received and accepted six packages without pointing out the discrepancy.  The extra tortillas have been retrieved and have been delivered to Allan and Polly Cady.  

 

Bob Jensen thanked all who went on the trip and the club in general for supporting the trip.  He is not certain how the tortillas are prepared, but they do not deteriorate.  All prior records were broken with this year's Gift of Hearing Mission.  450 patients were seen.  287 devices were distributed, and 80 devices are left to begin the inventory to take in 2020.

 

Allan Cady was sorry to miss the Guaymas trip.  It was unfortunate that the Mexico/USA Friendship Conference overlapped.  He reported that 90 were present at the conference at the Grand Canyon.  It was about an even split between US Rotarians and Rotarians from Mexico.  Allan had the opportunity to present the Aqua Africa project.  The reception for the project was good.  $1,950 was donated by seven other clubs.  $2,000 was committed by District 4185 in Mexico,  so the support was just under $4,000.  The strength of the project is the water tower which will serve 10,000 people.  Allan was also able to secure commitments form Bret McKeand (who will be District Governor in 2021-22) and Patrick Walsh from Tempe South that their clubs will contribute if Allan or Chris Krueger will make presentations at a meeting of each of their clubs.  Allan and Polly hosted three people.  Pita and Rosa were from Vera Cruz and Paco Romero was from Puebla, Mexico.  Donna, Bryan and Emilee Goetzenberger were also at the conference.

 

Rotarians from District 4185 in southern Mexico and District 5495 in Arizona met at the Grand Canyon November 7-10 for their traditional Friendship Conference and Grants Exchange Workshop.  

 

District Governor David Simmer presented a district flag to his counterpart, DG Jesus Pita.  During the project presentations, Allan Cady presented the Aqua Africa grant opportunity that Mesa West Rotary Club was promoting at the conference.  After the grant presentations, attendees at the conference went from table to table seeking additional information from the presenters and the presenters each used their best negotiating skills.

 

Allan Cady sent the following report:

 

"I thought things went well for the Aqua Africa project at the Friendship Conference last week. Overall, we ended up with seven separate club donations totaling $1,950. In addition to that, we had a District 4185 match for another $2,000. So, our total was $3,950 at the conference.

"Also, I got a commitment from Bret McKeand that his club would make a contribution upon his return to Phoenix. Patrick Walsh from Tempe South RC
requested that we make a presentation at his club sometime in the near future...  I will continue to follow up with both Bret and Patrick to make sure we receive donations from those two clubs. Further, Dale Gray told me he likes the Aqua Africa project a lot and stands ready to assist with club donations and the District 5495 match.

 

"I will receive Jim Bissonette’s final report in the next few days. Mesa West RC did make $2.500 in donations to four separate projects all of which were properly authorized by the district. More to follow on that. Here is the list of separate donations received:

$300 Boca del Rio
$100 Puebla Centro Historica
$100 Cuernavaca
$100 Atlatnucan
$100 Kingman Route 66 RC
$1,000 Mesa RC
$250 Sun City RC
$2,000 District 4185"

 

On the way back from the Grand Canyon the Allan and Polly Cady and Bryan, Donna, and Emilee Geotzenberger stopped in Sedona for lunch with several of their friends from Mexico:  Dr. Paci Ramos. Club President of Puebla Centro Historico, District Governor Jesus Pita and his wife Rosa from District 4185, Taci from Puebla Oriente, Gaby from Puebla Oriente, and Erik Friend from club Cuernavaca Juarez.

 

Next year the Friendship Conference will be held in Tlaxcala, Mexico, October 29-November 2.

 

Thanks to Polly Cady and Donna Goetzenberger for sending photos.