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Highlights of January 13, 2022 Meeting

Welcome - President Dan Coons

As members and guests were arriving for the meeting, they were greeted by Erwin Reimann.

President Dan opened the meeting by introducing himself then reciting the Rotary International 2021-22 theme - Serve to Change Lives. He then reminded everyone of the Rotary Vision Statement:

Together we see a world where people unite and

take action to create lasting change -

across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves

Lola McClane offered the invocation. Joan Reimann led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Rotary Minute - Colleen Coons

Colleen began her presentation by enthusiastically stating Rotary needs Rotaract. As District Rotaract Chair, she has become a wealth of information. There are 203,298 Rotaractors in 10,698 Rotaract Clubs in 180 countries.

Some things that are new in Rotaract in 2022:

Rotaract has been elevated to Rotary Club status - Rotaract is no longer a program under youth services
Rotaractors can have dual membership granted by the District Governor
It is an organization for those who are 18 and over (the age cap has been removed)
Rotaract Clubs can have access to grants and other programs offered to Rotary Clubs
Arizona Rotaract is part of the MDIO - The Big West Rotaract
There will be more to come from RI as they continue to develop Rotaract

Rotaract Clubs can be University Based (like the Grand Canyon University - GCU club sponsored by Mesa West Rotary) or community-based. They are structured with a President, Vice President (some clubs have their incoming President serve in that role), Secretary, Treasurer, and Immediate Past President. When, where and how frequently they meet are based on each club's bylaws.

In University-based Rotaract Clubs, they struggle with high turnover in membership. Community-based Rotaract Clubs struggle less with that issue. Colleen showed some photos of Rotaractors active in Rotaract clubs in various locations:

The Diplomat: Consulate Teneral, Republic of Lithuania - Egle Lauzonyte, 27, President of Rotaract, Chicago, Illinois
The Deal Maker: Investment Banker - Michael Stone, 30, Rotaract, Birmingham Alabama
The Transformer: Economist - Nichole Haynes, 23, Rotaract, Georgetown Central, Guyana
The Mediator: Lawyer - Joan Nairuba, 26, Rotaract, Kololo, Uganda

In District 5495, an active Rotaract District Council has been established. As District Chair, Colleen considers herself the District 5495 Rotaract North Star. It is her job to promote Rotaract in the District, oversee new Rotaract club creation in the district and provide support for local Rotaract clubs.

Also on the council is the District Representative, who is a Rotaractor who will guide milestones:

Building bridges from Interact to Rotaract to Rotary
Training for Club Officers
Succession Planning
Hold vote for District service projects
District Newsletter
Connect Rotaract Clubs together and strengthen the link between Rotaract and Rotary
Club Start-Up Kit - Digital Services

Currently, there are eight identified Rotaract Clubs in District 5495:

ASU: 30 members - Dora Le, President
GCU: 10 members - Jodi Corrales, President
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, Prescott Campus: 42 members - DeZsa Dumay, President
Benedictine University: Jovana Kantun Paul, President - need to restart
Flagstaff: Allison Keinz, President - need to restart
Chandler Community: Joseph Caskey, President - need to charter
Phoenix: Colton Cagle, President - need to restart
Phoenix North: club is chartered but no members

Goals are in place to establish community based Rotaract Clubs in the Chandler, Estrella, Gilbert and Yavapai communities.

She has a connection with a local printer and who has helped her develop some marketing materials. CLICK HERE to see them.

Introduction of Guest

Diane Ware was introduced by Colleen Coons

Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint

After explaining that the holder of the raffle ticket drawn would automatically win $45 plus a chance to draw the Ace of Clubs (which we believe we are) in an attempt to win the large pot of $1,030, Chuck asked Chris Krueger to draw the winning ticket. Seasonal visiting Rotarian, Penny May was the winner of the small pot of $45. Her attempt to draw the Ace of Clubs was unsuccessful. She drew the Eight of Clubs.

Happy Bucks - Penny May

Dick Myren contributed $2 thankful that he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are lucky enough to be in the Ace of Clubs.
Ted Williams was reminded of serving several years ago on a Rotary International Rotaract Task Force. He also remembered a Mesa Rotary Sports Day. The Mesa West Rotary team was playing the Rotaract team in a game of baseball. A Rotaract member was on first base and would have been safe if he had stopped at second, but decided to try for third. Ted was in a position to throw the ball to the third baseman and get him out. Instead, the ball hit the Rotaract runner in the side of his head, shattering his glasses. December 13, 2021 marked Ted's 48th anniversary as a member of Mesa West Rotary. He missed the December 16 meeting because he was recovering from knee surgery. He celebrated his 76th birthday last week with two titanium knees. He pledged $100 - $76 for the Club Foundation and $24 for the club.
John Pennypacker contributed. He had spent part of his morning in a dental chair. When the dental assistant complimented him saying "You're really doing well," Ron Thompson said, "Thank you!" John did compliment Dr. Ron saying, "He works magic with a needle."
Jim McGown contributed. He had some advise for his male Rotary friends. "When your wife asks if you have any money, just rummage in your pockets for a bit, show her your empty hands, and shrug as if to say 'Sorry.'"
Darl Andersen wanted to honor Ted Williams as the most senior member of Mesa West Rotary, and in doing so wanted to let the members know that Ted had been made the all state baseball team from 1964-70.
Ron Thompson contributed in appreciation of the compliment he received. (Not clear which compliment - one from Ron's assistant John had mentioned or his wizardry with a needle.)
Colleen Coons contributed $5 and was clearly happy Dan enabled her to do so.
Allan Cady was happy to be at the meeting.
Polly Cady was also happy to be at the meeting and was very glad to see Diane Ware in attendance at our meeting.
Kayla Mudge has been on her new job for six months now and is happy she can arrange her schedule so she can be more active in our club.
Don LaBarge contributed stating that his employee and our honorary member Rod Daniels is at home recovering from COVID. Rod is being paid because Don has a policy that if his employees are vaccinated, they get paid when they are sick.
Chuck Flint contributed - he is very happy with the savings he enjoyed because of his extended warranty when his engine had to be replaced. He paid $1609 for the warranty. The parts totaled $3,400, and the engine itself cost $4,000, and the labor would be on top of that.
Chris Krueger was happy to have also recently seen her favorite dentist.
Dick Myren contributed a second time remarking that his favorite first lady, Colleen Coons, had attended her second meeting in a row without wearing a hat.
Warren Williamson said that the low tire pressure light had come on in Son Hee's car, so he bought her a new one. It wasn't clear if he purchased a new tire or a new car.
Pam Cohen was thankful to be over COVID and very thankful she had not lost her senses of smell or taste. She expressed her deep appreciation for the chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles Colleen Coons had prepared or her while she was sick.
Joan Reimann was happy to have enjoyed a delightful visit from her sister.
President Dan thanked Penny May for filling in as Sgt at Arms. When he recruited her, he had failed to notice that he had two members present who could have handled the job - Logan Harper and Ron Thompson.
Penny May contributed - She recently hosted a couple of her grandchildren and took them out to the Legacy Sport Complex in Mesa where they saw athletes from fourteen western states competing. She and the grandkids were very impressed with the complex.

Auction - Penny May - Bag of Items from Alaska

After some competitive bidding, Joan Reimann's bid of $45 prevailed. The bag contained several fun items, and Penny was good to help explain what everything represented.

Announcements

President Dan handed the microphone to Allan Cady to announce the kickoff of the 2022 sponsorship campaign to raise funds for the Mesa West Rotary Foundation. We have had successful sponsorship campaigns in the past and have raised over $50,000 the past couple of campaigns. Funds raised this way avoid the cost and work involved in holding fundraising events to raise money for charitable purposes. Allan had placed copies of the brochure on each of the tables. CLICK HERE to view a pdf copy of the brochure. The first order of business will be for members to go back to those who have responded to them in the past. Members have been placed on one of the six teams to add a little competitive spirit to the campaign. The captains of the teams are: Chuck Flint, Kayla Mudge, Steve Ross, Jim Crutcher, Tim Troy, and Ed Koeneman.
There was an announcement from Zoom participant, Jack Rosenberg. Jack wanted to pledge $25 Happy $ for the homemade chicken noodle soup Colleen had delivered to him when he had COVID. He said she was a lifesaver!
Lola McClane was invited to the front of the room by Polly Cady. Polly presented Lola with her Rotary Leadership Institute graduation certificate and pin. RLI is a training program for Rotarians to learn about Rotary beyond the club and district level. It is held in three separate sessions. Lola has completed all three. The next RLI will be held virtually on Saturday, January 29. All three sessions will be held simultaneously on that date. If you are interested in attending EMAIL POLLY CADY for more information.
Shelly Romine reminded members we would be collecting disposable masks at each meeting during January. They will be delivered to New Leaf. Wednesday, January 19, emergency food boxes will be packed by Mesa West Rotarians at the United Food Bank. For more information see a separate article in the Messenger. Dan added that Rotarians are people of action and Shelly has been keeping our club active.
The final outcome of the successful Mesa West Rotary bell-ringing campaign to raise funds for the Salvation Army was $6,032.00 from Rotarians and friends of Rotarians who wrote checks plus what was collected in happy bucks at our December Meetings. In addition, $19,465.62 was collected from our kettle station at Bass Pro for a total of $25,497.62 - an all-tine-record. We surpassed our own all-time record made in 2020 when we collected $22,300.
Sean Green announced he is working with DGE Larry Horton on a campaign where Rotary is partnering with the State 48 organization to sell T-Shirts for $20 each. Proceeds from the sale of the shirts will benefit The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. Watch for more news in the future on this.

Highlights of January 6 2022 Meeting

Welcome - President Dan Coons

President Dan opened the meeting by introducing himself then reciting the Rotary International 2021-22 theme - Serve to Change Lives. He then reminded everyone of the Rotary Vision Statement:

Together we see a world where people unite and

take action to create lasting change -

across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves

Ray Smith offered the invocation. Jim McGown led the Pledge of Allegiance. Since it was the first time Mesa West Rotarians had been together since December 16, President Dan asked Ray Smith to lead everyone in singing Auld Lan Syne to celebrate the new year.

Rotary Minute - Jack Rosenberg

In the early '90's, Jack Rosenberg would dress up as Jellybean the Clown and visit children in hospitals and cheer them by making ballon animals and having fun with them. His Rotary Friends Bill Farretta and John Ore were delivering clothing, medical supplies, and food to refugees from the Bosnia-Croatia War and invited Jack to go along with them so Jellybean could cheer the impacted children. Years later, Jack was sitting at the counter in a diner and was talking with someone about that experience. A young man named Goran overheard the conversation as he was working behind the counter. After asking a couple of questions to make sure he was remembering right, he told Jack that he had been one of those refugee children. One of the questions was "did Jellybean have a top hat? He had been five years old and remembered sitting on a curb when Mr. Jellybean came by and gave him his first piece of chocolate.

Jack told about that chance meeting at Rotary which inspired Bill and John to make a trip to the diner with Jack so they could also again cross paths with Goran.

Jellybean's top hat has since been bronzed and we see it weekly at our meetings collecting happy bucks and holding raffle tickets. It's not often that we have the opportunity to know how something we did touched someone else. That chance meeting was a precious moment for Jack. He and Goran are still Facebook friends.

Presidential Humor - Dan Coons

A man went into a pet store to buy a pet, but didn't want an ordinary pet like a cat, dog, or bird. He wanted something different. The pet store owner talked him into buying a talking centipede.

After getting home with the centipede, he opened the box the centipede was in and asked it if it wanted to go to the pub for a few drinks. The centipede didn't answer. The owner figured it was worn out from all the changes in its life and gave it some time.

After waiting an hour, he asked again. The centipede still said nothing. The owner was beginning to get a bit suspicious and decided if he waited another hour and still no response he'd take it back to the pet store and get a refund.

An hour later, he opened the box and asked again. The centipede said "I heard you the first time!!! I'm putting my shoes on!"

Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint

Chuck announced that the holder of the winning ticket would win $45 and a chance to draw the Ace of Clubs from the deck of cards. Should the ticket holder be that lucky, they would win $990. If they don't draw the Ace of Clubs. The big pot will be over $1,000 at the January 13 meeting. When the big pot is over $1,000, the raffle is only open to Mesa West Rotary Club members. Chuck asked Don LaBarge to draw the winning ticket. Don drew Chuck's ticket. Don shuffled the cards and gave them to Chuck to again shuffle them face down. The card Chuck drew was the Five of Spades.

Happy Bucks - Greg Okonowski

Jim McGown contributed hoping to get some clarification on the validity of a statement he'd heard recently that VENMO would be reporting amounts of money transferred through them to the IRS. Someone mentioned that their landscaper might be able to answer that question.
Chuck Flint said that his 2018 Ford Fusion was "throwing codes" and was told he needed a "long block." Translated to language most would understand, he needed a new engine. The good news was that he had purchased the extended warranty and the new engine was covered.
Don LaBarge said he had purchased the last commercial truck under $80,000 from Larry Miller Ford. He was also happy to have had a smooth experience getting his COVID booster at the VA.
John Pennypacker was happy to have avoided being kept in Virginia longer than planned by snow.
Warren Williamson contributed to honor the late Betty White with his favorite of her many quotes: "Every woman should get eight hours of beauty rest each night - nine if they are ugly."
Ron Thompson pledged $100 toward his Paul Harris Fellow
Greg contributed - he was happy to be back after missing Mesa West meetings in December.
Bob Zarling contributed for the opportunity to point out the cards on the table about the Gilbert Historical Society's Night at the Museum to be held February 19. CLICK HERE to see the contents of the card in case you forgot to take it home or weren't in person at the meeting. Bob said a Mesa West Member is one of the sponsors. An upcoming Mesa West program will be about the Gilbert Museum.
Steve Ross contributed $25 for his birthday. After turning 75 on January 10th, he feels it's probably time he admits to himself he is no longer "upper middle-aged."
Robin Harris made a pledge to celebrate his sweet wife Debbie's birthday.
Colleen Coons - after retrieving $10 from President Dan - contributed it to celebrate the opportunity to go to Havasupai Falls on three Youth Exchange trips organized by Chuck Flint. After hearing the Havasupai Falls expeditions have been closed due to COVID she wanted to celebrate her good fortune. She also wanted the let everyoe know Ed Koeneman is a rock star. Now that she's retired, Ed has become her "computer help desk."
Frank Rosenberg contributed because he recently sold 2/3 of his interest in his airplane. The good news is he gets to keep flying and when repairs are needed, he only has to come up with 1/3 of their cost.
Allan Cady contributed because he is on the board of directors for The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. With a recent donation from the Mesa West Rotary Foundation of $5,000 and the generosity of several Mesa West members, our club is currently the top giving club in the state, with a current total of $11,725 so far this fiscal year (since July 1, 2021). He asked for the opportunity to pose with President Dan and TRVFA President Jeanie Morgan for a celebratory photograph.
Polly Cady contributed. She was celebrating the fact that they are again a two-car family. She is very happy for the restored ability to do what she needs to do when she needs to do it. She is very happy to be a member of Mesa West Rotary Club.
Jeanie Morgan pledged $20. After sending dues notices January 3, nearly half of our Mesa West members had already paid their invoices.
Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 for himself and Rod Daniels both being happy to be associated with Mesa West. He contributed more lamenting the fact that he and Sandy had recently decided to sell their '94 Audi Convertible - a heart rending decision for him. They sold it to their landscaper for cash.

Announcements

President Dan celebrated that he was half finished with his term as club president. When he had mentioned that to Ed Koeneman, Ed wondered if he anticipated having to serve a third year as President since he has now been Club President for a year-and-a-half. Dan wanted to make sure everyone knew he would be finished in that role June 30.
Don LaBarge announced that the final total raised by Mesa West Rotary at the kettle located at Bass Pro as well as the Happy Bucks collected in December at Mesa West Rotary Club meetings was $25,497.62 - a new all-time record, surpassing our 2020 all-time high of $22,300.
Ray Smith announced that Jeane Crouse was out of the hospital and back at the rehab center. She was very weak and did not have her phone.
Shelly Romine reminded members there are two service projects in January. At all January meetings, we will be collecting masks at meetings which will be given to New Leaf. At this meeting two banana boxes of masks and sanitizer were donated from Salvation Army. We will have a hands-on project packing emergency food bags at United Food Bank on January 19. See a separate article in the Messenger to sign up.
Logan Harper has been communicating with Diana Tracy about how Mesa West can help provide furnishings needed for Afghan refugees. He said she will be at our meeting January 13. Diana Tracy and Mike Flores from the Gilbert Rotary Club are working with the International Rescue Mission locally to coordinate help from their own club and other Rotary Clubs, including ours, to provide comfortably furnished homes for Afghan refugee families coming to the east valley. We will be hearing more about this.

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