Foundation Day at Mesa West Rotary

The February 21 Mesa West Rotary meeting was opened by President Chris Krueger who asked Wendell Jones to offer the Pledge of Allegiance and Dan Coons to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Beth Garrow who is The Major Gifts and Endowments Officer for The Rotary Foundation in Rotary Zone 26, District Governor Jim Erickson, and our District 5495 Foundation Chair, Jim Bissonett were all present for the Mesa West Rotary Foundation Day celebration. 

 

In addition to the visiting Rotary dignitaries were several additional guests including Chris, a financial officer, originally from Trevor City, Michigan, but who has recently opened an office on Stapley in Mesa.  He was hosting an open house at his new office later in the afternoon.  Ray Miller was a visiting Rotarian from Red Deer Alberta Canada.  Lola McClane introduced her sister, Millie Fulton, from St. Louis, Missouri.  Frank Rosenberg introduced his wife, Amanda and daughters, Sammi and Danielle.  Rik Bucy was visiting from the Soldotna Alaska Rotary Club.  Lolita Wiesner introduced Marian Miller from Reed Deer, Alberta.  Dan Coons introduced Erwin and Joan Reiman from Rapid City, South Dakota.  Terry and Penny were visiting from the Gilbert Rotary Club to announce their Team Trivia fundraising competition to be held March 23.  

 

PDG Ted Williams won the attendance drawing which was $10 this week, since after three unsuccessful attempts to draw a winner on Valentine's Day, that $5 prize rolled over to the next week.  Chuck Flint announced that the weekly raffle winnings would be $37 and the large pot would be $537 if the lucky ticket holder were to draw the ace of clubs from the cards remaining in the deck.  Pam Cohen held the ticket drawn, but she drew the two of clubs rather than the ace.

 

John Pennypacker was happy for the special visitors.  They Troys were happy to be at the meeting together looking very tan for some reason.  Most members were not buying that it was from working outside.  Pam was happy to have won the weekly raffle.  Dick Myren contributed $1 to honor his friend Rod Daniels' tradition of being "happy to be a member of Mesa West Rotary."  Ted Williams gave all $10 of his attendance drawing winnings back to the club.  Aubrey Luma was happy to be celebrating both of her boys' birthdays this week - one on the 21st and the other on the 23rd.  Jim Schmidt contributed happy because Steve West was honored as Mesa's Man of the Year for 2018 and his youngest daughter had added the 10th grandson to their growing family.  Dan Coons was happy to be able to lead a team "Team Ribeye" in our Sponsorship program and let members know he can help them with sponsorship brochures if needed.  Bob Zarling was happy he was going to be cheering on the Brewers Saturday in the all you can eat hot dog section.  He contributed $200 to go to Polio Plus, fining himself for leaving his passport at home causing him to miss out on the polio immunization trip to Caborca, Mexico.  Terry Diedrick told Dan Coons that he would be glad to buy a bucket of beans for Dan's team when Terry's team won the sponsorship drive competition.  Chris Krueger and Penny May both remembered their passports.  Chris described the trip and the wonderful hospitality they enjoyed from Rotarians in Caborca.  She also announced that Penny May learned she really likes tequila.  

 

Chris Krueger brought a bag which may or may not contain beverages and nibbles from Caborca to Auction.  John Pennypacker boldly opened the bidding at $40, but when Bob Jensen jumped the bid to $50, he intimidated other likely bidders and took home the prize.

 

Chuck Flint, assisted by John Pennypacker, opened the Foundation Day festivities with some information about The Rotary Foundation.  Chuck explained that TRF enjoys a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, indicating that 91% of revenue is used for programs.  He said that last year over $399,000,000 was spent to do good in the world and that the foundation held 1.127 billion dollars in assets.  Since 1985, the incidence of polio has been reduced by 99.9%.  TRV has participated in the vaccination of 2.5 billion children at an average cost per child of $3.  In 2017, 430 million children were vaccinated.  Polio surveillance is very costly.

 

The first individuals to receive Paul Harris recognition were the Amanda, Danielle and Samantha Rosenberg.  Danielle was happy to share her appreciation for the recognition.  She has a deep appreciation for Rotary, having spent a year in Taiwan as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.  Tim Troy received his Paul Harris plus one recognition and Angie Troy received her first Paul Harris.  Warren Williamson who has been a Rotarian over 27 years, received his Paul Harris plus three recognition.  

 

DG Jim Erickson called Allan Cady to the podium.  Jim presented him with the Presidential Citation certificate earned by Mesa West in 2017-18.  Allan thanked the club for making the recognition possible and pledged a gift of $100 to The Rotary Foundation as a tangible token of his appreciation.  While at the podium, Allan announced that with pledges of $25,000 plus, we still have a long way to go to get to the $40,000 goal in the sponsorship drive.  He indicated that to date over $4,000 has been given to support Aqua Africa. 

 

Jim Bissonett explained that within The Rotary Foundation, there is a nice mechanism to donate.  Rotarians or other donors can set-up auto-pay using a credit or debit card to make donations.  Terry Diedrick is one who has found this mechanism the best way for him to give freely.  With only a little effort on his part to set it up, his donations are made regularly and "painlessly."  Terry was recognized for his Paul Harris plus four and five at this meeting.

 

John Pennypacker was recognized as a major donor plus two.  John sees the money invested in TRF as a "seed for peace."  He hopes others will be inspired to invest their treasure, time and talent to support The Rotary Foundation.

 

Beth Garrow has been a Rotarian since 1989.  She has been privileged to meet people who have a passion to do things for their community and the world.  She reminded Rotarians present that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation still are committed to a 2/1 match of polio donations.  

 

Beth explained that a few months ago she met with John Pennypacker.  He was discussing becoming a Major Donor level 2.  He knew that was within reach and would get there soon.  They also discussed creating a Named Fund.  She provided some literature for him to peruse.  In January, John called Beth to say he and his children had made a joint decision about a Named Fund and wanted to do it to honor his late wife.  An Endowed Testamentary Gift Agreement was drafted.  John signed it, and it was sent to Rotary International for acceptance.  

 

The Betsy Lampl Pennypacker Fund for Water and Sanitation was established based on a whole life insurance policy.  When realized this $25,000 fund will provide approximately $1,000 annually in perpetuity to fund TRF Grants for this area of focus.  It is funds from Legacy Gifts such as this that will support projects like the Navajo Water Global Grant and the Aqua Africa project when established.

 

As John received this recognition, he was given a standing ovation to honor his loving generosity.

 

Greg Okonowski officiated over the induction of Lola McClane into Mesa West Rotary.  Lola's sponsor, Lucinda General participated in the induction.  Lola, now retired, was a court reporter.  She enjoys practicing yoga and is the author of a children's book.  Lola has already been serving Mesa West Rotary, acting as our Greeter for several recent meetings.  She was glad to have her sister, Millie Fulton, present to be a part of this special day in her life.  

 

Spring Olympics will be held Saturday April 27.  The club will be dark on Thursday, April 25.

 

DG Jim Erickson featured this Mesa West meeting in his February 25 video message sent to all Rotarians in the District.  CLICK HERE to see the video.