President-Elect Connie Bunyard opened the meeting, Jim Erickson led the Pledge of Allegiance, and Captain John Birks gave a Thought of the Day/an Invocation. The speaker today was US Representative Greg Stanton.
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He spoke about his time as Mayor of Phoenix, which he thoroughly enjoyed. For example, during the Great Recession, he and other leaders around Arizona got together and brainstormed ways for Arizona to branch out from its dependence on real estate. Arizona has since invested in higher education, biosciences, and transportation. This has helped position Arizona to become a leader in semiconductor production in the US. He then talked about current issues such as water rights amongst western states. Representative Stanton works with others in Congress, regardless of their party, to get things done. He then took several questions from club members before he had to head out to his next appointment.
Today’s visitors included Barbara Glenn’s husband, Egor, Blaise Vitale’s wife, Susanne, Victor Japoor from the Tempe South club, Machel Considine’s husband, Tom, Dave and Tara Dakus (Gilbert RC), and Harry Short.
There was no raffle today. Chuck Flint collected Happy Bucks and announcements:
- Captain John Birks was happy that the Salvation Army’s youth programs are growing and announced that they are doing a “ May the Fourth be with you” Star Wars-themed event
- Machel Considine was happy to be here and for our club
- Eric Silverberg was happy to donate to the sponsorship campaign
- Dick Myren was happy to donate for himself, Rod Daniels, and Don LaBarge
- Blaise Vitale was happy to donate
- Liz Paulus was happy that the camera person for Representative Stanton was a graduate of the College Bound program
- Jim McGowen was happy that we had Representative Stanton speak today
- Colleen Coons was happy to donate to the sponsorship program
- John Pennypacker was happy that the club is close to the Rotary Foundation Annual Goal and asked members to consider a donation
- Jeanie Morgan warned people not to open any email invite from her (it is SPAM)
- Harry Short was happy that the ASU Rotaract program was doing well
- Jim Schmidt was happy to donate to the sponsorship program and is happy that an anonymous person in the District is matching donations to the Rotary Foundation
- Harry Grossman paid a self-imposed fine for forgetting to turn his badge in last week
- Pam Cohen was happy that so many people came to the club meeting today
- Melodie Jackson was happy to be here
Next were announcements of upcoming events:
- Ongoing : Sponsorship Program – PLEASE PARTICIPATE by asking people you know to donate or donating yourself
- There are still club committee positions that need to be filled for the next Rotary year
- April 18th is the Gilbert Rotary Club’s annual tea
- Please contact Pam Cohen if you know anyone who can donate to our club’s auction baskets for the District Conference
- May 1-2 - the District Conference. There are volunteer opportunities from 3-5pm on May 1st; Please come to the volunteer event even if you don’t attend the whole conference; non-Rotarians are welcome at the volunteer event too
- In May, we are collecting twin-size bedding for Sleep in Heavenly Peace
Please enjoy these additional pictures from the 2026 Spring Olympics event!
