Welcome and Opening of Meeting - President Colleen Coons
President Colleen mentioned that February 1 would have been her father's 101st birthday. She then recited the Rotary International Vision Statemen, theme for the year,, and our Mesa West Rotary Club's North Star:
- Shelly Romine was prepared to share a thought for the day, but found herself very emotional because her sister had passed away since we last met. Ted Williams came to Shelly's rescue and offered the invocation.
- Warren Williamson led the Pledge of Allegiance.
- President Colleen thanked Shelly, Ted, and Warren, then thanked the following:
- Steve Ross for serving as Greeter
- Dick Myren for selling raffle tickets
- Diane Ware for handling check-in
- John Pennypacker for setting up the room
- Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
- Ed Koeneman for being her Chief Technology Officer
Introduction of Guests
- Penny May was visiting from Anchorage, Alaska. In Arizona, the temperatures have been 62° to 68°. In Anchorage the high temperature for the day was expected to be -14° fahrenheit. They have had record cold weather. They'd had 104* of snow - "damn near 9'!
- Harry Short was happy to now have an official Visiting Rotarian Badge to wear at our meetings
- Harry Grossman was a third official Visiting Rotarian.
- Don LaBarge introduced Elizabeth "Lizzy" Barron from ASU. She is trying to find a Rotary Club to join in Arizona. She was intrigued that our club has an ongoing project in Guaymas Mexico as she has family living there.
- Eric Silverberg and Justin Failner are now members. Liz Paulus and Andy Bradford both have membership applications in progress.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Dick Myren
Dick explained that the winner of the drawing would receive $30 and a chance to try to draw the Ace of Clubs which would entitle them to the larger, accumulating, pot which was up to $201. He asked Penny May to draw the winning ticket, the stub of which was held by John Pennypacker. After John verified the Ace of Clubs was in the deck, he shuffled the cards face-down and drew. The card he drew was the Three of Clubs.
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms Ron Thompson
Paul Harris Recognition for Support of The Rotary Foundation
John Pennypacker invited Machel Considine to come forward to be recognized. He presented her with a Paul Harris Plus Two recognition pin for her generous support of The Rotary Foundation.
Announcements
- February 16 Paz de Cristo service project - if you have not already signed up, see separate article in this newsletter.
- March 14 joint club event - Cubs Spring Training Game at Sloan Park. There are limited tickets available - have you reserved yours?
- The January 31 food packing event at United Food Bank was a ton of fun. In just 45 minutes, 1200 bags were packed.
- Bob Jensen, who was attending on Zoom was introduced to Lizzy. She has family in Guaymas Mexico where Bob has coordinated his ongoing Gift of Hearing project
Program - Maria Laughner - Mesa Economic Development Update
CLICK HERE or on the image to download the slide presentation used for this portion of the meeting.
Your editor begs your forgiveness, but technology has not been my friend while trying to write about this presentation, so (after three failed attempts) am "going to press" without finishing a proper write-up.