Opening and Welcome - President Jay Paulis
 
 
President Jay led the Pledge of Allegiance and Ron Thompson offered the invocation.
 
Visiting Rotarian Wayne Barefoot from the Rotary Club of Easton, Pennsylvania introduced his guest, Natalie Barefoot. who he proudly informed everyone she was a whale expert and well-educated and respected marine biologist.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rotary Means Business - Vocational Service Moments
 
 
Connie Bunyard shared that they have two businesses:
  • Valley Remodeling - 
  • Use My Guy Services - making your honeydo list your honeydone list
Andy Bradford - his real estate business, Be the Good Group, thrives because of referrals of  his satisfied customers.
 
Ron Thompson boosted Frank Rosenberg's new Family Practice - Tempe Primary Care.
 
Pam Cohen told about a stylist who leases from Melodie Jackson in her Salon Suites facility.  The stylist told Pam Melody takes such good care of the facility that there is virtually no turnover.
 
President Jay shared a thought for the day:  It's always best to do the right thing.  Nest best is to do the wrong thing.  The worst wrong thing is to do nothing,
 
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
 
 
Chuck asked Connie Bunyard to draw the winning ticket, which made Frank Rosenberg the winner of the weekly pot of $40.  Frank then shuffled the cards remaining in the deck before attempting to draw the Ace of Clubs which would have made him the winner of the large, accumulating pot, which was up to $645.  The card he drew was the Three of Hearts.
 
Auction
 
 
There were two items to be auctioned.  The first was a bag that was filled by Pam Cohen and Melodie Jackson with memorabilia from their recent ten-day island-hopping cruise.  Knowing the shopping expertise of these two members, the bidding was brisk!  Colleen Coons was made the top bid $80.00.  Lola McClane did a great job of capturing the variety of goodies in the bag as Colleen pulled them out and unwrapped them.
 
The second item was a box of Rose Bowl commemorative cards with a sketch of the 2025 Rose Bowl Rotary Float.  The box was signed by Rotary International President Stephanie Urchick.  Bob Zarling made the top bid of $40.00.
 
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms Andy Bradford
 
  • John Pennypacker was adding onto the California Fire disaster information shared by Gary Whitehill at our January 16 meeting.  John suggested members try to imagine an area starting at  the 60 (next to the Doubletree) north to Westwood High School and east from Alma School to Val Vista drive being destroyed by fire.
  • Connie Bunyard shared that their daughter had been bitten by a Great Dane and was at the ER getting stitches.  She also share the great experience she had enjoyed at RYLA the prior weekend.  She said there is a generation of kids coming along who want goodness in the world.  Being able to experience a weekend where they were exposed to other cultures was eye-opening for many of them.
  • Colleen made a donation telling about a girl who claimed to have zero friends when she left for RYLA.  In four days that number went from zero to ten friends she felt she could call at any time.  At the closing ceremony, the girl said her family was in that room.  She was also confident she could go back to school and make friends there.
  • Shelly Romine said her McKinney Vento student who went to RYLA texted her Monday to thank her for getting to attend RYLA and raving about what an awesome experience it was.  She also shared that her niece who was in San Diego was told there was a fire that was eight miles away, so they left right away.
  • Wayne Barefoot shared that Natalie's sister, his oldest daughter, was operated on January 15, and that was why Natalie was here.
  • Jim McGown told about a year when he was transporting students up the hill to RYLA.  On the way up, one student was skeptical that the weekend would be worthwhile.  On the way back home, he asked the same student if they felt like the weekend had made a difference in their life.  The student said, "I hate to admit it, but it did."
  • Marilyn Klingler said her McKinney Vento student wants to be a Jaycee next year and help with middle-school RYLA next summer.  He said it was the most amazing weekend he'd had.
  • Gaby said she had missed the prior week, she just got married and she has a new last name - Cutlip.
  • Colleen Coons talked about her son being on an evacuation order because of the California fires.
  • Frank Rosenberg contributed for winning the raffle.  He said he and Ron had traded tickets just before the raffle.  He thanked Ron for the free ad about his practice, and was proud of Ron for volunteering as a navigator at the airport.
  • Ray Smith talked about the gift from Idaho Mesa West Rotary has enjoyed since Shelly transferred her membership to our club.  Shelly received a standing ovation from other members who agreed with Ray's assessment.  President Jay asked for anyone interested in filling the Community Service Chair vacancy contact him.
  • Ed Koeneman was happy to have been able to attend Interact in person for the first time in a while.  He said some members would be at the Post-Holiday Celebration and encouraged members to take time to get to know them.
  • Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 happy he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are members of the Ace of Clubs.  He added an additional $7 because he would be graduating from RLI Saturday.  He was proud to still be learning about Rotary at age 88.  He stated he's been a member of Rotary since 1970.
  • Harry Grossman was wearing a heavy hooded Rotary Youth Exchange sweatshirt which his grandson got for him the year the grandson was an exchange student in Sweden.  Harry said that it had finally gotten cold enough in Arizona that he could wear it.
  • Pam Cohen said it was good there was a whale expert in the room because there was a small pod of Jims at one of the tables.
  • Jay Paulus had been in Washington DC for the inauguration.  He was in contact with his son, who is a weatherman, asking him to do something about the weather.  His son said he was not in the business of controlling the weather, but that if he was Jay might not like the weather he would send for the inauguration.
  • Warren Williamson told his Little Johnie whale story.  It seems that Little Johnie was telling his class that according to the Bible, Jonah was swallowed by a whale.  The teacher said that it would be impossible for a whale to swallow anything the size of a man.  Little Johnie said, "I don't care.  It's in the Bible.  When I get to Heaven, I'm going to ask Jonah."  The teacher said, "What if Jonah is not in Heaven?"  Little Johnie responded, "Then, you ask him!"
Announcements
  • February 8 - Girl Power Bed Build
  • February 11 - Decorating help needed for Senior Gala
  • February 12 - Hosting help needed for Senior Gala
  • March 21 - Rotary at the Park - Cubs Spring Training Lunch and Game
  • March 27 - Ignite Innovation  hosted by Mesa West in partnership with ASU
 
 
Eric Silverberg introduced our speaker, Jennifer Armer from Armer Foundation for Kids.
 
After losing their daughter as a result of a brain tumor in 2019, Jennifer struggled with how to make a difference for other families experiencing similar heartache.  When children are going through extreme health problems, they shouldn't have to see the financial stress their illness puts on their parents.  When she talked to her husband about what she hoped to do, he said "It sounds like what you are meant to do."  
 
Since 2019, they have put over $1,000,000 to work helping ease the burdens and filling the gaps for families dealing with children who have extreme health situations.  Click on the photo to go to their website and see faces for several children who have been helped through the foundation.  They partner with Banner and other non profit organizations to make their dollars and their time do the most good.  
 
Jennifer said each story is unique.  They have been known to fly patients to other states or countries for therapy that is not available locally.
 
Social workers at the hospital are aware of what they do and make referrals to them when appropriate.
 
They are a QCO with the State of Arizona, making donations to their foundation a tax-credit opportunity.  
 
There are other ways to help: