Prior to the meeting, Steve Ross sold raffle tickets, filling in for Chuck Flint, who was away on a flying adventure. Allan Cady was back from some summer travel involving a wedding and family reunion. Treasurer Diane Ware and President Colleen Coons were both doing a great job of getting their recently acquired responsibilities handled.President Colleen Coons opened the meeting reminding members of
The Rotary International 2023-24 President's Theme:
Create Hope in the World
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
and the Mesa West Rotary Club Motto:
Transforming Communities,
Creating Opportunities,
Impacting Youth
- Invocation was offered by Dick Myren.
- Ray Smith led the Pledge of Allegiance.
- President Colleen thanked John Pennypacker for filling in as greeter. She also thanked Jack Rosenberg for taking on a Club Service task of staying in touch with club members who are unable to attend club meetings.
Introduction of Guests
- John Pennypacker introduced visiting Rotarian from the Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club - Commander Bill Peters.
- Ray Smith introduced his neighbor and friend, Justin Lyons.
- Pam Cohen introduced visiting Rotarian from the Sedona Village Club, Harry Grossman.
- Polly Cady introduced Angelia Mudge-Long, the mother of member Kayla Mudge. Angelia travelled to Arizona from Illinois to care for Kayla's dog while Kayla is traveling with the Interact Ambassadors on their Crutches for Africa mission.
- Polly Cady also introduced Ryan Thomson and asked him to tell members a little bit about himself. He found our club through searching on the internet for ways to give back. He is originally from southern California, and has resided in Montana and Massachusetts, before landing in Arizona. He is in the investment business - now with Edward Jones.
- Member Bob Jensen was attending via Zoom.
Induction of New Member - Machel Considine
Polly Cady briefly introduced Machel Considine as a trnsferring Rotarian - most recently a membery of the Kyrene Rotary Club.. Polly has had cause to interact with Machel many times over the years. Machel was Youth Exchange Chair for District 5500 before the merger with District 5490. She currently serves with Donna Goetzenberger on the District 5495 Youth Exchange Committee, as the Inbound Coordinator. Polly was thrilled when she learned Machel wanted to transfer to Mesa West.
Machel's induction was handled by Pam Cohen. Pam asked Machel to tell the club about herself. Machel's connection with Rotary has been solid nearly all her life. Her father was a Rotarian in Oklahoma. He joined Rotary at age 27. He owned a Flower Shop and eight greenhouses. He was also in the Army Reserve. He wore his Reserve Khaki's to work at the flower shop. To avoid being late or being counted absent - back when that was a really big deal - he would run to Rotary. He lived the motto of "Service Above Self." As a teen, Machel was student of the month and met an inbound exchange student from South Africa who made a great impression on her. She told her dad she wanted to go on an exchange. He told her to go for it because he secretly thought Rotary would turn her down since she was the daughter of a Rotarian. The rules did allow her to be an exchange student. Machel had always admired Jeeps and wanted to have one someday. When she was leaving on her exchange, her dad told her he would get her a jeep if she wouldn't get on that plane. She went anyway and hoped she would get the Jeep when she got home. Rotary Youth Exchange is still a passion for her - after her husband, kids, and grandchildren. She said her exchange opened her eyes about so many things and made her who she is today. She said she was very grateful to have been accepted as a transferring member. She was pinned and given her welcome package.
Pam discovered that President Colleen - though a dues-paying member since June of 2018 - had never been formally inducted into Mesa West Rotary. Pam gave her a certificate and pin to make her membership official before her induction as Club President at the July 20 meeting. Colleen thanked Pam and the membership.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Steve Ross
Steve asked speaker Sommer Knight to draw the winning raffle ticket, which was held by Don LaBarge. Don automatically won the small pot and the right to try to draw the Ace of Clubs which would have made him the winner of the large pot. Unfortunately (for Don) the card he drew was NOT the Ace of Clubs.
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms - Ron Thompson
- Dr. Ron contributed because he enjoyed Machel's introduction of herself.
- Ray Smith contributed. He is happy that his wife has graduated from physical therapy to pool therapy. It's making that happy day seem closer when Ray will no longer need to be her "go to" person doing the things that her broken leg kept her from doing around their home.
- Ted Williams was happy - he and Susan were going to be departing for Vancouver where they would be meeting Mesa West's first youth exchange student and spouse to travel together on a train tour across southern Canada.
- Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 because Mesa West IS the Ace of Clubs.
- John Pennypacker contributed. He kept a diary while on his trip around the world. He is on page 110. He said it was an excellent trip. He has 943 pictures. He is happy to be home. Dr. Ron suggested Program Chair - Jay Stuckey - should get John on the speaker's agenda to tell about his trip.
- Ed Koeneman was happy Machel is in our club. He and Debbie will be enjoying their first experience as a host family for an inbound exchange student. Our club will be hosting two inbound and two outbound students. Five families in the club will be serving as host families this year with one family hosting another club's student.
- Colleen Coons was happy to welcome Machel. Her youngest son had surprised her by getting married July 12. She said it takes a village to put on a party. She was very appreciative that all of Fannie's host families - the Lamborns, Andersens, and Rosenbergs participated in her farewell. There were tearful goodbyes.
- PollyCady shared some sad news. Her sister had passed Friday, July 7. She had had a stroke. For years, she had suffered with breathing problems. She was the mother of two sons and spent 48 years with the love of her life. She is not at peace.
- Allan Cady said it was a bright light in his life to see the deep love Pat had for Polly's sister, Cindy. He made a wise decision to wait until fall to hold her memorial service. He was glad Polly was able to feel peaceful about Cindy's passing.
- Pam Cohen contributed. She thanked Justin for being at our meeting and for being Ray's friend. She was glad Ryan was seriously looking at our club and glad that Machel and Colleen are both officially indicted.
- Harry Grossman was happy to be at our meeting and told everyone they would see lots of him - "So get used to it!"
- Jim Schmidt pledged $10. His brother-in-law retired as a general from the Army. He has been diagnosed with cancer with a life expectancy of a year. Jim has a deep appreciation for those who serve in the military.
- Jack Rosenberg's brother-in-law recently passed away. Jack's sister had passed several months ago, and no memorial service had been conducted. Jack will be handling both memorials.
- Via Zoom, Bob Jensen voiced his appreciation of the 50th Anniversary celebration and the presentation of the bell which was to be delivered to him Tuesday, July 18.
- Angelia Mudge-Long complimented Colleen on her participation in the Ambassador trip to Mexico. She is very thankful for Allan and Polly Cady's friendship and the welcome Kayla has received from Mesa West Rotarians. She said when she was a teen, she made a trip to Austria by herself. She said Kayla was very organized about her preparations for her trip with the Ambassador team to Kenya. Kayla's dog, Jasper, was declared cancer-free during a trip to the vet on July 11. She thanked everyone for their hospitality.
- Bill Peters spoke about the partnership of Law Enforcement with Special Olympics, with Law Enforcement doing major fundraising to support the 21,000 special athletes in Arizona. He said the events are real love fests. The next one will be August 17. He is hoping to collect $500 from several Rotary Club foundations by August 4 to support the event..
- Don LaBarge was happy. When John Pennypacker was recently in Scotland, he met with GSE team members from Scotland who had visited District 5500. They remembered and spoke to John inquiring about Don.
- Don Boucher was happy to be at the meeting.
Program - Sommer Knight and Elena Reid Steinbess - Foster 360
Jay Stuckey introduced our speakers. They are both coordinators with Foster 360. Their goal is to break the cycle of homelessness and adversity that exists for those graduating out of the state's foster-care system. They said that in Arizona, about 900 youth age out of the foster care system each year. It is estimated that 50 of them will be homeless within two years. Psychologically, they are in "fight or flight" mode, which contributes to their likelihood of ending up homeless. There is a great deal of trauma heard at their trauma centers where they can share stories. A third are likely to have been sex-trafficked. 25% end up in the criminal justice system. 71% of the young women are pregnant by age 21. At their center they work to help them reprogram their brains to better be able to cope with the many challenges they are facing.
They remember one young person who went through their program saying "This is the first birthday I feel I deserve to be alive." Their goal is for the individuals they serve to never be homeless again. They try to find homeless youth who are willing to work on themselves. It takes time and space for the nervous system to repair itself.
Each person's plan is individualized. It is not uniform when they will be ready to graduate and move on. Each person's plan needs to be relevant in order for it to work.
What they have learned it that for many, it is assumed they have experienced traumatic brain injury of a physical nature. What our speakers tried to convey is that emotional trauma can look very much the same, but needs to be treated very differently.
Most of their funding comes from grants and donations..