Opening of Meeting and Welcome - President Pam Cohen
 
 
  • Dave Brauchler offered the Invocation.
  • Ray Smith led the Pledge of Allegiance
President Pam thanked Gina Schroeder for filling in for Mike Schroeder who had volunteered to be greeter, but had an out-of-town client come in that needed his assistance.  Diane Ware was also thanked for filling in as Greeter welcoming members who arrived early.
 
Introduction of Guests
 
 
Ed Koeneman introduced Adrian Bomorevez and Josephine Sili who have been selected to be Interact Ambassadors to Mexico to deliver wheelchair parts to a Rotary-connected project where individuals with disabilities repair wheelchairs, earning a living while helping others..  Both of the youth are members of the Westwood High School Interact Club, and both are in their junior year of high school.  They will be travelling to Cuernavaca, Mexico this summer on their mission.  They were at the meeting exchanging cookies for donations.
 
Those attending via Zoom were welcomed to the meeting:  Pai Bethea, Bob Jensen and Debbie Koeneman.
 
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
 
 
Chuck briefly explained the raffle,saying the holder of the winning ticket would win the small pot of $35 as well as the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the remaining cards in the deck.  Should they be so lucky, they would win the large pot which was up to $245.  The other way they might win would be if they drew the Joker which would be worth $20.  He asked Warren Williamson to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Diane Ware.  After shuffling the cards face down, the card she drew was the Six of Hearts.
 
Announcements
 
 
  • Dave Brauchler - Community Service announced he and Don LaBarge had delivered the items donated to the New Life Center by our club members to the Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club meeting March 15.  He said they had a large pile of donated items plus $600-$700 in gift cards.
  • Shelly Romine - Club Service
    • April 8 - Spring Olympics at Koeneman residence.  Ed said there might be a javelina roping contest. - Shelly urged members to sign up (see separate article in March 22 Messengerto follow link and do so)
    • June 29 - 50th Anniversary Celebration - The planning committee has met.  All members play an important part of the success of this event
      • Get photos from 1973 or significant Rotary events and moments in your life to Ed Koeneman.  You can give him an envelope - he will scan them and return them to you!
      • We are soliciting nominations for a non-Rotarian volunteer to be honored at the event
      • We are looking for input into a significant Rotary Club, Event, Project, or ongoing effort that is worthy of People of Action recognition at the event.
  • Colleen Coons asked members to sign up to attend the April 1 dinner to be held at her home.  She volunteered a place to hold the dinner when she learned of a unique need when she travelled to Hermosillo Mexico to visit the Microcredit Project our club is involved with there.  The event is intended to inform Arizona Rotarians about a Rotary project needing support in Hermosillo,  Donations are not required to attend, but will be appreciated from those who are inspired to do so.  Teresa Ruiz-Mendoza, Past President of Club Rotario Hermosillo, Milenio.willl be cooking traditional Mexican food.  Diane Ware has volunteered to be her sous chef.  Several years ago an indigenous tribe relocated to the Hermosillo area to work the fields.  They stayed and had children.  The Hermosillo club became aware that the children's births were not recorded.  Consequently, they were not enrolled in school - they had no birth certificates.  That issue has been remedied.  A school is being built to provide education for the children. The short version of the need is that funds are needed to get the structure to the point that the materials provided by the Mexican government can be locked securely while the balance of construction takes place.  The need for fund to make that happen is pretty immediate.  Tax-deductible donations can be made through GivSum.  The Tempe South Rotary Foundation can also accept tax-deductible donations.  They will manage the disbursement on proof of completion and  receipt(s)  The link to RSVP for the April 1 event is in a separate article in the March 22 Messenger.
  • Pam Cohen reminded members who had taken children's books home to write messages and sign to please return them at the March 23 meeting.  She said several Interact members had taken books home to sign over spring break.  She also announced that Greg Bouslog who was scheduled to present our program had to fly out of town Wednesday evening after getting notified of a death in his family.  Members were seated at tables with their sponsorship drive teammates with the hope they would strategize about raising funds from individuals and entities outside of our club, but money collected at the meeting would again go to the Interact Ambassador programs.
  • Adrian and Josephine where asked to share a little bit about how they got to where they are today in Interact
    • Josephine joined Interact during her Freshman year.  It was the only service club that remained active during COVID.  Huda Muhammed was president.  They met online.  There were projects they could do at home.  Josephine was glad to have something to do.  After they were able to meet at school again, they worked hard to rebuild a strong club.  She was proud of the recognition Westwood HS Interact received at the recent Interact District Conference.  She wanted to be an Ambassador on the Crutches for Africa team partly because she plans to be an anthropology major and thought the experience would provide her with a valuable perspective.
    • Adrian joined Interact during his junior year.  He enjoys the opportunities to participate in service projects. Because the club is "Interactive" he feels he has grown as an individual.  The process of being selected as an Ambassador is competitive in the Interact District.  He is excited to have been selected as an Ambassador to Mexico as he feels that the opportunity to be immersed in another culture and see special needs adults successfully making a contribution will enable him to be more open minded.
  • Jeanie Morgan was aware that some people were feeling like there were feeling confused about money with two specific projects being talked about as well as kicking off a drive to raise funds for our club's charitable foundation.  It had created a "deja vu" feeling for her, reminding her of how she felt when she first heard the Abbot and Costello "Who's on First" routine. For any member who would like to go back in time for a moment - or is too young to know about this comedic classic - CLICK HERE to watch the routine on YouTube.  Jeanie did assure members who put more in the envelopes than they wanted to be used for the Ambassador missions, that she would honor there wishes about how their donation was recorded.
  • Bob Jensen pledged $100 for "that thing" and Pam Cohen contributed $100.
Happy Bucks - Ron Thompson
 
  • Dave Brauchler was happy to be involved with the choir at his church.  They are having a concert on Friday, March 31.  He promised to bring flyers to our next meeting.
  • Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 - happy to report that our Honorary Member, Rod Daniels is doing better.  
  • Warren Williamson contributed to tell about a customer in a Chicago bar who approached another customer saying, "You look like you might be Irish."  #2 responded, "I am."  #1 asked, Have you ever been in Ireland?  #2 responded, "I grew up in central Dublin."  #1 responded, "So did I.  Did you by any chance go to St. Mary's?"  #2 responded, "I did."  #1 said, "So did I.  What year did you graduate?"  #2 said "1964"  #1 responded "So did I!"  About that time a regular customer came in and asked the bartender, "What's new?" The bartender responded, "Not much -The Murphy twins are drunk again."
  • Tom Yuzer contributed - he was happy they were going to have a visit from their granddaughter.
  • Chuck Flint contributed saying he wasn't sure why he was happy - much like a lab who doesn't know why his tail is wagging.
  • Diane Ware was happy to have recently learned that her grandfather was a long-time Rotarian in Pennsylvania.
  • Colleen Coons was happy to report that team #5 (Ron Thompson's team) was doing a nice job accumulating donations in their envelope.
  • Ed Koeneman was happy to have two of his favorite Interactors at the meeting, and very happy about the support the club was showing for their Ambassador opportunities.  Ron thought maybe Ed had a trained pet javelina.
  • Ray Smith was happy to be just 30 days away from April 15.
  • Lola McClane contributed to share a time-appropriate knock/knock joke.  
Knock Knock
Who's There?
Irish
Irish Who?
Irsih you a Happy St. Patrick's Day