Opening and Welcome - President Jay Paulus
Erwin Reimann led the Pledge of Allegiance. Dick Myren offered the invocation.
Introduction of Guests
- Our speaker, Paige Kistner, and her service dog, Nellie, were introduced.
- Deb Koeneman introduced visiting Rotarian Blaise Vitale from Wisconsin. Blaise said he would soon be heading back to Wisconsin, but plans to make Mesa West Rotary his Rotary home-away-from-home club when he returns to the valley next year.
- Our newest, but yet-to-be-inducted member, Neil Theobald was introduced.
Auction - Chuck Flint
Connie and John Bunyard had spent the prior weekend in California. At an Italian restaurant, they noticed that some attractively packaged Italian chocolate treats were for sale. They brought one of the attractively wrapped packages to the meeting to be auctioned. The bidding was pretty competitive and active, but no one offered to top John Pennypacker's bid of $75.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
Chuck asked Neil Theobald to draw the winning raffle ticket which was held by Joan Reimann. Chuck delivered the small pot of $35 to her and let her check to be sure the Ace of Club was in the deck so she would have a fair chance of drawing it to win the large pot which was up to $900. Joan looked very thoughtful and deliberate while shuffling the cards, but sadly (for her) the card she drew was the King of Diamonds.
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms - Andy Bradford
- Gaby Cutlip was glad to be back after her schedule kept her from attending some recent meetings.
- Colleen Coons was happy to share that PDG Jim Erickson, who is a 38-year Rotarian with perfect attendance shared that he was glad he signed up to be a McKinney Vento mentor this year. In fact he has already said he would volunteer to be a mentor again next year because he has found the experience so touching. Colleen also put in a plug for the District Conference. She urged members to sign up and enjoy The Magic of Rotary.
- Jim Schmidt contributed $10 sad bucks, saying he had to miss the Cubs game because he was in Cancun with family. He pledged $100 to the sponsor program.
- Joan Reimann contributed happy$ saying Rotary was wonderful and more Rotary is needed.
- Andy Bradford contributed asking members to attend an April 1 initial meeting of those who have shown interest in possibly starting a satellite club. The meeting will take place from 4-5 at The Barrio Brewing Co near Mesa Gateway Airport. He hopes several members will show up and share their Rotary stories.
- John Pennypacker was happy to have something to take to his son's lady Saturday night when they celebrate Jay's 54th birthday. John said he's not old enough to have a 54-year-old son.
- Don LaBarge contributed $5 saying he'd sold his business, building and all. Monday would be his last day. The new owners will take over April 1. Don plans to take a rest - at least a week.
- Jim McGown pledged $100 for Polio Plus. He told about a friend who had recently lost their son. He said the son had an injury that broke his spine as a boy. He finished high school, graduated from Boston College and travelled to Europe before passing. Jim said his limitations for those last several years were very similar to those experienced by polio survivors.
- Harry Grossman wanted everyone to know that Harry Caray was not always with the Chicago Cubs. He spent more time with the St. Louis Cardinals, and several years with the White Sox before joining the Cubs.
- Ed Koeneman was happy Paige and Nellie were at the meeting. He reminded everyone to RSVP and plan to attend the Spring Olympics at the Koeneman hacienda Saturday, April 5.
- Dick Myren made his traditional $2 donation, happy he and Rod Daniels are with the Ace of Clubs. He contributed a bit more to alert members to a scam where someone saying they represent ADOT was promoting a Toll Payment Easy Pass. Since we have no toll roads or bridges in Arizona, it's an obvious hoax.
- President Jay was happy to report the Guaymas Rotarians who had visited Mesa the prior week were treated to breakfast March 22. Mesa Sister Cities were included in the breakfast invitation along with a few club members who are working on getting the recently donated hearing booth down to the school and other ways the two communities can work together to make the wonderful program Bob Jensen started over 30 years ago keep getting better.
- Warren Williamson told about when John Pennypacker was commander at Fort Pickett. John noticed soon after taking over his command that there was always a private standing guard by a bench at the parade field. He asked someone why, and was told that his predecessor had issued a standing order not to let anyone sit on the bench. John reached out to Col. Sackers to find out why. Col Sackers said, "Hasn't that paint dried, yet?"
Paul Harris Recognition - John Pennypacker
John was very pleased to be able to present Jim McGown with his Paul Harris Plus Two recognition pin. With the pledge made during Happy Bucks, Jim obviously is not finished supporting the work done through The Rotary Foundation.
Announcements
Before moving on to the announcements, Jay shared a 1981 quote from Mother Teresa in 1981 -"If we really want to love, if we really want to live, we must love until it hurts." No Rotarian whose motto is Service Above Self, I think, should call himself a Rotarian if he does make time to serve. If we love, we begin to serve. And this is where that beautiful motto begins that the Rotarians have made this year, "Take Time to Serve."
- Jay encouraged members to attend "Ignite Innovation" that evening. The field of entrepreneurs has been narrowed to five. The five will each have a set amount of time to make their presentation. The judges will include Toni Thompson, Jim Schmidt, Kayla Mudge and Neil Theobald. It seems a fitting project for our club to be involved in this year when our district theme is "Rotary Means Business." He said there would be free food, but no alcoholic beverages at the event. With our District Grant, the winning pitch will be granted $5,000 to start their enterprise.
- He reminded everyone of the April 1 meeting to start organizing the Satellite Club.
- Ed Koeneman shared more information about Spring Olympics and encouraged members to RSVP and attend.
- Jay suggested members register to attend the District Conference May 2-3.
- Jeanie Morgan suggested that they also sign up to attend a paddle boat sunset cruise on Saguaro Lake Thursday evening, May 1. The pre-conference event will raise funds to support The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona.
- Exavier King asked members to put Saturday, April 19 from 9-11on their calendar to participate in a food-packing event at Midwest Food Bank for our Rotary Week of Service project. Members were encouraged by Jay to register themselves and other family members to participate. Children are allowed, but they need to be old enough to make a meaningful contribution to the work effort.
Program - Paws for Peers - Paige Kistner
Ed got acquainted with Paige through the Interact dog chew toy project. He said Paige got her bachelor's degree from that other university down in Tucson, but redeemed herself by getting her master's degree at ASU. Paige was a teacher in the Mesa School District for a few years. She is now the Paws and Peers Support Specialist. There are now close to 90 dogs in the district. CLICK HERE or on the photos to download Paige's presentation.
Paige said they've adopted multiple dogs and also raise chickens. She enjoys writing, painting and camping. She thanked the club for the warm welcome. It is the second time she has presented to our club. She said there are a variety of uses for therapy dogs - in homes, hospitals, courtrooms, etc. After school shootings, therapy dogs can be a big support. interacting with animals helps destress by reducing cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
When the Mesa program started, there were five pilot schools. There was no real direction. They were modeled after a New York program. She is very excited about the growth in the program in these few short years. It is the largest school program in the USA. They partner with ASU for research purposes, so they can improve using measured outcome information. She said Nellie is her personal therapy dog. Nellie is a spot hound/greyhound mix (they think). They adopted her when she was sassy, not-well-behaved one-year-old. The training program changed her behavior. She said when she first took Nellie into her classroom, the classroom changed. She was teaching 5th-6th grade, which is a challenging age. She began to enjoy her job so much more. This is common with other teachers in the program.
Paige said of the 87 dogs in the program, 36 are rescues. 51 are in teaching sites. Others are in other positions with their partners working throughout the district.
To be in the program, each dog must be trained and pass specific criteria. There are no breed restrictions. They are in a variety of classroom types. There is six weeks of basic obedience, eight weeks or therapy prep. They have to pass Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) final evaluation. Therapy dogs are trained to be interacted with. They have to support a lot of other people. The curriculum was developed by Yale - listening and being kind counselors.
There is a lot of learning for the humans also. There are strategic staffing models. The dogs do provide a calming presence in the classroom, which helps morale..