Opening and Welcome to Meeting - President-Elect Jay Paulus
Jay shared a preview of the 2024-25 Rotary Theme - The Magic of Rotary. He said DG to be, Michelle Holcomb has a sub-theme - Rotary Means Business. He shared an adage - Change the life of one individual and you will change the world.
- Warren Williamson led the Pledge of Allegiance,
- Shawn Buntin offered the invocation
- John Pennypacker led everyone in singing the Rotary Four-Way Test. He was embarrassed when, at his first official visit as District Governor, he was asked to lead the 4-Way Test, and his mind went blank. He found that it was easier to memorize if he sang it.
Introduction of Guests
- Pai Bethea is a member, but is rarely in town and available to attend our meetings.
- Warren Williamson introduced his guest, Bhargav Bala Babu from India. Bhargav is in the ASU Rotaract Club and was in Rotaract in India before coming to the USA to study. He is in need of an internship in mechanical engineering this summer.
- Polly Cady introduced Carla Malcolm-Rowe, a member of the Gilbert Rotary Club who was Olivia's former host mom.
- John Bunyard was attending as the guest of his wife, Connie Bunyard. John was a huge help in preparing the pool deck at the YMCA for our Rotary Week of Service project. Having the surface as clean as possible should enable the new finish our volunteers installed hold up much better.
- Attending via Zoom were Bob Jensen, Machelle Considine, and Lizzy Barron.
Paul Harris Giving RecognitionJ. Daryl "Pai" Bethea was invited to come forward by Foundation Chair John Pennypacker. Pai said he joined Rotary in 1972. He said his wife loves to travel so they do a lot of that. He said they would be in London the following week.
The nickname "Pai" was given to him when he was in Brazil. It means "Daddy." He liked that term of endearment better than one meaning Grandpa.
Pai was presented with his Paul Harris Plus 2 recognition pin.
New Member Induction - Polly Cady
Harry Grossman was introduced by his sponsor, Pam Cohen. When Harry first joined Rotary in 2010, he joined the Sedona Rotary Club. A few years ago, some members of that club, along with Harry, spun off to form the Sedona Village Rotary Club. His kids want him to live down here in the Phoenix metro area. He will continue to engage with the Sedona Village Club but "no heavy lifting." Harry said Mesa West is the largest metro club he's been a part of, and said "Not everything different is better, but everything better is different."
Harry earned his Bachelor's Degree at the University of Miami in 1961. He earned a Master's of Business at Bradley University in Peoria, IL in 1966. He did post-graduate studies at the University of Illinois in Springfield, and served on the faculty of Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois from 1967 to 2004. He was a commissioned officer in the U. S. Army Quartermaster Corps from 1962-1964.
Harry's favorite hobby is model trains. His first exposure was in Mesa at Roy's Train World. His email address introduces new acquaintances to his fun personality, "thelittlegiantaz@gmail.com."
Pam met Harry in Sedona and when she learned he had a second home in Scottsdale, invited him to visit Mesa West. He has been a regular visitor since they met.
Polly then formalized the induction with the Rotary Vision Statement, the Motto and Object of Rotary, and Pam officially pinned Harry and presented him with his new Mesa West Rotary Club membership badge, allowing him to keep his permanent visitor badge to wear when he visits Sedona Village. Harry was welcomed into the club with a standing ovation of those who were present.
Sgt at Arms - Happy Bucks - Ron Thompson mentoring Andy Bradford
The first lesson was - you make sure the raffle happens first so there is at least one person to target...
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
The raffle ticket drawn was held by Pam Cohen. Since she had won the raffle the prior week, she gave her stub to our exchange student, Olivia. Chuck explained that Olivia was automatically the winner of $30. She would have the opportunity to draw a card from those remaining in the deck. Should she draw a joker, she would win an additional $20. Should she be lucky enough to draw the Ace of Clubs, she would win the accumulating large pot of $556. After shuffling the cards face down, the card Olivia selected was the Nine of Clubs.
Sgt At Arms - Continued - saying they do not target children...
- Dick Myren contributed. He was glad to be back after missing the prior week. He contributed his traditional $2 thankful that he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are members of the Best Club - the Ace of Clubs.
- Jack Rosenberg contributed. He is very proud of his son Frank's earning his Nurse Practitioners License. He encouraged everyone to join in the celebration at Frank's home Friday evening from 6-10.
- Mike Lutcher was happy to have spent three weeks visiting children and grandchildren in Virginia, New York and Kentucky. He invited anyone who could to take advantage of a free lunch at the Salvation Army in Mesa Friday, May 17 at 11:30 AM. He contributed $10 to cover Olivia's share of happy bucks.
- Harry Short was celebrating some of his grandchildren's scholastic achievements.
- Chuck Flint asked to be billed $100 for the sponsor program to celebrate his new age - 3.95 score. Often his birthday happens during the District Conference. He barely avoided that this year.
- Jim Schmidt asked to be billed $10. His oldest grandson graduated from college in Boulder. Jim announced he would be leaving Sunday to attend the Rotary International Convention in Singapore.
- Polly Cady was happy to announce seven Mesa West Members would be attending Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) Saturday. She was also happy that Olivia would be going on the Youth Exchange train trip in June and that she would graduate - and get to walk with her class - Thursday, May 23.
- Allan Cady said he had ways of knowing Chuck's age to be 79. He added that Harry Grossman is a giant - he is nearly the same height as Polly!
- Ron Thompson contributed, complimenting Andy on the great job he was doing as Sgt at Arms in Training.
- Don Boucher celebrated National Police Week. Three of our members are former police officers - himself, Don LaBarge, and Jim McGown. "To the Boys and Girls in Blue - We thank you!"
- Lu General explained that the reason she looked the way she did was because she proved her head is softer than a granite slab. Her encounter with the slab resulted in seven stitches. With regard to Rotary Service, she encouraged members to "do what you like, and do it well." She urged people to serve beyond our own club. She is currently serving as District Treasurer. She complimented Kayla Mudge who is involved with the Interact Crutches 4 Africa program and has brought the program out of the dregs - they are keeping their bills covered. Donna Goetzenberger, another of our members has served the past several years as the District Youth Exchange Chair.
- Harry Grossman contributed but was told he'd already had his share of mic time.
- Warren Williamson contributed to explain why we can be assured God has a sense of humor. God's message was that a man could find a good and obedient wife in any corner of the earth, then made the earth round.
- Auction to benefit Sponsor Program - John Pennypacker. John held up a Rotary shirt from the District Conference and said he had a bag of goodies to go with it. Ron Thompson started the bidding at $25. Kayla Mudge's top bid of $50 made her the lucky winner.
- Pam Cohen contributed. She had a contact list of Chuck's mutual friends that she kept informed through all Chuck's medical challenges over the past several months. She helped them arrange a surprise birthday lunch for Chuck. The friends came through Rotary connections.
- Pai Bethea contributed thanking Jeanie for reminding him to do his part in supporting Rotary charities.
- Jay Paulus thanked Jeanie and Pam for helping him work on budgets for the 2024-25 year.
- Andy Bradford contributed announcing that they were having a blood drive in his neighborhood in memory of their daughter they lost to leukemia. Before she passed, she had 113 blood transfusions in six months. He and his wife organized the blood drive - Pints for Goose - May 19 from 1-5 in front of their house. (They called their daughter "Lucy Goosey.") They still had 20 spots available. Many of their friends and neighbors have developed a habit of donating blood
- Frank Rosenberg reminded members they were invited Friday evening to help him celebrate and shared his address.
Announcements
- May 30 - no in-person meeting at the hotel. Instead there will be an opportunity to preview virtual technology at the Mesa Public Library. Harry Grossman asked if lunch would be provided. Pam Cohen made an executive decision and said box lunches would be provided.
- Connie Bunyard announced there would be a Casino Night fundraiser June 29 to benefit the House of Refuge. She thought some members might be interested in supporting the event.
Program - Rick Mucci - Metabolic Syndrome XPam Cohen introduced our speaker. He is also a Rotarian from the Verrado Rotary Club near Buckeye. She said Rick is a year younger than Chuck. He attended medical college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He married in 1969 and worked as a general, vascular thoracic surgeon in California. After losing his first wife, Rick remarried in 2004.
The information Rick shared about Metabolic Syndrome X was very detailed. CLICK HERE to see the informative slides he used during his presentation.