Aubrey Luma had the winning raffle ticket. The small pot was around $40.00 and the large pot was $1,508.00. Sadly, Aubrey did not choose the ace of clubs so there will be a chance for a big winner at this coming meeting!
Chuck Flint reported on EREY and said that there are only nine people who have not responded to his latest email urging everyone to donate at least $25 to the Foundation before June 30, 2018.
Happy Bucks: See Jack Rosenberg’s Jelly Bean story and a photo in a separate article. Chris Krueger had $5 happy bucks because Ron Thompson gave her a new crown and she had NO pain! There were several happy bucks for just being at Rotary. Pam’s happy bucks were for spending a day with her daughter, Alex, in Flagstaff.
Announcements:
- Allan reminded everyone that the club will be dark (no regular meeting) June 14th and July 5th.
- He also reminded everyone that the Changing of the Guard or Installation Dinner is June 16th at Don and Chris La Barge’s home. There were comments on how cool it will be due to Don’s misting system.
- Takuma, our inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student from Japan, is going on a train trip with other RYE students from other Districts. He leaves in two weeks and will travel through the U.S. He is staying with Dan and Colleen Coons and Dan was overheard saying that they were all going to the Grand Canyon for a hike during the coming weekend!
President Allan exchanged flags with Takuma. When they posed for photos, Allan asked Takuma to "stand tall," so Takuma stood on his tip toes for one photo, then Takuma asked Allan to "stand short," and Allan obliged by crouching for a second photo.
Dan Coons introduced the speaker, Joachim “Jay” Mattisson from the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce. Jay was asked how he got to Arizona and he said it was through marriage. Jay has a background in Governmental Affairs and business/innovation, holding positions as Information Officer at Jonkoping University and Swedish Board of Agriculture, as well as running an boutique international investment company.
As President of SACC, Jay actively interacts with the burgeoning international business community in Phoenix and Arizona, finding opportunities for cooperation and mutual support that benefits both Arizona and Sweden. Currently Jay is involved with EventKey, an early-stage startup in the tech sector, as founder, director and mentor.
Some of the highlights of Jay’s talk:
- Sweden has had a trade relationship with the U.S. since the 1700’s.
- Their relationship with Arizona began in 1996, 21 years ago.
- Sweden provides 6,741 jobs in Arizona and one million in the U.S.
- The population of Sweden is just a little over 10 million.
- It is a very green and clean country.
- They are the second “happiest” country in the world. (The Netherlands are first.)
Jay talked about Sweden's history of trade around the world with Germany being the country they trade with the most. He had many questions from the Mesa West members regarding their healthcare system, their work week (he mentioned that Sweden has a normal 4-week paid vacation and sometimes longer), their school system, their taxes, wages, etc. Jay did say that their average income is much less than it is here in the U.S. He showed a tax graph that was a little outdated but it showed the U.S. as having the highest tax rate, with Japan very close to the U.S. Sweden was in the lower middle of the graph. Their taxes are included in the bottom line cost of everything purchased. Their taxes pay for schooling, healthcare and infrastructure. He also mentioned that there are few homeless and for those that are homeless, it is normally due to mental illness. If a person loses their job, for whatever reason, that person is given a stipend to live on while looking for a new job. The longer the person takes to find a job, the less money he/she receives. Jay said it is not a situation in Sweden where people want to stay at home and live off the stipend. They all want jobs and don’t even think the other way.
Jay talked about Swedish films that are shown routinely in downtown Phoenix. He also said to find to find other Swedish events you can go to their website: www.saccarizona.org.
