Highlights of May 5 Meeting

Opening of Meeting - President Dan Coons
 
President Dan opened the meeting by thanking John Benedict and Steve Ross for serving as greeter.  He thanked the members for the gift of being able to serve as Club President  He then reminded Rotarians and guests of the Rotary International 2021-22 theme - Serve to Change Lives - after which he recited 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.
 
 
Invocation and Pledge
 
 
Rotary Minute - President Dan Coons
 
Dan talked about the opportunities he has enjoyed because of his involvement with Rotary.  His newest opportunity is one he will get to share with Colleen.  Crutches for Africa is an organization that supplies mobility devices to people in need in Africa.  Gently used devices are collected, stored, and eventually loaded into shipping containers then shipped to Rotary Clubs in Africa where they are distributed.  Our local Interact District is in charge of a program where six Interact Ambassadors are accompanied by adult sponsors and advisors.  This year two Rotarians (Dan and Colleen) will be going with two teachers.  When presented with the opportunity during which they will be home-hosted by local Rotarians, and participate in Rotary projects while in Africa, they said, "Yes!"  
 
Introduction of Guest
 
 
Don LaBarge introduced his sister Karen Brooks.  After visiting and helping Don for nearly a month, Karen was going to be leaving May 6 to visit their brother.
 
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
 
 
Chuck explained that the holder of the winning ticket would automatically win $55 plus the opportunity to try to win an additional $395 by drawing the Ace of Clubs (which we believe we are) from the deck.  He asked Karen Brooks to draw the winning ticket.  Darl Andersen was once again the holder of the ticket drawn.  The odds were in his favor since he had told Chuck to keep his winnings the prior week and use that money to purchase 10 tickets at the May 5 meeting.  After shuffling the cards himself, he asked Chuck to draw for him.  The card Chuck drew was the 2 of Diamonds.
 
Happy Bucks - Greg Okonowski
 
  • Pam Cohen contributed because her daughter had a case of extreme vertigo, causing Pam to drive to Flagstaff to take care of her grandson, Wilder, which always makes her happy.
  • Warren Williamson lost his wallet the prior Saturday causing him to make several phone calls and on-line reports of missing identification and credit and debit cards.  On Sunday, he found his wallet.  This reminded him of a story about a man whose wallet had been stolen, but he had not reported the missing credit cards because the thief was spending less money than his wife.
  • Dick Myren contributed his usual $2 - $1 each for he and honorary member Rod Daniels for the privilege of being associated with Mesa West Rotary.
  • Jim McGown contributed for the privilege of educating members about a way to have shorter waits at flashing yellow left turn signals in Mesa.  The arrow will turn green if the sensor believes there are three cars in line.  If only one car ahead of you, don't pull up to it - leave a car-length between your car and theirs.
  • Frank Rosenberg was happy to report that their daughter Sammy now has her drivers license and to date has not been involved in an accident.
  • Dave Brauchler contributed.  He was happy they were able to celebrate their granddaughter Abigail's 2nd birthday with her.  Their gift to her was an American Girl doll.  The thing he was obviously very proud of was that Lynn had used her skills as a seamstress to make matching dresses for Abigail and her new doll.
  • Colleen Coons said to bill Dan $5.  At a recent Crutches for Africa orientation meeting she learned that the ambassadors would be sleeping in tents on their trip to the wildlife refuge where lions roam about freely.  There would be watchmen staying awake and keeping the camp safe.  She wasn't sure she felt like that was an opportunity but felt better when she learned the adults would not be sleeping in tents.
  • Chuck Flint contributed because he had enjoyed the green bean casserole in the lunch buffet.  He had not been introduced to that delicious dish until Thanksgiving a few years ago, and it immediately became a favorite.
  • Darl Andersen contributed $50 of his raffle winnings to his sponsor campaign team's effort, and left $5 so he could have a raffle ticket on May 12.
Auction - Colleen Coons
 
 
Colleen had two bags containing articles purchased on her recent trip to Illinois.  The bidding was pretty competitive, but several noticed it would have been more-so if Chris Krueger hadn't moved to Nebraska.  Ron Thompson's bid of $45 made him the proud new owner of two very nice drink containers.
 
Announcements
 
 
  • President Dan reminded members that it wasn't too late to register for the District Conference.
  • Ed Koeneman announced that the Zoom mentoring event for Interact members would be scheduled for 5:30 PM Tuesday, May  10.  He thanked the members who had volunteered to participate.
  • Dan announced that in the 2022-23 school year, our club would be hosting a Rotary Youth Exchange Student from France.  The student will be attending Campo Verde High School in Gilbert. Collen and Dan will be the first host family.  Ideally, there should be three different host families, so a couple more families who are willing to be hosts are needed.
 
Program - Steve Hewitt - Majestic Theaters
 
 
Pam Cohen introduced the speaker, Steve Hewitt as the director of experiences for Majestic Theaters, working to form partnerships to benefit the community.  
 
Steve had an interesting and varied background.  In the 90's, he was a golf professional in California.  He is a former member and past president of Chandler Horizon Rotary Club.  He was selected as Chandler Man of the Year in 2021.  He enjoys coaching his children's sports teams. 
 
Before joining Majestic, Steve was with the Chandler Unified School District.  His job was fun when he was in charge of community relations, but when COVID created lots of changes, his responsibility shifted to transportation, which was not nearly as much fun.  He is very enthusiastic about his position with Majestic.
 
Majestic evolved when the Alamo Drafthouse cinemas were bankrupt and needed to be rebranded.  COVID was very hard on the movie entertainment business.   New production was stopped, paused or put on the shelf.  Steve was glad to be involved with that transformation.  The Majestic theaters have full kitchens.  Their meal and bar service to the seats makes a movie night at Majestic a very special experience.
 
In each Majestic venue, there are seven to nine theaters.  They can host corporate events.  Steve shared several short video clips of a variety of events held at their theaters.  To view those clips, click on any or all of these links:
  1. https://youtu.be/xwjunQjxOQc   You're Invited
  2. https://youtu.be/gIsoMEnRT64  Deandre 1
  3. https://youtu.be/zfv7PSMrMcg   Kurt visits- Crystal
  4. https://youtu.be/qHwgSEJw9dY   -Feasts and Dinners
CLICK HERE or on the image at the top of this article to visit the Majestic Theaters website
 
Might be a fun 5th Thursday event sometime in our future...