- Mike Whalen offered the invocation.,
- Warren Williamson led the Pledge of Allegiance.
- President Colleen thanked
- Jeanie Morgan for handling meeting check-in.
- Chuck Flint for handling sales of raffle tickets
- Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
- Ed Koeneman for handling the technology
- Pam Cohen for handling the technoology the week Ed was away
- John Pennypacker introduced visiting Rotarian Liz Polis of Mesa Rotary Club. Liz is the founder of a 501(c)(3) - College Bound.
- President Colleen introduced Vice Mayor Francisco Heredia, who would be presenting our program, and Lucy Hambright who was attending to assist the Vice Mayor.
- President Colleen also introduced Major Mike Lutcher with the Salvation Army.
- President Colleen acknowledged Bob Jensen and Melody Jackson who were attending via Zoom.
- Harry Grossman again contributed $3 - $1 for each of the Cardinal's wins this season. He made an additional contribution happy for a special treat enjoyed by his grandson who is spending the year in Sweden on Rotary Youth Exchange. His grandson had spent the weekend at the Ict Hotel which is above the Arctic circle. CLICK HERE to visit the Ice Hotel on line.
- Pam Cohen was happy to have gone to Flagstaff to celebrate her birthday, where she was treated to a dinner and a show. Sadly, on Sunday, both her daughter and grandson came down with COVID.
- Deb Koeneman contributed to celebrate their son's 24th birthday.
- Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 - happy that he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs.
- Lu General was happy to remind Mike Whalen that when he was President of Mesa West Rotary in 2004-05 and she was Assistant District Governor, Mike had given out key rings. That was back when she was Lucinda Pine. She doesn't use the name Pine or the title ADG anymore, but she is still using the key ring she received from Mike.
- John Pennypacker contributed - happy our guest was at our meeting.
- Allan Cady contributed $4 happy bucks and $1 sad buck for the outcome of the game Wednesday evening. He and Polly attended the USA Mexico Friendship Conference the prior weekend. He said it was well attended. Nest year the conference will be held near Vera Cruz in Mexico in the city of Xalapa. He said fourteen projects were presented at the conference and seven were fully funded before the end of the conference. He said he was told the remaining seven are also likely to be fully funded. He said it has been his privilege to represent Mesa West at the conference the last few years. It is always a pleasure.
- Polly Cady also contributed for the wonderful conference. Their friend from Mexico - Omar Falcon - stayed with them and left some shoes when he left, which Polly gave to Pam.
- Shelly Romine was happy to have had Suns tickets so they could attend a game, but sad that they lost. She was happy to have been the top bidder on the handbag that was auctioned the prior week and was excited to have already put it to use.
- Ed Koeneman was happy for the fun Youth Exchange Halloween party held out our guest, Liz Polis' home. There were three Barbies at the party. Ed was Ken. Ed was also happy his brother was in town for their son's birthday. He was also happy it is only 777 days until the release of the next Star Wars movie.
- Mike Whalen was happy to announce his 30-year-old son, who was three when Mike joined Rotary, has recently announced Mike will have his first grandchild in April.
- Warren Williamson was reminded of his years spent in Illinois when he learned our guest, Liz Polis was from Chicago. The town Warren was from was much smaller. In fact, it was so small they shared a town drunk with another little town just down the road. In Warren's hometown, Lloyd Butler was known as a person of means who enjoyed some of the finer things in life. One of the things Lloyd owned was a grandfather clock which he had inherited. When the clock stopped working, Lloyd took it to Smitty to be fixed. He wasn't an expert on clocks, but Smitty was known for being able to fix anything. As they were carrying the repaired clock out to Lloyd's vehicle, Dave (the town drunk) stumbled into them and they all went down smashing the valuable clock. When Lloyd and Smitty were showing their obvious displeasure, Dave asked, "Why don't you wear a watch like everybody else?"
- Colleen Coons contributed - happy that Mesa West was well represented at the Child Crisis Arizona Lunch for Love. She was also happy about the Youth Exchange Halloween Party and very impressed with the Haunted House in the Polis' back yard.
- Colleen thanked those who have volunteered for the McKenney Vento project. We are sponsoring ten students. Son Hee Williamson has made blankets for each of the ten students. The volunteers will have the opportunity to meet their students next week.
- Allan Cady reported that the bottle of Mescal on which he had made the top bid the prior week, had been enjoyed by he and their friend Omar. They enjoyed four very good shots each. He said he has had the privilege of deciding which projects Mesa West would support at the Friendship Conferences he has attended. One project was funding echocardiogram equipment for Orizaba Mexico, southwest of Vera Cruz. Allan gave Colleen the plaque Omar had presented to him for our club's participation.
- John Pennypacker went to a seminar about independent voters. In Arizona, those who are registered as independents can request a partisan ballot for only one party. They cannot work at polls or count votes. He had picked up a book which he said would be a good cure for insomnia.
Heredia has experience working in government, working for both the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and the United States Census Bureau. He spent time as the National Field Director of Mi Familia Vota and One Arizona, the KidsCare Outreach Coordinator for the Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System and as a prevention specialist for Chicanos Por la Causa.
He is a member of the National League of Cities Human Development Federal Advocacy Committee and is also a member of the Hispanic Elected Officials Organization and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. He is the Immediate Past Chair of both the Valley Metro Rail Board of Directors and the Valley Metro Regional Public Transit Authority (RPTA) Board, where he continues to serve as a Board Member.
Before moving to Mesa he was a resident of Chandler, where he served as a commissioner for the Chandler Housing and Human Services Commission. He also served on the State of Arizona Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which he was appointed to by the Governor of Arizona.
Heredia earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Masters of Public Administration from Arizona State University. He owns his consulting firm, assisting clients with grant writing, planning and strategy. He and his wife Carmen have three children.
The Vice Mayor said he was born and raised in Somerton Arizona. His parents were migrant farmers from Sonora Mexico. In the 80's, his mother was hired as a cafeteria worker, where she worked for thirty years. His dad continued to be a farm worker and he drove cement trucks. They had come from Mexico to provide a better life for thier family. Francisco feels very lucky to have the opportunity to serve. He and his family love west Mesa. A goal is to provide the infrastructure to take Mesa to the next level. One program he is proud of is Mesa Promise program whre all eligible Mesa high school graduates can attend Mesa Community College for two years tuition-free to ensure a future workforce. The Asian District at Dobson and Main has 80 businesses - all Asian themed.
The Fiesta District's mew fate is still being determined. The unsightly mall has been bulldozed. His own studies and experience enable him to work on policy issues that impact daily lives with the intent to provide infrastructure that will improve quality of life.
The Fiesta Mall took a long time to get to the point it is at now. There were multiple owners who couldn't agree or get along. Now there is one owner who took over and bought other parcels. It is still privately owned. There are 80 acres involved. It seems to be headed in a direction that would attract people with entertainment, office space, and mixed use. He hasn't seen many details yet. There are rumors of a potential arena or amphitheater.
There will be an annual toy drive to fill the closets at Banner Childrens' Hospital. The East Valley Firefighters support this annual charitable activity.
The AARP Experience Corps participates in a Literacy Program partnering with Mesa Public Schools. The commitment is about two hours every two weeks.
A challenge when buildings are demolished and new construction planned is to provide affordable housing. This challenge is complicated by rulings enacted by the state legislature. The fact that housing costs have risen faster than wages presents a very real problem for our city's workforce.
He said the Coyotes are still considering Mesa as well as other communities for their future home
He said his parents were here prior to the 1986 Reagon Amnesty, but it took until 1995 before they actually became citizens.
Candy was presented to Ray Smith to take to the children who will be served at the hearing clinic next week. Lucinda handed a box of candy to Ray and told him not to eat it. He said he wouldn't eat more than half on the say down. The Guaymas hearing project was briefly explained to Vice Mayor Heredia. Guaymas is the Sister City of Mesa and the Vice Mayor is involved in the Sister City project.
Bob Jensen explained that Guaymas Rotarians are setting the state to make the border crossing as simple as possible. They are taking new equipment which will allow audio brain stem testing. They will be able to test children age two and under. They have buses lined up for the travel There will be 25 US volunteers and 5 more in Mexico. Erica Williams has been doing lots of work to get ready for the clinic which is at a school for the deaf and disabled. The school stores their equipment. The children is for children with no resources. 3-400 are seen at the clinic. Bob has been participating in the clinic for around 30 years. Mesa Baseline Rotary helped with the project. Bob has enjoyed the continued support of Mesa West Rotary since Mesa Baseline merged into our club.