President Dan Coons opened the meeting by introducing himself and reciting the Rotary Vision Statement, and reminded members of the 2020-21 slogan - Rotary Opens Opportunities. The invocation was offered by John Pennypacker in Hebrew and translated to English by Jack Rosenberg:Hebrew
Baruch ata Adonai, Elohaynu Melach Haolom, Hamotzi Lecham Min Haoritz.
English
Blessed Art Thou, Our Lord Are G-d, Who has commanded us to eat, the bread from the Earth
John suggested members go online to read all the resolutions and comments about them that he had to review before voting on them on behalf of our district. He said it is really interesting to see the perspectives from various parts of the world and reminded everyone that the world does not revolved around Maricopa County Arizona.
Rotary Minute - Shelly Romine
October 24 will be observed across the globe as World Polio Day. In researching her comments, she was interested to note that the branding about Rotary's polio program changed from "Polio Plus" to "End Polio Now."
She noted that the Gates Foundation has again committed to a $450,000,000 match. They match donations $2 for $1. Earlier this year, the continent of Africa was declared polio-free. Wild polio virus cases are now only being diagnosed in two remaining endemic countries - Pakistan and Afghanistan. Shelly said it is very important to push for 100% eradication. With COVID-19, we have learned how diseases can travel across the globe since we are now clearly a world economy. Shelly was also very pleased to learn that Arizona stands out in Polio eradication fundraising with the El Tour de Tucson cycling event hosted annually by District 5500. They have about 9,000 participants each year with members of the Rotary International staff traveling to Arizona to participate. The matching gifts over the years have produced a total income of $53,000,000 from the event. Kudos to Arizona!
John Pennypacker added that John Hewko of Rotary International says that the Rotary polio eradication infrastructure is ready to move out and be utilized to deliver a COVID vaccine to difficult-to-reach locations when it becomes available.
Bob Zarling noted that he has some End Polio buttons to share when he is at events where Rotarians are gathered.
Happy Bucks - Greg Okonowski
Greg suggested everyone unmute their microphones so all attending the Zoom meeting could sing Happy Birthday to Warren Williamson (noting that Warren had already made his birthday donation. Your Messenger editor heard their birthday serenade on the recording of the Zoom meeting and is praying social distancing ends before her next birthday.- Allan Cady pledged $10. He and Polly had recently returned from a trip to Peoria, Illinois where they celebrated a 92-year-old's birthday and attended a wedding. They enjoyed being there when the countryside was full of fall color.
- Pam Cohen pledged a total of $15 - $5 wishing Jeanie well, $5 because she had a chance to wear her Rotary End Polio shoes at the service event, and $5 because she had a chance to purchase six wheelchairs online at a fundraising event. She got all six for $53 and they will be delivered to American Furniture Warehouse for the Interact Crutches for Africa project.
- Shelly Romine pledged $5 for a successful service project, and another $5 for the way Colleen Coons handled the cow bell at the event.
- Dan Coons pledged $10 - $ to thank Shelly for coordinating another successful service event, and another $5 because he was thankful that Colleen did not have a cow bell at home. He also apologized for arriving at the service project late - he had been in attendance at the district Presidents Zoom meeting which overlapped with the service project.
- Lola McClane pledged $5 wishing Jeanie well.
- Colleen Coons pledged $10 - $5 wishing Jeanie well, and $5 because she does have a cow bell at home.
- Bob Zarling pledged $5 - he was pretty sure the cow bell Colleen was using was a Salvation Army bell.
- Pam Cohen pledged another $5. She wanted members to know that she was going to apply for $500 from her company. They have a 5 for $500 program where if one of their employees participates with five or more total volunteers in a service project, they will donate $500 to the organization they represent.
- Chuck Flint pledged $5 because he was enjoying how peaceful the meeting was without being able to hear Ray Smith.
- Polly Cady pledged $5 hoping club members would send well wishes to Erika Yost. Erika is Mesa West's newest member. She went into the hospital for surgery shortly after being accepted into membership. She was still in the hospital as of the meeting date. Members who wish to send well wishes to her can do so by CLICKING HERE
Announcements
- October 29th is a 5th Thursday, and there will be no regular Zoom meeting. Instead, there will be an outside, social-distancing gathering at the home of Pam Cohen. To RSVP, CLICK HERE. See details in separate article in this newsletter.
- President Dan reminded members we are still looking for an outbound exchange student for 2021-22.
- RYLA Pinerock will not be in-person. It will be held virtually on January 15-16.
- District 5495 District Conference has been "revised." April 17-24 Rotarians in our district will be participating in a Rotary at Work week.
- President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) will not be in-person. It will be held virtually next March.
- The Zone Institute planned for November will be virtual and open to all Rotarians. There will be a variety of interesting and inspiring speakers. The information and registration link is: https://zone2627.org/2020-rotary-institute/
- Bob Zarling announced that it is now official - we will be ringing the bell at Bass Pro Shop beginning the day after Thanksgiving. Rotarians and others recruited through our circles of influence will be able to sign up for shifts virtually rather than the traditional three-ring binder sign-up process. In addition to Walmart, there may also be opportunities to ring the bell at Walmart. More information to come.
- Bob Zarling also announced that on the afternoon of December 13, Mesa West Rotarians and friends are invited to his complex to hear the Salvation Army Brass Band which will be playing there to kick off a holiday food drive.
Program
President Dan introduced Janae Green who has a community service position with C-Span. She began with C-Span as a news room production assistant. She has been a professional photographer. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech and resides in Virginia. He also said that after the meeting, she will be able to add to her resume that she has professionally been a Zoom birthday party participant.
CLICK HERE to view most of the screens Janae shared during her presentation.
In 1979 C-Span was born - it was an innovative way for viewers to have the opportunity to decide what was important. They would be able to view unedited news as it was occurring. The vision is more relevant today than ever. It was an unconventional approach. It is powerful and widely trusted. C-Span operates with zero government money. C-Span is able to provide an unfiltered view of what is happening in government, the pandemic, social unrest, fires and other disasters, and information leading up to this year's historic presidential election.
C-Span puts the viewer in the room to hear - unfiltered and without comment - what is going on. They are purposefully different, and mission driven. There are various venues to access C-Span.
- Three television networks: C-Span, C-Span1 and C-Span2
- There are also three broadcast networks with the same name. It was suggested members download the c-span app to have easy access to the radio broadcasts and various podcasts.
- Website - with a very wide variety of viewing options. Members can sign up online and can ask for a variety of alerts about current happenings in specific areas.
- Social - C-Span has a variety of ways to utilize social media to get information to those who are interested.
One of the questions following the presentation asked about the uncluttered appearance of activities in the house and senate. Janea explained that they tap into the live feed of the cameras installed in the house and senate building(s).
CLICK HERE to see the flyer Janea promised during her presentation.
Janea would appreciate it is members would complete a survey about the presentation. CLICK HERE to participate in the survey.