Opening of Meeting and Welcome - President Colleen Coons
 
  • Inspirational Thought for the Day - John Pennypacker:
  • The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Steve Ross.
Introduction of Guests
 
  • Jack Rosenberg introduced his lovely wife, Cindy.
  • Don LaBarge introduced Major Mike from the Salvation Army
  • Shane White was introduced as a former guest who would be inducted as a new member later in the meeting.
  • Those attending via Zoom were acknowledged:
    • Allan and Polly Cady from their boat in San Diego
    • Lola McClane
    • Jeanie Morgan from Michigan
    • Bob Jensen
    • Daryl Bethea from Florida
  • Someone suggested the membere with the best singing voice should sing Happy Birthday to the member who was celebrating his birthday, so Ray Smith was asked to sing to himself.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
 
 
Chuck briefly explained the raffle.  The large pot was up to $855.  The holder of the stub of the ticket drawn would win $25 and the chance to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck which would allow them to also win the large pot.  Ray Smith was asked to draw the winning ticket.  It was held by a small group of Rotarians including Jack Rosenberg, Steve Ross and John Benedict.  John Benedict shuffled the cards before drawing.  The card he drew was the Seven of Spades.
 
Sgt at Arms - Ron Thompson - Happy Bucks
 
  • Ron started by celebrating his son's 35th birthday and the fact that his wife had turned 35 again.  He pledged $100 toward his Paul Harris.
  • Warren Williamson said he was born and raised in a small town of about 300 people in Illinois.  Not far from where he lived was the community of Jacksonville - where they state hospital and asylum was located.  One afternoon, a man was driving through Jacksonville and had a tire go flat just outside the asylum.  There was an inmate just inside the fence watching the man deal with the problem.  The man got his jack out, and jacked up his car, removed the flat tire, and put his spare tire on, but when he went to find his lug nuts, he could not find them anywhere.  The inmate suggested he take one nut off of each of the other three tires, so he could get safely to a place where he could buy some more.  The man looked at the inmate and thanked him asking himself aloud, "Why didn't I think of that?"  The inmate heard him and said, "I'm crazy - not stupid!"
  • Ray Smith was happy to be celebrating another birthday.
  • John Pennypacker contributed $3
  • Harry Grossman was happy to be there with a bunch of new Rotary friends.
  • Pam Cohen had something for Jim Erickson.   In addition to the traveling Polio Plus trophy, PDG Larry Horton had given pam a painting done by a Past President to thank Mesa West for exceeding our fundraising goal for Polio Plus by $10,000.  She gave it to Jim - who served as the District's Polio Plus Chair.
  • Jack Rosenberg announced he would be celebrating his birthday Saturday and was glad to live another year.
  • Mike Schroeder contributed saying they had a great time in Hawaii.
  • Chuck Flint was headed for cool country where he and his dog would be spending time with their human and dog friends.
  • Shane White appreciated Mesa West being so welcoming.
  • Frank Rosenberg was happy to announce Sami had made it to Denmark just fine.
  • Don LaBarge was born in Vermont.  His grandmother had nine children - seven of which were girls.  Three of Don's aunts are still living.  Don was going to go to Vermont to visit them, and was looking forward to the drives in the beautiful countryside of Vermont.
  • Polly Cady asked to be billed $10 to celebrate Shane's induction into the club.  She sent her congratulations!
  • Ed Koeneman was happy to have exchange student Carlotta and eight Interact Members help with the meal packing service project at Feed My Starving Children August 8.
  • Bob Jensen said they had returned from a wonderful trip to Switzerland and Italy.  Before leaving he picked up the Soleri presented for him at the 50th Anniversary Celebration.  Bob pledged $100 to the Guaymas Hearing Project.
  • President Colleen was happy 35 members voted on the name of the project to help unaccompanied, homeless seniors graduate from high school.  The name that received the most votes was "Rotary Bridges to Education."
  • Ray Smith introduced his guest, Justin Lines.
Induction of New Member - Shane White
 
 
President Colleen invited Shane White and John Pennypacker to come forward.  She was very excited to be welcoming and inducting our first new member of the 2023-24 Rotary Year.  She was also pleased to announce Shane is the first member to opt for the corporate member dues option.  Shane was welcomed as a member of Mesa West Rotary which automatically includes him in the fellowship of Rotarians throughout the world, and making him a part of all the good that is done as we live up to our values of Service Above Self and articulated in our Rotary Vision Statement.  Colleen asked John to pin our newest member.  She also presented Shane with a "Create Hope in the World" theme pin for this year.  She said that the most exciting part of a new member induction is getting to hear from the new member themselves.
 
Shane said he lives in Gold Canyon.  He has lived in Arizona three years.  There is no denying his southern accent.  He lived in Atlanta fifteen years and grew up in North Carolina.  Community involvement is important to him.  His dad was a volunteer firefighter.  His mom was very active in their church.  Shane is really impressed with the hospitality of the club.  The first meeting he attended was when Dr. Thompson shared his personal story.
 
Colleen remarked that Shane is a classmate of hers in this year's Mesa Leadership class, and his humble leadership style is to be admired.
 
Announcements
  • Mesa Rotary has invited members to attend their August 16 meeting to hear Representative Greg Stanton speak.  Members who wish to attend were asked to let her know so she could RSVP on behalf of our club.
  • Frank Rosenberg is still collecting socks, underwear and sweat pants for homeless in Flagstaff.  
 
Program - Brenda Capizzi - The Mesa House, Inc.
 
Following a brief introduction by Jay Stuckey, Brenda Capizzi remarked that she felt such positive energy at the meeting, she thought she needed to belong.
 
She then shared a personal story.  Brenda was a single mother of a 7-year-old daughter.  She had gotten engaged to a man that owned a few homes.  Brenda wanted the home they were going to live in to be painted.  Upon the final walk-through, the painter mentioned that this home would make an awesome halfway house.  Brenda didn't know what he was talking about.  She just wanted to start her married life.  She did some research and came up with the name "The Mesa House" and a logo.  Three months after opening the first halfway house, her fiancĂ© told her he couldn't marry her..  She was on her own.  The first ten men helped her with the policies that they still have today.  She had no idea this was what God had in store for her.
 
In her research, Brenda visited halfway houses.  Some she liked and others she did not.  She said it felt like divine intervention the more she opened her heart to the men and their needs.  
 
Over time they have developed a program that works.  They have a motto of "building families one man at a time."  They have a set of rules those who come to Mesa House must agree to adhere to.  The agreement can be found on their website:  https://themesahouse.org/
 
They require that the men work and pay $145/week .  They have a relationship with employers who will employ their residents because they will show up for work.
 
Every Sunday night, they have live-saving training that the residents participate in.   
 
Some of the rules every resident agrees to follow are:
  • Make their bed
  • Clean up after themselves and one other person
  • Be willing to change the way they think
  • Pass drug screening test and be willing to go to detox if they do not
  • Help plan and participate in celebrations at parks
The men learn by doing in planning the celebrations they have at parks.  They can invite their family members to participate in the celebrations.  They ask residents for a minimum commitment of staying at Mesa House of 90 days, but they are welcome to stay as long as they want.
 
All residents do chores.  Their houses are clean.  They get food donations from Trader Joes.  They are always glad to accept donations of toiletries.  
 
They do not accept pets.  Pets create an expense they cannot afford.  
 
At this time, they have nine locations and a total of 80 beds.  They are all within a mile and a half of their intake property located at 28 S Olive.  They are south of Pioneer Prk and East of the Mormon Temple right off of Main Street.
 
To date, they have helped over 5700 men and some of them several times.  The more they help them, the more enriched their own lives have become.  They don't care where their residents come from.  They do care about where the residents see themselves headed when they leave.
 
They are always in need of small bottles of shampoo, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, socks, working boots.  Money is always needed - especially with the rising cost of everything.
 
Colleen thanked Brenda for coming to the meeting to make her presentation.  Colleen loved her obvious heart and passion for what she does and thanked her for giving dignity back to those who have been missed.
 
 
 
More Announcements
  • Ed Koeneman said the Westwood High School Interact Club is collecting old tee shirts to be used to make dog chew toys for animal shelters.  He asked that members please bring them to the next few meetings.
  • Pam Cohen said Mesa West would be participating in a service event - similar to a job fair - on Saturday, September 9.  We will provide a service opportunity at our table at the event.  Volunteers will be needed to staff our table and help those who visit it with information and the opportunity to help with the service project (making dog chew toys).   The event will be a family-friendly environment with refreshments available.  Our AG (Dan Coons) is going to create a Mesa West Rotary Club banner to be used at this type of event.  One of the goals is to make the community more aware of Rotary and the good we do in the community and the world.