Highlights of the June 19 Meeting

 
Welcome and Opening of Meeting - Past President Pam Cohen
 
Dick Myren offered the invocaton and Warren Williamson led the Pledge of Allegiance.  Pam thanked Steve Ross for stepping up to serve as greeter.
 
Introduction of Guests
 
Lisa Rivera, who is with College Bound, was attending as a guest of Jay Paulus.  She came bearing gifts - bags of popcorn for everyone from College Bound as a way of thanking the club for their support.
 
Our speaker - Bill Peters was briefly introduced, but would be introduced in more detail later.
 
 
Announcements
  • At our June 26 Meeting, Kayla Mudge will be installed as President for the 2025-26 Fiscal Year.
  • Pam noted that guest Diego Felix had arrived and thanked him for helping with the AV equipment at the DG installation of Jim Schmidt Saturday June14.
  • The trees that were centerpieces at the installation did not all sell.  She had a few left.  They were originally sold for $30 each, but would be available at the reduced price of $25 for those with flowers and $15 for those that were bare.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
 
 
After announcing that the small weekly pot would be $25 and the large accumulating pot was up to $1,250, Chuck asked Diego to draw the winning ticket.  Dick Myren was the lucky winner of the small pot.  To win the large pot in addition, Dick would need to draw the Ace of Clubs.  When he attempted to draw the Ace of Clubs from the twenty-two cards remaining in the deck, he instead drew the Nine of Diamonds.  Next week the large pot will be larger and the number of cards will be one fewer.
 
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms - Andy Bradford
 
  • Harry Grossman contributed sad bucks because of the recent assassinations and assassination attempts in Minnesota.  He said one of the victim's daughters is a teacher at Harry's granddaughter's elementary school. 
  • Dick Myren made his traditional donation, happy that he and honorary member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs.  He added a donation celebrating that grandson who started playing golf just four years ago made a hole in one, and hit the green on every drive with his final score for the 18-hole course at par of 72/
  • John Pennypacker celebrated a with a photo of "young love" taken of his grandson and his girlfriend who recently travelled to Italy so they could be there when John's son proposed to his love.  She said "Yes!" and when Jay had trouble getting the ring on her finger, she said the same thing John's Betsy said to John after he proposed many years ago and had the same problem, "Just shove it on!"
  • Ed Koeneman was happy to report the officers for the Rio Salado Rotaract club have been trained.  They will be chartered July 31 (which is a 5th Thursday, so maybe Mesa West members will be there to celebrate.  Ed has a busy month ahead of him.  He was soon to be headed to Calgary for the Rotary International Convention.  When he returns, he will be leaving to chaperone the Crutches 4 Africa Ambassadors on their trip to Kenya.  When he returns from that trip, he will be headed to Prescott for the Interact Retreat.
  • Pam Cohen said she had driven 40 miles on the Navajo Reservation and now knows with it is to be called a "wondering Jew."
  • Ed Added that we can soon celebrate the anniversary of the merger of Mesa Baseline and Mesa West Rotary Clubs.  He also announced that it was only 337 days until the next Star Wars Premier, and that he was happy Andy would be taking the AV stuff with him at the end of the meeting.
  • Pam was thrilled that everone had a good time at Jim Schmidt's DG installation.
  • Colleen was happy that she and Dan and the Koeneman's would be roommates during the International Convention.  She said they had such a good time at the last convention they all attended enjoying some hilarious fun that they wanted to do it again.
  • Andy Bradford pledged $100 to the sponsor program celebrating the birth of his granddaughter.
  • Dick Myren contributed another $5.  Their dog, Waylen Jennings, had been to the vet the day before and had thirty teeth pulled.  The dog is home and doing fine.
  • Diego Felix was happy to report that after a year of procedural effort, he is now able to import coffee.  He had some to give away free.  He added that although the coffee represents his culture, he doesn't drink it.
  • Warren Williamson talked about how Ronald Reagan enjoyed talking about the frustrations of bureaucracy.  One of his favorites was about a document that was initialed and forwarded by someone who didn't have authorization to look at the document because it was classified.  They were told to erase their initials and initial the erasure.
Announcements - 
  • To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, Jim Schmidt hopes to highlight 250 Rotary Projects at his District Conference to be held at the Sheriton in Mesa May 1-2, 2026 with a traveling museum about the projects.
  • Pam Cohen announced that we were very close to reaching our $50,000 goal in donations to the sponsor program.
 
Program - Bill Peters - Sponsorship of Special Olympics
 
 
Bill is a member of Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club.  He has been with Mesa PD over thirty years.  He volunteers at Hospice and the Mesa Salvation Army.  He was selected as Mesa Man of the Year in 2024.  He is also an Army veteran. 
 
Special Olympics is near and dear to his heart.  Policemen deal with a lot of unhappy people.  Working with Special Olympics helps rebuild their souls.  The motto of the athletes is "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."
 
He said in the state of Arizona, there are 21 different events, 675 regional competitions.  Athletes can go on to state, national and international competitions.  He told about a girls basketball team that beat the boys, and one women who started out as a heavy set woman and is extremely fit today and promotes fitness.
 
He said the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run raises $1.2 million annually to support Special Olympics.  Another fundraiser is the Polar Bear Plunge.
 
Colleen Coons commented about being present when Bill was awarded the Man of the Year honor.  She said that Bill talked about Rotary, Special Olympics, and other organizations he is involved with, but didn't use "I" during his remarks.
 
At the end of Bill's presentation, he was presented with a $500 check from Mesa West Rotary Foundation to sponsor an upcoming Special Olympics event.  
 
He was also presented with a speaker's gift of a wooden pen crafted by Ed Koeneman.