Today, Jim Erickson led the Pledge of Allegiance, and Eric Silverberg gave a Thought of the Day ....... To continue, click on the blue "Read More" to the right & below the line!!
For today’s meeting Jim Erickson led the Pledge of Allegiance, and Eric Silverberg gave a thought of the day.
Guests today included Blaise Vitale who is a pending club member and John Birks from the Salvation Army. Ed Koeneman won today’s raffle but did not draw the Ace of Clubs, so the pot keeps growing.
Announcements of upcoming events included the Mesa PD drive-thru trick-or-treating is on October 30th and the Life Skills program is on November 1st. Also, the Mesa PD Citizen’s Police Academy is coming up. John Bunyard also told the club about his Tour de Tucson race and fundraiser. He is raising money for Rotary International to help end polio!
Steve Ross, the Rotarian of the Month for September, selected Warren Williamson to be the October Rotarian of the Month.
Goldie Johnson Pompay, the President of East Valley Rotaract at Rio Salado College, was presented with a big check from the Mesa West Rotary Foundation.
Our newest member, Erica McBeth was inducted into the club and was presented a Rotary pin from President Kayla Mudge and pinned on her by her friend.
There were many Happy Bucks donations, including:
- Dick Myren was happy to donate for himself and Rod Daniels, and also reported that his granddaughter’s friend’s baby is doing well after heart replacement surgery
- Jim Erickson was happy that the Green Bay Packers defeated the Arizona Cardinals
- Blaise Vitale was happy to be here for the winter
- Harry Grossman donated for the meetings he missed and designated the money to Polio
- Connie Bunyard was happy that she gets to babysit her granddaughter for the weekend
- Polly Cady was happy that Augustine Tessier joined us today and sad that Alan has sciatica
- Brian Harvey was happy to be hear and he hopes that the Pittsburg Steelers beat the Green Bay Packers
- Donna Goetzenberger was happy that they hosted former Rotary Exchange Student who ran the Chicago Marathon
- Ed Koeneman was happy that he won the raffle and will donate his winnings to East Valley Rotaract
- Lucinda General was happy to be wearing a funny hat today and that they are going on vacation to Curacao
- Polly was happy that Chuck Flint rescued her when her car broke down
- Liz Paulus was happy that she completed a 10 mile race and that the College Bound Gala went well
- Eric Silverberg was happy that he will see his grandchild next week, and will then vacation in Spain
- Melody Jackson was happy to share tips on getting an expedited passport with the club
- Sandra Christiansen, a visiting Rotarian from South Dakota, was happy to be here and was happy that she was on one of the first clubs that accepted women in 1987!
- John Birks was happy to be here today
- Andy Bradford was happy that his daughter is getting married this weekend
- Warren Williamson was happy to tell his weekly joke!
Today’s speaker was Bryan Goetzenberger, who talked to the club about TRVFA, which is The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. TRVFA was founded in the 1990s and has been funding vocational, job training grants since then. Brian shared a few stories about the enormous impact these grants have had on individuals who were motivated to obtain training or a certificate to get their career started or to boost them to the next level. Grant amounts vary from $2000-3000 and are directly used for education or training. Bryan noted that donations to TRVFA are eligible for an Arizona state tax credit. For more information or to donate go to https://trvfa.org/
At the end of Brian’s presentation, President Kayla Mudge gave him with a big check for TRVFA from the Mesa West Rotary Foundation.