President Dan opened the meeting by thanking Don LaBarge for serving as greeter. He thanked the members for the gift of being able to serve as Club President He then reminded Rotarians and guests of the Rotary International 2021-22 theme - Serve to Change Lives - after which he recited the Rotary Vision Statement:
Together we see a world where people unite and
take action to create lasting change -
across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.
Invocation and Pledge
Greg Okonowski offered the invocation. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jim Erickson.
Introduction of Guests
Don LaBarge introduced his guest - his sister, Karen Brooks.
Ron Thompson introduced his guest - his office manager, Kym Roberts.
Recognition
Chuck Flint invited Bob Jensen to the front of the room to recognize his giving to support the work of The Rotary Foundation. Bob was given his Paul Harris Fellow Plus One recognition pin. Bob took time to say how happy he was to see his Mesa West Rotary friends in person. Now that he resides in Tucson, he frequently sees everyone on his computer screen while attending via Zoom.
Ace of Clubs Raffle
Chuck Flint explained that the person holding the ticket number drawn would automatically win $50. They would also win the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the remaining cards in the deck. Should they be so lucky as to draw the Ace of Clubs, they would win an additional $335.
Chuck asked the speaker's guest, Ximena, to draw the winning ticket which was held by Darl Andersen. After receiving his $50, he had Chuck try to draw the Ace of Clubs for him. Instead, the card drawn was the King of Diamonds. Darl gave all $50 back to Chuck requesting it be used to purchase ten tickets for Darl for the May 5 Ace of Clubs Raffle.
Announcements
Shelly Romine reported on Mesa West Rotary Club's Rotary Week of Service project - fifty bedding packs were prepared Saturday, April 23 for Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SIHP). After preparing the bedding packages each of which which included a stuffed animal, encouraging note, pillow, comforter, pillow case and sheets, the packages were delivered to the church storage facility where they will be kept until delivered to homes by SIHP. Also delivered to the storage facility were about ten extra pillows donated by Mesa West Rotary Club members. Shelly also announced two additional Sleep in Heavenly Peace opportunities. The first was for a three or four individuals to participate in bunk bed delivery and setup trips Saturday, April 30. The second opportunity was to sign up to participate in a bed build to take place in Scottsdale Saturday, May 21 from 7:00 to 11:30 AM. If interested, email Shelly.
President Dan made a few quick announcements:
The meeting was taking place in the middle of Polio Immunization Week April 24-30.
He voiced appreciation for the very nice reception Allan and Polly Cady hosted April 21 for Judge Tommy and Judy Webb.
He reminded members that the District Conference would be held at the Prescott Resort April 13-14, with two pre-conference events scheduled in Prescott on April 12. A Peace Symposium scheduled during the day at the conference site and a dinner benefitting The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona being held at the Phippen Museum in Prescott that evening.
Ed Koeneman announced that the evening of May 10, he would be scheduling a career mentoring event to provide information to Westwood High School Interact Club members. The event will be held via Zoom with breakout rooms.
Happy Bucks - Greg Okonowski
Mike Whalen was happy to report the focus group he has been working with - working with the Phoenix West Rotary Club - is wrapping up its work developing an international search engine. Working with the Rotary International pubic image team, it looks like the app will be rebranded before it is launched. It is hoped it will be ready to launch by the District Conference.
Darl Andersen was happy to have won the Ace of Clubs Raffle and hopes to win again next week with one of his ten tickets purchased in advance.
Tom Yuzer announced he would not be at our next meeting. They are headed back to Minnesota. He'll see us in person again in six months.
Bob Jensen contributed - happy to be attending the meeting in person.
Ed Koeneman announced Westwood High School Interact Club had held their election of officers for the 2022-23 school term. Three of their new officers attended Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) with scholarships from Mesa West Rotary Club.
John Pennypacker contributed - thankful for work Sean Green had done to help with preparations to honor young ladies who had been influential at the state legislature's hearing impacting youth exchange programs. They will be honored at the District Conference. Another individual who was very helpful in getting documentation John needed was a Rotary Support Center adviser who can be seen on page 8 of the most recent Rotary Magazine. His name is Simo Ezoubeiri. He is from Marrakech, Morocco.
Shelly Romine asked to be billed $200 for the sponsor campaign. She will be absent for the May 5 meeting. Their son will be in town and they will be spending as much time as possible enjoying some springtime Arizona fun times with him.
Did Myren contributed for himself and Honorary Member Rod Daniels - happy to be part of the best Rotary Club on the planet.
Don LaBarge was happy to report that April 28 was Rod Daniels' first day back at work following his heart attack in February.
Ron Thompson contributed because he was happy to have Kym Roberts - the best office manager in the world - attending as his guest. He's really happy she works for him.
Warren Williamson contributed so he could tell a "dad joke" meaning it would be normal to groan when the joke was finished. It seems like an elderly gentlemen went to see his doctor because he had a leg that was making strange noises. The doctor had him sit on the exam table. He put his stethoscope on his thigh and heard a weak voice say, "I am really hard up - could you loan me $20?" The doctor moved the stethoscope to the patient's knee. There he heard, "I am really having a tough time. Could you at least loan me $10?" The doctor then moved the stethoscope to the patient's shin where he heard, "C'mon - can't you at least give me $5?" The doctor looked at the patient and said, "I've never seen anything like it. You got here on your own power, but your leg is broke in three places."
Pam Cohen contributed. She was happy Bob Jensen was at the meeting in person. He was happy to hear about Mike Whalen's launch of product. She was sad that Chris Krueger could not attend the meeting. She will soon be leaving for Nebraska. She was appreciative of work Sean Green did recording a visioning exercise the prior weekend, which he did on very short notice.
Robin Harris contributed for the best dad joke he'd heard in ten years!
Dan Coons contributed $5. With his wife out of town, he was probably still $10 ahead.
Jim Erickson contributed sad bucks. After fifteen months with no new cases of Polio in Pakistan, a new case had been diagnosed. Those monitoring the situation knew the risk was high because evidence of the live wild polio virus is still being found in environmental samples.
Jeanie Morgan announced that anyone who pledges to the sponsor campaign during happy bucks this quarter will be billed for their pledge through the club foundation within a week of making that pledge. Anyone who would like to can email Jeanie if they want to be invoiced for a pledge, know whose team they are on, or have other questions about the sponsorship drive. If she doesn't know the answer, she will refer it to someone who does - likely Allan Cady.
Program - Honorable Jorge Mendoza Yescas, Consular of Mexico
During Jay Stuckey's introduction of the speaker, members and guests learned that Jorge Mendoza Yescas was appointed by the President of Mexico as Consul General of Mexico in Phoenix, Arizona in March 2019, and ratified by the Mexican Senate in April of the same year. He has served in various Mexican representations in North America.
Prior to his assignment in Phoenix, Consul Mendoza served as Consul of legal affairs and documentation at the Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver, British Columbia from 2015 to 2019. Before that, he was Vice-Consul in Administration at the Consulate of Mexico in Presidio, Texas from 2013-2015. He served as Consular Officer to the protection department at the Consulate of Mexico in Tucson from 2004-203.
Consul Mendoza has contributed to several printed and digital media sources in Mexico and the United States in matters of migration, binational affairs and US politics. He earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Sul Ross State University in Texas and a Law degree from the Universidad de Sonora.
Individuals like Consul Mendoza administer through offices set up to be small embassies serving a region or city. The United States government has nine similar offices in Mexico - two of them in Senora. One duty of such an office is to promote tourism. Other duties include fostering relationships and representing the Government of Mexico. Public safety is one of their areas of concern. They serve Mexican nationals who are present in the area they serve. Near to us, are service facilities - Tucson, Douglas, Nogales, Yuma, Los Vegas, Salt Lake City and New Mexico. Phoenix is the largest of these. Other large cities where similar offices to the Phoenix consulate exist are New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and others.
Communication is a large portion of what they do. They provide help with passports and issuing Power of Attorney documents that will be legal in Mexico. They serve Mexican nationals residing in our area. They serve US Citizens who need to get Visas for their business.
One department serves Mexican nationals living in the district who may need legal assistance. The US Consulate in Hermosillo has a similar office. department.
For Mexican nationals residing in the area, they provide information about financial health - how to navigate in our economy. They promote Mexican culture in the whole community. Promoting and improving relations between Arizona and Mexico includes knowing and communicating with political leaders in the house and senate as well as public safety. They promote economic and commercial relationships. Tourism can help open doors. They have programs teaching women and young students entrepreneurial skills enabling them to establish and grow businesses.
Consul Mendoza spoke about a golf tournament on the GCU Golf Course which benefitted Chicanos por La Causa. He expects it to get bigger and better each year.
There were questions relating to help at the border related to our Guaymas hearing mission. He said to contact his office and had other suggestions as well. They can provide assistance and guidance about customs.
When asked how he became Consular, he answered that he was nominated by the President of Mexico and that nomination had to be ratified by the Mexican Senate. He has had a long career. The President of Mexico is not a friend, but he does know him. He was not nominated for his position because he was a contributor.
He enjoys being in contact with people and being able to help them. Priorities for him are helping women succeed in family and larger community. Many women who are Mexican nationals in the US need help learning English and learning how to connect. They need mentoring. That is why they help them learn how to start and grow a business.
With Rotary's focus on helping others, he hopes they can help Rotary Clubs achieve their goals of diversity, equity and inclusion. He introduced Ximena from his staff. Ximena was a Rotary Youth Exchange student when she was fifteen. She said the experience helped her become the person she is today. Consular Mendoza was also accompanied by Gerardo from his office.
The Consulate has a newsletter which can be viewed on their website: consulmex.sre.gob.mx/phoenix/ He asked to be added as a subscriber to our Mesa West Rotary Messenger.
Update on Ayudame a Escuchar Hearing Mission to Guaymas
May 2, 2022
I want to give an update to our club’s hearing mission to Guaymas and provide a little information on the program to our new club members.
The program started as a fact-finding mission spearheaded by Albert Olivier, MD, a cardiovascular-thoracic surgeon, who was the program director for the Mesa Baseline Rotary Club, Mesa, Arizona. The program was titled “Arizona-Guaymas Rotary International Medical Project”. The program took place from December 3-6, 1992 and the site of the mission was Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, a small city of approximately 130,000 citizens located about 450 miles south of Phoenix, Arizona. Guaymas is the Sister City of Mesa.
A proposal for a hearing program was set forth with the objective of conducting a clinic to medically assess patients, treat minor ear disorders, conduct hearing tests, provide amplification with hearing aids and consult with local school personnel on aural rehabilitation in the school system. The team would be composed of audiologists, otolaryngologists and bilingual speech pathologists. Knowing that many of the patients would have sensorineural hearing loss and that the need for amplification would be great, a program that would emphasize sustainability in terms of service and product was anticipated. Therefore, continued funding of the international program over time was a primary concern.
Over the years, forty audiologists and physicians, twenty-five Rotarians and over 200 doctoral-level students have participated in the program since 1992. Over 5200 patients have been seen and over 3000 hearing aids have been fitted to both children and adults.
I will be happy to send you a more complete version of the history of the program. Please see my contact information below to request a copy.
The Covid epidemic forced the stopping of the missions in 2020. In conversations with Guaymas and Alamos program volunteers, Guaymas Rotarians and school officials, I recently found out that the school where we conduct the clinic had been broken into 26 times since we left in November 2019. While the robbers mainly took metal (copper pipes, electrical wire, metal cabinets and doors, chainlinkfencing and plumbing fixtures from bathrooms, our equipment which we store in a sound booth used for testing hearing was left untouched other than to have boxes broken into and items strewn about. The school principal, in his wisdom, had taken 87 hearing aids that we had left behind to his home. He also took hearing aid batteries home.
The school restarted in February 2022. It had been closed because of Covid, lack of water and electricity. The city of Guaymas has had major damage to the water and sewage system with raw sewage being discharged into the streets of some local communities.
Because of governmental restrictions on travel to and from Mexico because of the Covid pandemic, it was determined that we would not conduct clinics until we were allowed into Guaymas and the safety of our volunteers and the patients could be reasonably assured.
The best humanitarian programs contain a provision for creating sustainability, empowering local professionals through training and monetary support to continue the missions. Efforts to create sustainability in Guaymas have been thwarted by the lack of highly-trained medical professionals in the area and, to some degree, lack of interest by local officials. Only 17 openings are available per year to train medical audiologists in Mexico. Although the need for hearing healthcare is great, other more serious medical problems often receive more attention in developing countries.
In 2022, efforts to restart the clinic were begun by training an audiometric technician in Alamos in the hopes that more missions (four to five a year) could be conducted on a more frequent basis but smaller scale in Guaymas. We are now trying to create a more sustainable model to provide the Guaymas patients with better access to services using local staff with occasional assistance from smaller teams of professionals coming down from Arizona. The demand for audiology services is still great as we have many existing patients in Guaymas and continue to identify new patients each time we conduct a clinic. The Mesa West Rotary Club of Mesa, Arizona and the Guaymas Rotary Club are still committed to the program. By training more hearing healthcare volunteers (technicians and medical doctors), we hope to keep the mission going into the future. Other hearing clinics in Alamos and Navajoa have been established over the recent years and we hope to join them in creating a network of hearing clinics to serve the citizens of Sonora.
I hope that the Mesa West Rotary Club will continue to support our efforts to create a sustainable mission in Guaymas. We need to take a different approach to providing assistance. I believe that we need to encourage training of local audiometric technicians in Guaymas, provide occasional teams to provide this training and see more difficult patients and continue to provide hearing aids, earmold material and batteries which are items that are necessary to the program but are difficult and expensive to obtain in Mexico. We may take a team of 10 to 15 volunteers annually in the fall. Overall, the annual expense to the club may be reduced in half by adopting this approach.
I would be happy to entertain any questions regarding the program. My email address is ithanktheemost@gmail.com and my telephone number is 602-370-2057.
As Rotarians, we are regularly exposed to opportunities to support various causes with our time, talent and treasure. Sometimes it is hard to sift through all the information and decide where we are going to use our available financial resources.
It would be wonderful if every Arizona Rotarian would make the following BIG FOUR their Rotary charities of choice and support every one of them every year, we could make a bigger difference than we are making today.
The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Annual Fund - The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world." Giving a small amount each month adds up. CLICK HERE to download a form you can use to sign up for Rotary Direct, electing "Annual Fund - Share" for your recurring donation.
The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Polio Plus - Rotary's commitment to eradicate polio is so well known and respected that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matches donations $2 for $1. To take advantage of this opportunity to multiply the effect of your giving, CLICK HERE and download a second Rotary Direct form, this time electing electing "Polio Eradication" for your recurring donations. Those who donate $100 or more annually to Polio Plus qualify in District 5495 as Polio Plus Society Members. If you would like to make that commitment, CLICK HERE to download the commitment form.
The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona (TRVFA) provides vocational education grants to Arizona Residents who meet specific low-income guidelines. The grants enable the recipients to lift themselves out of poverty, benefitting themselves, their families and the economy of our state. TRVFA is a 501(c)(3) charity. They also are a Qualifying Charitable Organization for Arizona Tax Credit Donations. Their QCO Code is 20698. Many Arizona Rotarians say giving to TRVFA is a "no brainer." If you can help someone lift themselves out of poverty and it won't end up costing you anything why would you not do it? Mesa West Rotary has the highest number of members who have signed up for automated monthly recurring donations by electing that option on the "Donate Now" button on the TRVFA website. Click the image to learn more or CLICK HERE to DONATE NOW.
Mesa West Rotary Foundation, Inc. is the funding and fundraising arm of our own Mesa West Rotary Club. It is a 501(c)(3) charity. We have had successful sponsorship campaigns the last few years enabling us to spend our energy on service rather than on holding fundraising events. Charitable grants that we get involved with are funded through our charitable foundation, Our signature Gift of Hearing Project in Guaymas Mexico is funded through this foundation. Scholarships are awarded annually to Westwood High School Students (the high school where Mesa West Rotary sponsors an Interact Club). Funds are used to support a variety of activities in four of the Rotary Avenues of Service:
Community Service
International Service
Vocational Service
Youth Service
The process isn't quite automated at this point in time, but we hope it soon will be. For now, you can email our executive secretary who can help you work out a recurring donation plan should you wish to make that arrangement to support our own club's charitable activity.
Club Information
Welcome to our Rotary Club of Mesa West!
THE ACE OF CLUBS
Thursdays at 12:00 PM
Via Zoom or in-person
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3748672091
Doubletree, 1011 W Holmes
Mesa, AZ 85210 United States of America
Our hybrid meetings are held weekly on the 1st thru 4th Thursdays of each month. The meetings are broadcast via Zoom to include all, whether attending virtually or in person.
During Jay Stuckey's introduction of the speaker, members and guests learned that Jorge Mendoza Yescas was appointed by the President of Mexico as Consul General of Mexico in Phoenix, Arizona in March 2019, and ratified by the Mexican Senate in April of the same year. He has served in various Mexican representations in North America.
I want to give an update to our club’s hearing mission to Guaymas and provide a little information on the program to our new club members.
Over the years, forty audiologists and physicians, twenty-five Rotarians and over 200 doctoral-level students have participated in the program since 1992. Over 5200 patients have been seen and over 3000 hearing aids have been fitted to both children and adults.
In 2022, efforts to restart the clinic were begun by training an audiometric technician in Alamos in the hopes that more missions (four to five a year) could be conducted on a more frequent basis but smaller scale in Guaymas. We are now trying to create a more sustainable model to provide the Guaymas patients with better access to services using local staff with occasional assistance from smaller teams of professionals coming down from Arizona. The demand for audiology services is still great as we have many existing patients in Guaymas and continue to identify new patients each time we conduct a clinic. The Mesa West Rotary Club of Mesa, Arizona and the Guaymas Rotary Club are still committed to the program. By training more hearing healthcare volunteers (technicians and medical doctors), we hope to keep the mission going into the future. Other hearing clinics in Alamos and Navajoa have been established over the recent years and we hope to join them in creating a network of hearing clinics to serve the citizens of Sonora.
I would be happy to entertain any questions regarding the program. My email address is 
Mesa West Rotary Foundation, Inc. is the funding and fundraising arm of our own Mesa West Rotary Club. It is a 501(c)(3) charity. We have had successful sponsorship campaigns the last few years enabling us to spend our energy on service rather than on holding fundraising events. Charitable grants that we get involved with are funded through our charitable foundation, Our signature Gift of Hearing Project in Guaymas Mexico is funded through this foundation. Scholarships are awarded annually to Westwood High School Students (the high school where Mesa West Rotary sponsors an Interact Club). Funds are used to support a variety of activities in four of the Rotary Avenues of Service:
