 Several members joined the Zoom meeting early so they could enjoy an opportunity to visit with one another. It was nice to see Erwin and Joan Reimann who we away for a bit enjoying a visit with their daughter and son-in-law in southwest Colorado in a community north and east of Durango. At Noon, President Dan welcomed everyone to the meeting officially and reminded all of this year's Rotary International theme - Rotary opens opportunities. He also recited the Rotary Vision Statement. Shelly Romine offered the invocation. There were no guests present other than the speaker, Scott Smith. Rotary Minute - Jeanie Morgan - The Four-Way Test Jeanie said that one of the things she loves most about Rotary is The Four-Way test. In fact the thing she misses most about her former club is the fact that every week the members would recite the test together. She firmly believes the world would be a peaceful place if all leaders made the test their guide in all the things they think say and do. In looking up information about the origin of the test, she learned some details she had not been aware of in the past. She knew the test originated with Herbert J Taylor who was a Chicago Rotarian, and she also knew it had something to do with trying to save a company following the stock market crash of 1929. What she learned was that the company he was trying to save was Club Aluminum. Their creditors gave him the task of saving the company from being closed as a bankrupt organization. They owed $400,000 more than the value of their assets. Somehow, they were able to borrow $6,100 from a Chicago bank to give them a little cash on which to operate. Taylor and the leadership team felt they needed something to make them stand out and decided it was the character, dependability, and service mindedness of their personnel. They wanted to be very careful in their selection and help them become better men and women as their careers with the company progressed. They wanted to find a simple measuring stick of ethics which could be easily memorized, but nothing like that seemed to exist at the time in available literature. One day in July, 1932, he prayed about the matter. Immediately after he prayed, he picked up a white card and wrote out The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do. He placed the little test under the glass of his desk and determined he should try it out before talking to anyone else about it. He almost threw it out the first day when many things that passed over his desk didn't pass the first question. He had not realized how many untruths appeared in the company's literature, letters, and advertising. After a couple of months of constant effort on his part to live up to the test, he was sold on its worth and ready to share it. Of his four department heads, one was Roman Catholic, another a Christian Scientist, along with an Orthodox Jew and a Presbyterian. He asked them all if the test was in conflict with any of the doctrines and ideals of their faith. They all agreed that truth, justice, friendliness and helpfulness were very compatible. They all agreed to use the test to check proposed plans, policies, statement, and advertising. After a while, all employees were asked to memorize and use the test in their relations with others. In January, 1943, the RI board agreed that The Four-Way Test should be brought to the attention of Rotary clubs. It became a part of the Vocational Service ideal. The company survived and in 1954-55, Herbert J. Taylor served as President of Rotary International. In reminiscing about the origin of the test, he said, "From a bankrupt condition in 1932, our company within a period of some twenty years had paid its debts in full, had paid its stockholders over one million dollars in dividends, and had a value of over two million dollars. All these rewards have come from a cash investment of only $6,100, The Four-Way Test, and some good hard-working people who have faith in God and high ideals." To read more details from the history Jeanie found and shared, CLICK HERE. Happy Bucks with Colleen Coons - Warren Williamson fined himself $10 for not staying to help clean up following the very enjoyable October 29 social at Pam Cohen's house on her 65th birthday.
- Colleen Coons fined herself $10 for the same reason.
- Lola McClane also fined herself $10 for leaving a great social without helping clean up afterward.
- Pam Cohen pledged $10 for her awesome birthday celebration and the card she received which contained so many heart-warming birthday messages from her many friends in Mesa West Rotary. She said that Mike, Chris and Chuck stayed after the party to help clean and Chuck came over the next morning to move the heavy stuff. She also added $5 asking everyone to pray for her brother who was scheduled to have a faulty replacement heart valve replaced again the week of November 9.
- John Pennypacker pledged $10 for the help he had from John Ernst at UPS in preparing Pam's birthday surprise package.
- Ray Smith pledged $10 for a most incredible dessert buffet at Pam's celebration.
- Wendell Jones pledged $15 describing the unique way he and Ray shared desserts from the abundant buffet at the social.
- Shelly Romine pledged $10 for the lovely party and the opportunity to remind members to check their email for the message about the newest community service opportunity.
- Chuck Flint pledged $10 saying he would match the fne from Ray if he thought Ray would not borrow his fine from Wendell.
- Jim Schmidt pledged $10 saying he regretted having to leave the party early and missing the dessert buffet, but did say he thought he might have enjoyed half of the delicious shrimp Chuck had prepared.
- Chris Krueger pledged $10 saying she thought she might have been responsible for eating the other half of the shrimp.
- Dan Coons was fined $10 by his outgoing, ruthless Sgt. at Arms for the day - Colleen Coons - and pledged an additional $10 for the great party and all the hard work Pam did for the club on her birthday.
- Pam Cohen mentioned that another member of the Mesa West Rotary family had a birthday on October 29. Ray smith missed his wife, Vickie's birthday to attend the Mesa West social. and didn't even bring her with him. Ray explained that Vickie was celebrating her birthday with her friends on the 29th and they spent the next evening celebrating together.
Announcements: - Jeanie Morgan announced that in 2017-18, Mesa West Rotarians made our club the highest ranking club in the state for individual giving to support The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. Although she is proud that we have remained in the top five in the past couple of years, she would like to see us rise to the top. There is a link at the bottom of each Messenger as well as on the club website to make giving easy. There is an option to choose giving monthly, quarterly, or annually to make ongoing support easy and painless for donors. So far, only four donors have selected that option and they are all members of Mesa West.
- President Dan announced that the January RYLA will be virtual. The link to register is on the district website, and Rotarians who know high school students should encourage them to register and participate.
- Dan also announced a very impactful donation has been made to our club through our member, Jim Crutcher. Jim's nephew has contributed hand sanitizer valued at $38,000 which we will be distributing to several local agencies who will be able to make good use of it.
- Colleen Coons announced that the time line is getting short. We are almost ready to launch the Zello tutoring program. It is very important that ll volunteers finish their on-line training. An invitation to a meeting will be going out the the volunteers before our next meeting.
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