Thursday, May 29, we will not have an in-person meeting.  Instead, those who registered by this past Monday will have the opportunity to tour the Alcor cryonics facility which we heard about at our February 13 meeting. 

 

CLICK HERE to register

 

CLICK HERE or on the image above to register for Jim's installation.

 

Members who pay "full" dues who register and attend the installation will receive a $25 credit on their July 1 dues invoice.

 

Thursday, May 22, Shelly Romine was inducted into the Columbia Center Rotary Club in Kennewick, Washington.  As part of her induction ceremony, a letter from our Foundation Chair John Pennypacker was read:

 

The purpose of this letter is to convey to you just how highly the members of the Mesa West Rotary Club regard Shelly Romine. She was a mover and a shaker in our club and we all miss her. We miss her not just for what she did in the club, but who she is as a marvelous person. I am confident you and your club will come to that same sense very soon.

Enclosed is a Paul Harris Foundation +5 pin with which our club wanted to honor Shelly for all she did here in Arizona. There is no doubt your club will also grow in new and interesting ways with Shelly embedded in your membership.

Shelly was a superstar for Mesa West Rotary Club and she will shine again soon in Kennewick.

Thank you for taking the time to honor Shelly; she is a genuine Rotarian.

 

Shelly send a message expressing her appreciation for being honored with this recognition and expressed some concern that she would need to live up to the praise expressed in John's letter.

Well, if you're a genuine people-person and your wife works out-of-state, you might look for a job that doesn't require a lot of thought, but allows you to help people when they are getting out of their comfort zones.

 

Our favorite retired dentist, has accepted a customer-service position at Sky Harbor Airport, Terminal 4.

 

Ron Thompson recently stopped by his old office to show his new work uniform to the staff - several of whom worked with Ron for decades.  He may not be their boss anymore, but we suspect he is a forever friend!

President Jay provided photographic evidence that he attended at least one Rotary Makeup while he has been travelling. 

 

He was hoping to see at least one familiar face.  The Easton, PA Rotary club is the home club of Wayne Barefoot who visited Mesa West several times this past winter.

 

It is your editor's understanding Easton is Jay's home town, and where his mother resides.

 

The photo was taken and sent to us May 22.

 

 

Warren Williamson led the Pledge of Allegiance and Dick Myren offered the invocation.  John Pennpacker, who had recently attended a reunion of Army Aviators, had hoped to share a You-Tube video to commemorate Memorial Day.  It was slow loading.  Rather than delay the meeting, it was sent to our club members on Memorial Day.  In case you missed it, CLICK HERE. 

 

 

 

Because this meeting was celebrating two of our favorite youth programs - Rotary Youth Exchange and Rotary Builds Bridges - there were many guests at the meeting.  To protect the privacy of our youth, and because your editor is not sure that her notes accurately tell her who is who, enjoy the photos and the memories they evoke.

 

Colleen Coons is in the bottom right photo introducing potential member Diego Felix.  Diego is from Mexico.  He has had a considerable amount of Rotary experience, much of it with Rotaract.  It has enabled him to travel to Taiwan and South Korea.  He received a scholarship to attend a Rotary International convention where he met amazing people.  He moved to Arizona for work.  He is married and is a resident.  He has a video company and helped with the recent District Conference.  He said many of the people in the conference videos were from Mesa West Rotary.

 

 

 

Chuck explained that the raffle tickets sold for $5 each prior to the meeting are only available to members because of the size of the large, accumulating pot which was up to $1,190.  The total sales are divided three ways with  a third going to the person whose ticket would be drawn, a third going into the club operating account, and the final third being added to the accumulating pot.  The person whose ticket was drawn would automatically win the small pot, which was $40 and the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the dwindling deck.  Colleen Coons was the lucky holder of the ticket drawn, but her luck stopped there.  The card she drew from the deck was the Ten of Spades, which she was allowed to keep or destroy.

 

 

 

 

Colleen asked all the adults, graduates and mentors who had been involved with the program to stand, saying, "Together we do.  Together we thrive."  In a quick overview, she said there were eleven students in the program this year.  Five of them graduated.  Two of them were at the meeting.  One will graduate in August.  Five students were juniors and will be going on to 12th grade next year.  The program was 100% successful.  She thanked Justin Hart for his very generous donation to the program.

 

Roy, with his mentor, Justin went to the front of the room where Roy was given a medal, and the Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You'll Go.  He was also given a $100 stipend for graduating.  Roy said he appreciated the program and said he probably would not have graduated without the program.

 

Omran went to the front with his mentor, Kayla.  Kayla said he has a very packed schedule.  Omran said he will be going to ASU and will major in biology.  He very much appreciated the help he received through the program.  

 

District Governor Michelle Holcomb did a great job of promoting the Rotary license plate that is now available when she made her official visit to our club September 26.  Mesa West Rotary members often lead the way.   We want to encourage our members to get their plates purchased so we can be known for having the highest percentage of members displaying the Rotary license plate on their car(s).  To that end, we have two incentives to offer:

CLICK HERE or on Michelle's photo to go to the order form on the MVD website, scroll down alphabetically and get yours ordered.

As most of you know, Arizona has a very unique state tax credit program.  If you pay taxes to the state of Arizona, you can specify where your tax dollars go (state taxes only).  These instructions are for your reference only.  Please consult a tax prep professional with any specific questions about state tax credits.

There are many different nonprofit organizations that AZ recognizes as authorized recipients of these tax funds.  Mesa West sponsors the Interact Club at Westwood High School, and they are a qualified recipient of these tax credit funds in the Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) category.  Here's how you can donate up to $200 as an individual or $400 as a couple filing jointly and deduct that amount from your state tax burden.

Go to https://westwood.mpsaz.org/page/eca/ and click on the link to pay on the district's website. 

Or go straight to https://mpsaz.sites.thrillshare.com/o/mpsaz/page/pay-donate  in lower right, click on Pay Online

If you have children currently enrolled in Mesa Public Schools, you can use your existing login information.  Otherwise, it's easy to setup a guest account.

Once you are logged in, select 'Items At All Schools' under the 'Shop/Donate' list on the Home page.

On the next page select 'High Schools', then select 'Westwood High'

Select the link for 'ECA Tax Credit', and then 'Programs G-K' on the following page.

Interact - ECA is under code 8646.  Enter a dollar amount in the box, and click the Add button.  That dollar amount should then appear in your cart (highlighted in green at the top of the page).

You can then proceed to the Checkout process and pay with a credit card.  You will receive a receipt that you can print out and save for when you do your taxes.

Thank you for supporting Westwood Interact and all of our youth programs.