https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85900479873
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.
Mesa West Rotarians Enjoying Rotary International Convention in Calgary
The building seen in the top photos is huge. The House of Friendship is there, meals are served there. John Pennypacker is shown sending a big Yahoo! waiving his cowboy hat which he wore to Calvary Stampede activities. Several photos of the Calvary tower were shared. Jim Schmidt is showing "toasting" DG Michelle Holcomb at a Big West gathering at the convention. John Pennypacker chose to get his photo taken supporting the End Polio Now movement. Chad Reid is listening attentively during a session. People from every part of our globe attend Rotary International Conventions. Some advertise their home clubs more openly than others. The Ferris Wheel sports a Rotary wheel at its center.
The Coons and Koenemans participated in a home-host event They are shown with Moe and Brennan from the club hosting the activity. The Parade of Flags representing all of the countries of the world which have active Rotary clubs in them is always impressive. The Rotary Foundation is very close to reaching their bequest goal of $2.025 billion by 2025. They hope to be there before the conference ends. The middle photo on the left shows some avid listeners in one of the breakout sessions. Running into friends from home to sit with at a session is always fun. John Pennypacker is shown with a young lady on the right - Cassie Howder - who works for RI in Club Support. She brought five interactors from her district in Seattle to their first RI convention. Two are shown in the photo. John was able to catch up with Past Rotary International President Gary C K Huang and his wife Connie and was able to enjoy a nice lunch with them. PRIP Huang was RI President the year John served as District Governor in 2014-15.
We know that some of our Mesa West members played hookie long enough to capture some photos of scenery in the beautiful Canadian Rockies. John Pennypacker is shown sporting his end polio now (fake) tattoo visiting with a polio victim. Colleen and Dan Coons are shown in a photo with a mounted officer of the law. They are also shown with David and Candace Talbot from Colorado. They founded the Crutches 4 Africa charity. Melodie Jackson is shown next to Ed Koeneman at one of the general sessions. Mesa West met up with Tempe South at the convention.
Ed and Debbie are shown with another gentleman from the home host activity they enjoyed. The brochure at the bottom right is about ending Shistomiasis which impacts 80 million children every year. The right panel shows "presented by District 5495 Interact."
In case you weren't paying attention, we have documented photographic evidence that nine active Mesa West Rotarians (Colleen Coons, Melodie Jackson, Deb Koeneman, Ed Koeneman, Jay Paulus, Liz Paulus, John Pennypacker, Chad Reid, and Jim Schmidt) are all at the Rotary International Convention. That's 14.5% of our total active membership. Very impressive!
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.
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:
The first Mesa West Rotary Club member who can honestly tell a story about how they met someone who showed interest in Rotary because of their plate AND that conversation resulted in an approved membership application into Mesa West Rotary or any other Rotary District 5495 club will get one free quarter of their Mesa West Rotary Club dues.
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.
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.
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.
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Introduction of Guests
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.
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: