One of the requirements of the district grant that was awarded to United Sound and announced at our October 5 meeting is that members of Mesa West Rotary Club participate in a work project related to the grant.  The mission of United Sound is providing musical performance experiences through peer mentorship for students with special needs.  

 

The grant funds, which were matched by the Mesa West Rotary Foundation for a total of $4,000 will cover printing of the curriculum/music books the participating students use.  The work project will utilize Rotarians and their guests and participating family members to assemble and customize the curriculum books adding colored stickers to aid the special needs students in transferring what they see in the book to more easily play correct notes on their musical instrument(s).

 

A work project/social event will be held at the home of United Sound Executive Director and Mesa West Rotary Member, Julie Duty, on Friday evening, October 27, at 7:00 PM.  Wine and snacks will be provided. 

President, Allan Cady opened the meeting asking Chris Krueger to give the invocation, and Don LaBarge to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.  When introducing Donna Ratonia with R&L Carriers as her guest, Chris Krueger noted that Donna is a former Rotarian from Nebraska.   Larry Kasterbaum was introduced as a visiting Rotarian from Guam.  Jerry Burnett, a lender from Chase Bank was also a guest at our meeting.

 

President Allan shared three thoughts for the day:

Our President imposed a $5 "key fine" on Jeanie Morgan for leaving the October 12 meeting with another Rotarian's car key.

 

The weekly drawing was won by a visiting Rotarian, who did NOT draw the ace of clubs, so the large pot will continue to grow.  Chuck Flint explained the background of our Buck Board for the benefit of our visitors, and gladly sold available spots on the board for $10 each. 

 

During the Sgt. at Arms program, Greg Okonowski started the happy bucks by donating $100 celebrating a recent vacation, he announced that the money collected this week would be used to purchase school supplies for use at the school where the Guaymas mission takes place.  Since the money was going for a worthy cause, Don LaBarge searched his wallet for $$ to donate. 

 

Ron Thompson won the attendance drawing and donated his winnings to the Guaymas school supply project.

 

Penny May had a gift from her recent European vacation to auction.  Donna Goetzenberger made the winning $45 bid and received a beautiful cultured pearl necklace.

 

President Allan made the following announcements:

Pam Cohen introduced Harvey Clark, Past President of Superstition Mountain Rotary Club.  Harvey has a long history in Police Enforcement.  The program was about InfraGard, an Alliance for National Infrastructure Protection.  Harvey has an 18 year history with InfraGard.  He explained that private citizens can get involved in the Alliance which works is affiliated with the FBI.  In Arizona, there are 1400 members.  They are each required to meet the following criteria:

An advantage to membership is the training that is available.  Arizona's vision is to have a "live fire" training program.  They train and hack and take down bad guys every single day.   He also spoke about ACTRA - Arizona Cyber Threat Respose Alliance. 

 

Harvey introduced Agent, Paul Schaaf, who is the FBI InfraGard Coordinator.  He explained that InfraGard is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed to strengthen infrastructure.  They push to get information out faster to reduce vulnerability, understanding it is dangerous to "sit on it."  They are often told the name of the organization is spelled wrong.  Their answer is,  "The only thing missing in InfraGard is U(You)."

 

He reviewed a few common findings.  Don't fall for transactions where you are asked to wire money.  If you suspect you have had a breach of cyber security, report it.  Breaches can be reported anonymously.  He stated "You will be hacked, but won't know when."  Their existence helps to thwart terrorism, counter-intelligence, and cyber threats.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Ross was born in Centerville Iowa.  He was the middle child, with one older sister, and one younger sister.  He has lived in Arizona for 45 years, arriving in 1972.  He has visited twelve foreign countries, but English is the only language in which he is fluent.  Steve has resided inthree states - Iowa, Missouri and Arizona.

 

In his youth, Steve wanted to be a baseball or basketball player.  He became a high school coach/teacher for three years before becoming a realtor.  He began his real estate career in 1979 and recently retired from Ross Realty.

 

Steve is married to Luin Ross.  They celebrated their 37th anniversary on July 4 of this year.  They have one child, Scott Ross, who is an anthropologist in Washington, D.C.

 

Steve's favorite vacation memories took place in the summer of 2002 when he toured eight countries in Europe with Luin and Scott.

 

The most rewarding volunteer experience Steve has enjoyed to date was when he worked with fellow Rotarians to build a playground for a Child Crisis Center.

When we show up to have fun at Chuck Flint's at the end of this year's Sponsorship campaign for our club's charitable foundation, will you be eating steak or beans?  You will be eating steak if your team has raised the most in donations, or if EVERY member of your team has brought in at least one donation.  If your team hasn't met either of these criteria, you are encouraged to come for the fellowship and to celebrate those who have worked at helping us make the funds needed to do the work we want to do in our community and the world, but Chuck Flint suggests you may want to bring some Gas-X.

 

"If it is to be, it is up to me," should be each of our attitudes.  If you don't know what team you are on, CLICK HERE to download the team roster. 

 

The donations are not supposed to come from us, it is hoped we will each give our personal Rotary "elevator speech" to friends, neighbors, associates, neighbors who might be too busy to join a Rotary Club, but who would be happy to help us make a difference, if asked.  Just ask!  Download our Sponsorship Brochure to give (or send) to those you ask.

 

Let's not try hard to make this program work, Instead, let's each try very hard to make it fun! (and pray you're not on a team of vegans)

Click HERE or on image to register.