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.
RLI SESSION 1 ONLY SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2024 8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. At: PRIVATE RESIDENCE (home of PDG David Simmer) 2316 N SAN FRANCISCO STREET FLAGSTAFF, AZ 86001 COST: $65.00 (Most Clubs will cover this cost if they can) Includes: Continental Breakfast Lunch Study Materials Registration Opens June 20, 2024 Or register on the District website at: rotary5495.org, or contact Polly Cady at pcady@cadyfam.com
Why Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI)? Participant Interaction and FUN! Come interact with fellow Rotarians about:
Rotary Basics Service and Foundation Leadership Communication Ethics & Vocation Membership
RLI is a world-wide organization that some refer to as Rotary’s “College of Knowledge”. RLI touches on “everything Rotary” and is not a “leadership” course to become an officer of your Club. RLI is made up of three one-day Sessions to give you an overview of what Rotary is and what it does worldwide. Its goal is to create ENTHUSIASM for Rotary and show the enormous potential of Rotary service and how with knowledge and excellent leadership in Clubs, the world will benefit.
The Flagstaff Rotary Club will be having a golf-tournament fundraiser on the Monday following this session. CLICK HERE to learn more or register for the tournament.
Jack Rosenberg for leading the Pledge of Allegiance as well as serving as greeter
Dick Myren for offering the invocation as well as handling the raffle
Steve Ross for serving as backup greeter
Jeanie Morgan and Jay Paulus for handling check in.
John Pennypacker for managing room setup.
Ed Koeneman for serving as Chief Technology Officer
Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
Introduction of Guests
Polly Cady introduced Mark Newell who has retired from the government and is passionate about Shelter Box. Mark took the microphone and said that he had moved to Gilbert about two years ago from upstate New York. His passion is to help people. In his career with the government, he was involved in accounting - contract management with a goal of "spreading the peanut butter more evenly on the bread." He learned about Shelter Box which brought him to having an interest in learning more about Rotary.
Sam Rosenberg thanked the club for sponsoring her year in Denmark as an outbound Rotary Youth Exchange student saying "It was the best year of my life!" She had arrived home slightly less than a week prior to the meeting.
Attending via Zoom were Pai Bethea, Connie Bunyard, Bob Jensen, and Deb Koeneman.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Dick Myren
Dick explained that the proceeds of the raffle tickets sold are divided three ways. A third goes into the club's operating account, a third is given to the holder of the stub of the raffle ticket drawn. The final third is added to the accumulating "big pot". The daily winner also wins the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs (which we believe we are) from the cards remaining in the deck.
Should they be so lucky, they would win the big pot which is now up to $661. The other card which could result in smaller winnings is the joker which would be worth $20. Dick asked Sam Rosenberg to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Don LaBarge. After receiving the weekly winnings of $30, Don shuffled the cards face down and drew. Sadly, for Don, the card he drew was the Eight of Diamonds.
Happy Bucks - Ron Thompson
Ron Thompson made the first contribution - since the meeting would be his last week as Sgt at Arms, and he was glad that Sam was back. He encouraged everyone to "make it big."
Dick Myren made his traditional donation happy that he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs. He was also happy for our President who has only a few more days to worry about the details of managing the club.
Don LaBarge contributed. His granddaughter, Renee, has joined the Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club. She has a job that would conflict with her ability to be an active member of Mesa West.
Jack Rosenberg was glad Sam was back.
Ed Koeneman was happy Sam was back. He was also happy he would be getting a new knee next month., predicting he would be unable to attend club meetings most of August.
Warren Williamson told a story Jeanie Morgan had shared with him. A doctor who was soon to be retiring from his practice introduced one of his long-time lady patients to the new doctor who would be taking over and left her with the new doctor for her annual physical. A little while later, she ran screaming and crying from the young doctor's exam room. The retiring doctor heard the commotion and invited her into his office to find out what was going on. She told him the young doctor had told her she was pregnant. The older physician left the room to find out what in the world was going on. He found the young doctor who was entering information into their data system. The older doctor asked, "What were you thinking, telling a 72 year old woman who has grown children and a few grandchildren that she was pregnant?!?" Without looking up, the young doctor asked, "Does she still have the Hiccups?"
Marilyn Klingler contributed. She was just happy to be at the meeting.
Harry Grossman fined himself. He had worn his name badge home from the June 13 meeting. Harry said his son-in-law is a RI Alumni. In August, he will get to spend time with his host family from thirty years ago.
Sam Rosenberg thanked the club for her amazing experience which she will never forget!
Polly Cady contributed. She and Allan had spent the prior week in San Diego on their boat with Olivia and Braly. One evening they also enjoyed dinner with John Pennypacker's grandson, Ty. She said spending time with such high-quality youth, she is confident we can look ahead to a good future.
Allan Cady was happy Sam was back.
Jay Paulus was happy the operating budget for next year was approved by the Club Board of Directors. They had approved forwarding his proposed charitable spending budget to the Mesa West Rotary Foundation Board with the recommendation that it be approved. He understands he hasn't been given a blank check...
Colleen Coons was very happy to have enjoyed the wonderful experience of serving as Club President. She said she knows her fellow-members much better. She said she was glad she joined Mesa Leadership, She was also happy that her youngest son who is 24 has been accepted in the paramedic program with the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Eric Silverberg thanked Colleen. He contributed $40 - next month, he and his wife will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
John Pennypacker contributed saying it was good to have Sam back. He also thanked the Allan and Polly Cady for showing his grandson a good time.
Sponsor Program Update - Steve Ross
Steve reported that, "as of twenty minutes ago," John Pennypacker's team was in the lead. The other team leaders - Ray Smith, Bob Jensen, Ed Koeneman, and Ron Thompson all did a great job. Steve wanted to thank the one member who got the sponsorship program started - Allan Cady. Allan made a confession and an announcement. He said he received his Father's Day card from his son and daughter-in-law a few days prior to Father's Day and confessed he opened it early. It was a very nice card, and it contained a very special gift. Inside the card was a $10,000 check payable to Mesa West Rotary Foundation. Allan said that he had conversed with Colleen about the check and wanted to convey that it was his wish that $5,000 of the amount would be forwarded by the club's foundation to The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. With this donation, the sponsor program for this year will have exceeded the $60,000 goal.
Announcement - President Colleen Coons
Colleen explained that we were expecting a visit from one of the McKinney Vento students - Christopher Sousa. She hoped he would arrive before the meeting ended. He is a very busy young man. He goes to school from 8-1, has a job from 2-7, and another job from 8-1. When asked what he wanted, he wanted help getting his drivers' license, he needed a mechanic to look at his car, and he needed a desk so he would have a place to study. Colleen feared she would not have time to tell the members about him and wanted to share at least this much before he arrived.
Program - Alison Stoltman, Arizona Museum of Natural History
Eric Silverberg introduced Alison. She has over 25 years of experience in the museum field, with a background in both archaeology and paleontology, Alison has worked across a spectrum of institutions from the Folk Museum of Wales, specializing in specific cultural content, to large-scale institutions such as the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Throughout her career, Alison has had the great fortune to work in various professional capacities, including conducting research, preserving and restoring collections, educational programming, curating exhibits and is currently working in administration as the Deputy Director of the Arizona Museum of Natural History. Her role also includes consultation with various City Departments and as a liaison with neighboring Tribal communities as the Acting City Archaeologist.
Driven by an insatiable love of learning, Alison is dedicated to advancing informal education. Her primary objective is to foster scientific and cultural literacy within communities. She aims to achieve this by cultivating welcoming and inclusive museum spaces and extending educational outreach beyond traditional boundaries.
CLICK HEREor on the image to view the slides Alison shared as she made her presentation.
Alison shared that there are many different kinds of museums. She talked about an underwater museum. She also talked about a museum on her bucket list to visit - a toilet museum. When she thinks about the impact on mankind's health and sanitation, she can't think of a single invention with a bigger impact.
Thinking about how we got to where we are today... In the past there were "temples of learning" with muses sharing information. Alexandria in Egypt was one of the first. It burned down - more than once.
During the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th century, there was a real sense of a need to collect, document, share knowledge about the tangible evidence from historical periods. The first public museum in London opened in 1759. People had to apply to be able to visit it.
The first actual public museum was the Louvre in Paris which opened in the middle of their revolution.
It didn't break down social barriers. It actually created cultural divides. Some created knowledge about wrongs being righted.
There was some intertwining of education and entertainment when P. T. Barnum bought a lot of items and travelled with his own eclectic collection - some of which had real historical value, but there was no curation.
James Smithson gave a fortune in America to form a museum involving scientists and researchers.
The Arizona Museum of Natural History was built in 1936 by the WPA They hope they create curiosity about scientific knowledge, cultural influence, and lived experience. We want our tribal neighbors to be able to accurately tell their story.
There is an economic impact to our state. Arts and culture has brought in over $5.5 million in a single ear.
Through ongoing research and work of groups all over the world, museums are the guardians of cultural and natural history working against agents of decay. They want to provide a voice to the past. Watch for a formal announcement - the name of the Mesa Grande Cultural Park will be changing. Thousands of years ago, it was a bustling business center.
Rotary Builds Bridges Recognition - Christopher Sousa
Christopher Sousa was invited to come forward. He is a recent graduate of Red Mountain High School. He was presented with a medal as well as a Dr. Seuss book - Oh The Places You'll Go.
He was told the book may look like a children's book, but the content has some very good messages for adults. Christopher was given a graduation gift bag. and asked how our Rotary Builds Bridges - McKinney-Vento program had helped him. His two-word answer, spoken with heartfelt emotion, "Not Alone," brought tears to the eyes of several in the room.
Mesa West Rotary Club has recently become a member of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce. Members are encouraged to CLICK HERE to go to the Chamber website where you can click on a link "Email List" to subscribe to their e-newsletters. As a business member, our club members are able to take advantage of educational and networking events held by the Chamber which you will learn about via their electronic newsletters.. The QR code in the image above will take you to their Facebook page.
At the May 21 Board Meeting, Mesa West Rotary club officers and directors approved a recommended increase in all levels of dues effective July 1. This recommended change is primarily due to the fact that Rotary International and District per-member dues will be increasing. The good news is that the full-dues option is still less than the $250/member we were paying prior to the COVID pandemic.
Dues Options 2024-25
$360/Quarter
Corporate Dues – One person registered as the active member
(Includes meals for member or their designated representative from the same organization)
$240/Quarter
Full Dues – Includes all meals at meetings
$90/Quarter
Members electing following options will be charged $25 for each in-person meeting attended.
E-85 – Age plus years in Rotary equals 85 or more
(includes members in Rotary 20 or more years)
Family of Rotary – Second member of family
Rotary Service – Participation in Service Projects
(includes local and international service projects)
Zoom Only
(intended for members who cannot attend in-person due to health or other accessibility limitations, but who wish to be actively engaged in Mesa West Rotary Club)
When 2024-25 Budget is approved, this document will become an Addendum to the Bylaws of the Rotary Club of Mesa West adopted in December 17, 2020
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.
Mesa West Rotary Club operates two separate legal entities. Our Rotary Club is a 501(c)(4), which is not a tax-deductible charitable organization, but is exempt from income tax. Our club operations income from dues, most happy bucks (unless otherwise designated), raffle income, etc. is used to pay for the cost of operating the club - our meal expense, supplies, education of our officers, etc.
The charitable work and giving that we do is funded through Mesa West Rotary Foundation. It is a 501(c)(3) public charity. It is the fundraising and funding vehicle for our charitable endeavors: Donations to MWRF are tax deductible.
For the past several years, rather than have major public events to raise funds, we have quietly gone to our friends, family, current and past business associates, etc. and simply asked for sponsorship donations. We have averaged about $50,000 each year in revenue from our sponsorship drive. So our members will be better acquainted with those who are involved with the MWRF Board of Trustees, each of the five Trustees will be team leaders this year. CLICK HERE to down load a list showing who is on each Trustee's team. Traditional fundraising events are very time and effort intensive and rarely yield the kind of results this effort has produced. The Sponsor Drive has allowed Mesa West Rotary Club members to focus their Rotary effort on service projects. The other advantage is that our donors can be assured that their donation will go entirely to charity as there are no cost-of-fundraising expenses.
Sometimes donors hesitate to give to a fundraising dinner where names of sponsors are published because they don't want others knocking on their door asking for more money. There are probably many people we know who admire what we do that would like to be a part of it, but cannot afford the time to be involved. More people would admire what we do if we bragged about it outside of Rotary more often. You might be surprised that someone would offer to donate if you bragged about the fact that we don't waste our time and resources putting on lavish events. Some of those donors may have the opportunity to have their gift matched by their employer.
Have fun telling why you are proud to be a Rotarian, and get your "ask" in gear.
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.
RLI SESSION 1 ONLY 
Program - Alison Stoltman, Arizona Museum of Natural History
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.
The charitable work and giving that we do is funded through Mesa West Rotary Foundation. It is a 501(c)(3) public charity. It is the fundraising and funding vehicle for our charitable endeavors: Donations to MWRF are tax deductible.
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:.png)
