President Chris Krueger opened the meeting asking John Pennypacker to offer the invocation - "A Soldier's Prayer."  Ray Smith led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Don LaBarge Introduced Ryan Ellis with the YMCA.  Jack Rosenberg introduced his wife, Cindy.  Chris Krueger was pleased to introduce member Karen Chavez who was back from an extended absence.

 

Chris asked Cindy Rosenberg to draw a token for the attendance drawing.  She drew #7, which made Frank Rosenberg the lucky $5 winner.  Chuck Flint explained that the small weekly raffle winnings would be $22, and if that winner should be lucky enough to draw the ace of clubs from the deck, they would win $74.  Karen Chavez drew Chris Krueger's ticket, but the card Chris drew from the deck was the four of clubs.

 

A Mesa West tradition of boosting support of The Rotary Foundation was back.  Chuck Flint explained for the benefit of newer members and guests that there are 100 squares on the Buck Board.  Members and guests will be able to purchase squares at a cost of $10 each.  Members can charge the cost of the squares they purchase to their dues account, but guests need to pay at the time they commit to their purchase(s).  When all 100 squares are filled, values will be assigned to each row and column by drawing cards from a deck.  Those 20 cards will then be shuffled and redrawn one at a time eliminating rows and columns until only one square is left without being eliminated.  The owner of that square will have $1,000 donated in their name to The Rotary Foundation for Paul Harris Fellow credit.  They will receive a receipt from TRF for the $1,000 tax-deductible donation.

 

Steve West paid $100.  He and his wife, Julie, recently marked their 39th wedding anniversary.  He confessed he was in Brazil and Julie was not in Brazil with him on their special day.  There were two common sources of contributions at this meeting.  There were contributions celebrating the life of Senator John McCain, and other contributions were from Rotarians happy to have Karen Chavez back.  One of those was Chuck Flint, who pointed out that Karen is a fellow Havasu Falls hike survivor. 

 

John Pennypacker was happy to have driven Francesca (his convertible) with the top down to Show Low to play golf there with his friend who rode with him.  He was happy with the ride the game and the cooler temperatures.  Dick Myren contributed $1 honoring Rod Daniel's tradition of paying $1 because he was happy to be a member of Mesa West.  Jack Rosenberg was happy a recent corrective surgery endured by Cindy was successful and she is able to walk unassisted again.  Ted Williams announced that he and Susan had recently celebrated their 15th anniversary as he donated $100 to the foundation. 

 

Don LaBarge was happy he would be heading to Boise next week for the Zone Institute for Zones 21A and 27.  He was really happy his hotel and registration costs would be covered as thanks for his willingness to transport all the flags he has in his custody for use at the Institute.  Don is not confused.  He knows our own zone will be having their institute in Reno in November.  A bonus will be that Don will get to reconnect with friends made before the zones were reorganized a few years ago.  He will see many Rotary leaders from the midwest that he met while preparing for and serving as District Governor of 5510 in 2008-09. 

 

Don asked for thoughts and prayers for his brother, Neil.  A spot was recently found on Neil's lung and they are anxiously awaiting biopsy results.  Immanuel Gleeson also asked for thoughts and prayers.  He has a teen-aged daughter who is going through some troubled times.  Immanuel wants to be a loving, supportive parent, but is surprised to find himself troubled with some selfish feelings, such as "Why am I having to deal with this right now?"

 

Chris Krueger was happy she would be headed for Nebraska Friday and would get to spend time with family.  Jim Schmidt donated $100 for Paul Harris credit in Karen's name.

 

Dan Coons shared Caiu's wish list of activities to enjoy while he is in Arizona for his Rotary Youth Exchange.  He passed the list around asking Rotarians to sign up for any activity they wished to host.  There were blanks on the last page for Rotarians to use to invite Caiu to have dinner with their family or participate in a unique planned event not listed.

 

 

Shakima Fagan kicked off the first Interact meeting of the year Wednesday, August 29.  Approximately 40 students showed up to hear about all the great things that Westwood Interact has on the schedule. Purple Pinkie, Crutches for Africa, WAPI Wednesdays, and much more.  The next meeting is Wednesday Sept. 5th at 8AM (then every other Wednesday).

GCU Rotaract had a great recruitment night at the GCU club fair on Monday, August 27.  Over 130 students signed up for the Remind notices. The first meeting of the year is Wednesday Sept. 5th at 6PM. Contact Ed Koeneman for the new meeting room information if you'd like to attend.

Basic Education and Literacy is one of the six "Areas of Focus" of The Rotary Foundation.  Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

 

Realizing that getting children into schools isn't enough to solve illiteracy, Rotary shifts to mentoring and coaching teachers.

 

CLICK HERE to read a story featured on the RI Website telling how Rotarians are making a difference with a program which teaches teachers how to integrate critical thinking skills into the process of teaching basic literacy.

As you all know our club has taken on the opportunity of hosting an exchange student from Ecuador.  Caiu has a great personality with a sense of humor and is fun to be around.  We would really like as many club members as possible to take advantage of the opportunity of getting to meet Caiu by sharing some time with him.  As such I have attached a list of activities that Caiu, Allan Cady, Frank Rosenberg and myself would like to make happen while he is here this school year.  We’ll call it his bucket list.  If you have an interest in sharing one or more of these activities with Caiu, sign up on the list I will bring to Rotary each week.  You could also send me an e-mail.  You can add your own activity – even dinner at your home would be great.