With the help of Rotarians (both in and outside our Mesa West Rotary Club), Boy Scout associates, neighboring businesses, and friends, Don was able to fill the remaining shifts ringing the bell for Salvation Army at Bass Pro.
The amount raised for Salvation Army in the Happy Bucks and auctions at Mesa West Rotary Club meetings in December was significant and Don is expecting a few more checks to add to the current total of $4,332.00. This amount will be added to the amount raised at Bass Pro kettle station. The final total will be available in early January.
Don serves on the Board of the local Salvation Army and is very aware of the good they do in our local community. He is very thankful for all the support received this year. The power wash machines Don recently donated to be auctioned as well as the time he has dedicated to managing the bell-ringing schedule for the last several years are indications of his own generous spirit.
We should all celebrate having Don in our midst to show us what Service Above Self looks like!
After welcoming everyone to the meeting, President Dan reminded everyone that the 2021-22 Rotary International theme is Serve to Change Lives.
He then recited the Rotary Vision Statement:
Together we see a world where people unite and
take action to create lasting change -
across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.
Dan invited Ray Smith, who in turn invited Robin Harris to help him lead everyone in singing Jingle Bells and White Christmas. The invocation was offered by Ron Thompson. Lola McClane led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rotary Minute - Ed Koeneman
Since this was the last club meeting in 2021, Ed thought it would be good to review some highlights from the year. In April, when we started meeting in person again, it was a welcome change from meeting via Zoom that seemed to be embraced by all.
We had the smoothest presidential transition ever. President Dan had about three seconds to say "Ahhh!" before being sworn in to serve a second year.
Allan Cady and his team had another successful sponsorship fundraising drive. Shelly kept the club busy doing projects. The Westwood High School Interact is back in operation and is growing. They will be sending five of their members to RYLA in Prescott in January funded from Mesa West Rotary Foundation Youth Services budget.
Ed invited memories from those in attendance. Jeanie Morgan thought it noteworthy that in April, May, and June Rotarians and guests enjoyed free lunches - a quarter like no other in history or likely in the future in Rotary. Ed noted that one table at the meeting was populated almost entirely of members who joined in the last year. Our bell-ringing project at Bass Pro for Salvation Army fundraising is going well with Don LaBarge's persistent follow-up. As in the past, he has worked to fill daily shifts starting the day after Thanksgiving through Chrismas Eve. Dan Coons was happy to have so many new members. Dan Lamborn enjoyed playing golf with fellow-members at a charity golf tournament. Tom Yuzer was glad to be able to visit our meetings in person. Chris Krueger was happy the Global Grant for the Aqua Africa project was approved by The Rotary Foundation.
Ed shared that a significant factor in his decision to leave Grand Canyon University and go into business for himself was his ability to be actively engaged in Mesa West Rotary again.
Annual Meeting - President-Elect Pam Cohen
In December of each year, an Annual Meeting is required by our governing documents to elect a President-Elect Nominee who will serve as President-Elect beginning July 1 of the next year, and then serve as Club President the following Year. In even years, the Club Secretary's term expires and the replacement is elected the preceding December at the Annual Meeting. The Club Treasurer term expires in odd years, so there was no need to elect a replacement for that position. The club Board of Directors has five directors. Two terms expire June 30 of even years, and three terms expire June 30 of odd years. Pam worked with her nominating committee to find club members in good standing who willing to have their names put in nomination at the Annual Meeting, and the slate to be nominated was approved by the Club Board of Directors electronically. The following nominations were announced:
Robin Harris - President-Elect Nominee - to Serve as President-Elect July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 and as Club President July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024
Chris Krueger - Secretary - to serve from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2024
Logan Harper - Director - to serve from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2024
Jay Stuckey - Director - to serve from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2024.
After the nominees present were escorted from the room by John Pennypacker, and Chris Krueger existed the Zoom meeting, a motion was made and seconded to approve the slate of nominees by acclamation. The motion was approved unanimously. All nominees were welcomed back to the meeting room with applause. CLICK HERE to see the full board who will be leading Mesa West Rotary in 2022-23 - our fiftieth year!
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
Chuck asked our Greeter for the Day - Carla Krzmarik to draw the winning ticket. She drew her own ticket making her the lucky winner of $45. Her luck stopped there, however. After shuffling the cards, when she attempted to draw the Ace of Clubs which would have been worth $950, she instead drew the Ten of Spades.
Happy Bucks - Don LaBarge
Don LaBarge was happy to be down to just a few bell-ringing schedule openings. He said that as of December 13, $11,500 had been collected in Mesa West's Salvation Army kettle station at Bass Pro.
John Pennypacker contributed. He was happy he would be taking a night flight to Virginia, arriving on the 17th to spend Christmas with his daughter's family including two lively grandsons.
Pai Bethea pledged $50 to Salvation Army - He was happy to be in person at our meeting.
Ed Koeneman contributed continuing his tradition of sharing 737 - the number of days until the release of the next Star Wars movie. Coming up sooner - in just 13 days - is the new Disney original series - The Book of Boba Fett - coming December 29.
Sean Green contributed - (Apologies from your editor who failed to note why.)
Jack Rosenberg pledged $46 to celebrate Frank's 46th birthday.
Dave Brauchler contributed. He was very happy with Lynn's reaction to a custom cutting board he had ordered from Ed Koeneman. He went on to say he was sad because their granddaughter, Abigail, has hand, hoof and mouth disease.
Ron Thompson contributed. He was happy Toni was going to join him to ring the bell at Bass Pro that evening.
John Benedict contributed. Glad to have rang the Salvation Army bell with his friends Steve Ross and Jack Rosenberg.
Frank Rosenberg - matched his dad's $46 pledge, but wanted his to go to his Paul Harris account.
Colleen Coons - is happy to be involved in building bridges from Interact to Rotaract to Rotary.
Don Boucher was happy Sharon had made her magic bars/ He said they are "like crack" at their house. He added that he will soon be sending a notice to fellow club members reminding them to make TRVFA donations. He said he was happy to be at the meeting. They had spent the weekend with their one-month-old grandson. He said he did his share of feeding, burping, soothing, etc. but did not get involved with diaper changing.
Robin Harris made a $50 pledge to his Paul Harris account.
Bob Zarling contributed. He was happy to be back.
Pam Cohen contributed. She ws happy to see Daryl (Pai) Bethea in-person at our meeting. She asked for continued prayers for Jeane Crouse. She expressed her huge appreciation for Ed Koeneman's help with the AV equipment.
Before handing the microphone back to President Dan, Don lamented the fact that three paint sticks have disappeared from the Mesa West Rotary supplies for the kettle station kept at Bass Pro. That's never happened before!
Auction - Warren Williamson - Shawl Created by Son Hee Williamson
Son Hee Williamson created a beautiful shawl from yarn in neutral colors. Warren said there were thousands of yards of yarn in it. Following some lively, competitive bidding, Don LaBarge prevailed with his bid of $120 to benefit the Salvation Army.
Community Service Donation
President Dan invited Don Boucher to join him near the podium. Several months ago, Don had suggested that Mesa West Rotary Foundation donate funds to support a new charity which had been created by a Physician in the west valley. The physician was aware of patients who were having difficulty accessing medical care due to COVID precautions. He arranged for telemedicine to be available to those patients, and when the patients did not have a phone with adequate technical applications phones would be provided through the new charity - Nova Hope Foundation. Dan presented a $2,000 check to NovaHope Foundation from the Mesa West Rotary Foundation Community Service budget.
Announcements
Mesa West Rotary will be dark December 23 and December 30. There will be no in-person or Zoom meetings on those dates.
The service project announced in the December 15 Messenger has been cancelled due to the conflict of the Post Holiday social event scheduled on the same date - January 22, 2022. Instead, we will be collecting masks for New Leaf at our January club meetings. The project was found on justserve.org. CLICK HERE to learn more about New Leaf. Boxes of generic blue masks would be perfect.
Program - Dan Lamborn - Job Talk
President Dan introduced Dr. Dan Lamborn as our tallest new member. Dr. Dan earned his Doctorate in Engineering from Penn State, so he has earned the right to say, "Trust me, I'm a doctor." Dan had previously received his Bachelor or Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah. Dan happily announced that University of Utah is headed for the Rose Bowl and he plans to be there.
Dan has been employed with Intel from 2007 to now. He has had several responsibilities: Engineering (RnD), Pathfinding (RnD) Org building (RnD), Management (RnD and Factory), and Supply Chain (RnD). He is currently working in supply chain - "the chips are coming...slowly."
Intel has more than 110,000 employees worldwide. They are the largest private employer in Oregon. There are currently approximately 12,000 Intel employees in Arizona. They do in-house development, design, manufacturing, and packaging of the "logic" (the processors in computers) and "memory" (the SSD in laptops.
Dan spent some time talking about the complicated process of the evolution from a wafer to a chip. The process takes from nine to fifteen weeks. They are created in FABS in an ultra clean environment. The Intel facility at Ocotillo and Dobson in Chandler has four FABS. CLICK HERE to learn more about chipmaking - "It's complicated."
He said anyone wanting to jump in on the bandwagon should be very wary. You would need to invest $9-12 billion to build from scratch, and it would take at least two-three years to build.
Dan works with RnD teams to see what tools are needed. He helps with negotiating. He works to get the right features at the right price so they can fill up the FABS.
The FABS are very dense with equipment, with very few people in them. In order to have the chips needed today, lots of financial incentive would have been needed ten years ago. In just the last two or three years demand for chips has changed dramatically. The industry simply does not have the capacity to meet today's market demands. Not that many years ago, automobiles did not require chips. In vehicles marketed today, there are all kinds or technical gadgets requiring logic and memory to operate. Historically, they operated with three-month "lead times." In today's world, eighteen months is normal.
Two new FABS are planned for Chandler. With Intel many facilities are United States based. Right now, it is an equipment-vendor market. It takes longer for Intel to get needed equipment - and it is more costly. Ironically, sometimes the delay in getting the necessary equipment is caused by chip shortages.
Dan and his wife Jessica have three daughters (the cause of Dan's gray hair). Jessica is a former Rotary Youth Exchange Student, and her father is a Rotarian in Utah. Their oldest daughter is a sophomore at NAU. Their middle daughter is a senior at Highland High School and plans to go to NAU in the fall. Their youngest daughter is a freshman at Highland High School, and has an interest in being a Rotary Youth Exchange student.
When asked what he likes to do for recreation, Dan said he dabbles at golf, but is terrible. When golfing at a tournament with John Pennypacker, he said John would look the other way. John said he wasn't looking the other way, he was taking cover. He and his family enjoy travel.
Dan's primary reason for joining Rotary was when he realized the only adults outside his family he interacted with were all with Intel. He felt Rotary would give him a broader view of our community and our world. When he volunteered at the 7th Street Food Pantry paining project last winter, his youngest daughter came along to help and proved to be quite expert in "cutting in." Dan admitted she was better than him in that area - he is good at broad strokes that are high enough most people don't really see his work.
The Community Service Committee would like to invite you to participate in one or both of our events for January. A previous event with The Genesis Project was posted but had to be postponed until May.
Our "hands on" project for January will be at the United Food Bank.
Your help is needed! Volunteers are required for the following event. Click on Sign Up to view available slots and book yourself directly online.
Event:
United Food Bank Emergency Food Bag Build
Date:
Jan 19, 2022 at 6:00 PM - Jan 19, 2022 at 8:00 PM
Chair:
Shelly Romine
Location:
United Food Bank Volunteer Center 358 E. Javeline Ave. Mesa, AZ United States of America 85210
We will also be collecting disposable face masks for A New Leaf (turnanewleaf.org). A New Leaf provides housing, health and social services for families in need. Their services need to be in person and with the continued challenge of COVID 19 they use a lot of masks. If we can help meet this need they can spend donations helping their clients in better ways. Please bring a box of disposable masks to any meeting in January.
This pair of glasses was found on one of the tables following the December 2 meeting. Please see Jeanie Morgan if you believe they are yours so you can claim them.
We hope you will schedule this event on your 2022 calendar! December is always such a busy month for Rotarians - who are already busy people - that we have held off until January to have our Mesa West celebration.
Since the fine print might be too fine for many, it will be held at the home of Pam Cohen, 3650 E Quenton Drive, Lot 8, Mesa AZ 85215. You will need her gate code which is 1492. It will be a pot luck dinner with appetizers and desserts provided as a courtesy of attending members. Non-alcoholic beverages will be provided. If you have a favorite beverage you wish to enjoy, please bring it with you. The event is free for members. There will be a $10 charge for guests.
A highlight of the evening will be our Annual Gift Exchange. The exchange is anonymous and optional. Participating members will draw numbers out of a hat to select a gift. Be prepared however, as your gift could be stolen if someone drawn after you likes it better than their chance of opening another gift.
When you complete the survey, we ask that you let us know whether you plan to provide an appetizer or dessert, and you will have an opportunity to let us know specifically what you plan to bring.
The survey will save your executive secretary a lot of time, but for those who are technically challenged, or have a specialized form of ergophobia where you fear taking surveys, you can e-mail Jeanie Morgan providing your name, the name(s) of any guest(s) who will attend with you, and the appetizer or dessert you plan to bring.
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.
Club Information
Welcome to our Rotary Club of Mesa West!
THE ACE OF CLUBS
Thursdays at 12:00 PM
Via Zoom or in-person
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3748672091
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.
Rotary Minute - Ed Koeneman
Community Service Donation
Program - Dan Lamborn - Job Talk
Dan spent some time talking about the complicated process of the evolution from a wafer to a chip. The process takes from nine to fifteen weeks. They are created in FABS in an ultra clean environment. The Intel facility at Ocotillo and Dobson in Chandler has four FABS. 
The FABS are very dense with equipment, with very few people in them. In order to have the chips needed today, lots of financial incentive would have been needed ten years ago. In just the last two or three years demand for chips has changed dramatically. The industry simply does not have the capacity to meet today's market demands. Not that many years ago, automobiles did not require chips. In vehicles marketed today, there are all kinds or technical gadgets requiring logic and memory to operate. Historically, they operated with three-month "lead times." In today's world, eighteen months is normal.
Our "hands on" project for January will be at the United Food Bank.
We will also be collecting disposable face masks for A New Leaf (
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:
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