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.
Incoming officers and directors are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the excellent learning and networking opportunities available to those to attend the Club Leadership Academy Saturday March 8 at Paradise Valley Community College Conference Center..
One of the offerings will be District Grant Training. Grants Management Seminar, Sessions 1 and 2 will be offered at CLA. Our club should try to have at least two members attend these sessions. The information can change from year to year, so having taken it in the past doesn't mean you know all you need to know.
For those who want to attend the Grants Management Seminar, but are not free on March 8, an in-person trainng in the Phoenix area is in the process of being planned for March 15. The location has not yet been announced. A Zoom training will also be offered March 19. Registration information will be sent for this opportunity in early March.
CLICK HERE or on the image to learn more as well as register for CLA.
March 21 - Rotary Day at the Park - Cubs Spring Training Game. $49/person for full-dues members - $74/person for discounted dues-paying members and guests. We are currently "sold out". CLICK HEREto email Jeanie Morgan to be added to a waiting list in case there are cancellations.
ASU Edson Entrepreneurship+Innovation Institute and The Mesa West Rotary Club Present the Igniting Innovation Venture Challenge to Support Young Entrepreneurs.
It was recently announced to the public that the Mesa West Rotary Club, in partnership with ASU J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute (Edson E+I), is thrilled to announce the community pitch competition, Igniting Innovation Venture Challenge. This event is designed to empower young local entrepreneurs by providing a platform for them to pitch innovative business ideas that address community needs and drive sustainable impact in the creative technology industries. The Challenge is the culminating event for the 3-month Innovation Series being hosted by Edson E+I at The Studios @ Mesa City Center.
The Igniting Innovation Venture Challenge will feature a panel of esteemed judges, including successful entrepreneurs, investors, government and business leaders, who will offer mentorship, guidance, and funding for promising ventures. This exciting event showcases the spirit of innovation in Mesa and ASU, highlighting ventures that have the potential to transform the local economy and inspire the next generation of business leaders.
"We’re excited to bring the Igniting Innovation Venture Challenge to our community," said Gerald Paulus, President of the Mesa West Rotary Club. "Our Theme This year within our District, is “Rotary Means Business” and this initiative aligns with our commitment to fostering young entrepreneurship, local economic development and supporting innovative thinkers. By giving young entrepreneurs a stage to present their ideas and learn from experienced professionals, we’re helping them turn their visions into reality." Applications will open on January 27, 2025 and close on February 21st 2025. https://entrepreneurship.asu.edu/e_i_events/
The Igniting Innovation Venture Challenge in person event will take place on March 27, 2025 from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm at The Studios @ Mesa City Center. Aspiring entrepreneurs are encouraged to submit their applications by February 21st 2025. Selection criteria include the originality of the business venture and demonstrate that income is already being generated, the feasibility of the business plan, and the potential for growth and community impact.
In addition to the opportunity to pitch their ideas, selected entrepreneurs will benefit from:
Mentorship: Direct guidance and expert advice from the panel of judges.
Networking: Access to a network of professionals who can provide valuable connections and resources.
Exposure: Increased visibility through media coverage and community support.
Funding: Potential investment from the judges and other investors attending the event.
"We have created a supportive, inclusive environment where young entrepreneurs can thrive," said Kristin Slice, Director of Community Entrepreneurship, Edson E+I. "Our goal is to empower participants with the knowledge, resources, and confidence they need to succeed in today’s competitive business world."
Registration for the event may be found here and applications may also be found there. Community members are encouraged to attend to support local entrepreneurs, and witness firsthand the innovative ideas shaping our community.
Our President-Elect, Kayla Mudge attended the multi-district President-Elect Training Seminar (PETS) held in California February 21-23. She said it was a great success and everyone had an all-around great time. She made a new Rotary friend with close connections in the land of Aloha - Jay Satenstein with the Kihei-Tailea Rotary Club. She had lots of opportunities to see our Mesa West dignitaries DGE, Jim Schmidt and DG Nominee Designate, Colleen Coons in action throughout the weekend. Kayla and her District 5495 PE Classmate, Mariel Olson with Camelback Crossroads Rotary Club, will have lots of shared memories. Kayla took time to "serve" the District and give the hard working Mesa West PETS team a break for the evening.
Colleen Coons led the Pledge of Allegiance and Exavier King offered the invocation.
Introduction of Guest
Bert Millett introduced visiting Rotarian, Blaise Vitale from the Grantsburg Wisconsin Rotary Club.
Partaking of Rotary KoolAid
Colleen Coons was obviously impressed with the way Jim Schmidt showed his leadership skills at PETS. She said the District 5495 hospitality suite was rated #1 by the attendees. Jim and Rosalyn had made home-made guacamole involving around 100 avacados. She said the District Session Jim ran was amazing!
Jim said that the prior weekend, he had been at the International Assembly in Orlando with 530ish other District Governors-Elect. He was very impressed with the experience of spending that much time with leaders from all over the world who were united by the purpose of doing good in the world. After he got home from that amazing experience, he was off to PETS for more Rotary Kool Aid. He thanked the club for all the support and pledged to donate $100 to Polio Plus.
Jim said District 5495 had quite a presence at PETS. PDG Bret McKeand was the PETS Chair and PDG David Simmer had lined up the speakers. Mesa West is the Ace of Clubs and District
5495 is the District of Choice.
Auctio - Chuck Flint
Our Club President is involved with the Hohokams, so spends a lot of time at Sloan Park during Spring Training. He enjoys shagging balls. He brought one that had resulted in a home run and asked Chuck to auction it at the meeting. The bidding was pretty brisk, but Don LaBarge's $30 bid made him the lucky owner of the unsigned home-run baseball.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
Chuck asked Erwin Reimann to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Jim Erickson making him the winner of the $40 small pot.
While he had a little down time, Chuck shared some Forrest Gump wisdom:
How many T's are there in the days of the week? - Two - Today and Tomorrow
How many seconds are there in a year? - Twelve - January 2nd, February 2nd...
What do you call an overweight Psychic? A four chin teller.
Why can't leopards hide? - Because they are always spotted
After Jim shuffled the cards, he tried to draw the Ace of Clubs which would have resulted in him winning an additioanl $820. He would have been mildly happy if he'd drawn the Joker and won $20 more. The card Jim drew, however, was the Jack of Diamonds, which was destroyed. March 6 the large pot will be even bigger and the odds of winning it just a little bit better.
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms Andy Bradford
Frank Rosenberg was happy that his daughter Danielle had made him a grandfather on February 19. He pledged $219 toward his Paul Harris account.
Colleen Coons was happy to announce some news about Danny White who was a quarterback for the Cowboys, also attended and played for ASU and prior to that, Westwood High School. He will be at the District 5495 District Conference the first weekend in May along with his daughter, Heather Kennedy who is a motivational speaker.
Brian Harvey wanted to thank the Koenemans for the eggs he had gotten from them, so he pledged $100 to the McKinney Vento program where our club changes lives one person at a time.
Lucinda General contributed saying that next week, she would be getting off a plane in San Juan Puerto Rico where she plans to scuba dive.
Connie Bunyard contributed saying that John's mom has been successfully placed in a good home and is happy to be there.
Harry Grossman said he had talked to his daughter in Minnesota. She had participated in a 21-mile cross-country skiing event and she finished. He said he didn't know where she got her athletic skills.
Ed Koeneman was happy that Exavier had attended his first Interact meeting.
John Pennypacker contributed for the privilege of - again - explaining how to effectively use a microphone. It needs to be held high up on the handle - near the mouth piece. And the mouthpiece needs to be almost close enough to touch the speaker's mouth. It's also helpful if the speaker takes time to carefully pronounce the words they are saying slowly enough to be clearly understood.
Don LaBarge said that since the beginning of the year, he has received several donations for our "Salvation Army" kettle. For us to get credit for our kettle contributions, they need to be received by January 1. The local Salvation Army does get full credit for the additioal donations, but they don't count toward our collecton total.
Erwin Reiman said that fifty years ago, he participated in the first cross-country skiing event in his area. He said he'd never been so tired in his life.
Warren Williamson asked what you call a snake that is 3.14 meters long. It is a pithon. He also told about a preacher's sone who wanted to use the family car. His dad told him he hadn't done well in math, didn't know the New Testament very well and hadn't had his hair trimmed in a very long while. The boy brought his math grade up a full point, studied the New Testament and talked about what he was learning frequently. He got up the nerve to ask his dad again about using the family car. His dad complimented him on the progress he'd made, but said his hair was still too long. The boy replied that Moses, Noah and Jesus all had long hair. His dad responded, "Yes, and they walked everywhere they went."
Announcements
Club Leadership Academy (CLA) is March 8.
Rotary Day at the Ball Park is March 21
The Ignite Innovation Event is the evening of March 27
The District Conference is May 2-3
Ed spent some time talking about the April 5 Spring Olympics which he and Deb are again happy to host at their home.
Here are the important points: The pricing includes shipment directly to you. Please make certain you use the physical address that you would like for shirt to be shipped when completing the order form.
A portion of your payment will go to support youth services in our Rotary District - RYLA, Junior RYLA, Interact, and Rotary Youth Exchange.
Due to the various styles and numerous sizes within each style, it is not practical to order shirts in advance. Also, we have a 100 total shirt minimum from the vendor to get the best pricing available. Therefore, we need to get 100 shirts ordered and prepaid so that we can place the order with the vendor. Our goal is to have 100+ shirts ordered by March 8, 2025. As soon as we reach that goal we will place the order and you should receive your shirt within 2-3 weeks after the order is placed with the vendor.
To order, please go to the order website to select your shirt(s) and then to the GivSum website to pay. You must do both to complete your order. As soon as we have your order and confirmation of the payment on GivSum, you will be on the order list.
To enter your shipping address, select your shirt(s), and place your order, click HERE
For questions please text Dan Coons at 480-216-7836
If you prefer to do this sort of thing using a QR code, click the image or CLICK HERE to download a poster which has both QR codes you will need for the 2-step process.
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.
Well, maybe NOT the shirt off your back, but instead some old t-shirts out of the back of your closet.
Westwood Interact Club will again be making dog chew toys for a couple of animal shelterswhere the Paws For Peers program rescues and trains dogs to work as therapy animals with teachers within Mesa Public Schools. .They make these dog toys out of old t-shirts. So, dig way back into your closet, or that drawer where all your old stuff is, and bring a shirt or two to lunch at one of our Thursday meetings this September.
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 Guest
Announcements
Well, maybe NOT the shirt off your back, but instead some old t-shirts out of the back of your closet. 
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: