|
Opening and Welcome - President-Elect Kayla Mudge Kayla reminded members that the current Rotary International theme is "The Magic of Rotary." Our District Governor has a personal theme of "Rotary Means Business." The Rotary International Vision Statement is: "Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves." Mesa West Rotary Club's motto is, "Transforming Communities, Creating Opportunities, and Impacting Youth. President Jay had provided Kayla with a thought for the day to share at the meeting: "There was a farmer who grew an excellent quality of wheat, and every season he won the award for the best wheat grown in his county. One year a reporter from the local newspaper interviewed the farmer and learned that each spring the farmer did something extraordinary. He shared his seed with his neighbors so that they too could plant it in their fields. "How can you afford to share your best wheat seed with your neighbors when they are entering their crops in the competition with yours?” the reporter asked. “Why that’s very simple,” the farmer explained. “The wind picks up pollen from the developing wheat and carries it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior wheat, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of all the wheat, including mine. If I am to grow good wheat, I must help my neighbors grow good wheat.” A conclusion to be drawn from this story is: "The welfare of each of us is bound up with the welfare of all." - Chuck Flint led the Pledge of Allegiance
- Dick Myren offered the invocation.
Kayla thanked everyone who helped get the meeting underway after she arrived at what seemed to her like the last minute with her "hair on fire." Introduction of Guests - Connie Bunyard introduced her guest, Denise Siemen.
- Polly Cady introduced Braly who will be starting at Benedictine Monday. There is a Rotaract Club there which Braly will be joining.
- John Pennypacker introduced his guests,
- Colleen Knight - Past President in 2011-12 of the Cordelia Rotary Club
- PDG Dave Dacus - District 5160 2011-12. At that time, he resided in Fairfield, California.
- Tara Dacus - Past President of the Fairfield Suisun Rotary Club in 2014-15. (both Dave and Tara are currently members of the Gilbert Rotary Club)
- Attending via Zoom were Pai Bethea, Jeanie Morgan and Shelly Romine.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint After explaining the raffle for the benefit of the guests, Chuck asked Ted Williams to draw the winning raffle ticket. The ticket he drew belonged to Tim Troy, making Tim the immediate winner of $40. Tim shuffled the cards face-down before attempting to draw the Ace of Clubs, which would net an additional $95 in winnings, if drawn. Unfortunately (for Tim) the card he drew was the Four of Hearts. Happy Bucks - Andy Bradford  - Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 - happy that he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are affililated with the Ace of Clubs. He fined himself an additional $3 because his cell phone had rung, disturbing the August 15 club meeting.
- Pam Cohen was happy to see Wayne and Lucinda General and Braly at the meeting. She said she was really glad to see Tim Troy who can rarely attend and reminded him "It pays to come to Rotary."
- John Pennypacker contributed. thankful for his three new friends. Part of his contribution was sad bucks remembering his recently deceased Rotary friend, Candy Pierce.
- Jim Erickson contributed. He had been on a Zone Polio Plus call. So far in 2024, there have been 27 cases of wild poliovirus diagnosed. Fourteen in Pakistan and 13 in Afghanistan. The numbers will get worse as the year progresses. It's a solemn reminder that the end of the battle to eradicate polio for good is far from over.
- Ron Thompson contributed saying he was headed to Cordelia the following weekend. His sister lives there. He was glad to see someone from there at the meeting.
- Polly Cady was happy to see Tim, Lucinda and Wayne that the other guests at the meeting.
- Tim Troy was happy to be at the meeting and to have won the pot.
- Mike Lutcher contributed. He was thankful that he would soon be departing for a much-needed vacation before the busy Christmas season hits. They will travel as far as Crater Lake in Oregon and spend another week in Flagstaff RVing.
- Harry Grossman contributed sad bucks saying the Cardinals have yet to win a pre-season game. They have one more chance to do so in Denver - then the "real deal" starts.
- Lucinda General contributed sharing some happy memories from District 5160. She had the opportunity in 05-06 to be a President's Rep at a District Conference. She was assigned to go to District 5160. The time was one week before Zone Institute. District 5160 took she and Wayne in and enveloped them in everything they did. She will always have special feelings for District 5160. They have a huge reputation which is well deserved across the zone. She also was sad about the loss of PDG Candy Pierce.
- Connie Bunyard was thankful that her friend came with her to the meeting. She was also thankful Deb Koeneman spent time with her providing some insights.
- Ed Koeneman said the first Interact meeting at Westwood High School was held August 21. He attended their meeting viz Zoom and said it was a good experience. He reminded members that the Rotary Magazine he collects from members are used by the Interact club. One use is to create an informative bulletin board in the hallway at school. They also use them for recruitment. He asked members to go through their drawers and closets looking for "ratty old t-shirts" to donate. The Interact members will use them to create dog toys again. Ed said he was a day shy of three weeks since his knee surgery, he is down to "one stick." and all is "going well."
- Jim Schmidt was thankful for all the club's PDG's saying they are "all wonderful." He contributed $5 because Braly is planning to major in Accounting at Benedictine.
- Chuck Flint was happy to announce he would be spending four nights in Alpine with some retired friends, and added that his dog would enjoy hanging out with their dog.
- Warren Williamson told a story about a man in a bar who seemed stressed out. The bartender said "You look like you're kind of sad." The patron responded that his wife was leaving, adding that she things everything he does is something to do with football. He bartender then asked, "How long have you been married.? The patron responded "For fifteen Superbowl games."
Paul Harris Fellow Recognition -- Foundation Chair John Pennypacker John invited Tim Troy to come forward to receive his Paul Harris Fellow Plus 3 recognition pin. For each $1,000 in donations or (transferred recognition points) to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund or Polio Plus, members receive a recognition pin. The pin received by Tim represents a total of $4,000 in generous support of the good Rotary does in the world through The Rotary Foundation. Tim was thankful to be a part of Mesa West. He keeps trying to find a way to arrange his schedule so he can attend more often, but it never seems to happen. Ray Smith wanted members to know about another way that Tim is generous. Each year when the volunteers head to Guaymas for the hearing project, Tim allows them to meet at his property and leave their cars safely parked there, making coordination of departure and return of the volunteers much simpler. Club Banner Exchange President-Elect Kayla exchanged club banners with visiting Rotarian Colleen Knight from the Rotary Club of Cordelia California.  Announcements- Shelly Romine reminded members of
- August 27 Blood Drive at the Ross Farnsworth YMCA. She said 16 of 25 slots have been filled, and said we need to fill the rest.
- Day of Service (actually three days) September 7, 11, and 14 from 7:30 to 11:00. There will be a variety of activities refreshing and upgrading the Rose Garden at MCC
- September 28 - Sleep in Heavenly Peace will honor Mesa West Rotary Club on their Wall of Dreams. There will also be a bed build going on that day that members can participate in as well. A signup sheet will be forthcoming.
- Polly Cady added that Rotary Leadership Institute will also be held Saturday, September 28. All three sessions will be offered at Thunderbird School of Global Management, where our member, Lizzy Barron is the person Polly works with to arrange the use of their facility. RLI is a great time to refresh and learn what is going on in Rotary. Deb Koeneman and Andy Bradford will be attending Session II that day. Mesa West Rotary will reimburse the registration fee for members who register and attend. As membership chair, she is glad that Mesa West makes it easy for younger members with busy work schedules to be members of our club.
- Kayla reminded members that the 29th will be a 5th Wednesday, so no in-person meeting will be held at the Doubletree. Instead, members will have the opportunity to tour the Arizona Museum of Natural History.
- Saturday, October 5, a social, orientation "Soup to Nuts" event will be held for the benefit of our newer members.
- October 10 - There will be an open house at the Public Library to introduce the virtual reality headsets purchased with our Meta Grant.
- Colleen Coons received word that Mesa West Rotary Club had qualified for the Rotary Citation for the 2023-24 fiscal year. The message she received went on to say, "The Rotary Citation, is the most significant award a Rotary club can achieve, for 2023-24. This past year, your club demonstrated a commitment to achieve its goals, which ultimately helps strengthen Rotary and shape our future.
|
.png)
After receiving word that the August 27 Red Cross Blood Drive at the Ross Farnsworth YMCA needed to be cancelled because the Red Cross had a staffing issue, at least one of our Mesa West Rotary Club members found another way to give blood this week
Saturday, September 28, 2028
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:
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.
