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.
Thanks to John Pennypacker, Harry Short, and Gerry Paulus for sending the photos so our Messenger subscribers can have a glimpse of Two Nations, Two Districts, One Rotary - the joint District Conference held May 2-4 this year. Our own Machel Considine was one of the presenters during the Youth Exchange session of the Conference.
Our Club President Colleen Coons learned about Mesa Leadership Training from our member, Greg Bouslog who went through the training in the class of 2022-23. Since Colleen lives in Gilbert, she felt that she would better serve our club if she learned more about the community we serve, so she applied and was accepted to be in the class of 2023-24.
Friday, May 3, she graduated. The photo on the left was taken just after she received her graduation certificate. You will note, one of our new members this year, Connie Bunyard, is in the photo. The photo on the right is of Colleen with her Rotary Family members who chose to attend the graduation to celebrate her accomplishment. You will note, another of our new members, Liz Paulus is in that photo.
The Rotary Club of Mesa West will benefit for many years to come from Colleen's commitment to do her very best to connect with the Mesa Community in a meaningful way.
Mesa West Rotary Club was asked to find home hosts for the delegation of Rotarians from Kenya who were travelling here prior to traveling on to Mexico to attend the District Conference. President Colleen called the Paulis and they had sufficient space that Colleen didn't need to make additional calls. They also graciously invited the club and other Rotary leaders to attend a BBQ at their home Sunday afternoon, April 28 so members could get acquainted with the delegation. One member of the delegation was glad to "lend a hand'. Duncan is the one seen at the grill. It was a very enjoyable event!
Olivia, our Youth Exchange student from Sweden recently enjoyed having her parents and siblings visit her in Arizona. The family is shown here having lunch with Allan and Polly Cady. Polly has been Olivia's local YE Counsellor while she has been here on her exchange.
Welcome and Opening of Meeting - President Colleen Coons
President Colleen thanked the following:
Warren Williamson for serving as greeter.
Ron Thompson for offering the invocation.
Shelly Romine for leading the Pledge of Allegiance
Jeanie Morgan for serving at the check-in table
Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
Chuck Flint was welcomed back to his old duty of handling the raffle
Pam Cohen for serving as Chief Technology Officer while Ed Koeneman was absent and she thanked Ed for being back on duty.
Introduction of Guests
Marilyn Klinger was welcomed as a newly elected, but not yet inducted, member of Mesa West Rotary Club.
Susan Tychman was welcomed as a guest. Mesa West Rotary Club has recently joined the Mesa Chamber of Commerce. Susan was invited to attend the meeting so she could answer any questions members might have about our Chamber membership.
Shawn Buntin introduced his wife, Retta Buntin and their friend, Cyndi Noriega.
Deb Koeneman, Bob Jensen, and former member Greg Okonowski were attending the meeting via Zoom.
Harry Grossman was welcomed as a soon-to-be member of the club.
Bert Millett and Kayla Mudge were welcomed as members we don't get to see as often as we'd like. Both are attorneys whose busy professional schedules interfere with their ability to attend regularly. Kayla is very involved in her personal time preparing for and helping the Ambassador teams prepare for the Interact Crutches 4 Africa missions that will be headed for Kenya and Mexico this summer. Kayla will be traveling with the team going to Africa.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
Chuck explained that the funds taken in from raffle ticket sales are split three ways. A third goes into the club operating account, another third goes to the person whose ticket is drawn in the weekly drawing, and the final third goes into the large, accumulating pot. He said the daily winner would win $25, and the chance to try to win the large pot by attempting to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck of cards. Chuck asked Susan from the Chamber of Commerce to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Ed Koeneman. Ed's attempt to draw the Ace of Clubs was "close, but no cigar" He drew the Four of Clubs instead.
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms Ron Thompson
Dick Myren contributed. He was happy to have Chuck back on the Raffle job and able to be at our meetings.
Jack Rosenberg contributed to celebrate his 44th anniversary of becoming a Rotarian on May 1.
Ted Williams had several things to celebrate. He has two grandsons graduating from college and another grandson graduating from high school summa cum laude. In addition, his oldest grandson and his wife had made Ted a proud great-grandfather for the first time. To celebrate, he pledged $100 to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund.
Marilyn Klingler was happy to be accepted as a new club member.
Eric Silverberg contributed saying the Messenger is the best club newsletter he's ever seen.
Harry Grossman contributed. He had thought he would be doing two meetings in the same day, but he decided not to be in Sedona bright an early - he decided to go there Saturday May 4 to help them with a project.
Shane White was happy to be at the meeting.
Jim McGown said that he'd seen information that senior citizens get scammed too often. Scammers target senior centers and Rotary Clubx.
Allan Cady asked Ed Koeneman to show a photo on the Zoom screen of Allan's grandson, Cameron who graduated that day from Naval Basic Training at Lake Michigan Northwest of Chicago. With Cameron in the photo was Allan's youngest son and Cameron's proud father, Matt. Allan pledged $100 to Polly's sponsorship team to celebrate.
Jeanie Morgan pledged $200 to the sponsor program. She was happy to see the way members are stepping up to support the campaign which saves an enormous amount of time and expense compared to methods other clubs have to use to raise similar amounts of money.
Polo Santiago announced a volunteer opportunity. He invited members to volunteer to participate in volunteering next week to small talk with students at an English as a Second Language school where Polo volunteers regularly.
Warren Williamson kept his story short. He said at his age, there are two important things to remember. The first is, "Don't tell everything you know."...
Ed Koeneman was happy to win the raffle. He was also happy Pam didn't break the equipment while he was away. He was happy they were able to get their exchange student off to the District Conference being held in Mexico. The family was also celebrating the fact that their son finally had orders. He will soon escape from sleeping in a closet in Poland and return to the State of Georgia. Ed told a little about the recent fire in his workshop. All his tools will be replaced. It will take four months to rebuild. He said "spontaneous combustion" is a real thing.
Announcements
Steve Ross was very happy to report the sponsor campaign was very close to reaching the $50,000 goal. He said Ray Smith's team was in first place, followed by Bob Jensen and John Pennypacker's teams. Allan Cady suggested that the target of $50,000 be increased to $60,000 since we have two months left in the year and not everyone has participated, yet. That new challenge was accepted.
President Colleen reported that one of our McKinney Vento students is planning to be at our May 23 meeting.
Induction of New Member
Membership Chair Polly Cady invited Retta Buntin, Cyndi Noriega and Shawn Buntin to all join her at the front of the meeting room. Shawn is a Director and Manager with Legacy Funeral Home. He is an awesome new member. He is a former Rotarian. President Colleen Coons is his sponsor. The theme "Create Hope in the World" is an apt theme for Shawn. When he was sixteen, he lost his father as a result of an automobile accident. The days after the accident were nightmarish for Shawn whose imagination took him to dark places like "what if it's a mistaken identity?" When he finally was able to see his father lying peacefully in his coffin, and was able to spend time alone looking at and talking to his dad, he knew he wanted to do for others what the funeral home had done for him. Those moments helped him find peace and closure and look forward with hope. He and Retta have been married thirty-five years. They have four sone and twelve grandchildren. Shawn lives in Mesa. In looking at his community, he learned there are 520,000 residents, sixteen freeway exits, and three Rotary Clubs. He is glad he joined ours. After hearing a bit about Shawn, the formal induction and pinning took place. The members present gave our newest member a standing ovation when the ceremony was over.
Program - Power of Positivity - Brian Harvey
Brian gave a short, two-part, self-introduction, "Brian Harvey - a good-looking Englishman." He added that the members could decide which of the two parts was true.
He began by saying that it is typical for people to hear a presentation and think it is really good, but when asked about it three days later cannot remember anything to share. CLICK HERE or on the image to download his slided so you can be reminded of what Brian shared during his presentation.
Brian said that he has visited tons of other Rotary Clubs and the Ace of Clubs is way above the others he has visited from the administration to the friendships. He said it is uniquely wonderful. He wants everyone to remember one thing for sure. THANK YOU!
He had some things he hoped to accomplish.
Each do a self-review of positivity and negativity in our lives.
Review scientific data on the impact of positivity.
Make one commitment to improve positivity at home and at Rotary.
He spoke about ways positivity is introduced at an early age. He acknowledged that negativity is also introduced at an early age. He asked everyone to think about the number one influence on whether our lives were positive or negative. He then answered the question by saying it is our private voice and spent some time explaining why positive mindset/private voice is important. We need to strive to have that voice be a coach rather than a critic.
Brian asked everyone to think about the ratio of positive to negative messages we give ourselves over a month's time in our home/personal lives, in our external work, Rotary, or other retirement "occupation." Is our team positive or negative. He asked us to consider the ratio in each of the three areas.
To produce positive outcomes, a ratio of 3:1 is needed. Several positive outcomes determined through measurable research were listed. CLICK HERE to find that slide. It's impressive.
Emotional wellbeing drives performance and success. Cultivating positivity in our environments is something we each have the capacity to do.
Several members shared things they plan to start doing to cultivate positivity.
Brian would like to use his presentation as a way to make money for our projects and/or recruit new members. He is glad to take it at no cost to Rotary events, non-profit companies, or membership recruitment events or to companies in exchange for a donation to Rotary for our projects.
Brian ended with the one thing he wants us to remember - THANK YOU!
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 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.
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.
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:.png)
