At noon President Dan Coons introduced himself and welcomed all present at the Zoom meeting. Having finished the first three months of his term, Dan said he is enjoying being the president of the Rotary Club of Mesa West more and more each day. He reminded everyone of this year's theme - "Rotary Creates Opportunities." He also recited the Rotary Vision Statement. He then called on Geoff White to offer the invocation.
Before offering an invocation, Geoff White shared a thought for the day which he thought was even more important today than when it which was published by Reader's Digest in the 80's:
“A child should learn not merely to love, but to be a loving person-
to make love his stance in the world.
‘Love’ may come and go,
but a loving person, like the sun itself,
never loses his or her sustaining warmth.”
Several Guests were present for the meeting. They were introduced by Colleen Coons: Crystal Blanton, Development Officer for Valley of the Sun United Way; Melissa Darlington, Loaned Executive from Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant; Sean Edmonds; Timna Guerchon; and Reid DeSpiegelaere with the Vello project.
Happy Bucks - Bert Millett
Ron Thompson pledged $5 - happy to finally be able to attend a meeting after missing several.
Lola McClane pledged $10 - happy to be home after two lovely weeks with her daughter in Fort Worth
Colleen Coons pledged $5 for each of her invited guests who were in attendance - a total of $25
Pam Coons pledged $5 - she was happy to see John Benedict and Ron Thompson were in attendance.
Wendell Jones pledged $50 - he voiced his appreciation for the basket Pam delivered from the club and all the many thoughtful messages, cards and flowers received from club members following the loss of his sweet Carolyn.
Geoff White pledged $50 - he was happy to be attending the meeting in the company of his good friends Wendell Jones and Ray Smith
Chris Krueger pledged $10 - she held up a beautiful glass tray crafted by Jack Rosenberg which she had recently picked up from him.
Dan Coons - announced he was happy to be a member of a new club - The Juice Club. Two other members of Mesa West were also in the new club - Chuck Flint and Jeanie Morgan. The three had been on the juice detail at the United Food Bank food distribution event Friday, September 25 at the Mesa Convention Center.
Shelly Romine pledged $5 (a total of $15) for each of the three Mesa West volunteers at the September 25 United Food Bank service project, and reminded members to follow the link in the Messenger and sign up for the October service project. It will take place in the evening. She also commended members who are holding food drives in their residential communities - Jack Rosenberg and Bob Zarling.
Bob Zarling pledged $10 to plug the December 13 food drive he is hosting in his community in conjunction with having the Salvation Army brass band there to incent neighbors to show up and contribute to the drive. He encouraged Mesa West Rotary members to attend as well.
Ray Smith - pledged $25 - he was happy to be at Wendell's although he'd hoped to enjoy more of the goodies from Wendell's basket, Ray said he and Geoff each only received one cookie.
Pam Cohen - mentioned that her company has a 5 for $500 offer where if one of their employees is involved in a community service event with five or more other volunteers, their company will donate $500 to the organization hosting the project. Sign up for the October service project! Help get a $500 donation.
John Pennypacker - who was attending from his daughter's home in Virginia and frequently seen during the meeting with one or two little boys in his lap or hanging around their grandpa - was called out for trying to misrepresent his appearance when a handsome young man appeared on his screen. John said he could only afford $10 for his fine/happy bucks since he'd just spent $50 getting fresh haircuts with and for his grandsons. One thing he mentioned he was very happy for was when he picked up his rental car and was finally able to remove his mask after wearing it for twelve hours.
Don Boucher pledged $5 - he was happy to be back in attendance.
AG Lee Holmes pledged $10 - he will be having cataract surgery with the first procedure next Monday. He has worn glasses since second grade and looks forward to not needing them anymore.
Greg Okonowski - pledged $5 for the delicious salad his wife had prepared for his lunch
Jack Rosenberg is making gift baskets which will, among other things, contain some of his beautiful glass work. Food donors at his event will be entered into a drawing for the baskets., when asked why he had such a big smile responded that he always does, but did explain that he is making gift baskets which will, among other things, contain some of his beautiful glass work to be raffled to food donors at his November 7 food drive in his community.
Announcements
October 29 is a 5th Thursday. The club will follow its relatively new tradition of being dark rather than have a regular meeting on that date. Tentative plans are being made to have a club social that evening - possibly at the home of Pam Cohen. It was pointed out that October 29 is Pam's birthday - a very special birthday - her Social Security birthday.
October 15 - the program will be presented by C-Span.
Members need to help find a worthy candidate to apply for the outbound Rotary Youth Exchange opportunity our club will sponsor during the 2021-22 Rotary Year. It sounds like a long way off but interviews need to happen soon. For more information, contact Donna Goetzenberger.
Virtual RYLA will be held October 9-10. It is targeted for high school students and particularly for sophomores. For information and to register interested students should go to Virtual RYLA.
John Pennypacker provided some information about the Rotary International Council on Resolutions and promised to send more information for the October 7 Messenger.
Program
Colleen Coons was happy to announce 21 Rotarians have volunteered for Vello. She also shared that before she married Dan and before she knew all her friends in Rotary she had a difficult past. She was by herself raising children and had big worries never knowing from month-to-month if she could supply shelter She painfully remembered having her water shut off. United Way shined a light for people like herself and guided her to some valuable resources.
Colleen told of UPS having donated $1.6 million to United Way. She is very glad that one of the benefits of working for United Parcel is their donation-matching program which allows employees to select a 501(c)(3) of their own choosing to donate to and UPS matches 15% of that gift with a donation to a United Way in that employee's community. She and Dan will be donating $1,000 to the Mesa West Rotary Foundation and the Valley of the Sun United Way will receive $150. It is a wonderful way for them to donate where they have a passion and help the broader community at the same time.
Melissa is enjoying serving as a loaned executive from APS Palo Verde plant. She enjoys working with United Way, and feels like she has found her mission. She was proud to share that 91 1/2 cents of every dollar goes out to be used in the community. 29% of children in our area come from families of working poor. The saying "it takes a village to raise a child" has come to be very real for her. $3,000,000 has been utilized to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The early grade reading mentoring program is very important. It helps with improving overall education, but the connection of a children with caring adults makes an immeasurable positive difference in each child's life. They have an efficient method of connecting children with volunteers. Since the connections are virtual, it is a safe - from a COVID perspective - learning environment. The books read are on-screen. They are simple. For thirty minutes a week, the adult listens, helps, and motivates the child to read. The Vello connection is in a Title 1 School District and is targeting first through third grade students.
Mesa West has sixteen volunteers and Pebblecreek Rotary has five.
As the meeting was being turned back to Dan, John Pennypacker shared that he served as a loaned executive a number of years ago. He said it was an eye-opening experience.
CLICK HERE to see the some of the United Way information shared during the presentation.
Past President Jim Schmidt this week received word that the board and members of Mesa West Rotary have been recognized for their 2019-20 combined efforts. He wants to thank all for being a part of this achievement!
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: Emergency Food Bag Build -
United Food Bank Date: Oct 14, 2020 at 5:45 PM - 8:00 PM
Chair: Shelly Romine
Location: United Food Bank 358 E Javelina Mesa, AZ
We will be building emergency food bags for United Food Bank. It’s an assembly fashion of placing food into bags and getting them ready to ship out to their agencies. Everyone must wear closed toed shoes, wear masks and gloves
You can sign up directly on the Mesa West Rotary Club website by clicking here. We appreciate your participation and look forward to making this a great event together!
The ASU Rotaract Club is starting a new Rotaractor-Rotarian Mentorship program for the 2020-21 school year! Interested Mesa West Rotarians who are interested in being paired with a member of the Rotaract Club of ASU can CLICK HERE or on the image to complete a form which will help them make mentorship pairings that will serve all parties. Each pairing will remain in a formal relationship for the remainder of the 2020-21 Rotary year, but may well result in a friendship that will last a lifetime.
Program expectations are very loose-- They hope to see groups that make the most of their relationships in the way that best serves them! Their only expectation is that Rotarians and Rotaractors will meet at least once a month to discuss life updates, advice, and career and service goals. A form will be provided to each grouping where a submission can be made detailing the contents of that month's meeting. Additionally, once pairings are made, a contract will be sent to all parties regarding program expectations, which will ensure that no mentorship group dissolves.
In the governance actions of Rotary International, there are 4 times when representations from every district have the opportunity to engage and discuss matters involving Rotary with members from around the world.
The first of these opportunities is the Council on Resolutions (meets 3 times) and the second is the Council on Legislation. A representative from each district is elected by members in a district to serve for 3 years. During this time they will be involved in reviewing and voting on multiple proposed resolutions to go before the Board of Directors at Rotary International.
These resolutions are suggested actions and/or opinions from members around the world that Rotarians think should be presented to the Board. If the any of the Resolutions are approved at the COR, they are forwarded to the Board for consideration. Resolutions must be submitted by 30 June each year to be considered for voting at the COR in October each year.
The Council on Legislation meets once every 3 years. The 2019 COL concluded in April 2019. Proposed “Enactments” must be submitted by 31 December 2020 to be considered at the April 2022 COL. Enactments have the effect of changing the Constitution or By-laws of RI.
Here is a link to read the current COR items. There are 31 to include 1 to be considered as an Urgent Enactment. If approved it will change the By-laws of RI.
You should enter into your account at MY ROTARY:
then select - Learning & References
select - Policies & Procedures
select - Councils on Legislation and Resolutions
Once on this page look in the 3rd paragraph
look for the word in blue
resolutions
Selecting this will open the window to view all 31 Resolutions.
These are suggestions or opinions that Rotarians from around the world feel should be presented to the RI Board once they are approved by the COR representatives. Reading these will give you a perspective into how other Rotarians feel about Rotary actions and needs in other parts of the world. If you feel particularly strong about any of these, do not hesitate to email or call me. Voting will take place on 15 October. I will have reviewed all with the Alternate Representative for our district, Duce Minor.
World Polio Day is a time for Rotarians and Rotaractors across the globe to raise awareness about our work to eradicate polio for good. If we stay committed to making progress, polio will be the second human disease ever to be eradicated.
In our fight to end polio, we’ve used our collective strength to defeat this devastating disease in almost every part of the world. This year, the World Health Organization’s African region was certified free of wild poliovirus – showing that eradication is possible even in very difficult circumstances.
Wild poliovirus still paralyzes children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and as long as polio exists anywhere, it remains a threat everywhere. Let’s Take Action A polio-free world is possible, but we can achieve it only by taking action together. With the challenges to vaccination programs posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s even more crucial that Rotary continues to build awareness and raise funds for polio eradication.
The Rotary Foundation is the charitable arm of Rotary that enables the amazing work we, as Rotarians, are all proud to be a part of. Every Rotarian is strongly encouraged to support TRF every year by donating to the General Fund of TRF. The target gift is $100 per year per member. That has been the target for a very long time and in the US the average family income has multiplied a few times since that target was set. Many Rotarians who have the means to do so have set their personal target at the $1,000 per year mark making them eligible for the Paul Harris Society level of donor recognition.
The End Polio Now campaign is a separate fund to which gifts are matched two-for-one by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Many Rotarians choose to support both the general fund and the fight to end polio.
No matter what level you decide to donate, please support the Foundation by giving through Rotary Direct. CLICK HERE to get answers to commonly asked questions about this program. DOWNLOAD A FORM to authorize your Rotary Direct donations. By giving through Rotary direct, the opportunity for human error is eliminated and recognition credit for the Rotarian and their club is much more accurate and timelier.
At noon President Dan Coons introduced himself and welcomed all present at the Zoom meeting. Having finished the first three months of his term, Dan said he is enjoying being the president of the Rotary Club of Mesa West more and more each day. He reminded everyone of this year's theme - "Rotary Creates Opportunities." He also recited the Rotary Vision Statement. He then called on Geoff White to offer the invocation.
Chris Krueger pledged $10 - she held up a beautiful glass tray crafted by Jack Rosenberg which she had recently picked up from him.
Your help is needed! Volunteers are required for the following event. Click on 
In the governance actions of Rotary International, there are 4 times when representations from every district have the opportunity to engage and discuss matters involving Rotary with members from around the world.
World Polio Day is a time for Rotarians and Rotaractors across the globe to raise awareness about our work to eradicate polio for good. If we stay committed to making progress, polio will be the second human disease ever to be eradicated.
