President Jim opened Mesa West Rotary's first official on-line meeting, reminding all in attendance that Rotary Connects the World - and this year with COVID-19 related shelter-in-place protections in place, Rotary is finding new ways to connect. In fact, it was the second highest meeting in attendance so far in 2020.
Lola McClane was prepared with four patriotic quotes to share with those in attendance. The one she chose to emphasize was using some literary license, changing the word "country" to "neighbor." in the following: "Ask not what your neighbor can do for you, ask what you can do for your neighbor.
Wendell Jones offered the invocation, grateful for the availability of virtual connection and praying for relief from the pandemic.
Dan Coons introduced each of the Rotary Youth Exchange students who were in attendance, allowing them to share a bit of information with the members and guests attending the meeting.
Colton Cagle returned early from his exchange - a precaution imposed by the district in the Netherlands to optimize the changes of preserving their visiting students' safety. Since arriving home, Colton has been working on his YE presentation and staying in touch with other students who returned home early.
Paige Goetzenberger is still on her exchange in Austria. Prior to being confined, she had visited seven new countries including a trip to Ireland with her school. Obviously, the travel planned during the second half of her exchange has not gone as planned. She is enjoying having fun with her host families and very much enjoying her time there. It was noted that Greg Okonowski's virtual background was the Rotary Four-Way Test.
Hannah Mason, Westwood High School Interact President was also in attendance. She expressed appreciation for the opportunities that her involvement with Rotary has provided and was very happy to get to see so many of her Rotary friends.
Happy Bucks
Pam Cohen announced that she became a grandmother on April 3 when her daughter Alex gave birth to Wilder Cohen Gray. She noted that Wilder was born on Alex' grandfather Cohen's birthday. To celebrate, she committed $100 for her Paul Harris.
Dan Coons was happy to be able to attend Rotary with Colleen even though they were in separate locations.
Wendell Jones committed to donate $10 as he was happy he did not have to put up with Ray Smith's driving on the way to the meeting.
Allan and Polly Cady were both happy to be on the call and noted there were 39 participants on the call. They were very happy to see everyone's faces.
Bob Zarling asked Colton if he had made it to Tilburg while he was in The Netherlands. Colton had not.
Melodie Jackson said a bird had landed on their windowsill and watched her and Randy for quite a while. She said, "Now we're the animals in the zoo."
Warren Williamson pledged $100 as he has already received his stimulus money.
Bert Millett pledged $20 as he and Kelli recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.
Steve West pledged $100 to celebrate his birthday.
Lucinda General reported that an interesting phenomenon is the numerous clubs are reporting higher levels of attendance with electronic meetings - evidence that we should keep on being innovative.
Colleen Coons was happy to report that UPS is busy, busy, busy importing and exporting health care products.
Donna Goetzenberger shared that she remembered sharing tears with Colton when he wanted to shelter in place, but that decision was taken away. About the time people were being told not to travel because the exposure risk was so high, Colton had to fly to Chicago and endure a 14-day quarantine.
Chris Krueger noted that next year Paige Goetzenberger indicated she would be in Italy and Japan, and Emilee plans to travel to Belgium. Chris wondered if Bryan and Donna would consider adopting her.
John Pennypacker asked Colton if he had visited a miniature city in The Netherlands. The answer was "No." He asked Paige if she had visited the fashion capital in Milan. She had not. John had received an e-mail from Rotary International about Paul Harris' birthday on Sunday, April 19. He promised to send it to Jeanie so she could share the message in the Messenger:
How else will you celebrate the 152nd anniversary of Paul Harris’ birth? Tell us by writing to annualfund@rotary.org. You could be featured in the next Paul Harris Society Resource. Subscribe to this quarterly newsletter if you aren’t already receiving it, and you’ll get updates on membership, read about what motivates our contributors, and more.
Thank you for being a member of the Paul Harris Society. In these uncertain times, the world needs Rotary leaders like you more than ever. Your support allows us to fund critical projects near you and around the world.
Announcements
Community food banks are in crisis. Chuck Flint has offered to pick-up and deliver food to be donated. Cash is best donation so it can be used to purchase what the food bank is actually short of and the sorting and storing labor is minimized. Either type of donation is very much appreciated. Greg Okonowski said the food bank he is associated with is the 7th Street Food Pantry - has all volunteer labor and their volunteer opportunities are posted on their website: https://www.7thstreetfoodpantry.com/
Rotary International is involved with some collaborative educational efforts during the COVID-19 crisis to expand the number of certified nursing assistants and another shorter program to train individuals to assist health care by learning how to follow up with patients who have been released by contacting them by phone and asking specific questions.
Chuck Flint announced that 27 members of Mesa West have not yet donated to The Rotary Foundation this year. On a positive note - 25 members are giving through Rotary Direct - the most efficient way to support TRF. Chuck has offered to match new donations of $100 through Rotary Direct with 300 of his Paul Harris points. Members who want to take him up on this offer need to let Jeanie know.
Presidential Humor
Jim told about a shifty Mexican bandit who would cross the border and rob banks in Texas and go back to Mexico. A Texas Ranger tracked him down in a Cantina in Mexico and held him at gunpoint and tried to question him. Unfortunately, the bandit spoke only Spanish and the Ranger could only speak English. As luck would have it, a bilingual attorney was at the bar and offered to interpret. When asked where the loot was hidden, the terrified bandit said it was buried under the oak tree behind the Cantina. The attorney turned to the Ranger and said, "He said 'Get lost turkey, you wouldn't dare shoot me.'"
Rotary Minute - Greg Bouslog
Because Greg is with the YMCA, he decided to look into history about Rotary and the YMCA working in partnership. He found that in 1924 in Akron Ohio, the YMCA started a camp for disabled children. Rotary partnered with them. In the beginning they primarily served children who had cerebral palsy or were crippled by polio. The partnership continues. Last summer they served 1,000 children and adults keeping participants entertained while learning life-long skills and values. He said that in Chicago the is a mural outside on a wall celebrating YMCA and Rotary whose missions are very similar.
Program
President Jim provided the program. He wanted to share some points he learned when he attended the district's President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) in 2019. The presenter was Suzanne Peterson who had conducted a study on what a great leader should do. She said that Drivers are good at their jobs but are train wrecks with people. Those who value fellowship build great teams, but their results aren't great. The 10% who are most admired produce superior results, and people are fans of them. Colin Powell is a leader in this category. They are credible, competent, and have great character. This is demonstrated in the way they lead their family or small or large businesses. There are five common characteristics:
They make promises and they keep those promises - whether small or large commitments.
They are not above doing anything they ask of others. They will not ask anyone to do anything they are not willing to do themselves.
They are deeply present in the moment. They don't allow interruptions. They make the person they are with feel like they are their total focus. They make a point of being accessible and are present when available.
They treat "unimportant" people and places with same respect as "important" people.
They find ways to save people - especially publicly. They make others feel safe, valued and respected.
Grand Canyon University Electrical Engineering Technology Program Lead Ed Koeneman gave his students their graduation presents early - an idea sparked by the inevitability of ground classes moving to an online environment in the shadow of COVID-19.
Instead of a hearty "congratulations" or a hug or high-five, Koeneman handed his students a bouquet of toolkits and voltmeters, then conducted them toward a box of broken and malfunctioning apparatuses, gadgets and gizmos.
It was high light-bulb moment.
His students' mission, which they had to accept as students in his EFT 340 Electrical Troubleshooting and Maintenance class, was to pick one of these broken and malfunctioning apparatuses, gadgets and gizmos and then bring it home.
They would spend their coronavirus-mandated, shelter-at-home time fixing these broken things, then report their results during a class meeting via remote video conferencing platform Zoom.
"It was a unique opportunity for me, because we were going to troubleshoot these items in class together and critique each other's work. But doing troubleshooting at home and being able to debrief together, I think, worked well," said Koeneman, who himself has been doing a little gadget tinkering at home over the past couple of years, converting his gas-powered car to an electric-powered one.
Repairing electrical and electronic devices at home, then revealing those fixes on Zoom, was just another way GCU faculty and students are adapting from an on-ground setting to a distance-learning environment.
In the Electrical Troubleshooting and Maintenance class, Koeneman exposes students to as many electrical and electronic systems as possible during the first 10 weeks of class, from the solar-and wind-powered systems to residential and industrial wiring and electric motors.
In the last five weeks of class, students take a broken piece of equipment that Koeneman has collected during the school year from a goody box. They fix those devices in class and in their residence halls, then meet in class to review how students were able to repair those pieces of equipment.
The coronavirus changed those plans for everyone, But Koeneman and his EET 340 students, including senior Jake Johnson, adapted well. Johnson thought of grabbing a Lego Mindstorms control module from Koeneman's box of broken devices even though he'd never built a Lego Mindstorms programmable robot before.
"So instead of trying to fix a device I hadn't used before, I decided to try to troubleshoot a gaming keyboard of mine I had been using for a couple of years that had stopped working," said Johnson who's finishing his classes online from his home in Phoenix. Instead of repairing the keyboard before the class reunited for its Zoom meeting and reviewing the repair with his classmates via prerecorded video, he decided he was going to fix his keyboard live online. He set up his phone as a webcam, then removed the keys from the keyboard so he could see the circuit board inside.
"I looked to the bottom and saw signs of water damage... I cleaned up a lot of the connections and contacts on the inside, I got it working, said Johnson, who recalls a spilled soda incident.
Koeneman emphasized how this class isn't about the thing you're troubleshooting. "It's about applying this methodology over and over again to various electronic systems," Koeneman said. As it turns out, it's a methodology that has translated well to the distance-learning world. And it's a graduation gift his students aren't likely to forget.
To read the full article, click the link at the top of the story.
Each year the Junior Achievement of Arizona Group selects 18 students throughout all of Arizona to recognize them for the positive impact they have had locally and globally as well as for their exceptional intelligence and talent. Hannah Mason who is President of the Interact Club sponsored by Mesa West at Westwood High School in Mesa was one of the 18 students selected to be honored this year.
Service projects are often rewarding, but it’s not common to see a project reach its intended target in person. Hannah Mason took her service project and followed it all the way to Africa, seeing the benefit of all that good work.
When Hannah Mason began volunteering for Interact, she knew she could do positive work. But it wasn’t until she took a 17-day trip to Africa that she got to see firsthand the effect that all that work would have on a needy population.
Mason, a senior at Westwood High School, volunteers for Interact, the youth division of the Rotary Club. Taking the club’s mission of “service above self” to heart, Mason set out to visit Rotary clubs to collect donations for Interact’s annual project of donating mobility devices.
“I love fundraising,” Mason said. “I’m a total weirdo on that. We got to go to a bunch of different Rotary clubs. I did a presentation about the project and past trips that had happened. I presented at a statewide Rotary conference, too.”
Mason kept on fundraising and organizing, and in the end raised $26,000. She was one of six high school students chosen to travel to Africa, where they distributed walkers, wheelchairs, braces, crutches and other mobility devices.
“It was quite literally a life changing experience,” Mason said. “I knew that I wanted to go into something related to public service when I went. But it made me realize I had a passion for service.”
Mason also has a hint to share with other students: Having that focus on a goal and putting all that energy into giving back actually improved her performance in school.
“Before Interact, my grades were good but not amazing,” Mason said. “I didn’t have any drive in myself. But as soon as I found that, I realized what I wanted to do with my life and what I needed to do to get there.”
Immunizations save millions of lives every year and are widely recognized as one of our most successful and cost-effective health interventions. Yet outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases continue to put children’s health at risk around the world.
Rotary knows firsthand that #VaccinesWork. Since 1985, we’ve contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children from polio. When children receive the polio vaccine, their pinkie fingers are marked with purple ink so health workers will know which children received the vaccine. Today, only two countries continue to report cases of polio caused by the wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Take action in three easy ways:
Raise awareness of vaccination and polio eradication efforts by painting your nails — or pinkie — purple, or customize our new End Polio Now artwork with your signature and words of support. Post your pictures on social media using the hashtags #EndPolio and #VaccinesWork.
Download Rotary’s World Immunization Week Toolkit to get graphics and sample social media posts.
Donate to Rotary’s PolioPlus Fund. Your contribution will be tripled, thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
When Mesa West agrees to be the sponsoring club for a vocational education grant from TRVFA, the grant recipient is added to our list of Messenger subscribers. Last week, when we asked for happy thoughts, Jennifer Morrill's Grant was to attend the LPN program at the East Valley Institute of Technology, beginning in May, 2019.
When we asked for happy thoughts, this is how she responded:
"My happy thought is witnessing our state of Arizona pulling together as a team! I drive a lot for my home health care job. I am all over the valley. On one spot in particular, is a message the Scottsdale ballpark continues to display every day since the Coronavirus outbreak. It reads 'Bee happy,'“ with a cute flower and bee picture. Another message follows with 'Smile' and hearts following after it !!
"PS - My income has improved $7 an hour with my education. I moved my kids and I into our own home. I pay rent myself, supply food, daily needs and then some!! I can now pay for my daughter to ride in horse shows!! Thank you Rotary club , because of you, I pay it forward every day! I look forward to helping someone with their education. (once my kids are grown and out of the house) Until then, I focus on what I can do -take the neighbors garbage out, tip a waitress a little more .. etc..."
When we sponsor a TRVFA grant, the club has no financial responsibility, but we hope our members will support TRVFA with their donations so there are plenty of funds to create many more stories like Jennifer's. CLICK HERE to donate on-line.
Mesa West! This is Marcela Sousa, your inbound exchange student from Brazil reporting from Flagstaff. At the end of this month, I will complete 9 months in the United States! During this time, I have made the most amazing memories and have had so many awesome experiences that I will never forget with people that I’ll take forever with me. This exchange experience was so important for me and taught me so much! I’m so grateful to Rotary for making it possible! With the threat of COVID-19 and having so many of my friends going home, I was afraid of everything that could happen and how it could affect my experience on the final months of my exchange but I chose to stay.
I had just moved in with my third and last host family and was with a friend of mine for the week of spring break when everything started.
I was in Pine, Arizona in her cabin with Gretchen, future outbound in Argentina, and her parents. We had an amazing time and I even had the chance to feed female elks! Probably the most awesome thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. Once I got back to Flagstaff, quarantine wasn’t on its full power mode so I was able to go out a couple of times before everything nonessential shutdown.
I haven’t got the chance to go places with this host family (hopefully) yet, so with one host sister, 12, and one host brother, 10 we’ve been keeping ourselves entertained. We’ve been baking - from sugar cookies to Brazilian cakes. I’m used to baking back home. We've been having nerf wars and binge-watching movies and TV shows. For the first time ever, I decorated eggs for a first-time-ever egg-hunt in our backyard. I had so much fun!
It’s important to remember that what we are going through right now is so we can be doing normal stuff again very soon. Staying at home is not that bad when we realize how lucky we are knowing that we can help others by being in the comfort of our houses. Everything will be better soon, and I hope to join one of the Mesa West Zoom meetings soon enough!
The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert. After they got their tent all set up, both men fell sound asleep. Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says, 'Kemosabe, look towards sky, what you see?' 'The Lone Ranger replies, 'I see millions of stars.' 'What that tell you?' asked Tonto. The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute then says, 'Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, the Lord is all-powerful, and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What's it tell you, Tonto?' 'You dumber than buffalo. It means someone stole the tent'
Rotary makes high-quality health care available to vulnerable mothers and children so they can live longer and grow stronger.
We expand access to quality care, so mothers and children everywhere can have the same opportunities for a healthy future. An estimated 5.9 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, inadequate health care, and poor sanitation — all of which can be prevented.
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.
Donations to The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona made through April 15, can be used to qualify for the
Arizona's Credit for Contribution to a Qualifying Charitable Organization for the 2019 or 2020 tax year, but not both! Their QCO Code is 20698.
When everything starts to settle after our current pandemic-related business slow-down is history, some things may never to back to the way they were. There may well be a shortage of workers that require vocational certifications available to those in low-income groups through TRVFA grants. Your gift today may help someone have a better tomorrow! CLICK HERE to donate on-line or CLICK HERE to download a mail-in form.
President Jim
President Jim opened Mesa West Rotary's first official on-line meeting, reminding all in attendance that Rotary Connects the World - and this year with COVID-19 related shelter-in-place protections in place, Rotary is finding new ways to connect. In fact, it was the second highest meeting in attendance so far in 2020.
From: 
Each year the Junior Achievement of Arizona Group selects 18 students throughout all of Arizona to recognize them for the positive impact they have had locally and globally as well as for their exceptional intelligence and talent. Hannah Mason who is President of the Interact Club sponsored by Mesa West at Westwood High School in Mesa was one of the 18 students selected to be honored this year.
When Mesa West agrees to be the sponsoring club for a vocational education grant from TRVFA, the grant recipient is added to our list of Messenger subscribers. Last week, when we asked for happy thoughts, Jennifer Morrill's Grant was to attend the LPN program at the East Valley Institute of Technology, beginning in May, 2019.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert.
Donations to The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona made through April 15, can be used to qualify for the
