Welcome and Opening of Meeting - President Pam Cohen
- Invocation was offered by Dick Myren.
- John Pennypacker led the Pledge of Allegiance.
- Polo Santiago was thanked for serving as greeter, making visitors and guests feel welcome as they arrived.
- President Pam welcomed Pai Bethea and Carla Krcmarik, who were attending via Zoom.
Introduction of Guests
- President Pam introduced former Mesa West Rotary Club member Greg Okonowski who is now a member of the Queen Creek Satellite Club.
- President Pam introduced Shane White.
- Don LaBarge introduced his granddaughter, Renee Allen, who was visiting from Pennsylvania. Renee promosed to try to keep her grandpa in line while she is in Arizona.
- President Pam introduced PDG Tom Yuzer, who will be heading back to Minnesota and his home club in the not-too-distant future.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
Chuck explained that the proceeds of ticket sales was divided three ways. A third to the club operating account, a third added to the "big pot" and a third going to the holder of the stub of the raffle ticket drawn. The large pot was up to $390 and the lucky winner would win $35 plus the opportunity to try to draw the joker, which would be worth another $20 or the Ace of Clubs, which would entitle them to the big pot. Chuck welcomed our CPA member, Ray Smith, to his first meeting since the peak of tax filing season by asking him to draw the winning ticket. The ticket Ray drew was held by Dave Brauchler. Dave shuffled as though he knew what he was doing, but the card he drew from the deck was the Four of Diamonds.
Happy Bucks - Greg Okonowski
- Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 for himself and for Honorary Member Rod Daniels for their good fortune in being members of Mesa West Rotary Club. He contributed another $1 for the delicious pork served in our buffet lunch, saying good pork represents his home state of Iowa.
- Warren Williamson contributed enough to share a story about an egotistical man named Charlie who prided himself on owning and showing off the best of everything. He had just purchased a new Mercedes and had taken it out on the road to see what it would do. A patrolman, seeing Charlie speeding, pulled him over. As Charlie started to get out of his Mercedes to see what the patrolman wanted, a large truck drove past, and without slowing or stopping ripped the left door off of the new Mercedes. Charlie was screaming and hollering, asking why the patrolman was still there when the truck driver had obviously committed a "hit and run" offense. The patrolman said, I was more concerned about your well-being. When the truck ripped your door off, your arm was ripped off as well." Charlie looked down and exclaimed, "Oh no! My Rolex is missing!"
- Ed Koeneman contributed. He was proud of Cassandra and Natalie from Westwood HS Interact, who had made a presentation about the value of Rotary Youth Programs at the Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club. They not only did an outstanding job with their presentation, Natlie won $25 in their 50/50 drawing. Ed was glad to see Greg Okonowski looking so good.
- John Pennypacker was happy to have attended his 60th reunion with his classmates from the Stanton Military Academy. The school, which opened in 1854, has had some notable past graduates - Barry Goldwater, Barry Goldwater, Jr., Michael Goldwater, and John Dean to name a few. One individual at the reunion was from the class of 1945. He and his wife were both in great shape and tap dancing all over the place.
- Ray Smith was happy tax season is over. He was so happy he donated $100 to Polio Plus and $500 to the sponsor campaign. He reported that Wendell Jones is not doing so well. He has been diagnosed with ALS, which is a slowly degenerative disease. Wendell was out riding his bike four days earlier and was hit by a car. He did not have any broken bones, but did need to have stitches in his lip. Wendell sent a $500 sponsorship donation to the meeting with Ray.
- Shelly Romine was very happy. They were going to be leaving town over the weekend heading for the Galapagos Islands.
- Dave Brauchler was happy to share a story from his adventures as a grandpa babysitting his three-year-old granddaughter. She comes up with lots of excuses not to go to or stay in bed when it's bedtime. She recently said she had some big, big boogies and needed a Kleenex. Dave got the Kleenex for her and told her that needed to be the last thing, to which she held out her little hand with her little finger ready to "pinkie promise."
- Don Boucher was happy about a recent encounter with his 'brother from another mother."
- Cuck Flint said Mesa West is still solidly in the lead to be the Polio Plus Champion Club recognized by the district this year. To ensure we stay there, he is willing to match Polio Plus donations in increments of $100 with 2/.1 recognition points from his personal recognition point account.
- Kayla Mudge had recently spent time with her dad. She said he always asks if she has enough money. She always replies that she does. He asked her if there was anything she needed money for, and Kayla told him about being captain of one of the sponsorship drive fundraising teams. Her dad handed her a $100 bill. Kayla said she was also happy that Ed Koeneman had agreed to help auction the gift bag she had brought back with her from New Zealand.
- Don LaBarge was very happy to have Renee visiting. He said it was her second trip here. Don reported that President Pam had recently taken him aside and told him that it had been noted that Don couldn't hear what anyone was saying. He has since been to the VA and will be going back in three weeks to get his hearing aids.
- Jim McGown was happy to have again had the opportunity to drive some of the choice cars being sold at the Mecham Auto Auction the prior weekend. He especially enjoyed driving a McClaren. He said if anyone else in the club was interested in participating as a driver next year to let him know. He was also happy that his home was staying dry with his new roof.
- Colleen Coons was happy to see Greg. She reported she had driven to make a Rotaract presentation at the Peoria North Club, which meets at 6:00 PM. She said it was an hour and a half commute from her home to that meeting at that time of day. The good news was the Peoria North club donated $500 to the Rotaract Club their club sponsors.
- Pam Cohen contributed some happy and sad bucks. She was happy to see Greg. She was sad to hear about Wendell's diagnosis and recent accident. She was sad to report that Jack Rosenberg was in the hospital with kidney failure and pneumonia. She was happy to say that after the meeting she would be driving to Cottonwood for that Rotary Club's 75th anniversary.
Auction of Kayla Mudge's souvenirs from her trip to New Zealand
Mesa West Rotary has a tradition in which members are encouraged to voluntarily participate. When they travel to interesting places on vacation, they bring back souvenir loot to be auctioned at a meeting relatively soon after they return. Kayla Mudge brought a bag of items she picked up in New Zealand. She had no problem finding souvenirs, but it was more than a little challenging to find items that were actually local rather than "made in China." Kayla shared that there was some edible art in the bag, as well as something wearable and something which was environmentally friendly.
Ed Koeneman acted as auctioneer, and asked for an opening bid of at least $10. The bidding was pretty enthusiastically competitive early on, but Jim Schmidt's bid of $55 ended up being the top bid. After the bidding was over, Jim and Kayla showed some of the items. From a local shop, there was a bottle opener that was a wood carving of a Kiwi. There were some unique earings and local chocolate.
The Rotary Foundation Giving Recognition - John Pennypacker
Before presenting the recognition, John briefly shared information he had gained listening to a podcast about the goal The Rotary Foundation Trustees have set for growing The Rotary Foundation endowment to $2.025 billion by 2025. If interested in learning about this, CLICK HERE to view the on-demand webinar. He also encouraged members to keep the Polio Plus donations coming.
John then had the pleasant task of presenting a Paul Harris Fellow Plus 5 recognition pin to Joan Reimann representing $6,000 in total giving to The Rotary Foundation. Joan remarked about how surprising it was to have already achieved another level, saying when you set up automatic giving, it just happens without having to think about it, and not even missing the funds donated.
Announcements
- Greg Okanowski shared information about a 5K run, walk to take place Saturday, May 13 at 7:00 AM. The Rotary Run for Resilience is being hosted by the Queen Creek Satellite Club to raise funds for and awareness about Teen Mental Wellness. It will be held at Horseshoe Park, 20464 E Riggs Road in Queen Creed, AZ 85142. $35 registration includes t-shirt and medal. The QR code in the image will take you to their registration. If that doesn't work, CLICK HERE to go to rotaryclubqc.com.
- Dave Brauchler reminded members that our May 11 meeting will be held at the Ross Farnsworth YMCA. Our May service project will be an opportunity to donate blood through the Red Cross. For one week, registration for the available donation appointments was limited to Mesa West Rotary. After that week, registration to donate will again be open to the public. Whole blood donation appointments are 45 minutes long, and Power Red donation appointments are one hour long. If you have questions, email Dave.
- Pam Cohen shared information about the District Conference coming up the first weekend in May. For more information, CLICK HERE
- Ed Koeneman said that the top male athlete at the Spring Olympics left the event before the winning medals were presented. He said Jim Schmidt accumulated an obscene amount of points. He made three baskets and did very well in bocce ball. Jim received his Gold Medal at the meeting.
Program - Dr. Janine Crifasi - Arizona Chiropractic Neurology
Jay Stuckey introduced our speaker, Dr. Janine Crifasi. Dr. Janine is committed to learning and educating people to change their awareness about their bodies' potential and empowering them with unique methods of retraining their brains to maximize their qualify of life through neuroplasticity. Her gift of gab and passion for this work and ability to put people at eae lends itself to community speaking engagements for anyone willing to listenn. She has owned a center specializing in kids wiith learning disabilities and served as a northeast clinical director of a functional neurology practice overseeing several functional neurology clinics prior to her arrival in Chandler seven weeks prior to the meeting.
She was invited here and will be mentored by Dr. Trevor Berry. He is the founder of Arizona Chiropractic Neurology Center and has been in practice in Chandler since 1997. He is involved in multiple laser studies and has been the principal investigator for Level 1 FDA clearances, and has been awarded the 2014 researcher of the year for Erchonia lasers.
Dr. Janine said we all start out as two cells - one sperm and one egg. The brain is the first of our organs to develop. It controls everything. Our bodies can experience a variety of things that negatively impact the brain's ability to control things optimally - traumatic brain injury, mold exposure, lime disease, and many others. She spoke of using combinations of technology and the patient's participation using their vision and other functions to enable analysis of problems as well as the patient participate in their own care.
They have found that some situations that used to seem hopeless are seeing regeneration of function through what they are learning.
CLICK HERE to see the slides Dr. Janine used in her presentation.
She invited members to take advantage of an offer to come in for a tour. She will donate a 30 minute consultation if members call to schedule it within two weeks of the meeting. The office number is 480-756-2600.
Dr. Janine has been a member of Rotary in the past, and hopes to be a Rotarian again after she gets settled.