Opening and Welcome - President Colleen Coons
Colleen pointed out the new Club Banner which was designed by Pam. AG Dan Coons arranged for having it printed.
- Dick Myren offered the invocation.
- Jack Rosenberg led the Pledge of Allegiance.
- Chuck Flint was thanked for arriving early to sell raffle tickets.
- Steve Ross was thanked for serving as Greeter, welcoming members and guests to the meeting.
- Ron Thompson was thanked in advance for his effort as Sgt at Arms collecting Happy Bucks.
- Ed Koeneman was thanked for his expertise as chief tech officer.
Introduction of Guests
- Polly Cady introduced Olivia from Sweden, a Rotary Youth Exchange student hosted by Mesa West Rotary. She is attending Mesquite High School where she is on the student council and is on the cross-country team. She is really enjoying school and looks forward to any experience she can have while on her exchange. She would like to attend our Rotary meeting every week if possible. She also has a list of things she would like to do while here. Olivia announced she would like to go hiking, visit a pumpkin patch, the zoo, and attend a football game to name a few. She would enjoy the theater, and would like to try barbeque. If anyone in the club would like to do something with Olivia, they should contact Ed Koeneman or Polly. To follow RI youth protection policies, Olivia's contact information cannot be published in our Messenger.
- Frank Rosenberg was happy to have a friend and former member seated at his table.
- President Colleen also acknowledged those who were attending the meeting via Zoom: Pai Bethea, Deb Koeneman, Lola McClane and Jeanie Morgan.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck FlintAfter announcing that the small pot would be $30 and the large pot was up to $950, Chuck asked Olivia to draw the winning ticket. When no-one responded that they had the ticket number drawn, Chuck checked his own ticket, which did match. He had Jay Stuckey verify that fact, then asked Olivia to try to draw the Ace of Clubs on his behalf. The card Olivia drew was the Ace of Hearts - which was then destroyed.
The raffle will continue with the large pot growing. Each week, proceeds of ticket sales are divided three ways: 1/3 to the club operating account, 1/3 for the small pot and the final 1/3 added to the cumulating large pot until it is won when some lucky person draws the Ace of Clubs.
Happy Bucks - Ron Thompson
- Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2.00 for the good fortune of he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels being associated with Mesa West Rotary. He said he really enjoyed the tour of the Library on August 31.
- Don LaBarge had recently returned from a two-week trip to Vermont where he visited three of his aunts. While he was gone, his wife, Chris, was in charge of his normal residential maintenance duties. Something went wrong with the irrigation system. A valve needed to be turned. Chris couldn't turn it. Their neighbor couldn't turn it either. Don suggested they try turning it the other direction. They did, and it worked just fine. The other thing that went wrong was it appeared they had a roof leak. It was not actually a roof leak. There was a rusted pan collecting water from the Air Conditioner which had started leaking through the ceiling.
- John Pennypacker said he had an appointment to see Ron Thompson to get his wisdom teeth removed. John removed his baseball cap to show the resulting stitches on top of his head.
- Ed Koeneman was happy Olivia was at the meeting. He and Deb are going to take the student they are hosting to the State Fair. When they decide for sure when, they will try to reach out to Olivia to see if she is available to go with them. Ed added that he had renewed his library card after the library tour. Ed said the Westwood HS interact members had informed him that it is incorrect to say Interact is Rotary for kids. What is accurate is to say that Rotary is Interact for old people.
- Warren Williamson contributed $5 to tell a story on Steve Ross. It seems Steve told his doctor he had recently walked about 3-4 miles, waded in a small lake, climbed cragley rocks on the edge of a mountain, and walked in the sand where he got sand in his shoes. His doctor congratulated him on taking the need to exercise so seriously. In truth, Steve just had a bad day on the golf course.
- Polly Cady was happy Olivia was at the meeting. She said she has the best job in the district, being the Youth Exchange Counsellor. She was also happy that Ron Thompson said he would take Olivia to a Cardinals game including a tailgate party.
- Harry Grossman was celebrating the Cardinals pre-season games. He was wearing his specdial shoes and Cardinals hat.
- Chuck Flint was happy to have won the small pot. He was unhappy that John Pennypacker was giving chocolate away at the front table, but he was only giving it to females. Chuck wondered why John didn't bring enough for everyone.
- President Colleen contributed $2 celebrated the arrival of our new official volunteer service vests. They come in all sizes. We now also have a table banner for use when we do tabling events. As part of her Mesa Leadership, Colleen participated in a police department ride-along lasting nine hours. She said it was the best experience she ever had. She said she learned so much from their viewpoint - those who are on the streets every day. She said they consistently showed dignity and respect to those they dealt with.
- Ray Smith pointed out that Allan Cady's birthday was coming up. Allan pledged $78 to the Guaymas project to celebrate his birthday.
- John Pennypacker asked President Colleen to remove her hat. He placed a new red "enhancer" (flower) in her hair. Colleen said she was surprised and delighted it was something so sweet. She was kind of expecting it to be something that would move or crawl down her back.
Program - Mark Young President and CEO Mesa United Way
Mark is a member of the Mesa Rotary Club. He is from Leavenworth Kansas. He has lived in Arizona since 1996. He was an American Baptist pastor for several years. He is now with the United Way. He likes Baseball, football, jazz and kayaking.The United Way has been part of our community for a long time. It had its beginning in 1921 as the Community Foundation. The founders wanted to make sure there was food and clothing for migrant workers during the cotton disaster. It became the Mesa Community Chest in the late 40s, and finally became the United Way in 1964. Their mission was to ensure nonprofits got the funding necessary to do their work. They changed from being merely an allocation group to also being a direct service provider in 2017. They found they needed to fill gaps in services needed in the community.
CLICK HERE to see the slides Mark used during his presentation, one of which is shown below:
.Over the years, fundraising has changed. It is now much easier to support the specific charities one wants to support with on-line donations. Some United Ways have merged. The Mesa United Way saw needs increasingly not being met with the old model. The new non-profit allows them to respond to unmet needs in the community Foster kids and parents can visit Helen's Hope Chest four times a year to "shop" for what they need at no cost. It allows them to raise money in communities receiving services, but not "allowed" with current boundaries to support United Way of Mesa. They are still a pass-through vehicle for donations. That is an important thing to do, but not their primary focus.
Mark spoke specifically about the need to improve reading proficiency. He said there are ways to predict jail cells needed in twenty years based on 4th grade reading proficiency scores. Volunteer reading tutors are needed. Their Azure organization qualifies for Arizona Tax Credit donations - in Arizona, we have a state government that lets us decide how to spend our tax obligation.
Money helps, but people volunteering help more. It's easy to blame parents, but they may not speak English and may be working multiple jobs. The reading tutors can make a huge difference.
Mark said they can't fill all the gaps, but they can fill some. He said there needs to be a way to address homelessness - before homelessness and desperation occur.
Don LaBarge told a story on himself. He said a Gilbert Judge tolk him to donate to the United Way in order to ge a charge dismissed.
Announcement - John Pennypacker had his laptop with him and was glad to stay and be available to answer questions about My Rotary or Rotary Direct.