The meeting was called to order by President Kayla Mudge. Attending via Zoom were Jeanie Morgan, Pai Bethea, Bob Jensen, Liz Paulus, and Fatima. The pledge was led by Deb Koeneman, and the invocation was led by Polly Cady. Guests today included Tom McClarty from Verde Valley/Cottonwood Club and Blaise Vitale from Wisconsin.
For today’s raffle, both the small and large pots were $30 and a new deck of cards was started. The winner was Tom McClarty.
Today’s topic was suicide prevention and the speaker was Sherry Candelaria, along with her son Joseph. Sherry is on the board of NAMI Arizona. NAMI stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness and it is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization. Sherry also is the mother of 7 children with various mental health diagnoses. One of her sons died by suicide in 2007.
Joseph Candelaria then spoke about his experience being the youngest sibling. Joseph has ADHD and when he was 16, he had an accidental overdose that he survived. Joseph says he provides a judgment-free open space for family and friends and encouraged everyone to pay attention to their friends, family and loved ones.
The next part of our meeting was a Celebration of Life for club member Polo Santiago. Pam Cohen did a photo presentation of some of Polo’s times with Mesa West. She noted that he seemed so fine from the outside, though he was not an “open book”. Polo was inducted into Mesa West on October 29, 2022 (Pam’s birthday). Polo volunteered for may service projects including the hearing project in Mexico. He taught English and a Second Language (ESL). And his favorite opportunity of service he did on his own was helping to make and serve dinners at Paz de Cristo. Above all, Polo was man of kindness. He served with compassion. He would have been 41 this year. We will honor his memory by serving others joyfully.
Several Mesa West members then shared memories and thoughts about Polo. Happy Bucks were collected in Polo’s memory for donation to Paz de Cristo. After the meeting concluded, all were invited to toast to Polo with champagne, sparkling juice or tequila.
