Marana Rotary Club Meeting Nov 17 2015

Posted by Secretary Jo Holt 
 
After you’ve lived in Tucson for a while, temperatures that fall below 70F feel really cold. Like this morning. Good thing we were warmly greeted by greeter-extraordinaire Harold Burtzloff and President-extraordinaire Mary Straus.
 
Another thing about living in Tucson – we all know that the El Tour de Tucson (http://www.perimeterbicycling.com/el-tour-de-tucson/) happens on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and that the Marana Rotary Club will be at the aid station at I-10 and Tangerine. This is the 33rd year of the El Tour and the 24th year of the Marana Rotary aid station (thank you Harold for this valuable info). And somewhere at about that time, Tony Hunter came into the world! Tony has now found himself in charge of the El Tour aid station, and has done a great job planning and prepping for it. Keeping our fingers crossed for good weather this Saturday!
 
CPA Lynne Himmer, our Club Treasurer, gave us an overview of our budget. One very important bit of info from her talk: it’s Happy Bucks and our raffle that enable us to balance that budget. So, these activities are just for fun and intellectual enlightenment (?), but are very important to our bottom line.
 
Club Secretary and resident biochemist Jo Holt gave an update on the Club organizational chart. Really? Another version of this thing? Dr. Holt responded to the muffled groans by telling the Club that the org chart was good for them. You know, like brussel sprouts.
 
 
Calendar Update: 
Sat Nov 21
El Tour de Tucson day! Club members, along with Teacher of the Year Kathleen Neighbors’ Interact students from Tortolita Middle School, will be aiding riders at Tangerine Rd and I-10. Contact Tony Hunter to volunteer.
 
Tues Dec 8
Our annual Holiday party will be held at John Zwick’s beautiful Earth Energy’s Hearth & Home store, along with our annual meeting and elections of officers. Donations to More Than a Bed, the foster-care organization, will be collected. Monetary donations are greatly appreciated, as are donations of diapers and new toys.
 
Breaking News:
Maeve Johnson and Randy Brooks are not the same person! They stood side-by-side to illustrate the difference between the Club Foundation that Maeve now oversees and the Rotary Foundation that Randy keeps an eye on (or was it the other way around?). The Club Foundation provides a way for folks to make a tax-free donation to Marana Rotary and works closely with the Club Board to fund projects. The Rotary Foundation is much, much larger and is designed to fund projects in any one of Rotary’s six areas of service. Donations to the Rotary Foundation count as Paul Harris credits as well. And District grants are made possible by Rotary Foundation funds. So try not to confuse the Club with the Rotary Foundation. And definitely don’t confuse Maeve with Randy.
 
 
Guest Speaker:
Today’s meeting was the Annual Club Assembly which provides an opportunity to sit back and assess Club activities. In addition to explanations of the budget, the org chart, and the Foundations, we broke into groups and discussed some interesting questions about the Club provided to us by Mary. This was a great exercise and something that we would like to continue in the future. Thanks, Mary!