Club Information

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Marana in Marana, AZ

Marana

Service Above Self

We meet Tuesdays at 7:00 AM
Nana's Kitchen
8225 N. Courtney Page Way
Marana, AZ  85741
United States
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Current Events
Rotary Meeting Aug 14, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Ya'll better read these damn things as I just spent forty minutes a huntin and a peckin just to have the work of art get lost in cyber land. Snivel.
 
The Wise, Benevolent and migraine free President Tony Hunter returned this week with guitar in hand. After The Pledge and Denise West's reading of the Thought for the Day (All family are not "blood. In the lost version I had more, but this was a very well received Thought of the Day) Tony attempted to make up for his past misguided foray into our collective musical minds when the Beatles Yellow Submarine went over like the proverbial lead balloon two years ago. This time, while not receiving the Gold Buzzer, Tony definitely made it into the next round with  his sing along rendition of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire".  This writer hopes that President Tony has a few more "hankerings" to play some JC for us now that he knows our sweet spot.
 
RandyB then shared with us a little known fact that Mr Cash and the carter Family turned down a boat full of money from the maker of Preparation H who wanted to use the song in its commercials. It is this kind of nugget that keeps me coming back each week as a proud Rotarian yearning to learn.
 
Ellie Patterson, DGE was our guest.
 
Tony Hunter and Richie Benner attended Rotary member recruitment seminar in Green Valley and came back with lots of good information to share.
Bob Bishop attended Rotary/Hope 4 Kids water conservation seminar in Phoenix last Saturday.
 
Mary says Cameroon project progressing and she and RandyB are soon headed to Africa for the required project assessment. Safety is of paramount concern since apparently Cameroon is not in Kansas.
 
Joke Off
Lynne, the only contestant won easily with her joke about how Old Age and Treachery will overcome Youth and Skill on the golf course. (and many other places I might add).
 
Happy Bucks
Dan and John-Just plain happy
Randy-Canada is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Good to see Ellie P.
Don-Good to be back to cooler weather. Don was visiting the State of Washington
Mary-Will be seeing old friends from grad school
Richie-Membership is everyone's responsilbility
Bob Bishop-New owner is FAAQ. In my first and lost version I had a lot more on this, but now I am more interested in just the facts.
 
Raffle
Don +ticket#01+card 4c=$0
 
Rachel Cheeseman spoke of the United Way and specifically on their VITA program.(See Richie Benner's excellent write up on our Marana Rotary Club Facebook Page). Rachel is the volunteer coordinator for the Pima County United Way and whose grandfather and mother were Rotarians in Lafayette, IN.
Rachel shared with us the fact that 40% of Americans are just $400 away from a fiscally devastating calamity. The all volunteer VITA program assists with tax preparation and saves the payer around $300 were they to go to HR Block. Also, were thy to go to a less than reputable tax return specialist they might be talked into a loan advance on an inflated return with outrageous monthly compound interest rates.
VITA has completed 15,000 free returns in Pima County. There are nine sites in the county including one at the Marana Senior center. 
Rachel may be contacted at 903-3919 or RCheeseman@unitedwaytucson.org.
 
Board Meeting at John Dooling's office tonight at 5:30.All welcomed.
 Rotary Meeting Aug 7, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
With President Hunter out with a migraine President Elect Richie Benner quickly established his brief but omnipotent reign of terror. NO SONG was his first proclamation quickly followed by belittling those in attendance for having no "thoughts" to share. With his minions trembling King Richie proclaimed "He who gives should never remember." and "He who receives should never forget." This was actually one of the better "thoughts" we have had this year imho. I write this not just to curry favor with next years president, but to also togain access to this years Marana Rotary Foundation President.
 
With no guests and only ten members the meeting progressed swiftly. Mentioned were the upcoming Rotary Meeting in Green Valley that several members will be attending and the Rotary Water Conference that Bob Bishop will attend, both this coming Saturday.
Do not forget the District Conference 9/28 & 29. Sign up on line. Support our District Governor and staff.
Pantano Rotary partnering with Ben's Bells 8/14/2018. See Mary for additional information.
 
Happy Bucks
John-Five grandkids on Pima County Swim Championship Team plus they won Spirit Award. Grandson Carter set individual county records in three events. Son-in-law Justin doing very very well in his cancer fight and returned to full time employment as a Golder Ranch Fire Fighter.
 
Peter- has been struck deaf as a result of tormenting his dog. I do not fully understand, but it seems as if Peter for hours repeatedly tossed a stick into his pool and before his dog, a pedigreed retriever, could get it Peter would dive in and get it first. I have no idea why Peter is happy about his water logged hearing/deafness but he gave us a dollar so who am I too ask?
 
David-All the rugrats are back to school
Dan-$2,600 feared auto repair bill turned into a minor thermostat repair. The money saved will soon be spent however as Dan is to be a grandpa!!!!!!!!!!!
Denise- MADE IT! Sorry, I could not hear what she made. Ask her next week when you see her.
Mary-Happy and a Joke Off competitor
Maeve-Will be visiting out of state family next week.
 
Joke Off-
Mary-What did the German cowboy say when he went into the Dealership? Audi!
Lynne- Joke too long to list here, but it did explain a lot about the stages of life and why animals are smarter/happier than us.
Maeve's joke was hilarious but way too much sex for me to include in this puritanical summary. (Randy, you will love it!)
This writer got into the swing of things with an entry about one of my all time favorite heroes, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. It seems Davy had a peculiar birth defect that is little known to today's citizens. He had three ears! A left ear, a right ear and a WILD FRONT EAR! Thus he was actually King of the Wild Front Ear!!!!!!!
The voting was not close. All "vote" went to me.
 
Following a stellar introduction by our despot in training, Richie Benner,our guest, the Rev Billy Still of the United Methodist Faith, spoke of The Inn, a migrant family shelter project. Housed in the basement of  the local United Methodist Church the mostly volunteer staff have assisted almost 3,000 ICE captured immigrants with a few days of food, clothing, shelter and showers. After this brief but welcomed respite they are off to their sponsors often in other states. Seventy Six percent participating in the United Methodist assistance program are from Guatemala, a country that is broken and gang controlled.
Before leaving for their sponsor each has an ankle bracelet for tracking. Rev Billy indicates 99% show up for adjudication (See Justice Department data below provided by this writer showing average of 24% to 43% judged inabsentia and trending higher) and seventy percent are returned to their country of origin.
 
image
 
The church receives no government funding for this project and the cost runs about $17 per person for the average two day stay. Our speaker stressed they are addressing the here and now problem and regardless of your beliefs about our immigration problem The Inn is helping people in need and could use financial support to continue their work.
 
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting  July 31, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Today's meeting was held at the Conference Center of the Marana Municipal Complex. With nine members present President Tony Hunter called the meeting to order.
The meeting covered the general areas  1) Club Experience 2)Service and Socials 3) Members 4) Image 5) Business Operations.
The only area of deficiency that was noted was recruiting new members and maintaining members. Within this category those present felt improvement was needed in follow up of potential members, lead development and community presentation.
 
Ideas presented by those in attendance included 1)Friend Storming 2)Lead development list 3) Vocational Speakers 4) More emphasis on business networking 5) Enhanced community awareness 6)Recruit past members 7) Exit interviews.
 
It was announced that the Chair of the Marana Rotary Foundation for fiscal 2018/2019 will be Richie Benner. Treasurer will be Lynne Himmer with Denise West, Harold Burtzloff, Don Jorgensen and John Dooling also serving on the Board.
 
Meeting concluded with the four way test performed admirably considering we were without access to the printed word. 
Rotary Meeting  July 24, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Tony Hunter rang the bell to attend one of the sparsest attended meetings in many a year. With District Governor Kirk Reed attending this was in deed unfortunate. With no fewer than five members out of state for the summer months it is understandable, but none the less unfortunate. Passers by would have recognized the lyrics to My Country Tis of Thee if not the actual melody.
 
The SOP of our usual meeting was not adhered to as we began with individual tables discussing among themselves inspirational people in their lives. I was not privy to the discussions at the other tables, but Dan Contorno and I seem to have led remarkably uninspired lives up til now.
 
No Happy Bucks today and our lone comedian Maeve (Lynne not here today) barely got off the stage with her life. Only her instinct allowed her to avoid the small but nasty crowd. (Inside joke. You had to be there).
 
DG Kirk Reed's grandfather joined Rotary in 1922. His mother, age 97, is a Rotarian in Georgia and was their bookkeeper/secretary up until a few months ago. Kirk has been a Rotarian for twenty-seven years. His young grandson was very impressed when he learned Grandpa was the Governor of the Tucson Rodeo!
 
DG Reed is an Eagle Scout, avid reader, cyclist and baseball fan. One of the people that inspired him was Ron Santo, famed third baseman of the Chicago Cubs from 1960 to 1973. Ron, a diabetic, raised millions for the fight against Juvenile Diabetes. Another inspiration in his life is his mother who not long ago called him and said "I do not want you to worry, but I am in the hospital and my house burned down!" In spite of this heavy blow, her attitude was "I might as well move closer to my Rotary Club since my home was seven miles from where the meetings were held!" So she moved closer!
 
Bad things can happen, planning goes astray and the strong stumble. Credit goes not to the critic nor to the timid souls afraid to participate, they experience neither victory nor defeat, but rather credit goes to those who dare enter the arena.
 
In closing he quoted Ghandi in saying "The best way to find yourself is to get lost in the service to others". DG Reed will take his message of "Have Fun-Get Stuff Done" to another forty-seven clubs before his year is finished.
Our Club donated $100 to DG Reed in his Ride for The Cure polio eradication effort this coming November.
 
Next week's meeting to be held at the Marana Town Hall and will serve as our annual Club Assembly.
 Rotary Meeting July 17, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Following the Pledge of Allegiance President Tony Hunter searched furtively and  futilely for anyone with a song or even a thought.
Quickly moving on with the deftness of all great public speakers, our President whipped out from behind the rostrum a banner from the Rotary Club of Eureka, Arkansas. This banner was brought back to us from member Bob Bishop who did a make up while visiting in Eureka. Thus Bob was marked as attending today's meeting although he was not here today!
 
There is a New Member seminar to be held August 11th in Green Valley. Tony would like for at least three members to attend. Membership Chairman Randy Brooks will be out of state on Rotary business that weekend. Cost for the half day sesion, which I believe includes lunch, is $30. I believe we have Denise West as a probable attendee. Think about it and, if interested, let Tony know. Possibly carpool and a singalong in transit may entice an additional two members?
 
The Board has agreed to spend $2,500 from the Marana Rotary Foundation towards a District Grant match for assessment costs of our planned Global Grant project in Africa. The $2,500 commitment was made with the understanding that $2,000 will be raised by specific club members with $500 from current Foundation money.
 
District 5500 sent our a club a letter documenting the completion of our 2017/2018 Literacy project. Well Done! Jo Holt was given a round of applause for her leadership. Jo also announced her leave of absence for the next three months while political commitments consume her time.
 
DG Kirk Reed here next Tuesday.
In two weeks we meet at The Marana Town Hall Conference Center for our annual assembly.
 
Treasurer Lynne Himmer reports we made a profit of $5,000 from our Tour de Cookie event. Big thanks to Dan Contorno and all who worked to make this a success.
 
A tour of The Port of Tucson has been organized by Presidio Rotary Club. It will take place Wednesday 8/8/2018. Call John Dooling if interested for details. 744-3998.
 
HAPPY BUCKS
Dan- Has plumbing leak in his Pinetop Trailer and daughter's car is broken down.(Is it just me or does Dan not understand the concept of HAPPY BUCKS?)
Peter-The well traveled Mr Mack just returned from England where a celebration of his fathers life was held. His father was 87.
Denise-Pleased to have the Marana Town Manager as our speaker today.
David-Clouds, rain and the cooler weather
Don-His wife's eye surgeries are complete and successful. Headed to Seattle for a couple of weeks.
Randy-Headed to state of Washington and on to Canada for two or three weeks. Plans to visit John Zwick.
Randy also promised two Paul Harris Fellow's to our membership. One to the member who recruits the most members the first six months of the year and ditto for the second six months.
 
Joke Off
Lynne-Late at night a drunk sneaks into his home and falls on his kiester breaking the two bottles of booze in his back pockets. He attempts to bandaid his cuts using the hall mirror before stumbling off to bed. In the morning his frau confronts him with his drunken status the night before. "What gave it away?" he asks. His wife explains, "The front door was left open, there was whisky and broken glass in the hallway and there were bandaids all over the mirror!"................ Now that's funny!
 
Maeve-Needs to work on her delivery. Patron asks for a glass of punch at the bar. Bartender says "You will have to get in line." The guy looks around. There is no punch line............... You know, this is actually funnier when I type it than when Maeve told the joke.
 
If you are still reading it must be because you are interested in what Jamsheed Mehta, Marana Town Manager, had to say. Jamsheed was born in Karachi, Pakistan and educated as a civil engineer at The University of Kansas. He was Transportation Director in Glendale, AZ prior to coming to Marana. He got on his audience's good side early by relating his familiarity with the global good works of Rotary International specifically programs for the visually impaired and polio inoculations in Pakistan. He believes RI has been doing good in Pakistan for possibly 100 years. 
The Town of Marana is dependent on construction revenue directly or indirectly for roughly 80% of its budget. This is fine for many years into the future as there is much land to grow, however this will have to change as time goes on and construction plateaus. Also, recovering from the Great Recession has been slow. Many developers have reduced lot sizes from 10,000 square feet to 6,000 square feet. Population has increased from 35,000 to 45,000 over the past ten years which is good but less than projected ten years ago. This year 818 new single family home construction permits have been issued.There are four parks in various stages of development, a four story hotel to open in three months, two senior care centers and an apartment building under construction right now.
A major concern is the Marana Main Gate. The ambiance one feels when first entering the town of Marana is very important to attract future citizens and businesses. Perks are available to entice builders to plan parking in the rear of their establishments and possibly town parking within walking distance to local stores to preclude the need for parking lots.
Marana has 18 miles of frontage road on Interstate 10 and  an airport with plenty of space for expansion and long runways. The waste water treatment plant is now three times the size as when purchased from the city of Tucson a few years ago. Water access is being jointly planned with Metropolitan Water District and the Town of Oro Valley.
Speaking of water, much of Marana is in the 100 year Flood Zone. The so called Tortolita Alluvial Plan brings flood water west from the Tortolita Mountains towards Marana. The S&P railroad serves a berm as does Interstate 10. As land is rezoned to housing more flood prevention projects will be required. Much land within Marana is state owned and will be sold off for development in the coming years with proceeds going to fund education statewide.
The town took over its own Animal Control within its boundaries from Pima County this past year. While there were some Doubting Thomas's the takeover has been a resounding success with 50% of lost animals being returned to their owners the first day of the loss being reported.
There are numerous community programs for citizen involvement and a Citizens Forum to bring issues before the Town Council.
Marana prides itself on being family friendly and their Founders Day, Harvest Day and Fourth of July celebrations are evidence of this commitment.
 
 
 
Read more...
Rotary Meeting July 10, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana

  Early arriving members gathered outside of the locked Nana's Kitchen doors. Javier and Nana arrived in time to open the doors, get coffee started by 7am. President Tony Hunter rang in the meeting at 7:02am. Not bad, plus Nana and Javier whipped up quiche, tater tots and sausage in short order. After the PofA Maeve decided we should sing "It's a Grand Old Flag" again. Next time we have a rainy day we might want to revisit "Itsy Bitsy Spider"?
 
Guests included Amanda  Rodriguis who was requesting a grant from The Rotary Vocational Fund to study as a veterinarian tech. (She was approved by the Randy Brooks led committee for a $3,000 scholarship), our speaker KarynVampotic and our youngest visitor EVER Charles Benner, age 30 days.
 
Announcements included:
Board Meeting at John Dooling's office Wednesday July 11th at 5:30. Call 520-250-4012 if you need directions.
 
El Tour de Tucson rest/aid station will be headed up by Denise West. There will be a division of work assignments to be explained later.
 
Global Grant- For our Cameroon Project will be coupled with a District Grant for travel expenses. At least that is the thinking. A proposal will be submitted to the board tomorrow. The Cameroon project will address Education and Poverty. A fruit and vegetable garden as well as a small milk cow herd are planned with food for the students and surplus sold in the market. Foot powered sewing machines and a grain mill are also in the works for the village to create jobs and bring money into the community.  Mary presented.
 
Denise mentioned that tomorrow is the final Food Bank food distribution in Picture Rocks at the Ortiz Clinic. Dan Contorno volunteered to assist Denise. Thank you to the both of you. 
 
Randy, with a little help from Lynn, earned and donated a little over a hundred dollars by singing and strumming last Friday evening.
 
Bob Bishop will be attending a Az Water Summit meeting sponsored by Rotary in Phoenix on Saturday 8/11/2018. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Bob at 240-2338 to carpool. 
 
Happy Bucks:
 
Dan-Liked the quiche
Jo-Visited California relatives and avoided being bit.????????
Bob-Likes airplanes
Don-Able to meet with numerous relatives, also in California, many of whom he had not seen for years. Don's family spans the globe.
Denise-Vocalized all our thoughts when she mentioned her happiness caused by the rescue of the twelve Thai soccer players and their coach.
 
Joke Off
Maeve rear ended a dwarf. He was not Happy.
 
Lynne knows of a set of identical twins that were adopted out at birth to families in different countries. Juan was raised in Spain and Amahl in Egypt. A few years later the birth mother received in the mail a photo of Juan. This made her very happy but she lamented that she would like to see a picture of Amahl. Her friend commented when you've seen Juan you've seen .................Amahl!
 
Personally I think this was a tie, but the groaning from the audience was much louder following Lynn's delivery.
 
Bob Bishop won then lost with a red ten.
 
Speaker:
 
Karyn Vamotie, a former teacher and a semi retired attorney spoke of the Tucson Pastel Society "TPS"of which she is a member. Boasting 100+ members their mission's condensed version is to promote art activities especially pastel fine art among members, art collectors and galleries. Recently a building was donated to them and they are renovating it. Presently they are trying to raise money for a new roof.
TPS is trying to connect with local children's groups to allow for the exercising of their artistic talents.
 
Next Tuesday-The Marana Town Manager is our guest speaker.
In two weeks Governor Kirk Reed will be here.
In three weeks our Club assembly is scheduled.
Rotary Meeting June 25, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
As always, not withstanding last week, President Jo M Holt rang in the meeting at 7am (not to be confused with 8am) sharp. Jason Halper, (remember him?) led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Maeve once again demanded that we sing and once again we sang a patriotic song, "My Country Tis of Thee". Totally unbiased President Holt commented "Not too bad". High praise indeed.
 
Next our leader, whose time in her lofty perch is short, polled the membership for an idea or thought. When none were forthcoming she suggested we incubate those thoughts/ideas that are in the zygote stage and possibly gift them to President Tony when he returns from the RI Conference in Toronto.
Jo then shared a quote from Buddha regarding one candle can share it light with a thousand other candles and not diminish its brightness. The same can be said of human happiness.
Mary spoke of Cameroon project. The country is dry for nine months then three months of torrential downpour. The inhabitants subsist on millet and water with few protein sources. Challenges in numerous areas such as disease control, education, economic growth and food scarcity. Our RI grant may include cows, sewing machines and a community garden project. Guidance from local Rotarian Phil Silvers who has sat on the RI Board in the past. An RI grant requires a community assessment and therefore possible travel to Cameroon by two or more Rotarians. This travel cannot be paid by RI grant money and could run about $2,000.
Brief discussion followed regarding 1)Shelterbox for Guatemala, 2)Xray machine for Guatemala 3) AZ Rotary Vocational Fund. President Jo artfully and appropriatly ducked these discussions as being more correctly addressed by new President Tony Hunter. 
 
Happy Bucks
Richie-Charlie is 8.5 pounds and doing well, lost his wallet (I lost my wallet once and indirectly cost me a night in jail and $50) and he's going to Washington DC in August. One out of three isn't too bad.
Don- Spouse Kathy is undergoing her third of four scheduled eye surgeries this week
Randy-Getting out of Dodge to see his family and his best friend Bert. Don was visibly hurt by this announcement about Bert.
Denise-Happy for Tony in Toronto (probably because it is about a hundred degrees cooler there than here)
Jo- Her son is back in school in NY and living in Hell's Kitchen. (I thought that was near Yuma)
Mary-Rotary
 
Joke Off
Yes, Joke Off now gets its own heading. Maeve began by lowering the bar with a story about a guy wrapped in  cellophane  (invented by Swiss Chemist Jacques Brandenberger) going to his new psychologist for his first appointment. The psychologist exclaimed "You do not have to tell me about your situation, I can see your BLANK." Or alternatively, Randy's punch line "I can see you're BLANK" .
 
Convinced that she had another victory, Lynne went with the nervous new priest who was given advice by the Monsignor to have a small glass of vodka next to his water at the pulpit during his prsentation. Well you guessed it, the new priest over imbibes and made numerous funny errors in his homily (it truly was as if Lynne was a member of the congregation as she struggled to get through her delivery without a complete collapse from her hysterical laughter) ending with the Monsignor's admonishment "There will be a taffy pull at St Peter's Church next Sunday, not a peter pull at St Taffy's Church."
 
Denise "Lucky" West won and lost with the five of spades.
 
 Jim Evers was our speaker today. Following his retirement as an ob/gyn he has volunteered for several years at Community Home Repair Project of AZ. CHRPA.
The daily work as a new volunteer was abit too strenuous for Jim so he ended up on the board and is their current Board President. CHRPA is a 501c3 organization that does mobile home repairs for owners who are of limited means and ability. Coolers, bathrooms, floors, roofs, plumbing, ramps, etc. You name it they do it. The organization was founded over 35 years ago by Mennonites. Today they are still housed in the Mennonite  church at 30th and Wilmot and pay $1 year for the facility.
They have a million dollar a year budget and did 18oo projects last year in Tucson, primarily in the south and SW parts of town. 1/3 of the budget is from government grants, 1/3 from fees for service and 1/3 from donations. There is a shortage of funds due to city cutbacks and CHRPA is currently dipping into its surplus to provide needed projects.
Volunteers are always welcomed, with or without skills. Many winter visitor RV'ers assist and religious groups from around the world that send young volunteers to do good in the world and end up in Tucson and participate.
Volunteers include people from various backgrounds such as ob/gyn, a physicist and a Violin Player, not to mention building trades. Their culture is one of "No One Complains".
 
Jim indicated they do a couple of ramps a week and they are very willing to work with Rotary when we can share the cost and provide some hands on labor.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
See you all on July 3rd 2018 in the year of Tony The Hunter.
 
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting June 19, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Jo M Holt led us in The Pledge as the clock struck 8am. Her attempt to quickly begin reminiscing about her past year as club president wa thwarted by Member Maeve Johnson's enquiry "Isn't this a song month?" Without waiting for an answer Maeve pressed "Let's sing "Its a Grand Old Flag" I just love that song. And so we did. Some of our younger members (those under 70) may not know the background of this George M Cohen song written in 1906.  
The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, "She's a grand old rag." Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune "You're a Grand Old Rag." So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a "rag," however, that he "gave 'em what they wanted" and switched words, renaming the song "You're a Grand Old Flag".[1]
— Library of Congress
 
If you have three minutes check this out-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxyt1Vt5ejY
 
  Back to President Jo's reflections on the past year. 
The year was filled with the planting of thousands if not tens of thousands of trees by Rotarians spurred by our RI President. Hundreds were planted in our own Marana Veterans cemetery. Tour De Tucson aide station was again our big November event. Rpotarians riding in this event have raised over FORTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for the fight against polio over the past few years. Our club has played  a not so small part. Our own Tour de Cookie has also raised thousands of dollars for our charitable works. Our books for preschool kids project, in spite of a few twist and turns start to finish, provided over 6,000 books to needy families seeking services through the Women, Infants and Children program at The Marana Healthcare facility. A few hundred hours of hands on work were spent assisting the Food Bank at the Ortiz Clinic in Picture Rocks, AZ.
Gifts were provided by Jo to her Board Members and she especially singled out Denise West, while not a member of the board, for her participation in so many of the years events.
 
Then Maeve went on a roll. I missed 95% of what the hell was going on. However, I did learn a new word. "Jamoke". I think Randy is one, but as I said, I am not sure I heard everything correctly. There is a lot of stuff that goes on over in that corner of the room each week that is out of order and needs to be reigned in. I think our Sergeant of Arms needs to get involved. This kind of fun should be prohibited.
 
Lynne, following up to last weeks hijinks, decided to read her joke of the week to us.  While not as hilarious as last week, the gist of the humor was, if you are looking for a priest or a lawyer there may be better places than St Pete's backyard.
We finally got around to swearing in Tony Hunter as our new president effective 7/1/2018 and he in turn swore in and pinned the following members:
Richie Benner-President Elect
John Dooling-Secretary
Lynne Himmer-Treasurer
Harold Burtzloff-Member at Large
Bob Bishop-Member at Short (his joke, not mine)
 
Tony addressed the club and notedly told us that Rotary International, the Zone, The District and The Club all run on their members. The thought was taken from this months Rotarian Magazine's article by the new RI President. After providing the backstory to the origin of the name Marana Tony encouraged us to take risks and "To Be The Inspiration".
We look forward to Tony's year at the helm.
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting June 12,2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
The Rotary Club of Marana is becoming a very "exclusive" group judging by attendance today. Ten members and two speakers heard President Holt call the meeting to order at precisely 8 am sharp! Lynne Himmer came to the meeting prepared with a thought taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Happiness is not required for a successful life, but useful, honor and compassion are required. Randy Brooks took exception to this and in his best Bob Newhart impersonation said "uh, and happiness?" Struck me funny. Moving on.
 
 President Holt congratulated new dad, Richie Benner. An "I love Rotary" outfit for Carl Benner and other gifts were given to Richie, Samantha and their son.
 
 
President Jo advised the group that The Budget for Tony Hunter's year as president starting July 1st has been passed by the Board. "May the reign of terror begin." is pretty much a direct quote from lame duck Holt.
 
The Food Bank Picture Rocks program is coming to an end as it has failed to grow as anticipated. Thank you to all who have participated over he past year or so.
 
HAPPY BUCKS!
John-Good to see Javier and Peter again.
Dan-Bah Humbug, his last dollar was given to Sgt At Arms Javier Teran so no reason to be happy
Peter-Stuck on a mountain in Chile with four gray walls to surround him. Down the road he looks and here comes Mary, hair of gold and lips like cherries and wild mules munching the green green grass over the septic. (Had to combine a few things due to space limitations)
Mary-Happy
Randy-Happy
Richie-Happy, duh.
Harold-Happy
Virtually everybody happy except for the afore mentioned, Dan Contorno.
 
One of the punniest jokes of all time was heard at our meeting this morning judging from the peal after peal of hysterical laughter and actual tears of joy coming from the joke teller herself, Lynne Himmer. "I crack myself up!" she was heard to  exclaim  as she made her way back to her table after finally getting through the "Sally sells c-cells at the sea shore" punchline. Four people in attendance clapped a total  of five times in appreciation of her poised delivery technique. Seriously, she enjoyed the joke so much herself we all could not help but to enjoy it with her. Thanks, Lynne. You are a, um, a, um, a  treasure! 
 
Peter won and lost and literally does not know a spade from a club.
 
Our speakers, Colleen Leon and Jerry Simmons, were from SAMSAR-Southern Arizona Mounted Search And Rescue. This all volunteer organization got its start after the tragedy in the Santa Rita Mountains in 1958. You can copy and paste the following URL for more information.
https://tucson.com/news/local/mt-baldy-surrenders-its-secret-at-last/article_66fef4e4-419c-5572-87e8-6c11c284729b.html
 
While SAMSAR helps to coordinate numerous rescue service providers they are uniquely qualified when mounted recovery efforts are required. I regret that these minutes do not do the organization credit, but there skills and accomplishments are far to varied to give them justice here. They did mention that cases of dehydration are almost as frequent in the winter months as they are in the summer. This is often due to visitors unfamiliar with the extreme rough terrain of the Catalina's and surrounding mountains and the low humidity that allows heatstroke to sneak up on you. Jerry recommends that you keep a slip of paper in your wallet listing any meds you are taking and always leave a slip of paper on your dash when hiking stating when you left, destination, number in your party and expected time of return. There have been 50 rescues already this year and many from the Sabino Canyon area.
Jerry and Colleen  accepted numerous question with the only caveat being they must be about SAMSAR. See below.
 
Saturday 6:00 AM - 8:00 AM Your exclusive home for Tucson's longest running, most respected car care program. Jerry Simmons has been answering your car care questions each and every Saturday for 19 years! Call in to the show - 751-1041 In business at the same location (3743 S. Country Club) since 1974, Simmons is a full service repair center, as well as specializing in 4x4, drive shaft and exhaust system repairs. ASE certified technicians are well-trained in computer diagnostics.
 
Hope to see a few more members returning from their summer travels next week. Don? Bob? 
 
Rotary Meeting June  5, 2018
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Jo called the meeting to order, which was no easy feat as many were on a carb and sugar high from our Dunkin Donuts breakfast. As frequent readers may recall Nana's was closed Tuesday and arrangements were made to meet at Coyote Trail Elementary School. Thanks, Dan. Oh, and thanks Mary and Randy for the coffee, orange juice, bagels, cream cheese AND donuts. 
President Jo was a little run down from her Party's party the night before, I believe in Sedona. Never the less she called for Happy (no bucks) and many felt obliged to take advantage of this FREE  opportunity. Some of the happy comments came from:
Mary- Happy to have met Mirabel
Randy-Happy to have his diabetes under control (as he bit into the first of two iced donuts)
Dan-Wife is in Ethiopia and he cleaned the kitchen in her absence. I can understand the happiness in the first item, but the second?
Tony-Legally married to a prosthetist. Hey, I just report what's said.
David-Summer Vacation!
Maeve-Lyle is left handed? Had to be there.
Harold-Photos on website---with room for improvement
Richie-Baby watch continues. Baby room painting complete. Looks like Harvey is not in the cards.
Don-Shelter Box is in the running for Nobel Prize!
Jo-Partied with her party this time for three days in Window Rock. If you are going to Window Rock, might as well party for three days.
 
 Mirabel presented her Exchange Year.RYLA was GREAT. She was forced to work with others and develop skills of persuasion. She overcame fear of heights and made several friends with whom she remains in contact. 
She said she does not see the world as yes/no, up/down. black/white as much as when she arrived. She is more aware of the various shades and not so absolute. As all Exchange Students before her she commented on school in the US being less demanding than what she had experienced in her own country of Nigeria. Classes she took were Photography, Spanish, Choir and Biology. She indicated people in the USA smile and wave much more than in her home country, even if they do not know you! 
She traveled to Hollywood, CA, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and even into Mexico. She is very grateful for the opportunity to experience our culture and to now have a white family. She said she will miss In and Out Burger, Dessert after meals and all the fatty, fatty food.
 
Randy summed up the club feelings when he stated we were grateful for the experience of  sponsoring her and the opportunity to learn from her about her country and culture. This exchange student program definitely provides for growth and learning to both parties. 
 
A big thank you to Randy, Deb, Mary, Nancy, Bouba, David and Mrs Hindman for stepping up as host parents. Our entire club benefits.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Club Executives & Directors
President
Tony Hunter
President Elect
Richie Benner
Treasurer
Lynne Himmer
Secretary
John Dooling
Immediate Past President
Jo Holt
Member-at-Large
Harold Burtzloff
Member-at-Large
Robert Bishop
Membership
Randy Brooks
Service Projects
Richie Benner
Marana Rotary Foundation
Maeve Johnson
The Rotary Foundation
Randy Brooks
Sergeant at Arms
Javier Teran
Newsletter Editor
Harold Burtzloff
 

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MCAT Student Of The Month 

MCAT - Marana Career & Technical High School is an optional opportunity for Marana High School and Mountain View High School students to learn and earn academic credit in a non-traditional educational setting. 

The Marana Rotary Club has been honoring students from MCAT for over 19 years. 

Below are Students for Rotary Year July 1,2017 to June 30,2018

Emily Hall                Sept
 
Audrey Rhodes      Nov
 
Nathan Ryberg      Dec
 
Mikyla Bambrough  Jan
 
Hamish Pottenger  Mar
 
Xavier Balderrama  Apr
 
John Cain  May
 
 
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