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Rotary Club of Marana
President Hunter led us in the Pledge on this cold (by AZ standards) and windy morning. No singing or thoughts, but a full house. Guests included Beckie Penman (to be sworn in as our newest member today), her husband Carl, daughter Carla and granddaughter June. Also, last weeks speaker, Janet pipes, is back and this time is interested in membership!
Tony announced Club and Foundation decisions to fund a Shelterbox for $1,000 and the Cameroon Project for $5,000. Tony offered his appreciation to John Dooling, Mary Strauss and Lynne Himmer respectively for their home, food prep and wine knowledge they all shared at last Friday's member recruitment social. Also, thanks to Tony and Randy for their musical contribution.
Maeve reminded us that Tour de Tucson workers are meeting for breakfast at 8am at Micky D's on Tangerine this Saturday then on to Moore and Camino de Oeste for Aid Station setup.
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Mary spoke on The Rotary foundation. Reminded us of the three legs of Rotary 1.The Clubs, 2. Rotary International and 3. The Rotary foundation. TRF has six avenues of service 1. Peace and Conflict Resolution, 2. Maternal and Child Health, 3. Disease Prevention, 4. Water and sanitation, 5. Basic Education and Literacy, 6. Economic and Community Development.Foundation Fund Raiser at Oro Valley Gaslight Theater on 11/21/2018. Johnny Cash tribute. Order tickets at District 5500 website.
Rachel Cheeseman installed as new member of our club last Friday. Welcome Rachel. Rachel mentioned IRS publication #5307 that explains new tax filing information. Rachel had the distinction of being our newest member for a grand total of 3 and 1/2 days.
Tony brought Beckie to the podium where he shared some of her history. Denise West was the Club member that first discussed joining Rotary. Thanks, Denise. Beckie and husband Carl, married for 48 years, relocated to Tucson from Salt Lake City to be near their daughter and new granddaughter. Beckie has jumped right in and has volunteered for several projects even before today's meeting. She has a background in business services, specifically credit and debit processing and Lynne has already benefited from her expertise. Tony then inducted Beckie as our newest member and appointed her to the fundraiser committee. It was great to have her family here for the induction.
Happy Bucks
John D-He and Mary went all in against four seven's at the Old Pueblo Rotary's poker fundraiser Saturday night. They were both out before the break and Randy was able to see them get eliminated as he had been eliminated fifteen minutes earlier.
Randy, Rachel, Denise, Mary, David, Richie and others happy for our new members and for John's 70th.
Don- Shelterbox donation and new members
John Zwick-70 years of marriage to same woman, Sylvia
Joke Off
Maeve-New teacher was trying out her recently gained knowledge of child psychology. She asked the class to stand up if they think they are stupid. Finally after a long pause little Johnny stood. The teacher then asked Johnny, "Do you really feel you are stupid?" Little Johnny replied, "No. but I did not want you to be the only one standing."
Lynne-Priest, doctor and engineer playing golf. Group ahead were playing very slowly. The Ranger comes up and explains that the slow group were all blind firefighters who were injured saving the clubhouse last year when it caught fire. The priest says he will say a mass for their recovery, the doctor says he will consult with his good friend from medical school who was a top rated ophthalmologist and the engineer says, "Why don't they play at night?"
Both rated a strong seven on the laugh-o-meter. We may have to go to a show of hands next time to determine the winner.
Mary won and lost with the 8 of clubs.
Denise, our speaker scheduler, introduced Jeanmarie Schiller-McGinnis. Jeanmarie is President of Hearts That Purr Feline Guardians. This organization provides shelter and loving care for felines made homeless due to the terminal illness, incapacitation or death of their owners. Many of these pets are hard to find new homes for they are often older and may have other characteristics consider not desireable.
Hearts That Purr has a website at WWW.HEARTSTHATPURR.ORG and they can be reached by phone at 520-297-3780 and by email at heartsthatpurr@outlook.com.
Hope to see many of you Saturday at the Aid Station and 11/21/2018 at the Gaslight Theater show and fund raiser.
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President Hunter led us in the Pledge. He followed with his guitar as we all more or less chimed in singing "Here Comes The Sun". While we could not compete with George Harrison's version(the song writer) or with Richie Havens(the best version of the song IMHO) we did attempt to sing along. George wrote the song at Eric Clapton's home in the year 1969 when he had temporarily left the Beatles due to the constant demands of Apple studios and his arrested for marijuana possession. After a rough cold winter the song reflects his welcoming of the warm spring sun..JPG)
Mary explained TRF (The Rotary Foundation). As District Chair, Mary explained Rotary has three legs. #1 The Clubs, #2 Rotary International and #3 TRF. TRF recives the highest ratings possible for charitable organizations. Money given to TRF is returned to the Districts after three years of interest earning which TRF keeps. TRF money goes to District Grants, Polio fight, Peace Scholars and Global Grants.
MCAT Student of the Month is Yazmin Lopez. Yazmin was accompanied by her sister, parents Javier and Yanicel and Laura Garcia her student support coach. Yazmin is a K through 12 MUSD student. She plans on attending PCC to study surgical technology. As is our standard practice she received a certificate suitable for framing (we have frames Tony in the cabinet) and movie tickets..jpg)
Richie, there is only one "R" in my last name, Benner rang in the meeting due to Tony's absence. He called upon the gray haired, grizzled and wise yours truly to lead the pledge. Lynne led us in a rousing rendition of Take Me Out To The Ball Game in honor of the World Series which starts today. From various comments it appears the Bosox are favored over da Bums by our membership. Looking forward to a great Series..jpg)
Randy and Mary presented on their trip to Cameroon. For international projects there has to be two clubs. One is the host club (Cameroon) and the other is an international club (Marana). We write the grant and raise the money and the host club is responsible for oversight and implementation for three years. 
MCAT Student of the month is Kayla Hayes. Joining Kayla were her father Clint, Pricipal Denise Coronado and Teacher Mr Bowen. Kaylas has been a MUSD student for her entire education. She combats anxiety on a daily basis, but has blossomed in the MCAT environment, as did her sister ten years ago.Kayla hails from a family of seven and plans to attend Pima Community College and study Care Giving and/or medical field. She was presented with a Certificate of Academic Achievement and Harkin's movie tickets by The Rotary Club of Marana.
Kathleen Nabors advises there are currently a dozen students interested in Interact Club at Tortolita. They will be assisting in the Tour de Tucson Rotary aid station. Mary suggested the possibility of the Interact folks getting in on the Four Way Test scholarship opportunity..jpg)
Lynne-Ray and Blanche visited the State Fair and every time Ray would say "Let's go for the helicopter ride!" Blanche would retort "Ray, its $50 bucks and $50 bucks is $50 bucks."
Saad Allawi is an Iraq native, author, business consultant, software developer, mechanical engineer, Rotarian and today's speaker. The topic was Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. This therapy has been used for years in numerous countries. The patient is placed in a pressurized chamber with 100% oxygen piped in. There are two chambers in AZ one of which is in Tucson. The federal government allows it for wound treatment for diabetics and to treat people who have been poisoned with Carbon Monoxide. Proponets say it has numerous other uses. Presently there is a bottoms up effort among twenty states to receive approval for using this "cure" vs "symptom treatment" modality.
The Club welcomed back Randy and Mary from Cameroon project assessment trip. They arrived back in Tucson at 11pm last night after a 36 hour journey. They met with over 300 villagers, a hydrologist, a representative of The Ministry of women Empowerment and many many others. No sightseeing or fancy dining. This was a working experience. They were welcomed by the Rotary Club of Maroua. However, there was a distinct feeling that the villagers were suspicious of these two fair skinned foreigners. Randy mused that perhaps this derives from an historical perspective of white interaction in African continent. Buba Hamadou, the Tucson Rotarian and a Cameroonian indicated there is a cultural paranoia when it comes to outsiders. After our weary travelers have a chance to sync with Tucson time I am sure we will learn more.
Lynne had a segue for the ages. Following Randy and Mary's description of the very needy people in Cameroon, Lynne began with "On a lighter side a man had a heart attack". I kid you not, That's verbatim..jpeg)
Abigail Wilhelm spoke on the mission and vision of "free ever after" Bridal Boutique. Sex trafficking occurs when there is force, coercion or fraud involved in a sex act for commercial purposes. This often occurs at an early age and the victims are not aware until later that their choices in life were taken before thy knew they had any. Sex trafficking is ongoing worldwide and Tucson is no exception. Often sex traffickers will follow major events such as sporting venues and even the Gem Show. 
Caleb Hines is a K through 12 MUSD student. Mr Todd says Caleb is alert and attentive in the classroom and assists others in class and this is why he nominated Caleb for this award. Caleb intends to relocate to Nashville after graduation and become a tattoo artist with emphasis on "artist". He will be taking his guitar and possibly taking advantage of some "open mic" nights. With Caleb, Mr Todd and President Hunter all being guitarists and all at the podium together this writer was disappointed that NOT ONE thought to bring their instrument with them.
Janis Wilkom worked as a docent and met an elderly woman who needed assistance in order to remain in her home.This led Janis to Interfaith Community Services (ICS). ICS is a Four Star National Non Profit organization made up of 105 different faith communities in Tucson and surrounding area. ICS has four main avenues of service 1. Care Giving and Senior Services, the one Janis participates in, 2. Emergency Services, 3. Self-Sufficiency Programs and 4. Communiy Health Outreach. Space does not allow a detailed list of services, but I would encourage you to check out ICS at WWW.icstucson.org or call 520-297-6049.
