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 of America
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Current Events
Rotary Meeting Aug 13, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
                                                                          
 
President Benner called us to order, and we were led in the Pledge by visiting Spokane (WA) Rotarian Stephen Joswick, who is a longtime member, bicyclist enthusiast, and recently retired mortgage broker. Stephen is visiting Tucson-area Rotary clubs because he’s considering moving down to Arizona. Our club members seized upon Stephen’s biking interest and immediately regaled him with stories about our wonderful and successful Tour de Cookie.
 
But our regular meetRichie Benner welcomes new member Carl Maes, while John Dooling looks oning was really about inducting Carl Maes into the Marana Rotary. After his induction ceremony, Carl mentioned that Rotary reminds him “how to be a better person, how to help people.” Carl, who has his PhD. in optical sciences, is a financial advisor with Edward Jones. He and his wife, Patricia, have been married for 27 years, and they have three children. Carl is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Carl said that through Rotary he is looking forward to advocating for folks who don’t have a voice.
Before Carl’s induction, President Benner ran down some important announcements, including:
  • The club’s board discussed purchasing more our club’s mini-banners which are used as gifts to visitors, promotion, and friendship. We have the money; just need to review the design and order.
  • The Oro Valley Rotary has asked if we want to join with them on a community service project to benefit the food bank.
  • On August 29 at 11:15 a.m., the Rotary of Saddlebrook is hosting a lunch (free) at 1 Clubhouse Drive in Saddlebrook.
  • Sept. 15 is the District Awards application deadline.
  • Nov. 23 is the El Tour de Tucson, and we’ve been confirmed for our booth.
On a more somber note, John Dooling mentioned that GAP Ministries, which provides care for foster teens and other vulnerable communities, desperately needs to raise $500,000 this month.
 
After fellowship and breakfast, we had happy bucks, including a few tepid happy bucks, for the following:
  • “Our visitor and newest member” (Dan, John, and Tony)
  • “Former employee capped off successful career and was inducted into the National Manufactured Housing Hall of Fame” (Harold)
  • For “family, being alive, health, and friendship” (Carl)
  • For fellow “Spokanite” Stephen, new member Carl (Randy, but he’s also worried about attendance so a tepid happy buck)
  • “Happy” (Becky)
  • “Carl joining us because he’s a financial advisor with ethics” (Mary)
  • “Taking minutes, start of academic year across the city” (Laura)
  • ‘Happy’? about Broadway construction  & membership month (Richie)
Lynne’s joke aimed at our visitor from Washington. “What is a Seattle Seahawk’s fan’s favorite wine?” Answer: “We can’t beat the Arizona Cardinals.”
 
Our Tour de Cookie date has been set for March 7, 2020! Dan thought the start from the Rillito Race Track worked well. General discussion was to have the route focus a bit more along the Loop which runs into Marana. We hope to cross-promote Tour de Cookie at the Tour de Tucson in November.
 
-- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary
Rotary Meeting July 30, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
 
 
Our fifth Tuesday “social” meeting was at the Hampton Inn where club members dined on the hotel’s breakfast bar and met Megan Gilfillan, a Vocational Fund of Arizona scholarship nominee. Megan has applied for the need-based, $2,000 scholarship, which if granted, would help her as she begins a nine-month, dental assistant training program at Pima Medical Institute.
 
Previously, Megan was caregiver for five years and then earned a medical assistant certification. She grew up in Tucson, and will continue to work full time while going to dental assistant school in the evening. Megan has a great smile, and she hopes one day to help others find their smiles while at their dentist’s office.
 
-- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary
Rotary Meeting July 23, 2019
Marana Rotary Weekly Meeting Round-Up
An enthusiastic ring of the bell jolted us into order by former club president John Dooling, who subbed for a vacationing President Benner. John wryly noted that the last time he was at the podium, “Randy was a teenager.”
Since no one was “dying to break out in song,” John reminded members that the Membership Seminar will take place on August 3 in Green Valley. As of now, Randy, Mary, Laura, and maybe Rachel are planning to attend. Randy suggested that the club reimburse members who attend the seminar. The board will take up the recommendation at its next meeting.
Mary reported that she’s continuing to work with Bouba on the next phase of the grant writing. Harold reminded folks that next week we’re meeting at the Hampton Inn at 7 a.m. for a “fifth Tuesday” social breakfast.
After fellowship and breakfast, “Happy Bucks” for the following:
  • “All the rain” (John)
  • “Just happy” (Dan)
  • House sold (Becky)
  • “Nice cool weather” and wife has graduated from wheelchair to a walker! (Harold)
  • Going to Seattle for four days on a business trip (Denise)
  • “I’m just happy” (Randy)
  • “Very happy to hear our guest and presentation” and attended “Retro Game Show Night” at the Hotel Congress on Saturday which was lots of fun (Mary)
  • Grateful to hear the guest speaker. Grateful for moving into a new place (and the power of Facebook marketplace). Grateful to be attending a best friend’s wedding this weekend (Rachel)
Lynne tickled our funny bones with “you might be a crisis manager if …” riffs. Randy “won” the raffle.
 
 Guest Vanessa Helms of the Pima County Victim Services Division spoke about the groundbreaking history of victims rights and advocacy, which got much of its start right here in southeastern Arizona. Victim Services started in 1975 and has grown from an initial staff of four to 30. Ms. Helms noted that Arizona has one of the most comprehensive Victim Services programs in country. Pima County Victim Services has collaborated across the state with other similar agencies to create renowned advocacy network for victims of crime and victims of crisis events.
Programs include RAMP protocol for victims of domestic violence, a “Kids in Court” program that helps when children have to testify, and courthouse dogs Baja and Blake who offer support to victims.
The mission of Pima County Victim Services Division is to support, educate, and empower victims of crime to seek justice and strengthen and rebuild their lives. Victim Services advocates accomplish this by:
  • Serving as court advocates for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault;
  • Working with prosecutors;
  • Translating the judicial process, i.e. what to expect;
  • Providing trial support, addressing concerns;
  • Informing victims of their rights;
  • Crisis advocacy by being on call, present at the scene of the crime, providing support and referral information, and available 24/7/365.
  • Victim Compensation Fund, a fund of last resort, for counseling and medical expenses, loss of wages, crime scene clean-up, and transportation costs.
Ms. Helms noted that Victim Services relies its strong volunteer program that has more than 100 volunteers who have contributed 24,000 hours, saving the county more than $460,000. Volunteers undergo extensive training comprised of 36 hours of basic crisis intervention plus another 30 hours of advanced training. More information can be found at: vsvolunteers@pcao.pima.gov .
 
Victim Services also works with national organizations for victim assistance in mass casualty incidents, whether those incidents are human-caused or not. For example, Pima County Victim Services has sent teams in the past to respond to the following: Bosnian Civil War, Oklahoma City domestic terrorist bombing, Arkansas tornado disaster, and September 11 attacks.
Much closer to home, Pima County Victim Services volunteers responded immediately to the 2011 Tucson Tragedy at the Ina and Oracle Safeway where Gabby Giffords and others were shot. In its initial callout, Victim Services deployed 36 advocates to six different sites. Ms. Helms said that with so many law enforcement agencies responding that day, victims can get marginalized.
More recently, Pima County Victim Services sent a team of 14 to respond to the Las Vegas “Harvest Festival” mass shooting where 58 people were killed and more than 850 were wounded.
Ms. Helms said the strength of Victim Services is its unified team purpose, shared training, shared deployment, and existing deployment services which have been developed since the organization’s inception in 1975.
After yet another informative talk – hats off to Denise who lines up our speaker series – we signed off with recitation of the Four Way Test.
 -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary
 
 
Rotary Meeting July 16, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
John Dooling subbing for Laura Clymer
 
President Benner started our meeting, as standard practice, with he Pledge of Allegiance to  the Flag of the United States of America. We almost escaped without song, but John Dooling, with strong support from our guest speaker if not club members, requested "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in light of the nice rainfall some of the valley experienced over the weekend. We sounded amazing. 
 
District 5500 will be one of the prime sponsors of the El Tour de Tucson. Tony Hunter has accepted the job of  Aid Station Coordinator and several members volunteered to assist. David Hindman was "volunteered" as he had yet to enter the meeting when we voted.
 
PETS registration in September and yours truly will be attending one of the sessions.
 
Planning still underway for our 5th Tuesday of July meeting. Stay tuned.
 
Our club's District grant proposal was submitted on time. We owe President Richie Benner our gratitude for shepherding this project. A "brief" overview: The project will assist the MUSD MHS Special Ed Department in training students to learn basic skill sets o run a coffee shop.
 
Carl Maes attended our meeting and a membership vote will soon take place.
 
Happy Bucks  
 
David-Back from Idaho
John-Rain
Dan-Rain
Tony-More Rain
Harold-Ellen continues long road to recovery
Denise-Our Guest from Reid Park Zoo
Randy-Carl Maes
Beckie-She has termites. Well her home does. I am positive this is not why she is happy, but I missed that part.
Mary-Unloaded a bunch of times, slowly, so she got her money's worth in telling us why she is happy. She will have to give more to see her happiness in print.
Rachel-Her and Madison are victims of their own success.
Richie-Sad and Happy. Will miss next two weeks as he will be at the Scout Jamboree in another state.
 
Joke Off?
Lynne-Why do they not play poker at the zoo? Too many cheetahs.
Lynne- Another zoo joke this one ended with the punchline something about "puma my pants." Those of you who are familiar with the work of comedy giants Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Lynne Himmer will understand the trampling of lines during the uncontrolled laughter of your own humor. 
Lynne won!  
 
Beckie won and lost the raffle.
 
 Nancy Kluge President of the Reid Park Zooological Society was today's speaker. The Zoo is the largest gated attraction in southern AZ with over half a million attendees this past year. Her talk centered around Bigger Spaces Smiling Faces, the Zoo's expansion plans made possible by the passing of the Bond Issue last year.
Phase One will be ASIA-The expansion of footprint by 3.5 acres benefiting Tigers Habitat, Reptile House and Primate Island
Phase Two-With Safari Loop, Hippo underwater habitat and Rhino feeding
Phase Three- Expanded gift shop, Infrastructure improvements and a Mayan themed Play area
Nancy told us a major gift from the Rotary Club of Tucson.
 
Speaking of the Rotary club of Tucson they will be sponsoring a Tucson Mayoral candidate Meet and Greet  followed by Debate and Forum on 7/24/2019. Go to www.TucsonRotary.org for details.
 
You will not want to miss next Tuesday's meeting as the fellow at the podium has not stood at that position since the last week of June 2007.
 
Rotary Meeting July 9, 2019
Marana Rotary Weekly Meeting Round-Up
After the Pledge of Allegiance and in harmony with our guest speaker from the Tucson Wildlife Center, we opened the meeting with a one-verse, rousing rendition of “Old McDonald” featuring the owl. Fair to say, it was a hoot.
President Benner announced that Carl Maes has been approved by the board for membership, and general members can weigh in as well by sending their comments to him or Randy Brooks.  In other general announcements, President Benner noted the following:
  • District’s Membership Symposium is August 3, 2019.
  • Cruise for a Cause is in October (Randy Brooks says it was the “best conference” he’s attended – great meetings and fulfilling work day with local children in Mexico).
  • Assistant Governor candidates are needed.
  • The Rotary Foundation has extended the deadline for online training until August 9. Follow the link on the District’s website.
  • A Reid Park Zoo representative will be the featured speaker at the July 16 meeting.
  • John D is subbing for a vacationing President Benner on July 23.
  • No meeting on July 30 since it is the fifth Tuesday of the month, however there was expressed interest in a social event of some type.
Member Rachel Cheeseman let us know that the United Way is launching a matching platform where folks can find volunteer opportunities and log their time giving back to our communities. Contact Rachel for more information.
After fellowship and a hearty breakfast, “Happy Bucks” for:
  • “A good breakfast”. (John)
  • “Just happy”. (Dan)
  • “Our guest speaker” and good week at the office. (Denise)
  • “Very happy to find my lip” because he accidentally shaved off his mustache. (Randy)
  • “Daughter graduated from college” and has accepted a “Teach for America” position in Texas. (Carl)
  • “Wife improving every day and will be home soon.” (Harold)
  • “Saw family, baby niece started walking, and tech migration at work is done!” Plus a big shout out to Madison WI friend who organized a really successful collection of baby clothes for needy families. (Rachel)
Lynne, flying solo, told a joke in harmony with our “wildlife/animal” theme. Denise “won” the raffle.
Guest Speaker Angeline Fahey, education coordinator for the Tucson Wildlife Center, delivered a fascinating talk about her organization that rehabilitates injured and abandoned wildlife – everything from pack rats to bobcats to coyotes to raptors, and even Gila monsters (yikes!).
Tucson Wildlife Center is the only wildlife hospital in Southern Arizona with two full-time veterinarians. The center only treats injured, ill, or orphaned wildlife. It’s funded 100% by donations, and licensed by Arizona Game and Fish. Its mascots in sanctuary are appropriately a pair of wildcats, Wilbur and Wilma.
Tucson Wildlife Center sends trained staff and volunteers to assess and locate injured or abandoned wildlife, which are humanely trapped and transported to TWC for treatment and rehabilitation. About 80 percent of the animals injured or orphaned are because of human activity, and up to 80 percent of the wildlife brought to TWC treated and released back into the wild. Poisons, traps, glue traps, and electrocution pose some of the greatest threats to wildlife, Ms. Fahey explained.
Dislocated “babies” and other orphaned young require special care because the wildlife rehabilitation specialists want to prevent imprinting. TWC uses puppets, “snuggle pets” with battery-operated heartbeat, and “Ghillie” suits to avoid imprinting.
Ms. Fahey also disabused us of the myth that you cannot touch baby birds. If you find one on the ground, she suggested that you put it back in the nest. You can even construct a nest using a small container with holes in the bottom and grass and rehang the “nest” near the old one. The parents will likely return. At the fledging stage, parents are still caring for the young, so if the fledgling appears healthy, leave it alone.
When you encounter an injured animal, confine your pets and call TWC for advise. Don’t feed the injured animal, and try transfer to box with holes. A simple “fix” to help wildlife from escape pools includes the “frog log”. For quail nesting in flower pots, use a t-shirt to create a “ramp” for the hatchlings to get out of the pot.
Tucson Wildlife Center can be reached by calling 520-290-9453. Its website is: TucsonWildlife.com
After Ms. Fahey’s informative talk, we signed off with the Four Way Test.
-- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary
 
 
Rotary Meeting July 2, 2019
 
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
 The first meeting of our new year began with the virtual ringing of the bell by President Benner using his cell phone. Our podium, bell, flag and banner are missing, but believed to be at Mary's home. Although she will miss the next three meetings she promises she will eventually return these items, possibly before she leaves town!
 
Being the first week of July and all we decided to sing God Bless America even though we were only about ten members strong due to summer vacations. John D. led us off with a note that apparently few were familiar with, but I congratulate each and every member in attendance for knowing 95% of the words and giving it the old college try. It makes me proud to be an American, if not part of the Rotary Club of Marana choir. Practice may not makes us perfect, but perhaps tolerable is a worthy goal?
 
Carl Mays was in attendance again and will be pursuing membership. As a reminder, Carl is the Edward Jones Representative that replaced Maeve Johnson.
 
New ADG Mark Snow has replaced outgoing ADG Mary Strauss. Thank you Mary for giving your time and talent to the District this past year.
 
DG here 10/22/2019.
Membership Symposium in Green Valley 8/3/2019.
Last week of October is District Conference cruise.
 
Harold announced that photos from the officer installation are now on our website.
 
President Benner provided Treasurer and Sgt. at Arms pins to Lynne and Javier respectively. He also announced that Laura Clymer agreed to be our Secretary for 2019/2020.
 
Happy Bucks
 
John, Dan, Tony and Richie-All Happy
Beckie-Happy to be alive. Although vastly improved over past years death still frequents the highway taken by travelers to and from Las Vegas from AZ. Beckie and her husband twice had near collisions caused by drivers in a hurry. Fortunately they are fine and are able to enjoy the attitude and the toddler stage of their granddaughter.
Denise-Happy that there are allergy shots and that her article appeared in Timeless Magazine. 
Harold- Ellen making great strides especially now that she is back on her own tracheotomy tube which is of a larger diameter than the hospitals tube.
Mary-Out next three weeks
Randy-Sorry our club's vibrancy is not on display for Carl Mays due to the summer doldrums
Carl-Happy to be here
Richie-Four Happy Quarters and a reminder July has five Tuesdays, ergo a social meeting the last Tuesday of July.
 
JOKE
Lynne asked what do you get when you combine a dinosaur and fireworks? Dinomite!
 
Denise-Won and lost with the five of diamonds.
 
Randy spoke on the following:
The Rotary Foundation 
District 5500 Foundation
Rotary Club of Marana Foundation
Every Rotarian Every Year
 
My notes say, "It's complicated."
Over simplifying money given to the Rotary Foundation is kept for three years then about 95% is returned to the Districts for projects. The Rotary Foundation awarded almost 87 million in worldwide grants in 2018. Charity Navigator gives the Foundation it's top rating of four stars as 92% of funds are spent on grant awards. There are various levels of recognition given to donors using the name of Paul Harris, Rotary's founder. Once total lifetime donations add up to $1,000 a Paul Harris Fellow is earned. Six members of our club donate $1,000 per year and are designated Paul Harris Society members
 
District Foundation serves clubs with out their own Foundation and money is used for District matching and Global Grants.
 
The Marana Rotary Foundation is our clubs own 501c3 where members can donate for smaller projects. This money is also used in capturing District and Rotary Foundation match money for larger projects. There are basically no operational costs associated with our Marana Club's Foundation.
 
Every Rotarian Every Year request from Rotary International is $100 and billed to you along with your club dues. This money goes to the Rotary Foundation. Our club strives to be a 100% club with all members donating a minimum of $100 to the Rotary Foundation.
 
The bulk of club dues goes towards breakfast costs which include use of  room and storage with some money going to RI and District for their operational costs and the Rotary Magazine. While not discussed I want to point out that 50% of the weekly raffle money is paid out to winners and the other 50% goes to defray club expenses as dues alone are not sufficient. Often winners will donate their winnings to our Club's Foundation which is deductible. Happy bucks also go towards Club operations. Participation in raffle and Happy Bucks serve to keep our dues as low as possible.
 
 
 
President Richie Benner Installation 2019-2020
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
If you like window shaking raucous behavior, June heat and pizza you should have joined your fellow members at the home of Mary Strauss last night. Mary provided the pizza, AZ the heat,  while our new president's one year old son provided the excitement/noise. Yes, Charlie was quite animated in his approval of our choice of President for 2019/2020.
 
 To begin the meeting out going president Tony Hunter provided an over view of our Club's lengthy accomplishments of the past twelve months. Tony recognized many in attendance with a card of thanks and an aloe cactus plant. Specifically he noted membership growth, the significant increase in riders and revenue of our Tour de Cookie fundraiser and thanked Dan for his leadership in this regard, Denise was thanked for her dedication to our weekly speaker agenda, Harold for his institutional knowledge of the Rotary Club of Marana and his willingness to share the same, Bob Bishop for something important, John for the humorous minutes, Lynne for all things financial, Randy and Mary for District and Club Foundation reps, Mary again for Global grant work, Dan again for District Foundation Treasurer and others which I do not have listed as I was distracted watching and waving to Charlie as he beat on the glass and waived his arms from within the house. (This is probably why teachers always made me sit in the front row.)
 
Where was I? Oh, yes.....
 
Richie Benner was then brought forward and sworn in as our new President.(Squealing, window pounding and light applause from the crowd!)
 
GREAT NEWS!
With some arm twisting Laura Clymer agreed to be our new Club Secretary. Joining her, Board Members John Dooling, Harold Burtzloff and now Past President Tony Hunter were sworn in by President Benner.  
 
With Laura's acceptance of the Secretarial position we will need someone to step up and assist her with outreach to our Tortolita Middle School Rotaract Club. Someone? Someone?
 
 Richie's acceptance speech noted we are continually evolving and we must be ready to accept changes as they occur. He said some other profound stuff, but Dan took this moment to show me a picture of a Rooster fish that had to be at least 60 pounds. He did this to prove my wife wrong about the Rooster being an ugly fish and indeed they truly are a beautiful fish. In closing Richie basically said "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we do here. It is up to us to dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work of those who have gone before." 
 
Thank you Laura for taking the photos and Mary for opening your home. (BTW, love your dog. Hope he likes pizza as much as he does swimming pool water.)
 
The following all received a Rotary Club of Marana Tour de Cookie pin from new President Benner as a reward for attending the installation:
Randy Brooks, Don Jorgensen, Laura Clymer, Mary Strauss, Dan Contorno, Harold Burtzloff, Denise West, Cindy Dooling, Mrs Benner and ...........Charlie!
 
(This is a benefit of having younger members and I for one would welcome more kids to liven up our get-togethers!)
 
 
Rotary Meeting June 25,  2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Tony Hunter ducked out on the final Tuesday meeting of his term leaving it in the good hands of President Elect Richie Benner. While Richie did allow Randy to lead us all in The Pledge singing was prohibited. We have the next twelve months to bend President Benner to our will. (insert evil laugh)
 
Guest today was Carl May who visited our Club once before. Carl, as you may recall, was referred by departing (as in moving to Illinois not as in departed) member Maeve Johnson. Per Randy, Carl "WILL" join our Club. (insert not so evil laugh).
 
At least two of our members attended the District 5500 Governor installation of Ellie Patterson. Thank you Randy and Richie.
 
Please send volunteer hours to Rachel Cheeseman. I missed her email address so please see her.
 
August 3rd will be a District membership symposium. The end of October will be a four day cruise to Ensenada, MX for those who wish to attend the District 5500 Conference. Daily meetings/Presentations will take place plus a joint project with several Rotario Clubs will take place in Ensenada. Cost is $470 or so per person.
 
Our new Club officers to be installed tomorrow evening 6/26/2019 starting at 6 pm. Location is the home of Mary Straus 6925 N Donatello Way.
 
Randy, District 5500 Foundation Chair announced that our District, the smallest of seven in our zone, led the way in donation participation and we were third in average donation per member. Thank you.
 
Happy Bucks
John- Convinced aliens are real after visiting Roswell, NM Alien Museum last week. The famous Section #51 holds the contents from this crash site.
Dan- Happy for officer installation (I think?)
Mary-Happy to hear of Harold's childhood ranch life.
Harold-Ellen continues to make good progress with her medical issues. John Zwick says hi and his wife has made a nice recovery from recent stroke. John is in Canada for a few months.
Beckie-Happy about new potential member and a lot of other stuff that Denise now knows since Beckie spoke facing away from me in a normal conversational tone directed at her table mate Denise.
David-Happy (good to see you!) 
Denise-Happy Randy is back as is our speaker fom a couple of yers ago, Mindy Blake from the RTA
Laura-Not happy because Roswell "stole" the alien gig from Corona, NM where the aliens actually crashed. Also discussed were The Lincoln County War, the movie Young Guns, Pat Garret, Billy the Kid and John Simpson Chisum, the largest cattle rancher in the US in the late 1800's. (John apologized to Mindy for taking some of her time.)
Randy-Really not happy for misdiagnosing his wife Deb's broken arm when she fell in Germany two weeks ago.
Rachel-Belongs to a train and bus group. I know I missed the salient parts of what she said, but my guess most of the group were Thomas The Train fans as little tykes. When you see her about reporting volunteer hours you can gather more info about Planes, Trains and Automobiles. YUK, YUK.
 
Beckie won and lost the raffle.
 
JOKE
Maeve not here but really did not matter as Lynne presented a doozy!
 
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson were on a camping trip. Sensing Watson was awake in the wee hours of the night Holmes says, "Doctor, open your eyes and tell me what you notice."
Watson does as instructed and says, "I see millions and millions of stars and knowing there are millions and millions of galaxies I realize how massive the universe is and the likelihood somewhere an alien being is staring into the same vastness of space and pondering its existence." 
Holmes replies, "You idiot, I notice our tent is missing."
The moral of the story is (supplied by yours truly) do not over think the situation.
 
 Our speaker, Mindy Blake, is the Community Relations representative from the Regional Transportation Authority. (RTA)
We were presented with a newly minted booklet regarding the current state of affairs within the RTA with completed, in progress and planned projects detailed in its sixteen pages.
 
The RTA consists of the following: South Tucson, Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana, Sahuarita, Pima County, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tohono O'odoham Nation and the AZ State Transportation Board.
 
 
The RTA was funded for 20 years by a 1/2 cent sales tax (estimated at $16 a year per household) and is scheduled to expire in 2026 if not renewed by public vote. Planning is afoot to renew the program in 2026 capitalizing on past successes of this multi jurisdictional program under the auspices of the Pima Association of Governments (PAG). PAG manages the RTA through a Memorandum of Understanding while the RTA serves as the fiscal manager through 2026. 
 
Eight hundred and forty projects have been completed throughout Pima County including at least eight in the Marana area. Dollars budgeted for the twenty years of projects total close to 2 billion with another half a billion from non RTA revenues. This money goes towards new construction projects with no money earmarked for maintenance which remains the individual jurisdiction responsibilities.
 
They have my vote, says the unasked scribe. 
BTW, we may still be in need of a Club Secretary beginning 7/1/2019. See Richie if interested/willing, otherwise I get two votes at every Board meeting since I was hornswoggled into being President Elect.
 
 
 
Rotary Int Convention Hamburg   2019
Hamburg was an amazing opportunity. there were plenty of new experiences for me. I was able to travel to/through three different countries on my way to and from the Rotary International Convention. The first interesting thing I experienced is that all three were on different currencies. This made it interesting for currency exchanges while in these countries.
Europe is green both from a nature and a technological point of view. It was very different coming from the desert. I did appreciate that they had a very comprehensive public transit system. It made getting around town very easy. Most everything was in German as well as English.
The rotary convention was well put together. While it was very spread out compared to other conventions, there was plenty of signage and maps to get you to where you needed to go. The programs that were presented were great. The presenters were well prepared, and the topics helped attendees plan for their future in Rotary. Overall there was a lot to experience both from the conference and the city of Hamburg.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting June 18, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Hunter rang in the meeting to a sparse, but musically gifted crowd. After the pledge Maeve, attending her final Rotary Club of Marana meeting as a member, requested we sing It's a Grand Old Flag. If one closed their eyes and had poor hearing you might have thought James Cagney had entered Nana's Kitchen. For you younger folks think Michael Jackson only different. Cagney was a song and dance man who appeared in over seventy films from the 1930's to the 1980's. But I digress.
 
We did have over 50% attendance, barely. Factors such as summer heat, European vacations, work, cancellation of Diamond Children's Hospital tour and the cancellation/un-cancellation of today's meeting all played a part in our poorest attendance of the year. We did have fun though!
 
 Maeve said her goodbyes. She was given the Rotary card of the President of the Champaign, IL Rotary Club's President by John. John happened to meet the Illinoisian Rotarian while attending the RI conference. Tony presented Maeve with flowers and thanked her for her excellent participation in all of our projects over the past nine years. Safe travels and God Speed. Come back to visit whenever you can.
 
Guest Tom Neidecker from Peteluma Valley rotary Club has visited us again today. Tom, a native of Basal, Switzerland, sold his Electronics company and now is an Art and Book Collector. He also has a home in Oro Valley. Possible new member?
 
Joke Off
Maeve-Lady gets off work and stops for drink. Handsome blonde guy sitting at bar next to her when TV news shows man on ledge. Handsome guy says, "Bet you $20 he does not jump." She takes him up on the offer and indeed he does jump and she wins. "I cannot take your money", she says, "I saw this earlier on the 5 o"clock news." The handsome blonde stranger says' " I did too." I just thought this time he would change his mind."
 
Lynne- The one celled organism called out to his friends as he left the meeting, "Adios amoebas.".
 
Again, no winner this week. Just kidding. We are all winners. We will miss this part of the meeting and a replacement must be found for Maeve, if that is even possible.
 
 Richie was our speaker and showed us 15 slides of his European Vacation before he got out of Chicago!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, his detailed revue of his time in Sweden and Germany does not rival Rick Steves, but it was informative and interesting. We learned All European Nations are in the Euro Zone (use the Euro as currency) and meat for breakfast is SOP in Germany. Also, I for one did not know you could get fried chicken at Micky D's in Europe. All in all Richie enjoyed his time at the RI Conference and we were by all indications well represented by our incoming President. Thank you, Richie.
 
See you next Tuesday and do not forget Richie's installation on Wednesday 6/26/2019 starting at 6 pm at the home of Mary Strauss.
 
Rotary Meeting June 11, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Hunter began the meeting by leading the members in The Pledge. He greeted visitors Charlie Benner (who is now one year old) and Diane Snedden a guest of Beckie Penman (I do not know their ages). No song as no one responded to Tony's request for submissions.
Tony acknowledged the presence of Rotarian's Dooling and Benner who have returned from Rotary's International Conference and the absence of Brooks and Jorgensen who attended the conference and who are now somewhere on the Danube.
Tony discussed Rotary PR mailings to newcomers in the area and how the PR will help Rotary in general and perhaps our club with membership inquiries. Tony then asked for District Governor wannabes to step forward as nominations are now being accepted. Also mentioned was the Saddlebrook Rotary Club's memorial to veterans and first responders project and the possibility of our club participating. Board meeting tomorrow at John's office where this and other matters to be discussed. All welcomed to attend.
 
NEXT WEEK'S MEETING WILL BE TOUR OF DIAMOND/BANNER CHILDREN HOSPITAL. WE WILL NOT MEET AT NANA'S.
 
Installation of Richie Benner as President as well as other officers to be held at the home of Mary Straus on June 26th starting at 6 pm. 
 
John and Richie spoke of their conference experiences. There is no better way to meet people from all over the world and develop friendships. The camaraderie among members is instantaneous and genuine. Richie and John have already signed up for next years conference in Hawaii.
 
Happy Bucks
John-Happy
Dan-Happy and is a world class fishing guide (if not fisherman) Ask him about fly fishing for Rooster fish in Sea of Cortez
Jeff-Happy coaching youth basketball
Richie-Charlie is a year old! 
Bob-Will someday download his knowledge of water projects, but until August will be out of state.
Harold-Wife Ellen has been released from hospital. Daughter Sue will be providing the necessary follow up medical care at her home until Ellen can return to her own home.
Mary-Happy
Laura-Happy
Denise-Happy
Beckie-Happy the resident scribe (me) has returned and potential member, Diane Snedden has accompanied her to today's meeting
Peter-Happy? Ashamed is a better word as Beckie has brought a potential member and Peter, a twenty year club member, has yet to do so. (Peter, I am right there with you. My only recruit left after two years, although Hank Marshall did build our club's storage cabinet before leaving for CA.)
 
JOKE OFF
Lynne Wins! Lynne Wins! Lynne Wins!
Maeve not here.
When you stomp on a grape it lets out a little w(h)ine.
Dad buying a carton of milk and clerk asks if he wants it in a bag. Dad responds, "No, just leave it in the carton."
Should have been here Maeve. You might of had a chance. 
 
Speaker today is Fernando Molina of Tucson Water. He spoke of the four sources of water in Tucson #1 Groundwater, #2 Colorado River 3# Recycled #4 Rainwater.
Tucson was aware of the overdraft from groundwater in the 1940's. We have been using recycled water since 1964 for landscaping and golf courses.
We are currently using only half of our effluent water with the remainder discharged into the Santa Cruz. Plans are afoot to re-purpose this affluent as has Disneyland and the City of New Orleans for everyday use.
The Colorado River water is being used to recharge our existing aquifer and the water level is growing. The water from the Colorado is determined by the water level in Lake Mead. California, AZ and Nevada use Colorado River water with Nevada's share dependent upon Lake Powell's water level. 
If a cutback occurs agriculture will be the first to experience the pain.
If you have not visited the Sweetwater Wetlands you are encouraged o do so.  The amount of wildlife is exceptional.
 
The vision of Tucson Water is to use reclaimed water to revitalize the Santa Cruz. The project is economically feasible, the water will remain in Tucson, recharge credits will be earned, riparian habitat will return and potentially this will boost economic development downtown.
 
Remember-No meting at Nana's next week
Tour at Diamond Childrens Hospital
Board meeting tomorrow at 5:30 pm John Dooling's office
  
 
Rotary Meeting June 4, 2019
Our June 4, 2019 meeting was held in a small meeting room at the Hampton Inn.  
 
President Hunter recognized Rob and Adam from Tucson Botanical Gardens are our speakers or today.  Laura introduced Michelle as a returning guest.
 
A lot of folks are in Germany at the conference.  Ritchie, Randy, John and Dawn.  Richie sent a text this morning that he is at the session ready to cast his vote on behalf of the club.  Randy is taking a cruise on the Danube River following the conference.
 
Next week’s speaker is from Tucson Sweetwater Project.  Banner Hospital tour is on June 18th as a follow up from when they spoke to us earlier.  Following week is Ritchie’s installation at Nana’s but the location has not been confirmed.  Mary has hosted installations in the past and she offered to make her house available again.  Denise continued to let us know about future speakers.  July 9th will be Tucson Wildlife followed by the Reid Park Zoo on the 16th and Pima County Attorney regarding Crisis Intervention on the 24th.
 
Next Board Meeting will be at Johns next Wednesday since Ritchie is out of town. 
Mary was concerned about the District Grant for Human trafficking.  Harold reminded us to go to the website whenever we have a question.
 
Watch for emails regarding forms to submit recommendations for achievement awards.  We are coming up to the yearend closings.
 
Mary updated us regarding our pending Global Grant. Rotary International wants a business plan from the Village including details regarding specifics regarding costs.  Randy went to the Foundations International and complained. There is a woman who is directing Global Grants in Africa who wants to hear from Mary as well as Buba.  Mary’s hope is she will help facilitate the process for us.  It’s getting complicated like a Masters Thesis.
 
Harold said his wife is expected to leave hospital on Friday. This is her 43rd day in ICU. President Hunter advised us our speakers brought some guest passes that we will be able to give away or the club could put to good use.
 
After a short break to enjoy breakfast was Happy Bucks;
            Dave- No 100 degree days so far this year
            Denise- Happy for guest and speakers
            Mary- Gay Pride Month
            Bob- Happy for Mary and her tenacity
            Laura- Happy for Harolds wife coming come and for her guest
            Michelle- Happy to signed a lease for possibly January.
           
Denise introduced speakers from Tucson Botanical Gardens
            Rob Elias – Dir. of Marketing & Communication
            Adam Farrell-Wortman – Horticultural Manager
Rob began presentation explaining the Disney Institute is a program that teaches you about Disney’s philosophies on guest engagement, innovation, culture protection, creativity and innovation. 
The Tucson Botanical Garden is located on Grant and Alvernon.  It started in 1930’s with the Porter Family who came from the East Coast.  Their original home is still in use for offices.  They started a landscaping business as well as a nursery.  The property was gifted to the city by the family and today it is a not for profit which functions from guest admissions and gifts.  No city of county support.
 
Their Mission is to connect people with plants and nature through art, science, history and culture.  There are fabulous art galleries that people are not aware of.
 
Currently on 5.5 acres in downtown Tucson with 18 pocket gardens.  Over 150,000 guests a year.  300 events a year.  Ranked as one of the top 10 gardens worth traveling to from the Canadian Garden Council. 
 
Last year a Corpse plant bloomed for 36 hours and was 4.5 feet tall. Only about 100 have bloomed in cultivation and about 10,000 physically came to see the bloom.  The live cam was viewed in 187 countries with the average time of 38 minutes.  They only bloom twice in its life.
 
Their pocket garden was selected as only 1 of 2 to appear at the entrance of the US Botanic Gardens for the conference of American Public Gardens Association in Washington DC.  The exhibit is on display now with only actual gardens on display.  There are only 14 total gardens and Tucson also is 1 of 6 photo gardens on display.  Space is only 15 X 25 but is a cool space where you can enter and sit to enjoy the garden.  There was a lot of support from nurseries in the area in making the pocket garden possible. 
 
Designed with one half as edible and the other side being plants found in AZ.  Wheelbarrow and pots used in the display.  Visitors are able to enter the garden and sit to take in the South West atmosphere. The other gardens are designed for people to only look at the gardens.  The different plants will stay and go to the national collection, schools and horticulturalists when the pocket garden is taken down.
 
Dog Days have just started and will go through September.  Working on building a new Butterfly Exhibit but this has not yet been announced.  1500 sq. feet with $15 mil. capital campaign starting next year.
 
President Hunter closed meeting reminding us that next weeks’ presenter will be discussing the Sweetwater Project.
Rotary Meeting May 28, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                             
At President Hunter’s request Bob led us in the Pledge. Bob brought several guests to today’s meeting.  Bob introduced his wife Linda, then his friends Rich and Gail Hopkinson.  They have participated with Rotary International Water Summit two years in a row and will again this year.  Mark Rebholz will be our speaker today.
 
Hunter began a discussion about nice it was to have so many members attend the MCAT graduation ceremony last week.  He talked about how nice the ceremony was and that Denise Coronado gave a lovely speech.  Our club was mentioned and it was nice to see our Students of Month complete their graduation process. Maeve mentioned how impressive it was to see the number of graduates identified as the first in their entire families to graduate from high school.  One graduate had dropped out of high school 3 times earlier.  Thanks to Dan was up on stage to represent our club.  MCAT stands for Marana Career and Technical.  It no longer a technical school but an alternative school that has kept the original name.  It was good to hear speeches from several of our students of the month.  President Hunter said it was a loud and lively event.
 
Several of our members are absent today attending the Rotary International Conference in Hamburg Germany.  The Doolings have already arrived and Mary was dropping Randy and Deb off at the airport.   John Jorgensen and Ritchie are also leaving for Germany.
 
Flowers for Maeve, however she has informed us the movers are scheduled for June 16th so she will be able to attend a few more times.
   
The meeting next week will be at the Hampton Inn near the Factory outlets off of Twin Peaks.  There is a private meeting room and we will be able to participate in the Breakfast Buffet.  Denise has lined up speaker from the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
 
Happy Bucks after Pancakes, sausage and eggs breakfast.
Dan - Happy for MCAT graduates and their accomplishments
Beckie - Happy for Tucson weather, no tornadoes, no snow
Peter - Busy week painting leaving for Chili to see the eclipse of the sun           
John - Heading up North so he will see us in the Fall
David - Thanks to John for help with pizza oven that got christened this week
Harold - Wife is doing better and should be going home soon
Bob - 4 guests
Laura - Memorial Day barbeques with family and friends
Denise - Happy for MCAT grads and sad that 15 year old dog died
Ritchie - 1st transatlantic flight heading to Germany & MCAT graduates
Rachel - MCAT graduates - poker night - nice to be alive
 
 
Joke Off Lynn - Arab fathers joke: They blow up so quickly
Maeve - Blonde admiring curtains that pay for themselves in a year. 
Bob - New pilot landing at night radios “Guess who?” Airport turns off lights and replies “Guess where?”
 
Raffle - Denise chose the 4 of hearts
 
Speaker - Bob introduced Mark Rebholz.
In 1919 John Alcock and Arthur Brown landed their Vickers Vimy biplane in a bog in Clifden, Ireland, marking the end of the first nonstop flight across the Alantic. On July 2, 2005, Steve Fossett and co-pilot Mark Rebholz recreated the first nonstop crossing in the open cockpit Vickers Vimy replica landing on the 8th fairway of the Connemara Golf Links. Presentation included brief recap of historical flights and details of what was done to recreate the original 1919 flight.
 
Meeting ended with a reminder to meet next week at the Hampton Inn  
 
 
Rotary Meeting  May 21, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
With guitar in hand President Hunter began the meeting with 85% club attendance and the pledge followed by a pretty good rendition of my Old Kentucky Home. Most everyone could be heard even Dan Contorno seemed to know this song. Although the original lyrics contained the word "darkies", which was the vernacular of the time, this anti slavery ballad by Stephen Foster was praised in his 1855 biography published five years before the start of the Civil War by no less than Frederick Douglass.
 
Guests included potential members Carl (?) the new guy at Edward Jones where departing member Maeve Johnson is employed and Michelle Estheimer a MUSD product who is opening her veterinary clinic. Michelle is a guest of our new member Laura Clymer.
 
Odds and Ends
 
1)Nana's closed in two weeks will meet at Hampton Inn.
2)MCAT grad night is Thursday 5/23/2019 at 7 pm. Several members still planning on dinner at Nana's before attending the graduation.
3)Several members, specifically Rachel and Richie, thinking about various District Grant proposals and Club community involvement for the 2019/2020 year. District Grants should be applied for by 7/15/2019, but not mandatory. Mary also mentioned possibility of sex trafficking project she is thinking about. (It seem stupid for this writer to say "anti" sex trafficking so I didn't. Or did I?)
4. DGE to be installed 6/23/2019 in Tubac. All members should have received email from Wendy Hobbs regarding particulars. Encourage all to consider attending.
5)Four members, Benner, Brooks, Dooling, Jorgensen, will be in Hamburg at Rotary International Convention first week of June.
6) Richie Benner's installation as Club President will be last Tuesday of June, POSSIBLY in the evening. Please save 6/25/2019.
 
Happy Bucks
John-Happy to see two former Rotary Exchange Students
Richie-snow on Boy Scout Camp in the Catalina Mts. (first snow this time of year in 27 years)
Dan- Bought a few raffle tickets and won a $1,200 Fly Fishing reel
Don-Happy
Randy-Praised Laura for bringing in potential new member and shamed the rest of us
Harold-Wife Ellen may be released from hospital by June 1st!!!!
John Z-Wife of 70 years, Sylvia, had minor stroke but is home and dealing with slight speech involvement
Beckie-Did not catch it all, but in spite of looks "Cactus flowers re real!"
Peter-Guests and weather  
Laura-Guests
Rachel-Promoted! Also spoke of a program that pays off medical debt for the poor for pennies on the dollar. Plus pins are out of broken wrist! (I think)
 
Joke Off
Lynne- This may have been the funniest golf joke ever delivered at our morning breakfast (for at least one member) Fortunately for me I heard it a long time ago. The only reason no one laughed today (with one glaring exception) was that no one could make out the punch line. Those were real tears flowing down Lynne's cheeks as she did her best to deliver the final line between convulsive fits of laughter. I officially give her a mulligan (redo) and she can try this again next week.
 
Maeve-Unlike Lynne, who is her own Harvey Korman to Tim Conway combination, Maeve must make do with selecting a good joke and working on her delivery. Maeve excelled in both this week, except she chose a joke that half the population in the room (the men) were the butt of the punchline. Here goes:
Husband of many years sees his wife looking at herself in the mirror and knowing she was nearing another birthday asks his wife if she were okay. She replied that she wished she were eight again.
Birthday arrives and husband fixes her Cocoa Puffs and Pop Tarts for breakfast. He takes her for a day at Adventure World where they went on every ride. For dinner it was MacDonald's and a Happy Meal with toy. When they finally return home he asks if she feels like she was eight again. Her reply, "I was speaking of my dress size.". The moral of the story, even when men listen they get it wrong!
The ladies laughed.
 
The mood in the room changed quickly as Pima County Prosecutor for Sex Trafficking, Tracy Miller, took the lectern. My notes are almost non existent except for a comment regarding the number one source of sex trafficking participants are homeless boys and girls who are groomed for the trade. Sexual exploitation occurs when a victim through force, fraud or coercion is placed in a situation to give sexual services to customers. It was pointed out that prostitution, which some believe to be a victimless crime between consenting adults, often is consensual due to the coercion or force placed on one of the participants.
This was a tough topic to consider at seven in the morning. How fortunate/protected most of us have been in our lives.
 
John Dooling, me, will be out of country for next two meetings. Someone will need to take notes and attendance. June Board meeting will be rescheduled to Wednesday June 12th, 5:30 pm my office.
 
 
Rotary Meeting May 14, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Hunter requested Dan to lead the Pledge and he did! El Presidente then gave us a plausible excuse as to why he was not ready to lead us in My Old Kentucky Home.  BUT, he promises to be ready with Johnny Cash's version next week.
Ninety percent attendance today!
Denise Coronado explained why no MCAT SOM today. Living in a world where you cannot leave your abode because it is rural and there is no money for gas is a world most of us have never experienced. In any case, it sounds like Gissel Quesada was an excellent choice and perhaps we may meet her in the future. She will be graduating in a few days. We wish her the best.
 
Several members have or are planning to complete the training for writing grant proposals. Easy to sign up and course is about an hour or so. Go to MyRotary.Org and take the brief Introduction To Learning Center course then on to the Grant Writing course.
 
District Conference cruise will be great fun if anything like the Mexican Riviera Cruise/Conference held by PDG Tom Tilton when he was Governor, so says Randy Brooks. Sign up on District Website.
 
MCAT graduation 5/23/2019 at 7 pm. Some members plan to dine at Nana's before attending the grad night. Anticipated graduates for the year numbering about 60 with around 40 to 50 attending the ceremony.
Middle School graduation, which includes many of our Interact Students, is the 22nd at 8 am.
 
Joke Off
Maeve
 Her husbands pet duck was very ill. Vet said he was sorry but duck was dead. Maeve's husband asked asked for another opinion so Vet brought in his Labrador Retriever that sniffed shook his head and left the room. Vet says "I am sorry your pet is dead." Mr Maeve says "I want a third opinion." The Doc brings in his cat. It sniffs the duck, taps it with a paw a few times then leaves the room. Vet says "Your duck is dead, I'll get your bill." Bill is over a $1,000. Mr Maeve says why so much? Vet says  " My diagnosis, The Lab's work and the Cat's scan."  
This was well received by the elder members with memory difficulties and newer members under age forty who possibly had never heard it before. I must say there was was genuine laughter unlike the usual groans heard after Maeve's delivery.
 
Lynne
Contractor puts Russian in charge of cement, the German in charge of dirt and Korean in charge of supplies. Tells them I will be offsite today but will be back at 5 to check your work. At 5 he returns and compliments the Russian then compliments the German. He then looks around and says, " Where is the Korean?". At that moment the Korean jumps out startling all three and yells, "Supplies!"
Most all got a chuckle out of this and most all will be scheduled for PC training next week.
 
Happy Bucks
John-happy
Rich-happy but poor
Dan-just poor
David-Likes our sub 100 degree weather
Peter-Likes our guests
Harold-Wife slowly improving
John Z-happy
Denise-Speakers and indeed as promised last week, son has graduated from UA
Randy-Daughter-in-law and granddaughter graduated
Rachel-SOM and speakers. Plus she will soon have her appendix removed.(well that was what I heard. Richie and Dan explained she said "pins" removed from her wrist/hand.
 
MARY WON AND WON!!!!!SHE DONATED THE WINNINGS TO THE ANNUAL PROGRAM FUND!!!!!!!THANKS, MARY!!!
 
Speakers/representatives were from Banner Children's Diamond Children's Medical Center. TJ did most of the talking with Barbara as backup. Built with 100% philanthropy money with initial seed money of 15 million from recently deceased developer Don Diamond. Several stories and photos of children patients were presented. Some had happy endings, but not all. The Children Life Specialists, young recent college graduates, are an integral part of the care provided. They do pre and post surgery consultation with the children regarding topics like pain, medication and most any other topic the kids need to discuss. There is also a Princess Team that regularly visits the young girl patients. 
The vision of the Children's Hospital includes play space/stage/theater, a hospital school program so student can keep up with their studies, treatment space, Family support such as gas and food gift certificates for those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.
 
Banner University has 732 total beds with 83 for the children's program. Last year Banner, a Level 1 Trauma Center, did 164 organ transplants, 18,415 surgeries, took in 6,588 patients transferred from other hospitals and had 28,732 Acute Admissions. The value of 466 volunteers approached $1,000,000.
Rotary Meeting MaY 7, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Jeff P led us in the pledge. No singing, but I believe Lynne mentioned maybe "My Old Kentucky Home" next week and maybe Javier could provide mint juleps.
 Tony asked Maeve to share her plans with the members. She will be moving to Champaign, IL where she has a granddaughter. Maeve has been a very active member and our loss will be Rotary Club of Champaign's gain.
Rachel is back, soft cast and all. She went over the handlebars of her bike and considers herself lucky not to have a more serious problem.
 
Ninety Percent attendance. Way to Go!
 
Happy Bucks
John D-Gave away 200 hot dogs and 600 snow-cones at a St Elizabeth Ann Seton Church/School fundraiser Saturday night. Turns out That what he thought was an Allstate Insurance tablecloth he was using turned out to be a Marana Rotary one! Very busy evening and he did not discover his mistake until viewing Facebook photos next day. Oh well, free publicity for our club.
Jeff-Son graduating from 8th grade. Jeff will be gone for a couple of weeks
Dan-Daughter is graduating from high school. Miracle of miracles!
Tony-Happy (probably because he got to eat breakfast today)
John Z-A baby girl was born into his family making John a great,great grandfather. Yep, five generations! Congratulations!
Harold-Ellen is out of the hospital and in a convalescence center. She continues to improve.
Peter-Happy
Becki-Granddaughter's birthday
Denise-Son is graduating from UA!
Mary-Thanks, Maeve
Don-Thanks, Maeve. Headed to NYC for birth of a grandchild. Shelter Box raised $7,000 from bowling party last Saturday.
Laura-Cooler weather (for now)
Randy-Sad Maeve is going
Rachael-Happy about being ALIVE!
 
Joke Off
Lynne- A good one about $500 doctor office visits and $1,000 back if not satisfied.
Maeve-Mickey Mouse is not the equivalent of Donald duck if you are in the Secret Service. 
 
Becki won and lost with Ace of Diamonds.
 
President Elect Richie Benner took over the meeting from President Hunter (allowing Tony to eat at a leisurely pace) and the rest of the time was spent in planning and goal setting for 2019/2020 Rotary year.
 
Membership was good this current year. We added four new members and lost only one. Goal for coming year is a net gain of three. I believe Randy will remain membership chair?
 
Fund Raising was best in several years thanks to Dan Contorno and numerous volunteers. Tour de Cookie netted almost nine thousand and Poker tournaments earned another $1,500 or so.
 
Speaker Program has been excellent with Denise West efforts combined with members suggestions. I believe Denise will continue with this position.
 
Community Service-Rachel Cheeseman has volunteered to head up this committee and some ideas are in the works involving MUSD.
 
Interact Club at Tortolita had maybe its best year ever in quality and quantity of students involved. Thank you Kathleen Neighbors.Graduation will be 5/22 at 8am.
 
MCAT program will continue as a Club favorite. It was mentioned that graduation is 5/23 and those me,mbers planning on attending the 7 pm event will gather at Nana's for dinner prior to the ceremony.
 
Goals for 2019/2020 include:
Calendar of Events
10 Community Service Projects
a District Grant Project (online training is available with Mary and Randy having completed training and Peter and a few other planning to do so.)
Global grant
Enhanced website of all projects
Hours of service tracking
 
Mary will remain our Foundation Chair/Rep and our goal will be $10,000. Should be easy as we have several Paul Harris Fellows (have given $1,000 total) and several Paul Harris Society Members who pledge $1,000 annually. We also collect as part of our dues $100 a year for the Every Rotarian Every Year program.
 
John D is President Elect and Secretary. Willing to do both, but maybe a problem with wearing two hats at Board meetings and quorum problems if he misses a meeting. More discussion on this topic needed.
 
Lynne, God Bless her pea pickin heart, will continue on as Treasurer.
 
Good job, Richie.
 
Visit our Facebook Page- Rotary Club of Marana (the correct one has current postings and members holding blue bells in front of our banners) Please "Like" and "Share"
 
 
Rotary Meeting April 30, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Tony a little under the weather so no singing today. Ralph, one of three Dove Mountain Rotary member guests, led us in the pledge. He then presented our club with a check for $100 thanks to member Rachel Cheeseman volunteering time at the Dove Mountain Rotary run beer tent at the Cotton Festival. 
Speaking of Rachel, she was hit while riding her bike and while not seriously injured, did break a finger.
 
Bob Bishop says our May 29th speaker is well known in aeronautical circles as the man who recreated the first trans-Atlantic flight from one hundred years ago. Please go to our Rotary Club of Marana for more detail. While there please "Like" and "Share". By the way, Bob, several of us might have begun our travels to the International Conference around that time. At this time Richie, Randy, Don and myself are attending although I do not know everyone's travel plans.
 
Cameroon project has run into more red tape. International now wants a market study regarding the need for the products being produced by the grant. While disconcerting we have no doubt that Mary and her team will persevere. THANK YOU MARY!
 
Randy mentioned the Spring Training this Saturday for new to Rotary and incoming officers. Reference past newsletters or District 5500 website for details.
 
Happy Bucks
 
John-grandson not doing well in French at CDO High School. Dropped it and joined choir. A Month later he is in NYC performing in Carnegie Hall  
Harold-Wife Ellen underwent major surgery stemming from her scoliosis. Doing great, but may be hospitalized for another week
Beckie and Dave-DM guests
Laura-Our health professionals
Mary-???
Bob-Mary's tenacity and will be gone three weeks
Peter-???
Richie-Denver last week with BSA and renewed old friendships
Randy-Ellen's surgery went well
Tony-Taxes??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
 
Joke #1
Lynne- Little known fact. Captain Kirk had three ears. The normal left and right, plus a final front ear. Good one, Lynne.
Joke #2
Bob gave us a story of good fortune and bad fortune. The good fortune consisted of a plane ride, a parachute and a haystack. The bad fortune consisted of plane trouble, chute not opening, pitch fork in the haystack. In the good, but also bad category is the subjects chute maneuvering  skills.
 
John won the ticket portion again, but Mary failed to do her part when requested to draw the winning card.
 
 Member Dr Peter Mack spoke on Egypt, a country he has visited numerous times as part of his occupation and their National Observatory. As many of you know Dr Mack builds and services telescopes of the largest scale.
 
Egypt and Sudan were one country and split about 100 years ago. Following WWI and in the same year as Versailles Peace Accord of 1919 Egypt experienced a revolution led by women of the upper layer of society. A second revolution took place in 1952 when the Monarchy was replaced by a Republic. Presidents served varying amounts of time in office with Nassar, Sadat, Mubarak, Morsi and el-Sisi all having spent time in office. The last revolution occurred  as part of the Arab Spring When President Mubarek was forced out of office after a thirty year reign .and imprisoned. Last week, President el-Sisi, who was running for re-election, was proclaimed President for life in an election he won by over 90% of the vote, but with only 30% participation.
 
Major events of the 20th century included the aforementioned revolutions, the 1956 Suez crisis involving Russia, France, The UK and Israel, the Six Day war with Israel when Egypt loss 100% of its Air Force in minutes, The Yom Kippur war fought to regain part of Sinai lost in the Six Day War, the Egypt-Israel Peace treaty formed at Camp David and the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1989. 
 
Today the economy, normally buoyed  by tourism is not good. Oil prices have recently helped but terrorism has dramatically cut into the tourist dollar.  Monetarily they experienced 30% inflation a couple of years ago before allowing their Egyptian pound to float among the world's currencies.
 
Oil, agriculture, tourism and revenue from the Suez Canal users fees are their biggest sources of income. Ships passing through the canal shave 8,000 miles off the alternative of going around The Cape of Good Hope. 
 
Spectacular population growth, encouraged by the government as a way of combating what they see as the Israeli threat, has led to great poverty and an extremely large and poor lower class when compared to the small middle class and the elite class.  Gas is under twenty-five cents a gallon due to the western oil reserves/refineries and a minimum wage of about sixty-nine cents an hour. Housing has been built, but remains unoccupied as developers will not lower prices and poor cannot afford. Cairo and surrounding areas has a population of bout 45 million. 
 
Dr Mack's  work involves the relocation of the National Observatory which has been forced by the encroachment of civilization at the current site. The new site will be in Southern Sinai which is considered safer from terrorist threats than the northern portion of the peninsula. He finds the people to be friendly and the drivers to be aggressive!
 
REMINDER
BOARD MEETING JOHN DOOLNG'S OFFICE TOMORROW 5:30 PM.
 
 
Rotary Meeting April 23, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Hunter has returned with his guitar! After Bob Bishop led us in the pledge Tony banged out "Hard Days Night" by an English group that was popular in the 1960's. Truth be known, "Hard Days Night" is the only 45 rpm record I ever bought. All in attendance mouthed the words and many also made recognizable sounds. While I did not sing along with the fervor of my youth I was one of those uttering the words. Thanks, Tony.
 
What a meeting!!!!!!!!!!Ninety-five% attendance. Buehler? Buehler? Er, I mean Cheeseman? Cheeseman? 
Six guests and President Tony swore in TWO NEW MEMBERS!
 
District 5500 needs only 200K to be named the prime sponsor of the Tour de Tucson. This recognition would have to be good for membership and insure the Tour de Tucson goes on along with our 45 million dollars raised to date from pledges to eradicate polio. Easy to make a payment and each of you should have received an email from District with instructions on how to do so.
 
District Conference will be a cruise. This has been done before and was fun and beneficial to the town in Mexico where the cruise ship docked. All should consider the Mexican Riviera cruise. Check out the District website for additional information.
 
Need to think about RYLA involvement and student sponsorship for this coming year.
 
Spring Training, Rotary Style, coming up May 4th in Green Valley. New officers and new members would benefit from this. See District website for additional info.
 
Cameron project resubmitted. At this point our Club's share will be $5,000.
 
 New members Laura Clymer and Jeff Pridgett were pinned by POTRCOM. Welcome to you both.
 
Happy Bucks
John-Easter family get together
Dan-Wife is leaving for Ethiopia with church group. No mention of her returning.
Harold, John Z, Denise, David, Randy, Mary all happy to have new members and six guests
Richie-enjoyed lazy weekend
Bob-Happy his spouse Linda joined us and Col. Grasky for being our speaker today.
 
Joke Off
There was none today. Maeve just got two more weeks of detention and Lynne was assaulted.
John D won and lost with 2 of hearts.
 
Robert Bishop, Honorary Commander of the 214 Attack Group stationed at Davis Monthan Air Force Base introduced our speaker Col. Brian "Padre" Grasky, Commander of the 214 Attack Group stationed at DM AFB.
 
The 214th is part of the AZ National Guard. They fly remotely controlled airplanes, commonly known as drones, as far as 8,000 miles from AZ! The Reaper is an unmanned, armed, intelligence, reconaissance, surveillance aircraft. They have two operators for each drone. The skill set needed is more of an engineer than a pilot to fly these aircraft. They are aloft 24/7 landing about every 24 hours for fuel. The Colonel gave specific examples as how this high tech machine aides grand troupes and even helps to fight forest fires. There are about 250 people assigned to 214th. Thank you Colonel for your presentation and your service.
 
Next week join us for a presentation by our own, Peter Mack, as he discusses the relocation of five million Egyptians and their national observatory.    
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting April 16, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Richie Benner took the reins this morning substituting for President Hunter who is celebrating marital bliss in Hawaii.
With no thoughts to be mined from this played out claim, Richie tried to bypass singing and go straight to club business. "Not so fast there!" shouted Lynn and Randy who individually entertained themselves with somewhat weak offerings. Hurry back, Tony.
 
The day of reckoning is fast approaching for Laura Clymer who is to be sworn in as our newest member next Tuesday.
 
HAPPY BUCKS
John-Grandson knows 24 quarters is not seven dollars
Dan, Mary, David, Harold, Beckie among others are happy
Richie-Ina Open!!!!!!!! However announcement on Facebook was premature
Denise -Happy about our speaker from ALS Association, Quinn Epstein-Tracy
 
Bob- Happy and a reminder that next week we will have the Commander of the Predator and Reaper program located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as quest speaker PLEASE SHARE AND CONSIDER BRING A GUEST OR TWO.
 
JOKE OFF
Maeve- Due to time and space considerations I cannot do Maeve's offering justice even though it deserves a "little". I did smile. Sorry, no "Little Johnny" jokes for three more weeks.
 
Lynne-Motorist swerves to miss boxes of spilled tax on the roadway. (most know the punchline by now). Cop stops him and starts to write a ticket. Motorist says, "Hey, I had to drive erratically to avoid hitting the debris." Cop says, "This is for tax evasion."
Starting to see  a theme here, Lynne.
 
I have a great joke involving tax and prophylactics. Think I will give it to Maeve for when she gets off detention.
 
John won and lost with Ace of Spades.
 
Amyotrophic  Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig Disease was the topic of today's presentation.Quinn Epstein-Tracy is the Care Services Coordinator for the Southern AZ branch of the AZ Chapter of The ALS Association.
ALS has no cure and life expectancy following diagnosis is 2 to 5 years. ALS is hard to diagnose, there is no test and it is the fallback diagnosis once other neurological diseases have been ruled out. Approximately 400 individuals are diagnosed in AZ every year. Over 90% of those diagnosed are sporadic in nature with less than 10% having a known familial etiology. First symptoms are usually in the limbs with lessening strength and feeling in the hands and arms. Bulbar symptoms may also occur with difficulty in chewing, swallowing and speaking. Severe cognitive changes appear in about 20% of those diagnosed. 
The mission of the ALS Association AZ Chapter is to serve and empower people affected by ALS to live their lives to the fullest.
 
For more information contact Quin@alsaz.org or go to www.alsaz.org
 
Side note, I recommend viewing "Pride of the Yankees, The Lou Gehrig Story" filmed in 1942 and starring Gary Cooper.
Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey, Mark Koeing and Bill Stern all play themselves in this sad but feel good true story.
 
Bob- Happy and a reminder that next week we will have the Commander of the Predator and Reaper program located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as quest speaker PLEASE SHARE AND CONSIDER BRING A GUEST OR TWO.
(worth repeating)
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting April 4, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                               El Hefe, also referred  to as President Hunter called upon prodigal son Bob bishop to lead us in the pledge. Without asking for thoughts for the day (has he learned the lesson?) Tony led us in the Beatles tune, "Let It Be".  Tony was great and many members sang along, although not enough. The sound was not half bad, but, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give us a solid six. Even though I personally did not participate (much, since I prefer a lower key) I have had an ear worm for the past seven hours! Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be............speaking words of wisdom LET IT BE!!!!!!!!
 
Lara Clymer in attendance once again, anxiously awaiting membership request status.  
 
As mentioned above, Bob Bishop has returned from Virginia. Bob was very impressed with his twin granddaughters weight gain, doubling from 5 pounds to 10 during his stay, AND the ability of the Richmond Rotary to raise $200,000 in one evening at a Casino Night while he was there. (in that order, by the way) 
 
May 4th at Quail Creek in Green Valley there will be Spring Training for incoming officers and any members who wish to learn about our marvelous organization.
 
Amanda, beneficiary of a Rotary Vocational grant, briefly spoke with our club about her experience at Vet Tech school. Official graduation is in June, but she has completed all requirements and will graduate with Honors. She might be in the right field as she mentioned she loves animals numerous times!
 
Happy Bucks
John- great weekend-wife did not die or get injured in All Terrain Race at Old Tombstone
Harold & John Z- MCAT Student of the Month
Bob-Virginia is for lovers and friends of Bob. You are all welcome to visit and stay a few weeks
Mary-Way to Go Amanda!
Beckie-Jackpot Veterinary Open House was successful.
Randy-MCAT SOM
Rachel- (Remember her?) Glad to be back now that tax season is winding down and she is headed for a friend's Sedona wedding. At risk of not being politically correct-she looks great!
 
Joke Off
 
Speaking of not being politically correct Maeve told a joke she had offered to Mary. Mary had the good sense to turn it down. Maeve decided to tell it anyway. There was nervous laughter. Next time you see her ask her about it.
 
Lynne, in lieu of a joke, recited a poem that I am sure tickled CPA's everywhere. Unfortunately Lynn was the only CPA in attendance.
 
Maeve won, but she will be in detention for the next four weeks.
 
Beckie won and lost with six of Spades.
 
 Patrick Cavoulos was our MCAT Student of the Month. An experienced heeler with a talented header for a friend, Patrick proudly displayed a belt buckle the size of a dinner platter he won as part of a team roping competition. This exceptional young man had dropped out of high school and was headed in the wrong direction. MCAT turned him around and in his own words, "The future looks bright.". While nervous about addressing our Club I was impressed that he thanked all of our members, Nana's Kitchen and staff, his parents, Ms Coronado, Oliver Bowen his Social Studies teacher and especially his nana Delores. Patrick was accompanied by his nana, his dad-Danny and his mom-Monica. As always our MCAT honoree was presented with an Honorary Certificate, a Marana Rotary cowbell and a gift certificate to Harkins Theaters.
 
MCAT Graduation begins 7:30 PM on 5/23/2019 and all are welcome. Our Club is usually well represented. 
Rotary Meeting April 2, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Seven AM again saw the Rotary Club of Marana get called to order by President Hunter. Without hesitation Dan Contorno responded to the request to lead in the Pledge of Allegiance. No song today. Is it this writers harsh reviews? Maybe we should all move to Rome where the city council recently voted to ban singing on city buses. While they also banned nudity and semi nudity the banning of song seems a bit extreme. But I digress.........
 
Laura Clymer joined us again and she paid her membership application fee, which is a bit odd since the Board voted to do away with the fee a month go. 
 
Coming soon: Rotary Day of Peace and AZ Kids (A donation to a kid's not for profit gets matched by an unknown donor. Last year there was $180,000 match!)
 
Saddlebrook Rotary is puttting out feelers to other Rotary Clubs to join them in the erecting of a monument to First Responders. More on this later as only 25% of the required funding has been raised and construction will not bein until 100% of the money is raised.
 
Some discussion on Cameroon project with all who spoke in favor of funding the project to the original amount planned, even if not a 100% RI match is to be had. Board will discuss at tomorrow's meeting. 
 
 
Happy Bucks
John-UA Women's Basketball
Richie-UA Softball swept ASU and he was there
Dan-At LA Fitness (did not say why) and patron wearing a Tour de Cookie Shirt
John & Harold-Great Weather
Beckie-Jackpot to hold grand opening of their equine hospital
Mary-Always Happy
Randy-Laura's pending membership and today's speaker
Denise-Weather and speaker
 
 Lynne-Dr. and atty. conversing at a cocktail party. Dr, "I always get approached at parties by multiple people describing their symptoms to me and asking for free medical advice. How do you handle the problem of free advice?" Atty, "I answer their question then send them a bill in the mail."
Dr  decides he will try it. He makes out the bills and takes to the PO. While their he gets his mail, which includes a bill from the atty. TADA!
This joke won by a landslide as there were no other entries.
 
Randy-WON AGAIN and LOST AGAIN this time with the nine of diamonds.
 
Our speaker today is the Chief Trial Counsel for the Pima County Attorney's office, Jonathan Mosher. His excellent presentation was based on the murder of Kay Reed, a Tucson citizen, from 2008. The forensic evidence gathered from the crime scene and CCTV from a bank and service station proved sufficient for a conviction even though a body was never recovered. We learned the value of even a partial finger print and the challenges that are part of DNA evidence. Using an Ipad attached with a finger ring to his hand as he gave his presentation, in the same way he presents to a jury,  it became evident of his ease when presenting his facts. Personable, bright and effective I believe we can all agree, Mr. Mosher is a great asset to our community at large and to the County Attorney's office specifically.
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting Mar 26, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Back from the sick bed President Hunter chose Mary S to lead us in the pledge. At the request of Lynne Himmer and the start of baseball season we sang "Take Me out To The Ballgame". Abner Doubleday now regrets he invented the game.
 
Rotary Spring Training to be held in Green Valley 5/4/2019 at the Quail Creek Country Club. All members are welcome. See District 5500 newsletter for additional details.
 
Southern AZ Day of Peace scheduled for 4/6/2019. See District 5500 newsletter for details.
 
Mary Straus reports that Laura Clymer has submitted her membership application!
 
Happy Bucks
John D reminds folks that state Tax Credit for 2018 still available if you give to the Rotary Vocational Fund of AZ. Go to TRVFA.ORG
Richie-Stay hydrated
Dan-Went to White Sox /D'Backs game and sat in the dugout! Hey, I saw the pictures!
Harold-Happy
John Z-Happy (he got change from Javier)
Beckie-SLC home is now vacant
Denise-Being very polite, but having her mouthful when it was her turn to speak, Denise placed her hand in front of her mouth. Since I rely heavily on visual cues you will have to ask Denise what she was happy about.
Don-Will be in Seattle to see his beloved BOSOX battle the Mariners. On Opening Day?
Randy-Happy for Mary S and Bouba Hamadou.
 
Joke Off
Mary filled in for an ailing Maeve with: "Patient goes to see the psychiatrist for the first time. Patient is stripped naked and wrapped in Saran Wrap. Doctor says, "I can clearly see your nuts."
 
Lynne, in an attempt to top what may have been the joke of the year served up numerous puns which I could not record due to the rapidity they were delivered. Many were good and involved tuna fish and pointless pencils. You had to be there.
 
Bonus: Now that Mary has  pushed the envelope I believe I have cover for this entry. Sign at convenience store "Beer nuts $1,29. Deer nuts under a buck.".
 
Richie-Won and lost with Jack of Spades.
 
 Mary Straus and Bouba Hamadou spoke on our Cameroon project. Bouba is a Tucsonian, a Cameroonian and a Rotarian. He also is the spiritual and community leader of the village in Cameroon where our project is planned. The position is one pased down through families and is for life, unless you resign. First appointed at age 18 Bouba served four years before deciding position held to much authority for one so young. Now a grandfather, Bouba resumed the duties five years ago. He helps to settle village disputes and serves as an intermediary between the village and state/national government.
Bouba spoke of  village kids leaving school after sixth grade to work in the fields. The school, established in 1962, has significantly increased attendance recently due to a push by Bouba (jailed his brother for failing to pay the $2 annual education fee and letting his sons skip school) to 450 students and now there are fifty-six 7th graders.
Average life span has increased from forty-seven to fifty-two over the past twenty years.
 
Our Global Grant has been trimmed by RI by $6,607. This means our match was reduced from $3,000 to $792 and the amount from District will be less. There is still a need for boy/girl latrines which will enable girls to remain in school past puberty when they currently tend to drop out. Other items lined out by RI, possibly due to sustainability, are needed. This topic of possible make up of RI cut funding will be discussed in the coming weeks.
 
Enjoy our beautiful weather!
 
Rotary Meeting Mar 19, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
 In President Tony Hunter's absence, President Elect Richie Benner began the meeting with the pledge. Foregoing any thoughts or songs PE Benner plunged ahead with the meeting directing all to "sit". Quack, quack, quack. (Inside joke)
 
Members greeted Laura Clymer, a prospective member and friend of Mary Straus, visiting for the second time!
 
Our Tour de Cookie netted $7,900 and substitute Sgt of Arms Brooks may have squeezed another $90 out of those in attendance. John sold a $10 cookie.
 
Rotary Day of Peace scheduled for 4/6/2019. Rotary will partner with ten other organizations this date at 101 W 4th Street in Tucson. "Peace is more than the absence of conflict." will be the theme. For more information and to register go to www.rotary5500.org.
 
Davis Monthan Air Show this weekend.
 
Happy Bucks
Peter-deliriously happy and math. (that is what my notes say) Oh, and gone next three weeks.
John D and John Z-Happy
Harold-Happy and a 51 year Rotary Member
Denise-Happy
Mary-Broke
Maeve-Happy
Richie-Happy & Charlie is 9 months doing well & got first "manly" haircut
Lynne-Broke
 
PE Benner announced approval by members and Board of Jeffrey Pridgett's application for membership.
 
Joke Off
 Maeve-Two men walk into  bar and the third ducks. When the laughter quieted down Maeve tried to make up for this horrendous offering with: Fella awakens in the middle of the night a little hungry. Opens the fridge and the mayo shouts out, "Turn off the light, I'm dressing.".
Give me a few minutes while I wipe the tears from my eyes. Whew. Oh my, when have I laughed so hard? 
 
 Lynne-Two old ladies looking for excitement. One decides to streak the flower show. Stripping then "running" as  fast as her legs could go she entered the building. Screams and shouts were replaced by loud applause. When she exited she held a trophy. She exclaimed to her friend, "I won first place for "dried arrangement".
 
Bonus joke from JD. Maeve's first joke reminded me of this one. A termite walks into the tavern and asks, "Where is the bar tender?"
 
Randy won and lost with the 5 of diamonds. (Peter is calling for an investigation as his ticket gets called about once every twenty years)
 
Rotarian Daniel Stringham addressed our Club regarding Rotary Microcredit project in Sonora, MX. Currently $300,000 has been donated for this project and Daniel is seeking another $100,000. The Microloan project is seen as a "Legacy" project as it lasts as long as the loans are being repaid. Loans from as little as $100 are made with the target amount being $800 and increasing bto $1,500 plus. Loan repayment is touted to be in the 95th plus percentile. Loans are made to co-signing borrowing groups of from four to eight people. This "peer pressure" in this writers words, is seen as the driving force in loan repayment. Interest rate is 4.5% a month. Our speaker explained that this rate is not uncommon in Mexico. To us a 69% APR loan (assuming no principal repayment for 12 months) is unthinkable. These zero collateral micro loans are extremely difficult to obtain anywhere else due to the administrative fees on such small loans and lack of collateral.
 
FinReg, a specialized micro credit institution, has been operating in Sonora for 12 years. Rotary Clubs partner with FinReg by providing funds/capital to loan  and they in turn establish borrowing groups, dispense and collect funds and assist customers to succeed in their businesses. FinRegs operating costs and net profit come from the interest earned on the loans.
 
Requests for tax deductible donations to be used towards a Rotary Global Grant are requested to be sent to Tempe South Rotary Foundation. More detailed information provided in brochure passed out by Mr Stringham.   
  
 
Rotary Meeting March 12, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
On a cold and rainy 12th of March President Hunter called the large number of attendees to order. The Pledge was recited and then, in a partial tribute to our club's "Tour de Cookie" volunteers we sang. With apologies to Merle Haggard, no SERIOUSLY with apologies to Merle Haggard we attempted "The Running Kind" substituting the word "riding" for "running". It was Randy's idea but even he and Tony with guitar leading the way Merle would not recognize his song and it was not because of the word substitution.
 
Possibly "Daisy, Daisy on a bicycle built for two" is more within our comfort zone.
 
Loads of guests including:
Doug, a Rotarian from Midland, MI who is moving to Tucson and who rode in Tour de Cookie and took photographs for the second time.
Laura Climer, a former college women's basketball coach who was checking out our club.
Dave Braaten, a Rotarian from Butte, MT who is escaping the cold
Our MCAT Student of the month, Courtney Reid, her mother Sheryl and two siblings Ian and Jackie.
Plus MCAT Principal Denise Coronado and staff representative Delight Craddock. 
 
We spent a lot of worthwhile time patting ourselves on the back for a very successful Tour de Cookie. One hundred more riders than last year! Singled out for special recognition were Dan "The Man" Contorno, Beckie Penman (six new cookie booths for a total of twelve with another two signed up for next year) and a cast of thousands. A little hyperbole there, but almost every member was involved in making this event a financial and community success. Thank you to all. We have a great club!
 
 Denise Coronado introduced Courtney "Corey" Reid. Corey is a pleasure to have in class and personifies the AAA (Academics, Attendance, Attitude) motto of MCAT. Corey has lived in at least six states as her father transferred around the country with the US military. She plays several musical instruments and has a career goal of law enforcement or cosmetology
 
.
Lynne, our Club Secretary and a CPA, announced tax return due date has been moved back two months and the powers that be say every tax return will be reviewed. This is highly doubtful given the manpower available.
 
Happy Bucks
John, Dan, Mary, Denise, Don- All Happy
Peter- Great fun and camaraderie working with fellow members at Tour de Cookie
Richie- Brief reflection on how money from Tour de Cookie has been used in the past
David-Happy for rain Tuesday and not last Saturday as originally forecast
Randy-This is a head scratcher. If I got it right, he was happy because his wife tried to, well I do not know what she was trying to do, but she mixed his vitamins and hearing aide batteries together on the kitchen counter and Randy got the opportunity to see the ER and, I am guessing here, examine his stool for a couple of days! Truly sad what the geriatric set passes for happiness.
 
Joke Off
Lynne-What do you call 21 rabbits in a row who take a step back? A receding hare line! Now that is funny.
 
Maeve-Wife tells husband to go to store and get a carton of milk and six eggs. Store out of eggs so husband brings back six cartons of milk..........If you get this joke please explain it to me.
 
Beckie won and lost lottery with the nine of hearts. The pot continues to build.
 
Our speaker today was a retired Registered Nurse representing Sister Jose Women's Center. This organization serves homeless women. The facility is open days M-S and it is open seven nights a week.  Of the 100 to 120 women served daily half may be ages 45 to 55 with one aged 82. Possibly up to 90% have mental health issues not drug dependence. With help from local business man Buck O'Rielly a home of 750 sq ft was found to work out of. This proved too small and thy moved into the old Cummins Plumbing  metal building on South Park. They are not allowed to prepare food on site, so they have to get creative in where the food comes from and how it is served. At the new location overnight emergency stays have grown six fold and meals served has tripled. In addition to overnight emergency stays and day visits including meals, laundry and showers are provided as well.
 
Sister Jose was a Franciscan nun and the organizations namesake. She saw the need for a low barrier center that focuses on meeting the most basic needs of homeless women, regardless of personal situation or religious beliefs. Our speaker, Director of the Program, knew Sister Jose personally and was inspired to help fulfill Sister Jose's vision.
 
Rotary Meeting Mar 5, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
I "think" president Hunter began the meeting by introducing Sergeant Jeff Pridgett of the Marana Police Department. After indulging in Dunkin Donut coffee and donuts during the Sergeant's introductory statement he led the attendees on a tour of the state of the art Marana Police Department Headquarters.
 
Your Club Secretary went to Nana's Kitchen first this morning to be sure no one else did (tongue in cheek) and arrived to a locked building. I then texted Randy for assistance to break into the locked jail. Notes from this point on are not based on my surmises, but my actual first hand experience.
 
The facility is truly amazing and built to meet the town's needs for at least 25 years. Meeting attendees saw the evidence warehouse room, the forensic science area, temporary lock ups including a padded room and officer work stations. We saw the body cameras and the vehicle cameras and were educated as how they record and upload all data on an easily retrievable basis.
 
The facility has a spacious workout room that is filled with new workout equipment of every kind imaginable. Also saw the room dedicated to car searches that is complete with a lift! 
 
There were a couple of walls with empty shelving for future trophies to be won and a pretty nice cafeteria sans chef.
 
All in all an impressive facility and an impressive job as tour guide by Sergeant Pridgett.
 
Upcoming events:
Tomorrow at Mary's home to string ceramic cookies 4:30PM
Tomorrow at 5:30 Board Meeting at John Dooling's office 
SATURDAY everyone needs to be involved for our biggest fund raiser of the year. 8 to noon.
 
 
Rotary Meeting Feb 26, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Hunter gaveled in the meeting at precisely 8:00 AM and your's truly The Pledge. We almost got away without singing when former member and current E-club member Debbie Conover led us in If Your Happy And You Know It. Great participation until verse two when only two joined in the "stomp your feet".
 
Todays guests included Terry and Peggy Greiger from Leon, IA. Both are Rotarians and Terry is a Past District Governor. They are here for the sunny weather and are part of the Rotary RV Fellowship which aforementioned Debbie Conover is President. The Rotary RV Fellowship has a project scheduled for this Saturday at the YMCA Youth Camp in Oracle, AZ. Anyone interested contact Debbie or Terry/Peggy at 641-442-5559.   
 
 Also today we were pleased to host MCAT Student of the Month, Andres Perez. Andres was accompanied by his mother Andrea Valencia, student support coach Laura Garcia and MCAT Principal Denise Coronado. Anrdes likes helping others and will attend Pima Community College west campus after graduation from MCAT this spring. His long term goal is either nurse or teacher.  
 
Denise shared some info regards MCAT's future. They will double in size next year from 100 to 200 students. New curriculum will include robotics, construction and computer networking. Also, MCAT graduation night is 5/23/2019 and will return to the Middle School this year. This is a Thursday 7:00 PM start time and all are welcome and encouraged to attend. 
 
By the way, our club has sponsored MCAT's Student of the month for twenty years, per Club Historian Harold Burtzloff.
 
Richie reports a great learning experience at Northwest PETS (President Elect Training Seminar). Met loads of Canadians and Alaskans. He strongly recommends attending an Alaskan Hospitality room if you ever get the chance.
 
 Dan Contorno reports we have 126 riders signed up for the Tour de Cookie fun ride scheduled for Saturday 3/9/2019. All memebrs are encouraged to share on Facebook. Many club volunteers are required for this event so it is an "All hands on deck" kind of thing for our major fundraiser for the year.  It was suggested the Interact Club be approached for additional volunteers.
 
 
 
Poker Night raised about $800 for our Foundation. Thanks, Dan Contorno and the others that helped.
 
Happy Bucks
 
John- Successful quail hunt in Sturgis, KY with two legends from the Gun Dog world. Great job Richie on our Club's Facebook page
Dan-Granddaughter Ava.
Deb Conover- SNOW! And Student of the Month (SOM)
Peter-Great people and friends in Rotary (AMEN-my two cents worth!)
Denise-SOM and "Caught the purse snatcher!"
Harold-Sunshine
John Z-Happy
David-Took the kids to Flagstaff to play in the snow!!!!!!!!!!!For those of you not aware, Flagstaff, which gets a lot of snow every year, broke a record that has stood for over 100 years for snowfall last week. Great timing David. I propose David Hindman as FATHER of the YEAR!!!!!!!
Richie-In the northwest, but missed the Tucson snowfall of 2019.
Randy-Friends from Iowa who was DG same year as Randy.
Lynne-SOM and snow
 
Raffle-Harold won and lost with six of clubs.
 
Joke Off
 
Maeve-Cowboy rides into town known for its practical jokes. After a couple of shots he goes out and his horse is gone. He goes back in and loudly and menacingly "states my horse is gone and I do not want to happen here what happened in Texas last week." He has another shot then goes back out. Lo and behold his horse is back. As he mounts up one of the town folk comes up and asks, "What happened in Texas last week?" The cowboy looks him in the eye and slowly declares, "I had to walk home."
 
Lynne-Cops nab a shoplifting old lady. In court the lady pleads guilty of stealing a can of peaches. Since there are nine peaches to a can he gave her nine days in jail. In attendance happened to be the old lady's husband of many years. He stands up and addresses the judge, "Excuse me your Honor, she also stole a can of peas."
 
Humbly submitted by your lowly scribe, John Dooling
 
 
Rotary Meeting Feb 19, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Although I was out of state there was indeed a 2/19/2019 meeting. While I must use my imagination for some of this report much was taken from our Facebook Page. Thank you Richie Benner.
 
After President Hunter called the meeting to order and the pledge was recited a major club event took place: the awarding of Paul Harris Fellows to members Denise West and Tony Hunter. Thank you to both for your hard work and club support in all its endeavors. You are roll models for each of us
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
 
 Our speaker was Becky Noel of Therapeutic Riding of Tucson, TROT. Founded in 2006 TROT was originally established in cooperation of Southern AZ Veterans Admin Healthcare System for veterans of all ages to experience the physical and psychological benefits of riding. It has expanded so that today children and adults with cerebral palsy, mental retardation, Down;s Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and other special needs can benefit. For additional information one can access Rotary Club of Marana Facebook Page or visit www.trotarizona.org.
 
According to my source the Joke Off was.....meh.
No one won the lottery/raffle.
 
Thank you to Harold Burtzloff for taking/reporting last weeks attendance.
 
 
Rotary Meeting Feb 12, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Ten members met at The Cracker Barrel for today's meeting. This last minute change was necessitated by death of the mother of the young man who prepares our breakfast compounded by a child care commitment by owner/member Javier Terran. Mary suggested a sympathy card be sent.
 
Maeve complimented Denise for the quality of our speakers. Next week we will be hearing from TROT, Therapeutic Riding of Tucson.
 
Last Friday Don, Tony, Beckie and John witnessed the swearing in of 17 Interact members at Tortolita Middle School. This is the largets group by far in the eleven years the program has been in existence.  Honorary Rotarian Kathleen Neighbors has led the program from the beginning. Of the 17 members four are 7th graders. This should help in the continuity for next years members. It was suggested we may want to speak with Kathleen regarding donation of a Club banner or similar item to show our appreciation of their efforts. Also our members may wish to attend their meetings in the future.
 
It should be noted that their efforts include: assistance with RoadRunner School painting, a candy drive for AZ National Guard, cleaning pumpkins post Halloween that were donated by Bucklew Farms to the Food Bank, making and selling salsa to fund their projects, assisting with our  and another aide station during the Tour de Tucson, helping with AZ Air National Guard muster at DM Airport, collecting food for the food bank at Winter Haven Christmas Lights event and supporting Dan Heston's (father of one of the members)12 hour run marathon at Mt. View High School that raised thousands of dollars for the food bank. 
 
Finally, two members are part of the Tortolita Broadcasting team and are able to provide frequent videos of the Club's good work to the school during daily news casts beamed into all classrooms.
 
Tour de Cookie PR folks will move the outreach from Sunday at the Farmers Market to Saturday at Christina Taylor Green Park across from Pima Community College NW Campus on Shannon. Be there around 9 AM if you can assist Dan and Mary.
 
Much discussion regards the formalizing of list of past Club activities. Please send your thoughts/memories to Tony via email. There was a suggestion that the list be split by in country and out of country. John recommended asking Lynne to review our check register for those projects that required an expenditure of funds.
 
Randy received an unsolicited round of applause for his six years of assisting PETS training of new Rotarian Leaders. He says the PETS is stronger and more impressive than at any time he has experienced in the past. Randy is stepping down from PETS to take over the Rotary Educational Fund District Chairmanship.
 
Mary reports she recently witnessed it raining water. She also says the Cameroon Project approval process continues and final approval could be less than a month away.
 
POKER TOURNAMENT this Friday. Try to be there by 6 PM to assist even if not playing. Still time to sign up players. Mary and Dan providing snacks. John will bring large cooler of  bottled water and two 57 oz. cans of Planter's Dry Roasted Peanuts.
 
March first there will be a honoring of former Club member and retiring Director of Marana Chamber of Commerce, Ed Stolmaker. More on this later.
 
See you Friday night. GOOD LUCK!
 
 
Rotary Meeting Feb 5,  2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
President Hunter requested Richie to lead us in the pledge and a find job he did. Lynne requested "Hey Jude", a Beatles tune from fifty-one years ago, be sung. Tony helped us with his guitar and I must say we sounded good. Good compared to our attempt at "Yellow Submarine" a few months ago, not good compared to John Lennon. All things are relative.
 
Odds and Ends
Our Top Golf event from last Tuesday got a few good reviews from those who were able to attend. It was announced that Bob Bishop's twin grand kids have arrived and doing well. Randy asked for a few members to remain after the meeting to interview Alexis Elarosa for possible Rotary Vocational Fund scholarship to Respiratory Therapist School.
 
Board meeting at John's office tomorrow 2/6/2019 at 5:30 pm. 
 
Tour de Cookie rider prospecting done on Sundays at Farmers Market 9 am to noon. Help is appreciated and easy to do. Located near Rillito Park on First Street just south of River Rd. Beckie has several booth sign ups, but still looking for the $500 Sponsor. Dan requests any signs, tee shirts etc from last year please bring to next week meeting. Please share on Facebook and your email contacts. March 9th.
 
Poker Tournament a week from Friday. Please share information with your email contacts, golf club members, fire department employees, congregation members and anyone else you can think of. 
 
Rachel spoke of the United Way's program to assist the working poor with the income tax refund process. There are nine sites in Pima County and one being at the Marana senior Citizens Center. Mary, Randy and Deb from our club are assisting and more needed.  Hours of operation are Thursdays 4-7 and Saturday's 12:30 to 3:30. The UW is also partnering with PCC for basic tax accounting course.
 
Tony says we are looking for an April project. Send him your ideas.
 
Happy Bucks
John-Thanks Tony for Top Golf outing
David-Trial is over
Don-Glad David was acquitted?????
Harold-Enjoyed Top Golf
Richie-Enjoyed Rotary Leadership Institute and recommends for new and old Rotarians
Beckie-Happy to be here and hopes SLC home sells quickly
Rachel-Heck if I know. I think I was asking for additional salsa at the time.
Randy-Happy to have seen Richie on TV for a lengthy informative session on Scouting. Randy also claims to have hit a golf ball straight and far at Top Golf last Tuesday. He did not say if it was straight and far "in the direction he intended."
Mary-Heck if I know. For some reason I miss Mary's comments on a regular basis. I apologize and short of writing me a note every time I do not know what else to do. Maybe you can sit with me and Dan from now on?
 
Joke Off
Lynne won easily as Maeve chose not to attend this morning.
 
John-As usual won and lost the raffle this time with the 5 of hearts.
 
Jeff Pridgett, Marana Police Department Sergeant and Public Information Officer (PIO), was our speaker this morning. Counting Jeff, Richie and Dan we had three Marana Tigers at our meeting. Jeff spent twelve years in the MUSD school system. He has held numerous positions from "beat" cop to school resource officer to motorcycle cop to in house Sergeant in charge to his current position as PIO. The new station is a place of pride having evolved from a triple wide mobile to the state of the art facility they now are housed in. The tax levy that raised the money for the new building is gone as promised.  The headquarters is located across from Ora Mae Harn Park on Lon Adams Rd. A tour of the facility will be arranged.
 
The MPD respond to all traffic incidents unlike TPD and writes a report for each. The MPD detectives are broad in scope and investigate all from purse snatchings to murder. The MPD responds to all calls and in a timely fashion, again unlike TPD.   
 
Rotary Meeting Jan 29, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Top Golf was the venue for January's 5th Tuesday social. Many may have stayed away, due to the fear of the cold. They had nothing to fear as the ceiling installed propane heaters not only kept the chill away they also  had us stripping off our jackets and sweaters and working on our tans.
 
John Zwick earns the "most people" award. Accompanying John was his wife, two daughters and a son-in-law. Tied for second was John and Cindy Dooling and Harold and Ellen Burtzloff. Trailing came Dan, Don, Randy and of course Tony.
 
When I say "nothing to fear" I was strictly referencing the cold. The "crowd" retreated a few steps whenever John, Randy, Don or Tony took a whack. Tony had a few shots that reminded this reporter as to why the netting to the right was so high. Let's just say Tony has the banana slice perfected. Tony was also the only "golfer" to whiff. John, me, hit a duck hook that made many respond in awe. The shots taken by Randy and Don were not memorable and that is a good thing. 
 
Of course there are always show offs. In this category Dan Contorno is firmly placed along with John Zwick's daughter, the one not named Joyce. Shame on me for not recalling her name at this time.
 
The food was much better than the golf and the beer was not bad either. Best of all was the company and I hope to see many more at our next event. Thank you Tony for planning it all.
 
See you tomorrow!
Rotary Meeting Jan 21. 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Dr Mack again led us in the Pledge. Apparently he has to do this until we get it right!
President Hunter apologized for having neither a song nor his guitar then sought a thought for the day from our members. Beckie Penman had a good one I recall, but unfortunately that is all I recall. Peter suggested we be generous with the our weekly Food Bank donations as there may be an increase in need due to the Federal Government shutdown.
 
Flash: "Life is a journey not a destination." Thanks, Beckie.
 
No 7AM meeting next week. Members and their friends are encouraged to attend our 5th Tuesday social at Top Golf starting at 5:30 PM.
 
Dan will again send the 2/15/2019 Poker Tournament flyer to all members as apparently some did not receive his first email. Please talk this up among friends and family.
 
RLI this Saturday with Richie and Denise registered. Still time for more to register. Contact John or Randy for details.
 
Happy Bucks
John-Randy's birthday
Dan-  Randy's Birthday  
Harold-Weather here compared to rest of the country
Rachel-Weather
Beckie-Daughter engaged, home for sale in SLC, weather here compared to SLC with the cold and inversion problems
Mary-Preliminary grant approval for Cameroon!
Denise-Happy for today's speaker, Edna Rosas-Gutierrez.
David-Happy about something(good to see you David. Happy New Year)
 
Joke Off
 
 Maeve began with lawyer trying to take advantage of old person. (Maeve apologized to David then continued). Lawyer says "I 'll ask you a question and if you do not know answer you pay me $5. Then you ask me and if I do not know I will pay you $500." Old guy agrees. Lawyer, "How many miles between the earth and the moon?" Old guy forks over $5. Old guy, "What goes up the hill on three legs and down on four legs?" Lawyer scratches his head. He consults the Internet. Tweets his friends. Finally gives up and gives the old man $500. The lawyer then asks the old guy, "just what does go up the hill on three legs and down the hill on four?" Old guy gives the lawyer $5!
 
 Lynne countered with conversation between a "normal" person and a Psychiatrist. "Is there a simple test to determine if a person has mental illness?" "Yes, we tell the tested individual they have a bathtub full of water and a spoon and a bucket and ask how would thy empty the tub." "Ah, the normal person would use the bucket as it is larger/quicker than the spoon, right?"
"No, a normal person would pull the plug." "Would you prefer a padded room with a view or one closer to the cafeteria?" 
 
TIE!
 
Harold won with ticket 121 and lost with the 7 of hearts.
 
 Edna C Rosas-Gutierrez is the owner of Better Choices Counseling, LLC. Her practice specializes in treatment of child sexual predators. Roughly 75% of child sexual abuse cases are by family and 97% by males. Most cases are opportunistic in nature. These individuals can and do respond to counseling.d  
 
 
 
 
Rotary Meeting Jan 15, 2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
 Dr. Peter Mack led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. President Hunter did not seek thoughts of the day from members, obviously learning from past experiences in solicitation in this regard. He did do a shout out to Charlie Benner who is growing like a weed.
 
 
 
A request was made to members to remain afterwards if they had input for the Tour de Cookie scheduled for 3/9/2019. This is our MAJOR fund raiser that enables us to do the various good deeds we do in this country and overseas. Everyone needs to get involved. Those who can might volunteer to distribute flyers to bicycle shops and help out on Sunday mornings at the Farmers Market from 8:30 to noon the next six or seven weeks.
 
 Dan announced a Poker Tournament for Friday February 15th to be held at Vision Church off Silverbell south of Cortaro Rd. Dan has organized several of these for our Club's benefit. With a decent turnout we can net a thousand or more. Please share the flyer with friends and family when it becomes available in a few days.
 
 
Discussion of a Club social the 29th of this month as it is the 5th Tuesday of January. Several ideas tossed out by members, but Top Golf seemed to be a popular idea. Since they were a sponsor of Tour de Cookie last year they might offer us a "deal". Tony to check it out and report next week.
 
RLI "College of Rotary Knowledge" will be offered 1/26/2019. Location to be at The Viscount Suite Hotel on Broadway. The $65 cost of attendance, which includes continental breakfast and lunch is paid by the Club. Richie Benner has signed up and others are encouraged to do so. Registration information is on District 5500 Website or speak with Randy Brooks for additional information. 
 
Denise West reports her purse being stolen at COSTCO when a man approached her as she was entering her car. With this distraction her purse was taken from inside her car. There have been multiple reports of this happening at COSTCO.
Rachel Cheeseman reports she too had this happen at Target a couple of weeks ago.
 
Happy Bucks
John-Happy to have Dan Contorno in our club. He is the main cog in our Tour de Cookie and Poker Tournament fundraisers.
Don-Thanks, Dan
Randy-Thanks, Dan
John Z-Thanks, Dan
Harold-Thanks, Dan
Mary-Thanks, Dan
Peter-Thanks, Dan
Well, you get the idea.
Also, Denise happy her jewelry was not taken
Rachel-Her friend elected to Amphi School Board
There were others that I just missed.
 
Joke Off
 
 Maeve-Patient goes to the Doc with carrots in his nose and broccoli in his ears. Doc immediately sizes up the situation and says, "I see the problem, you are not eating correctly". (I actually laughed at this simple humor) 
 
 Lynne-Three football Cardinal fans bemoaning thier team's dismal 2018 record. "I blame management" says the first. "I blame the players." announces the second. "I blame my parents." proclaims the third. If I had been born in Boston I would be a Patriots fan. (Truth demands that I report, as in most of her jokes, Lynne enjoyed her humor today as much OR more so than did her audience.Must be nice to have a Boston connection)
 
Based on the visual imagery of the patient ( and hatred of the Yankees, er, Pats) I "give" this one to Maeve.
 
John won AGAIN and lost AGAIN with four of hearts.
 
Guest speakers today were Bonnie Dudelston, Cemetery Administrator for AZ Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Marana and Tom Shambo. Board Member of the AZ Veterans Memorial Cemetery Foundation-Marana.
Bonnie played a video from www.cem.va.gov in an effort to provide an historical perspective up to the present of the Veteran's Memorial Cemetery program. Land donated by the Kai family enabled the cemetery to open 3/14/2016. Funding to the tune of 7.6 million was required to prepare the land as a cemetery. Money for the daily management comes from the AZ Department of Veterans Services and the local AZ Veteran's Memorial Cemetery Foundation.
There have been 1,486 veterans interred in the past three years and there are 1,800 pre-registered, including our speaker Tom Shambo. The facility is designed to accommodate up to six burials a day with each having a twenty minute ceremony.
For additional information see the website above or www.azdvs.gov or www.avmc-foundation.com
 
Corrections or comments are appreciated. My attempts to report humorously AND accurately  sometimes go astray.
 
 Your Scribe,
John Dooling, Club Secretary
 
 
Rotary Meeting Jan 8,2019
Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Arriving exactly at 7:00 AM both I and Maeve missed the pledge, guest introductions and any new year thoughts our membership may have offered up. As they say, "The early bird catches the worm." In this case our infamous cuckoo clock dictated the start of the meeting, not my cell phone.
 
 Randy took the lead on our Club's family adoption for Christmas. Several hundred dollars donated by our club was spent in order for the family to have a merrier Christmas than what otherwise would have been possible. The family consists of a mother and four daughters, two of whom attend MCAT. Thanks, Randy.
 
President Hunter announced a full court press in our member recruiting process with numerous members assisting.
 
Happy Bucks
John-HNY
Dan-HNY
Randy-a good buck and a bad buck (maybe two good bucks. He was sick for his own NY's party.
Ritchie-Rain is always welcome in our arid state.
Rachel-HNY and family time
Beckie-Better weather here than SLC
Don-Family time in Seattle and nicer weather too
Denise-Sick???????
Peter-Daughter married Saturday and a shout out to Randy for Family sponsorship at Christmas
Bob-Friends in town. Oh, and Linda here with him this morning as well as guest speaker.AND IDENTICAL TWIN GRANDKIDS born over the weekend
 
Joke Off
Lynne- I think it goes like this: Preacher and Cab driver arrive at the pearly gates at the same time and the cab driver gets a bigger halo. The preacher naturally challenges this and when questioned admitted that sometimes his sermons were boring and put people to sleep. St Peter explained that nobody ever slept in the aggressive taxi cab owners vehicle and many were driven to praying for their lives. 
 
Maeve
How can I clean this up? This is beginning to be weekly problem with Maeve as she dives into ever sinking depths of lurid humor to get a laugh and beat out Lynne for the Joke of the Day crown.
Okay, here goes: If you are taking a dump at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve is it the SOS different year?
 
Maeve wins! Must admit she knows her audience.
 
John won and lost the raffle with a 6 of diamonds.
 
 Our guest speaker, invited to our club by Bob Bishop, was retired aerospace legend Burt Rutan. Burt was "twice" awarded the Collier Trophy presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics in America..........."
Throughout his career he has worked on 46 manned research airplanes.Born into a family of Seventh Day Adventists sports were not allowed. At a very young age he was amazed to witness a low flying fleet of B36's and became enamored with building model planes. His first business after graduating from Cal Poly was started in 1973. It was the manufacturing of home built airplane kits. One of his companies founded in 1986 now has 600 employees. He is justifyingly proud of the "real" jobs and the tax revenue they create as opposed to government jobs that are 100% tax supported and created.
 
Much of Mr Rutan's talk dealt with the significant demise of NASA and space exploration. The 1965 NASA budget was 5.3% of the total US budget. Today's budgeted dollars are less than one tenth of that 1965 number. He mentioned his disappointment after the meeting with the fact that China appears to want to take the lead in space exploration and the recent deployment of a rocket and lander/rover to the far side of the moon and the simultaneous launching of the communication satellite since there is no direct line of sight to the far side of the moon. To drive home this disturbing trend he noted no one born after 1935 has walked on the moon. 
 
Mr Rutan was proud of the fact that a piece of the carbon filter from one of his early creations is on the Horizon Spacecraft that has passed Pluto and recently returned photos of Ultima Thule, 4 billion miles from earth. His belief is if you are doing things that are doable you are in Product Development. If you are working on things that are questionably even possible you are doing Research.
 
His most recent project, funded to the tune of 23 million by recently deceased Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is the Stratolaunch. its purpose to heave a half-million-pound rocket ship to cruising altitude and then drop it, whereupon the rocket would ignite its engines for a fiery ascent into space. Allen’s hope was that this extraordinary bird would be able to do quick laps between the ground and the stratosphere, making access to space no more exotic than a New York–to–Boston commuter flight. Launch is expected to be the fall of 2019.
 
One could not help but be reminded of The Spruce Goose masterminded by Howard Hughes and its one solo flight. With Elon Musk's SpaceX reusable rockets driving the costs down and reliability up does the Stratolaunch face the same fate? Only time will tell.
 
Today was a special day for our club. Seldom do we have the opportunity for such a distinguished person in their field speak to us. A winner of the prestigious Wernher Von Braun Memorial Award, named for the famous German rocket scientist who came to the USA after WWII, Mr Rutan provided us with a meeting to remember. As stated above he is truly a legend in the field of aerospace.
 
Board meeting John's office at 5:30PM Wednesday 1/9/2019.
 
 
 
  
 
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President
Richie Benner
President Elect
John Dooling
Treasurer
Lynne Himmer
Secretary
Laura Clymer
Immediate Past President
Tony Hunter
Member-at-Large
Harold Burtzloff
Member-at-Large
Robert Bishop
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Randy Brooks
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Rachel Cheeseman
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Javier Teran
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Laura Clymer
 

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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 20 years. 

Below are Students for Rotary Year July 1,2018 to June 30,2019

Caleb Hines                Sept
 
Kayle Hayes               Oct
 
Yazmin Lopez            Nov
 
Ashlynn Clevland      Dec
 
Andres Perez              Feb
 
Corey Reid                   Mar
 
Patrick Cavoulos        April
 
Gissel Quesada           May
 

 
 
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