Marana Rotary Club Meeting July 28, 2015
Yes, it’s summer in southern Arizona, and things are fairly quiet in places like Marana. But the Marana Rotary Club saw a 70% turnout of members for the July 28 meeting at Nana’s Kitchen with President Alice Rigney presiding. So something’s still cooking here, even in July! Happy Bucks was a real group effort today, with sooo many slackers who came without a dollar to their name. Bill Stanley gave $1 to Jo Holt, Harold Burtzloff gave $1 to Maeve Johnson (who had to brag some more about her daughter Mackenzie), and George Rigney gave a buck to Mary Straus. Now, we know that Dan Contorno also showed up without dough, but it didn’t appear that anyone was willing to cover for him..? Hmmm. Tough crowd. We love you, Dan.
Calendar Update:
Sat Aug 1
The 2015 District 5500 Membership Seminar will be held at the Highlands at Dove Mountain. Register online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2015-district-5500-membership-seminar-tickets-17346954207. The seminar runs from 8:15am to 3pm, and the cost of $30 will be reimbursed by our Club.
Sat Aug 8
Alice will be handing out tootsie roll pops on behalf of our Club at the free concert series held at Crossroads Silverbell Park (behind the Marana Wheeler Taft Abbett Sr Library) at 7pm. Come join her to help spread the word about Marana Rotary, and enjoy the music as well.
Sat Sept 18
The Community Food Bank Hunger Walk will take place at Tucson’s Kino Sports Complex (www.HungerWalkArizona.org). Marana Rotary is sponsoring a bus to take Marana participants to the walk. Details coming.
Sept 24-26
District 5500 Conference at the Hilton El Conquistador in Oro Valley. Our Club, in conjunction with the Dove Mountain and Oro Valley Clubs, will be hosting an ice cream social on Friday Sept 25.
Mon Sept 28
All Committee Chairs will meet in the evening with the District Governor Frank Presson at Jo Holt’s home in Oro Valley.
Fri Oct 9
The Service Above Self Awards Dinner at Dove Mountain Highlands Clubhouse. Note to members: now is the time to start rounding up raffle prizes for this gala event.
Fri May 21
In 2016, Mary Straus’ installation as Club President.
Other Announcements:
Alice reminded everyone that the Board voted unanimously to raise dues by $15 per quarter. This is effective immediately and will be reflected on your next dues invoice. This is an increase of $5/month that will help the Club stay on a sound financial footing.
Breaking News:
Our outbound exchange student Tori has returned home from Latvia! We’re looking forward to her visit to our Club. Welcome home, Tori! And PDG Randy Brooks announced that our inbound foreign exchange student Matus will be arriving tomorrow (Wed 7/29) from Slovakia. Randy and brother Frank will be playing music for tips for Rotary at Café Tremolo this coming Sat, Aug 1, and Matus will be attending. So come out, have a nice dinner, and meet our new exchange student. And our outbound exchange student Vanessa will be on her way to the Czech Republic in about a month.
Guest Speaker:
Have you ever dropped off household things to Goodwill? We got a behind-the-scenes description of how Goodwill operates from our guest Liz Gulick, Co-President/CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona, or GISA.
Liz noted that, in her talk last week, Suelee Edwards had described our Rotary Club as Small & Mighty, and that’s something that GISA has in common with Marana Rotary – not necessarily the biggest, but we really get things done. Goodwill provides training services and jobs for people with barriers to employment resulting from lack of education, a criminal past, or mental health issues. In other words, Goodwill helps a wide variety of people right here in our community of southern Arizona. GISA includes Casa Grande all the way down to Nogales, and has experienced significant growth over the last six years. Each Goodwill Industries throughout the US (and there are 165) are independently operated. Goodwill was established in 1902 in Baltimore by a Methodist minister, Edgar Helms. GISA was established in 1969, and is a 501(c)3 with a volunteer board of directors. As Liz says, if you’ve seen one Goodwill, you’ve seen just one Goodwill.
GISA has 15 stores, 1 boutique, 3 outlets, and 1 auction. The retail stores are the economic engine that drives Goodwill services, and the retail revenue stays and works here in southern AZ. There are 22 attended donation centers. Things that don’t sell in the retail stores are moved to the outlets, where they’re sold by the pound. And those things that don’t sell in the outlets are sold to the salvage market. Goodwill’s biggest month of the year?...October, thanks to Halloween.
Out of every dollar of revenue, 90 cents goes to employment and programs, particularly Workforce Development. There are a total of seven job connection centers located within the retail stores. Goodwill provides many career opportunities and Liz points out that it’s a great place to work.
Denise Coronado asked about all the drop boxes we see around town for clothing and household goods. How can we tell which is best to use? Liz responded that many of these drop boxes are owned by large salvage companies, whose revenue doesn’t stay in our community and doesn’t provide for any services. She reminded us that Goodwill donation sites are always attended. Thank you, Liz, for being our guest speaker and sharing this valuable information on a wonderful organization.