As the full moon set over the saguaros, our faithful band of Rotarians gathered early this morning for our last meeting in October. President Mary Straus called on John Zwick to lead us in the pledge, Maeve Johnson for an inspirational invocation, and Clint Kuntz to lead us in a song. John and Mary did a great job. And Clint? Well, like we said, it was a beautiful morning.
 
Tony Hunter gave us an update on preparations for the El Tour de Tucson aid station at Tangerine and I-10. And Harold Burtzloff announced that now is the time to donate to Boxing for Troops. You can donate online from the home page of our website, or by check. Assembly of boxes will be early in December.
 
Calendar Update: 
 
Wed Nov 7
Rotary Foundation Day includes a seminar at PCC from 9am to 3pm, and dinner at the Omni, reception at 6pm, dinner at 7.
 
Also 11/7 marks the end of the Edward Jones Bag-a-Thon food collection drive (Oct 1 – Nov 7) with Maeve Johnson’s annual Pancake Breakfast from 8 – 10:30am. You can help support the Marana Community Food Bank by dropping off food at the Edward Jones office at 3005 W Ina Road, Suite 101.
 
Nov. 7th is a very popular day! The Tucson Walk to End Alzheimer’s begins at the UofA at 9:15am. You can join the team “Burning Daylight” organized by former President of Marana Rotary, Kim Holaway, and her husband Dave, who is currently fighting this disease. Register or donate at www.tucsonalzheimerswalk.org.
 
Tues Nov 17
Club Assembly meeting during our regular meeting time, in which we review Club activities and assess how people are feeling about the Club.
 
Sat Nov 21
El Tour de Tucson day! Club members, along with Teacher of the Year Kathleen Neighbors’ Interact students from Tortolita Middle School, will be aiding riders at Tangerine Rd and I-10. Contact Tony Hunter to volunteer.
 
Breaking News:
Dan Contorno does not know anything about the location of Hooters on Ina Road, close to Bedrocks. One of our other Rotarians, Don Jorgensen, ran the A Mountain half-marathon on Sunday. Very impressive!
And resident astrophysicist Peter Mack is back in Marana today! But not for long!
 
He gave us a quick run-down of all the places he’s been since the end of July. He and wife Josie spent a little over two months in Hawaii, then Peter was off to Australia, then the Canary Isles, and finally in London last week. He’ll be heading back to Australia for a couple of weeks. He did mention that the Rotary Club of Cocnabarabran there does fundraising by selling food from a truck. An idea that might also work in Marana? Can you say Cocnabarabran?
 
 
 
 
 
 
Guest Speaker:
Pat Woznick from Treasures4Teachers of Tucson joined us this morning to explain how they help teachers. We all know
 that teachers pay for school supplies out of their own pockets. Treasures4Teachers helps with that, by providing inexpensive supplies for pre-K to 7th grade for purchase by teachers only. Their store is located at 6800 N. Camino Martin #124 and they can be reached at store@t4teachers.org and at 425-3956. If you teach in any way, including Sunday school, you can become a member.
Many of their items are donated by retiring teachers, and they also have an impressive list of sponsors (www.T4Teachers.org).
Treasures4Teachers currently has 350 members, but Pat says that many teachers still don’t know about their organization. Membership is $35/year. Those of us who aren’t teachers can support this effort by buying a gift membership and/or gift certificate. Pat suggested giving the gift membership or certificate to a parent-teacher organization, who will then find a teacher in need.
Kathleen Neighbors vouched for T4Teachers, saying that they have lots of books and supplies and that it is a wonderful service! Thank you, Pat, for letting us know about your wonderful organization!