Rotary Club of Marana
President Hunter led us in the Pledge followed by introduction of speaker/guests Elsa Jacklitch and Sabrina Ray of Hughes Federal Credit Union. Also back to observe and join our club is Rachel Cheeseman. Randy Brooks provided her with membership application papers.
Tony is not getting much sleep due to that dang puppy so we all had to suffer through another meeting sans guitar music. Suggested name for new puppy-"Downer".
Thoughts were rare, when Randy suggested a moment of silence for the passing of US Senator from AZ, John McCain. This was later followed by Denise West's recommendations regarding wiping out negative feelings, popping the despair bubble and experience the joy of a pet or good book.
Mary Straus took the floor and led a discussion on our Adopt a Village in Cameroon project. On September 8th Randy and Mary plan to board a plane with final travel destination of Malam-Petel in the far northern Region of Cameroon. This area has outstanding travel advisories from The French, United Kingdom and US Department of States. Violent crimes such as carjacking, armed robbery and terrorism are common. In addition there is tremendous civil unrest with French vs English speaking populace attacking and killing each, other leading up to this fall's election. Of the three types of advisories 1)See our advice before traveling, 2) Advise against all but essential travel and 3) Advise against ALL travel, Malam-Petel falls into category #3.
Mary explained that with out The Assessment Team (Randy and Mary) pre-visiting the area there will be no international grant. Both she and Randy downplayed the danger saying Bouba Hamadou, a local Tucson Rotarian and Village Chief from the area says the danger is not really a major concern. Mary also stated they will be accompanied at all times by local leaders and even military. Cameroon is not on RI's Do Not Travel list. One of our members, Bob Bishop has decided not to go, but has generously donated money for the cause. Concern was mentioned that if the project received the go ahead by Rotary International few if any members may wish to participate in person whenever the project should come to fruition. Mary acknowledged this and indicated after the assessment and hoped for approval the entire project very possibly would be turned over to the locals without our Club member hands on involvement. I believe this was the first the club has heard of this possible eventuality. No doubt there is significant need in the area and both travelers fully understand the potential danger. Bottom line the very real danger is not 100%, nor is it 0%, but somewhere in between. Some club members believe discretion is the better part of valor while others prefer, as Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover!” If I may speak for the group, I hope Mark is right in this case.
Maeve gave some updates on the Tour de Tucson Rotary Aid Station.
Maeve announced Ed Stolmaker's retirement as Director of the Marana Chamber.
District Conference coming up fast and we need a volunteer to manage/host our Hospitality Room on the evening of the 28th.
Happy Bucks
Harold-VOTE
Javier-Oops. He left the meeting to get CO2 for beer.
Denise, Rachel, Mary and Randy all happy and I apologize for not hearing why. Maybe we can pass the mic around so Harold (my hearing aide) and I will know what is all the happiness about on the south side of the room. (Which explains why yours truly got up to adjust our banners (read blinds) during the meeting. Hard to get visual cues staring into the sun
Lynne's joke won hands down over Maeve's I-da-ho.
Wife told her husband, who had forgotten her birthday, I want to see something in my drive way tomorrow that goes from 0 to 200 in just seconds. The next morning the wife sees a package in the drive, opens it and finds .................a bathroom scale!
Hughes Federal Credit Union has 123,000 members and ix locations in Tucson. Founded in 1952 they are members of a Credit Union organization with 5,600 locations throughout the US with 30,000 ATM's.
Auto loans are not "risk based" as same rate applies to all. They have seen auto loans with 20 to 25 percent being charged. Their arte is 4.9% for 72 months. Various CD and checking account programs were discussed. They Auto, home, boat, RV and many other kind of loans.
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