District Governor-Elect Don Jorgensen updated the Club about ShelterBox’s relief efforts in Ukraine, Syria, and Turkey.
Marana Rotary Club
Weekly Meeting
February 14, 2023
The meeting was hybrid with yours truly being the only one not in attendance and started at 7 a.m. Our guest speaker, Terry Rozema, was not able to attend due to a family emergency.
Announcements
Don updated the meeting on recent ShelterBox actions, especially given the humanitarian disasters in Turkey and Syria. ShelterBox has an assessment team on the ground in Turkey. Syria is a bit easier since ShelterBox has been working in Syria for many years. Randy questioned about ShelterBox in Ukraine, and Don explained that a multi-faceted program was continuing including setting up community centers, providing shelter and, some cases, cash to refugees on the move, and assistance to refugees in neighboring countries such as Poland.
Barbara Barr, Assistant District 5500 Governor, described efforts being made by Bob Grady, to spread the word about Rotary. Posters have been created for distribution to high-visibility locations, describing Rotary’s community projects in an effort to raise awareness and attract non-members to participate, become knowledgeable about Rotary (one of the best kept secrets) and attract new members. Five posters are being supplied to each club for strategic posting. Mary took two and Andrea took three. Barbara also encouraged members to wear Rotary gear on Saturdays when everyone is running errands to further raise awareness of Rotary.
Laura announced progress in the Fight to end Polio; $600,000 was raised by District 5500 which equaled $1.8 M after the Gates Foundation matching funds. A grand total of $62.1M has been raised since the project inception!
Laura shared that she was interviewed by two grad students from the Eller School of Business (U of A). Six students involved in the school’s Capstone Project are exploring ways that Rotary can be branded and marketed. The project is to be completed May 6.
Peter Mack was celebrating his birthday and wedding anniversary today in Chile.
Dan gave an update on the Tour de Cookie; as of Feb 10, there were 211 registrants and today he estimates that 225 have registered. There has been $3500 in sponsorship contributions from five sponsors, thus far. Debbie S. won the bike shop gift card lottery.
We will be tabling for Tour de Cookie at the Town of Marana’s third Thursday concert from 5-7:30PM with about 200 people expected to attend.
Randy gave an update on the upcoming Human Trafficking Forum. At present there are too many presenters! There are three clubs besides ours that will be supporting the Forum. Randy reports that Pima Community College has been very helpful and knocked $100 off the bill.
Happy Bucks
- Randy was happy for Valentine’s Day, being healthy and the nice weather
- Laura was happy for the good dose of rain and hail.
- Mary was happily looking forward to joining some friends in Palm Springs
- Don was happy for another wedding in the future (Barbara) and the successful orientation for the Youth Exchange students.
- Barbara was happy for Valentine’s Day
- Cindy was happy to be feeling great after visiting the ER twice and highly praised the Marana Hospital
- Mark was happy to have seen his daughter and for Valentine’s Day.
- Andrea is celebrating her one-year anniversary with the Town of Marana!
- Cathy wished everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day.
- Carol was happy to have some quality contact with Navajo masters of art and culture
- Andy was happy that snow storms have passed and promised to make up his deficit in Happy Bucks by signing in and donating $50.
The meeting adjourned at 8 a.m. with the 4-Way Test.