Rotary Meeting Feb 21, 2017

ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MEETING MINUTES 2/21/17
Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary
Pledge completed, Invocation by President Mary ….. Essentially let there be peace in our hearts and mind.
Song let by John Dooling: Oh, My Darling Clementine.  Actually we did reasonably well. Hooray.
Guests: Tom Hannagan, President, Friends of Ironwood Forest National Park.  More later
Announcements: Randy, John, Don will be in Peru for a few weeks.  Jo Holt has offered to take minutes for the meetings …… spelling, grammar and content should improve markedly.  We are all attending the wedding of Eleana Acosta our former exchange student.  We will also visit the Amazon.  Don and Kathy Jorgensen are visiting Machu Picchu. For those of you that don’t know Eleana.  She lived in the USA for 5 years while attending the U of A.  She then returned to Peru for medical school and is graduating next week the top of her class.  Two weeks later she is marrying her US citizen fiancé: Jeff Brownson.  They will be returning to the USA later in March.  We are all very proud of Eleana.
Mary discussed her interest in international projects.  John and Randy will be evaluating a project or two in Lima and reporting back to the club.  Mary is evaluating projects related to human trafficking and slavery. Our club will stand tall regardless of which direction we go with local and international projects.
 JO H. discussed the Interact installation last evening at Tortillita Middle School.  100% of the parents of Interactors attended.  The students were honored and we discussed Rotary International the Marana Club and our projects. Rotarians attending were Mary S, John D., Jo H., Denise W. and Randy B.
Tour de Cookie discussed by Dan C.  Apparently we have to change our route slightly.  Dan is handing out fliers this weekend and could use your help.  Please consider giving him a hand.  The Tour de Cookie is a club project ….. Our major fundraising event for the year.  Every member should be actively involved: 520-404-8275, gowhtsox@gmail.com. Susan Komen organization has expressed interest in our ride as well as a group of Roller Derby folks.  We are shooting for 300 riders and may well exceed this number.
Denise West was happy that several of us and 125 other people attended her Ben Bridge grand opening this past week.  It was fun and ladies received a bag of gifts.  Rotarians attending included, Don J., Mary S., Denise W., Harold (and his spouse) and Randy.
Joe Farr, Bank of the West, will be inducted this next week at the meeting.  Unfortunately, Joe, I will be in Peru and will miss the event.  We are all very happy you will be joining us.
John Dooling “almost” won the weekly drawing.  Sadly it was almost.
Speaking of John Dooling …. He shared with us: What has caused power outages in Kalamazoo, Tampa, Austin, California and many other places. What happens to cause power outages to 32-317 million people a year? Squirrels.  Sometime ask about when Randy was attacked by a fierce, wild and gigantic squirrel in deepest, darkest Africa.  These guys are scary!
Mercifully our speaker, Tom Hannagan, approached the podium.  Then the speaker said he would be telling us lots of details and there would be a test.  The winner of the competition (only one) would be given an all-expense paid evening experience in Eloy.  There was no test and no winner.  Most were despondent.
Ironwood Forest: Includes Picacho Peak, Saw Tooth, Ragged Top, and Waterman Mountains.  This was an active volcano range about 50 million years ago and has very unique geology and botany.  Some of the plants include Organ Pipe Cactus, Elephant Tree, Turkhead Cactus (similar to barrel but very rare). Ironwood trees can live up to 800 years.  There are over 700 big horn sheep in the area.  The Friends of Ironwood Forest Park help by cleaning up, killing buffel grass, and making hiking trails.  They raise money for reforestation and help with supporting biodiversity. There are several volunteer workdays each month.  Some of the work is picking up trash from immigrants, ranchers, target shooters and others visiting that may not appreciate keeping the park clean and pristine. The park has a good relationship with the ASARCO mine nearby. On March 18 there will be speakers on botany, ragged top area at 7:30 AM and the event will last all day.  Small and large hikes will be offered.  In November there will be organized hikes as well. Visit the website at info@ironwoodforest.org, join them on Facebook or call 520-628-2092 if you would like to learn more.
Meeting adjourned with the reciting of the 4-Way Test.