Rotary Club of Marana
 
                                                                            
Following the Pledge President Jo asked if anyone had a thought. We were saved by Maeve who mentioned the beautiful tree planting event this past Saturday at the VA Memorial Cemetery in Marana. This moved President Jo to have a thought. Actually it Carl Sagan's thought  about the greatest gift is to read to children.
 
*******WEATHER ALERT**************WEATHER ALERT****************WEATHER ALERT****
 
Harold says we have a winter arriving at 11:00 pm this (last)evening. He says nobody will know if we have snow because we will not be able to see it.
 
 Richie Benner made a presentation that President Jo said only he could make because of the intricacies of the topic, giving books to kids. After the presentation we all agreed Richie was still the only one who understood. Therefore the following meager attempt should be taken with a grain of salt. We put up $5,600. Going through "Scholastic" we get the biggest bang for our bucks. Of two options my favorite was naming Road Runner Grade School ( a low income school) as beneficiary they would receive 40% of that amount on top of our $5,600 purchase for books at their school in Scholastic books that could/would be used for book purchases. The $5,600 worth of books will be distributed through Woman, Infants and Children Program (WIC) at the Marana Health Center (MHC Healthcare) and placed in the "Up With Books" book stand we saw and learned about last week. I have no idea what Option 2 was. See Richie if you gotta know. It was something about buy one get one free and 10% to the schools. The club brain trust made up of the board (with exception of the Secretary) will determine our final plan of attack.
 
Speaking of Board Meetings, our next one will be tomorrow March first. It will begin at 5:30 pm and is held at 2005 W Ruthrauff Rd, suite 157. Ya'll are welcome.
 
PIE DAY just around the corner! We will also have a 5th Tuesday months from now.
 
Dan reports 13 Cookie booth sponsors.
John donated UA/Stanford BB tickets. Maeve won the bidding war. $50!
Randy chastised the club for failure to recruit new members. He's right, you know.
Mary happy tree planting plus seeing Javier and his daughter at the event.
Bob Bishop thanked this writer for the clever and humorous meeting minutes. He could have left it at that, but went on to say "even if they are not accurate nor representative of what took place." I resemble that remark.
 
Maeve mentioned new shoes she bought off a drug peddler. She does not know what thy were laced with, but she has been tripping all day.
Not to be outdone, Lynne gave us a dumb blonde joke, typical of what may have been heard at a Rotary club meeting in the 50's. Too long to relate, but it was also funny. Good job ladies.
 
 
Arlene Nehls grew up in Morenci, AZ. She has a 30 year old child and another younger child. Why do we care? Because Arlene runs the WIC program in Marana. She has about 30 years with the WIC program in Pinal County, Sierra Vista and Marana.
The WIC program is concerned with nutrition for ........nursing mothers, infants and children. It began primarily as a breast feeding support program and has expanded. Eligibility is based on family income. The program pays for itself by reducing nutrition related problems in the target population. In Pima County MHC Healthcare serves 5,300, El Rio Healthcare serves 2,400 and Elizabeth of Hungary serves 600 WIC recipients.
 
 In addition to the 26 years experience Arlene has, 15 of 20 staff members have a nutrition degree. In addition to providing food and occasionally formula, they can test for iron and vitamin levels in the blood. Since they are housed at MHC referrals are quite easy. WIC now has an electronic benefit capability when shopping for food.
 
Experienced tree planters in the club include Richie, Tony, Harold, Mary & Lilly, Javier & Jasmine, Randy & Deb, Jason, Bob, Maeve & Lyle, Jo. They also helped the bottom line of The Cattlemen's Restaurant. Thank you to you and the many other Rotarians for giving up a Saturday morning for this very worthwhile cause.
 
Oh, Randy drew the 3 of diamonds. NA NA Na Na Na Na. I mean, oh, too bad.
 
Hope next week we have a better turn out. Are my notes keeping people away? It is really more than than I can describe.