ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MINUTES OF MEETING 1/3/17
Submitted by PDG Randy Brooks, Secretary
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
Pledge, Thought for The Day and song completed. 
Only one guest today.  B.J. Cordova, member of the E-Club of D-5500 and Communication Director of Tucson Clean and Beautiful.  More later about B.J.  He was our speaker today.
Peter gave an update on the outing to Kitt Peak, January 14, 2017, at 3:30 PM.  The group will meet on the Northwest corner of the Walmart parking lot.  Folks will carpool to the facility.  Darn, I just realized that I will not be able to attend because I will be at the Southern California/Nevada PETS meeting in Los Angles that day.  Deb will take my place.  Bummer, dudes.  16 people have signed up so far for the outing.
President Mary gave a report on the Mike Harris Ride to End Polio.  The final statistics are we raised $11,336,014.00 during the one day event.  What an amazing feat.  Our club played important roles in the event ….. Again, thanks everyone. 
Next week we will have a forum.  The following have been invited: Representatives of the Town of Marana, Marana Unified School District, Marana Healthcare, and The Marana Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the forum seems to be two-fold.  One is for the club to obtain a better understanding of the needs in our community and the other is to be a PR event to increase awareness of our Rotary Club of Marana. 
Randy reported the New Year’s Eve open house at his house was successful and fun in spite of the rain.  It was discovered the Maeve, Jo and Mary are very tough women.  They sat in the rain and listened to Randy’s friends play music.  You (I) gotta love those ladies. Eventually they did find a few umbrellas.
Maeve: What did the father buffalo say to his son as he left the herd?  Bison.  Collective groan.
B.J. Cordova as noted above was our speaker today.  Before he presented Randy discussed how they were both part of a GSE Team to Africa.  B.J.  represents Tucson Clean and Beautiful.  He gave thoughts regarding sustainable community work which includes Social need, Environment and economic considerations.  The mission statement of his organization includes “Improving the Environment and quality of life in the Tucson and Pima County area.”  They do this by education, sponsorship and work of the 330 volunteers.  They need more volunteers if you are interested ….. Soon the organization will be approaching Rotary D-5500 and its clubs to have a commemorative tree park celebrating Rotarians, friends and family.   
Tucson Clean and Beautiful does its best to attack bufflegrass and attempts to eradicate the weeds. B.J. discussed Urban Heat Island caused by building of concrete buildings and pavementTrees for Tucson are an example of how the heat can be diminished if contractors and builders pay attention.
Need information about where to recycle those old computers, phones, printers, cooking oil, paint etc.?  Contact Tucson Clean and Beautiful and they will help you find the correct resources.
This organization is also training young offenders to become landscape specialists.  They have a 9 week course that meets every Saturday to serve young men and women.
See you all next week.  Thanks for attending the meeting today.  We had 84% of you here today.  Please attend the forum next week.