Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 5/19/20
Attendance: Richie, Laura, Harold, Denise, Carl, Beckie, Bob, Don, Peter, Randy, John, Charles. Guest: Charles Heberle.
 
Announcements:
  • Sat. June 20, first general session of Rotary Intl. Virtual Convention.
  • District Conference set for Sept. 11 and 12 at Tubac Golf Course.
  • Received a check for the gift cards, and Richie will pick them up from Javier
Happy “bucks”
  • Randy wants to remind everyone to make contributions to the annual programs, such as the Paul Harris Society members ($1,000 per year). Call Randy or Mary for more information.
  • Bob – staying on the lake, boat-to-boat. “Fine” myself for going over time for my presentation last week.
  • Denise – going back to work today. Deep cleaning for most of the day. Very interesting. Clients by appointment for now. Happy to be back to work. Corporate has provided the cleaning supplies. Went up to the White Mountains to go kayaking – saw some eagles.
  • John – Passed that Rotary Grant test!
  • Don – Got to “dine out” last Friday with Randy. Tucson Festival of Books is providing a platform where you can watch interview with authors.
  • Richie – Boy Scouts reopened office – using a staggered staffing.
  • Peter – Got permission from UA to go to Mt. Lemmon to repair. Every car park was full over the weekend. Go during the week.
  • John – Will be in Greer in the first week of June.
Guest speaker Col. Charles Heberle, who served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot, talked about his efforts to build bridges between the US and Russia. He is third-generation Rotarian and a member of Lakewood, WA Rotary. He is also a member of the District Peace Conference. His dad was a flight instructor at the Marana Army Air Field during WW2.
 
Col. Heberle retired from the Army, and the Russians approached him to establish democratic principles in Russia. He spent five years there and worked to establish a Rotary club. In 2006, a Russian district was formed and insisted on district dues and that was too much for members to pay. Efforts are being made re-establish the club. In all there are about 78 Rotary clubs in Russia and all of Russia is in one district.
 
Rotary’s Intra-country Committee’s mission is to knit together former enemies through Rotary.
Peter asked if the Rotary club is allowed to operate freely or is it monitored and what can we do to help? Charles’s take on Russia is that it is very much like a dictatorship, as Putin has deliberately patterned himself after the czars. The Four-Way Test, however, is attractive to Russian Rotarians.
Meeting closed.