Marana Rotary Club
Weekly meeting minutes, Sept. 28, 2021
General Announcements
Cojibo- Randy clarified that the approval for another year of funding ($2,000 this year in addition to $2,000 this past year) was OK with John D. as this was started under his presidency. John agreed. Randy asked that we consider how and when to visit the project so we have skin in the game.
Mary spoke about the Peace Garden. It seems that we are now the stewards of the Garden in perpetuity. Mary would like to orient club members as to how the maintenance should be carried out and asked for monthly commitments from each member. Members committed as follows:
Denise, October Beckie, March
Cathy, November Laura, April
Dan, December Randy, May
Sulee, January Harold, June
Bob, February Mary, July
Dan and Andy deferred for now, not knowing their schedules. Maintenance should be straight-forward; rearranging the decorative rocks, etc. Tools required, gloves and a rake.
A dedication for the Peace Gardens was set for Oct. 22 at 3PM. This should allow for notice to be given to Marana Town officials and other invitees to hopefully attend. Mary suggested that spiritual leaders, such as local indigenous representatives, be included. Invitations are being prepared.
Happy Bucks (was to be abbreviated due to time constraints, but thanks in part to John D., was not)
- Sulee reached out to Harold for offering a portable oxygen system for her husband to take to frequent doctor’s appointments. Sulee mentioned that this was a great example of our club’s internal support.
- Randy was happy that it felt like Fall in the Old Pueblo.
- Harold was happy that his physical therapy was helping his knees.
- Laura was feeling a sense of accomplishment having had time for some home projects.
- Beckie was preparing for hip surgery. Many offers were made to bring meals; however, Beckie says that Carl is a good cook.
- Peter celebrated his first grandchild! His wife is with his daughter in Minnesota until January. Peter described the devastation from the volcanic eruptions on the island of La Palma where he had been just a few months back working at the observatory, now closed.
- Don reported a “strange week” and it will only get stranger as his Rotary functions ramp up. His wife leaves for one month so he and Peter may hook up to commiserate. Don was also looking forward to several doctor’s appointments (nothing serious, gracias a dios) and signing up for Medicare, a byzantine gauntlet.
- Mary was simply outdoors and happy.
- Andy was enjoying the Fall colors in the mountains of southern Utah.
- Denise was meeting with vendors as her high season approaches. Sadly, she reported the passing of an uncle from COVID at 83 years of age, leaving two orphaned cousins.
- Bob was enjoying his remaining time in Virginia before taking the long drive out west to Tucson. Yesterday he logged 16,000 steps doing yardwork.
- John was his usual happy self. His computer issues were fixed (for now), one grandson participated in a muddy mountain bike event in Flagstaff and another grandson is in the top 10 competitive swimmers in AZ.
- Cathy is happily ordering 325 chickens and celebrated a birthday last week. Happy Birthday, Cathy!
- Dave has had a busy week with work and increasingly active kids. Almost stepped on a rattlesnake while watering and hopes a rattlesnake plague isn’t coming.
- Dan is lamenting the past 1 and ½ years of Zooming and wishes for more face-to-face experiences soon. Dan asked the club to consider whether our meeting venue at Northwest Fire is the best solution. Or the hybrid/virtual venues. Beckie suggested that we give it more time as Peter has heroically resolved the hiccups.
Speaker, Don Jorgensen, Chair of the Membership Committee
Don shared a presentation summarizing the results of the recent members survey focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of our club’s meetings, how to improve membership attraction and retention, and, generally, how to enhance the Marana Rotary Club experience. Don’s presentation was an excellent and motivating synthesis of the members’ responses. Don summarized:
- Improving communications
- Messaging to attract and retain new members
- Suggestions for attracting dynamic speakers
- Ideas for improving our weekly meeting experience.
- Improvement ideas for an already awesome website (note: Randy reminded us how Marc Snow complimented Harold last week on our excellent website).