March 25 Meeting Minutes
At its monthly business meeting the Club discussed how best to distribute proceeds from the extraordinarily successful 2025 Tour de Cookie ride.
Stories
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March 18 Meeting MinutesPreliminary numbers from the 2025 Tour de Cookie ride show that our fundraising event was a wild success. |
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March 4 Meeting MinutesClub members assembled rider packets for the upcoming 2025 Tour de Cookie ride.
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March 11 Meeting MinutesClub members learned how to perform CPR. |
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Feb 25 Meeting MinutesRegistration for the 2025 Tour de Cookie was on track to break our all-time record. |
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Feb 18 Meeting MinutesMCAT Star Student of the Quarter James Hiller is a self-taught computer prodigy. |
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Feb 11 Meeting Minutes |
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Feb 4 Meeting MinutesThe club’s donation of $1,000 worth of clean-up tools to benefit victims of the California fires was purchased and ready for delivery to SoCal. |
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Jan 28 Meeting MinutesThe club voted to purchase $1,000 worth of equipment to help with clean-up efforts for the California fires. |
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Jan 21 Meeting MinutesEfforts to build “tiny” homes in Tucson to alleviate homelessness are gaining momentum, thanks to The Hope Factory. |
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Jan 14 Meeting MinutesClub members were thrilled to return to our meeting home at the NW Fire District Training Center. |
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Meeting Minutes Jan 7, 2025Early registration for the 2025 Tour de Cookie is strong, reported ride director Dan Contorno. |
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Minutes Dec 17, 2024Rotarian-founded Shelterbox provides critical items to survivors of natural and manmade disasters.
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Minutes Dec 10, 2024Noted astrophotographer Adam Block shared his stunning photos of galaxies far, far away and his secrets to taking pictures of deep space. |
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Minutes December 3 MeetingThe club mapped its plans for participating in Marana's Tree Lighting Festival. |
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Minutes Nov 26, 2024Club business topped meeting agenda as members geared up for the holiday season. |
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Minutes Nov 19 MeetingThe club recognized MCAT Star Student of the Quarter Naveah Huish. |
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Minutes Nov 12, 2024The "Build a Home In a Day" community service project was humbling and rewarding. |
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Minutes Nov 5, 2024Marana Chief of Police Jeff Pridgett updated members on his department community policing efforts in fast-growing Marana. |
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Rotary Meeting August 27, 2024 |
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Rotary Meeting August 20, 2024The founder of Mending Souls, a Tucson-based charity, described how sewing together helps us heal together. |
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Rotary Meeting August 13, 2024 |
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Rotary Meeting August 6, 2024Fellow Rotarian Michael Drake explained the necessary and ongoing efforts, led by Rotarians, to eradicate polio. |
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Rotary Meeting July 23, 2024Club members' 'happy bucks' celebrate travel adventures, time with family, and summer thunderstorms. |
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Rotary Meeting July 16, 2024Week one of the “signing” challenge is in the books as club members sang (sort of) “Make Marana Rotary Proud of You” — a catchy, and admittedly a bit hokey, jingle to promote club spirit. |
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Rotary Meeting June 18, 2024Sheron Jones is a Gold Star Mother who lost her son, Army Staff Sgt. Darrel Kasson, in Iraq in 2007. Sharon Jones shared her son's story and how the Rotary Club of Marana can support honoring our veterans at Evergreen Cemetery. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct. 24, 2023At the club’s monthly business meeting, members discussed plans for supporting families in need for the holidays and the club’s Holiday Dinner.
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Rotary Meeting Oct. 3, 2023Club member Randy Brooks presented a compelling myth-busting talk about substance abuse.
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Rotary Meeting Oct 17, 2023Rick Chimblo, from Rotary Club of Oro Valley, presented the many ways that local clubs can partner with international clubs to support meaningful projects abroad.
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Rotary Meeting Sept 26, 2023The club discussed its busy fall schedule.
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Rotary Meeting Sept 19, 2023The club recognized its first MCAT Star Student, Ysabella Gonzalez, of the 2023-24 academic year. Plus, the expanded services of Gospel Rescue Mission were outlined in presentation by GRM's Bruce Beikman, director of public relations and development. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 15, 2023Longtime Rotarian and former POW Myron Donald shared his experiences with club members.
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Rotary Meeting Aug 8, 2023Steve Huffman of the Pima County Regional Transportation Authority explained to member that the RTA is in the process of developing projects for the renewal of half-cent sales tax to fund road, pedestrian, multiuse, transportation project throughout the county for the next 20 years. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 1, 2023Outbound Rotary Youth Exchange student Avery Aveneti shared her research of Spain, where she will be spending the school year starting in September. |
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Rotary Meeting July 25, 2023Plans to "welcome back" MCAT teachers and staff for the start of the school finalized in the club's end-of-month business meeting. |
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Rotary Meeting July 18, 2023Club members shared their summer adventures with each other. |
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Rotary Meeting June 27, 2023The club celebrated its District 5500 awards for best fundraising project and best community service project at the final meeting of its "Rotary" year for 2022-23. |
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Don Jorgensen installed as District 5500 Governor for 2023-24 The Rotary Club of Marana has its second member ascend to the Rotary District 5500 Governor position.
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Rotary Meeting June 13, 2023 Marie Fordney, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center, addresses the Marana Rotary Club at its June 13 meeting. |
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Rotary Meeting June 6, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting May 23, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting May 16, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting May 9, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting May 02, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting April 25, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting April 18, 2023The job market is "hot" in the greater Tucson area, according to Evelyn Wright, workforce development director for Interfaith Community Services. The younger generations of workers desire a reasonable work-life balance after witnessing what happened to their parents, and Baby Boomers remain in high demand.
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Rotary Meeting April 11, 2023The club’s community service project — “Awareness Hope Action: A forum on human trafficking” — is all set for Saturday, April 15.
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Rotary Meeting April 4, 2023The club honored its MCAT star student and finalized logistics for the April 15 forum on human trafficking. |
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Rotary Meeting March 28, 2023Former Rotary Youth Exchange student from France Jeanne Gachon was in town to visit and share with the club her latest work with Rotary. |
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Rotary Meeting Mar 21, 2023IRS Special Agent Brian Watson shared with the club the ins and outs of bringing tax cheats to account.
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Rotary Meeting Mar 14, 2023Marana schools superintendent Dan Streeter updated the club on the innovative ways MUSD is meeting the challenges of a diverse, fast-growing district of more than 12,000 students.
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Rotary Meeting Feb 28, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 21, 2023Marana Parks and Recreation leaders share the town’s comprehensive plans to build out recreational opportunities for our residents. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 14, 2023District Governor-Elect Don Jorgensen updated the Club about ShelterBox’s relief efforts in Ukraine, Syria, and Turkey. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 7, 2023 |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 24, 2023Tour de Cookie ride registration is picking up as we get closer to March 11 fundraiser. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 17, 2023Registration and sponsorships for the 2023 Tour de Cookie are off to a great start. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 3, 2023Rotarian and longtime drummer Alan Havir helped club members start 2023 with a great beat. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 27, 2022Plans are taking shape for the club's Tour de Cookie fund-raising event on March 11, 2023, and a symposium on stopping human trafficking set for April 15, 2023.
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Rotary Meeting Dec 20, 2022The Amarok Society's program to teach mothers who in turn educate young girls and boys in impoverished countries impressed club members.
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Marana Rotary among volunteers who laid wreaths at veterans’ graves |
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Rotary Meeting Dec. 13, 2022Club member Peter Mack gave an impromptu presentation via Zoom from Chile, where he was installing new equipment on a telescope that he’s maintained for years. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec. 6, 2022Rained out Marana Holiday Lights and Festival event fails to dampen Marana Rotary members' spirits. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov. 22, 2022Club members note what they are thankful and grateful for during the week of Thanksgiving. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov. 8, 2022Marana Rotary Club mourns the passing of longtime member Lynne Himmer.
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Rotary Meeting Sept. 6, 2022Guest speaker Stephanie Lang explained how the Dream Center in Phoenix seeks to provide all-inclusive services to rescued victims of human trafficking.
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Rotary Meeting August 23, 2022At its monthly business meeting, the club recommitted to hosting an aid station for the El Tour de Tucson.
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Rotary Meeting Aug 16, 2022Rotary Peace Fellow Jaclyn McAlester’s presentation about her experience and what she learned during the two-year program was inspirational and hopeful.
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Rotary Meeting Aug 2, 2022Special Olympics Arizona's Lisa Bell and participant Amber Nielsen share the breadth of opportunity available to special needs children and young adults who participate in the organization's competitions and community programs. |
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Tour de Cookie featured in Arizona Daily StarOur club's signature money-raising event, the "Tour de Cookie", was featured on the "Giving" page of the Arizona Daily Star. You can find the story here.
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Jorgensen recognized for ShelterBox volunteer workMarana Rotarian Don Jorgensen was recognized by the White House for his efforts on behalf of the global disaster relief organization ShelterBox USA, a project partner of Rotary International.
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Rotary Meeting July 26, 2022At our club's business meeting via Zoom, we discussed the highlights of our planning retreat. We also voted in support of contributing $2,000 to the Kilimanjaro Rotary Club's efforts to rebuild school restrooms wiped out by torrential rains. |
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Rotary Meeting July 19, 2022Speaker and longtime Marana Rotary Club member Harold Burtzloff gave a ClubRunner tutorial for members so they can update their profiles and post information about our club's activities.
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Rotary Meeting July 12, 2022For our member spotlight, Marana Rotarian Denise West shared her passion for gems and her work as a certified gemologist for Ben Bridge Jewelers.
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Rotary Meeting June 28, 2022Marana Rotary Club June 28, 2022 weekly meeting Randy returned to lead us in his final meeting, held virtually. Announcements There being none, Randy proceeded to make comments his year as our President. Randy described a very challenging year where everyone in our club stepped up to make our projects a success and our challenging meeting environments successful. Notably, we reached our Foundation goals, brought in new members (Don), achieved our Foundation funding (John), brought the Youth Exchange back into focus (Cindy), executed international projects (Mary), kept the website and public relations crisply up to date (Harold), executed the Tour de Cookie and shredding events (Dan and Don), made families happy for Thanksgiving and Christmas (Denise), kept the Food Bank supplied (Cathy); to name but a few of our accomplishments during a tough year. Randy felt we could have done better organizing our weekly meetings, despite the heroic efforts made especially by Peter, Harold and Bob. Randy apologized for being, at times, sketchy in leading the meetings; but Don pointed out that it took exceptional leadership to have held the club to such high standards during a most unusual and challenging year. All joined in deeply thanking Randy for his leadership. Harold reported on the Foundation year. The year ended with $14,000 after twelve funding requests were considered and approved. 11 monthly meetings were held. Also, Harold proudly reports this is his second year in a row where he had perfect attendance in weekly meetings! Mary reported that Anita will be visiting our club in September and thanked the Doolings for their help at her installation Randy said there will be n o monthly Board meeting tomorrow night July 5, our speaker will be Richard Allen, topic- projects in Cambodia Happy Bucks Harold enjoyed his visit with his brother-in-law and was enjoying summer Dan was happy to be back after one month’s absence due to work and family commitments. Dan described feeling “not connected” as a result of the meeting environments over the past year. A weird year and missed the comradery, socializing and the meals together. A topic discussed more at the end of the meeting. He was also happy that the State education budget was approved. Bob was happy, apparently, but unable to connect his audio. John agreed with Dan’s comments and it was suggested that Laura should consider the club’s feelings on meetings for the next year Don reported that medical tests prior to his upcoming surgery were positive. Don shared that recently his nephew passed at 44 years old from a heart attack. Therefore, there have been TWO losses in Don’s immediate family as his sister’s husband also passed this year. A tough period for Don. Mary is not looking forward to a treatment this week; however, there are only two treatments remaining. HOORAY Mary! You look awesome, by the way! Andy was happily rid of COVID and trying to organize his Africa photos Adam was happy to see the markets up so he could catch up on sleep and the phone isn’t ringing off the hook John has the NW Fire all to himself this morning Cindy recounted the big swim meet this past Saturday and happy to see so many kids getting back to normal, social Cathy was looking forward to making ollas with her campers Denisse had an amazing trip to Hawaii snorkeling with the Manta rays Randy was happy to have dodged COVID so far Other topics Randy asked members to share their experiences over the past year with regards to our club. Much discussion centered around the effect of COVID on the ambience. Many shared Dan’s view of lacking connectedness. However, Bob pointed out that he felt more connected and if it were not for the hybrid environment, he likely would not still be a member. Don suggested that we bring the topic up before Laura. Adam noted the great comradery and suggested a dinner night out occasionally, with spouses, to connect better. All agreed that, despite the restrictions placed by CIVID, our club has performed stellar! |
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Rotary Meeting June 7, 2022Rotary Meeting June 7, 2022  Adam was inducted into the club by Randy and co assisted by LauraRandy Said he is the newest member of Rotary worldwide, you’re not just joining an organization with 1.2 mil members around the world, you will be able to access 531 countries in other areas. You will be able to make a huge impact Internationally and locally you will become a huge hub in our club. Adam is a Financial Rep with Edwards Jones he was born in NY but lived here most of his life, most of his family is here, he lives in Marana. He wasn’t to get more involved in the club whether its local or international. We had a visitor from Seattle Steven who is moving here he will be living in Sunflower. Happy bucks Peter – He is working in a great place. Don – More good days then bad he has surgery scheduled for July. Cindy – The house passed the Senate Bill 1361 that deals with Youth Exchange. *this means we should be able to have a youth exchange program and not pay $6500 for them. John – Conference has been wonderful and has learned a lot. Mary- She is doing ok her brother and sister-in-law arriving tomorrow. Lynn – Story for the day – The cat died and goes to heaven God greets the cat and says you have been a good cat is there anything we can do for you? The Cat says I was raised on a farm and all I have known is sleeping on a hard floor I would love a pillow and God said done. About a week later a dozen mice died and he give them the same option and the mice said all we have done our whole life is run from dogs, cats, brooms etc, what we would really like is roller skates, done. A few days later he goes over and wakes up the cat and says how is everything going the cat said wonderful this pillow is awesome and I love these little meals on wheels they keep sending me. Randy – doing well its cool and chilly. Adam – thankful he was inducted, the past week they went to Disneyland with nieces and nephews. Denise – happy for Adams inducted and she is going to Hawaii. Becky –Thanked everyone who came to Felicias Farm they saw the chickens and showed them the herbs and the well water area down the road (she has big vision). Her daughter will be getting married in the Elvis Chapel. Sulee – Happy. Stephen – 2 years ago he met Randy – he has been a member or Rotary Spoken for 40 years. Harold – Welcome the new member and how impressed he was with Felicias Farm. Bob – Spent 10 days with his brother and sister-in-law and toured AZ. Laura- Is attending the conference in Houston virtually, she is very impressed with how it has been organized. Laura wanted to spend a little time thinking about our calendar and the things we have coming up after July 1, 2022. She would like to think about a Rotary Club retreat. On June 18th, Laura will be inducted in as President of The Marana Rotary Club it will be at her house from 5-7pm. She would like the retreat the 2nd weekend of July the 16th, at her house. Calendar coming up – let’s think about what we want to keep, delete, or add. She would like to reenergize our relationship with the Marana Chamber and the Town of Marana. Events the Town of Marana host are the Founder day in March, 4th of July, fall festival and Christmas lighting. Also Marana Parks and Recs have volunteer opportunities, Laura emailed them to see how we might help with that. We could also set up an ice cream or icee truck at one of the splash pads. Were only 10 years younger than the town, so why don’t we do something for the founder’s day. We could turn this into a fundraiser. Were a member of the Chamber and all it says is a mailing address and phone # and our name and it says nothing about us. If we want to have anything on the Chamber, web site we need to get some updated info on their sight. They have the 4th Tuesday mixer from 5-7 and their morning meeting the 1st Wednesday of each month. Becky always attends she had passed out flyers on our events. Adam is also a member of the Chamber and he said that the last Tuesday mixer there was about 50-60 people there. The next thing she wants us to think about is the four 5th Tuesdays we have this year we need to think do we want to use them as a social or service project. El Tour is November 19th, it will start downtown this time, we have sponsored a station for 26 years, but we may not be in Marana, we will have to plan for a station still. And El Tour de Cookie – it will either be March 4 or March 11, 2023, Becky and Dan will be co-chairs. We need to focus on advanced media a month or two ahead. Laura said the Tour de Tucson puts all their bike races and fun runs on a website bike https://www.bikereg.com/ we should see if we want to use that. It’s a one stop site for bike runs not just races. We need to all be willing to work one time a month the bike path to spread the word. Mary also said we need to think about a district grant we are coming up to the deadline July 15, 2022. Mary suggested Felicias Farm again. Meeting was closed with the four way test. |
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Rotary Meeting June 21, 2022Rotary Meeting June 21, 2022 We will had a guest Speaker Sandra from BagitCancer.org Happy Bucks John – happy that he had a wonderful meal at Laura’s and a wonderful installation of Laura and congratulated Randy on a job well done. Cindy – great progress with the outbound foreign exchange students, one of the inbound students decided to go to school instead we will have one from Spain and one from Demark. Harold – first day of summer Adam – went to a conference for his job what a great way to be inspired. Sulee – Survived baby setting a five-year-old and a 2-year-old. Randy – Lynne- happy with the rain and seconded what John had to say about the evening.
Kathy- Said the party was lovely and fun and happy for a little rain Mary – Happy to be setting outside and grateful for family, who has been out to help. Laura sent a shout out to Mary for all the arrangements she made for the installation. Becky- Said she was babysitting Saturday. Happy to have grandbabies. Bob-Not happy with his audio. Don –He also said Saturday night was wonderful and thanked Randy for all his work and appreciated the review of what the club reviewed. Happy it’s his wife’s birthday- Happy Birthday Kathy. Laura – Said the summary of the accomplishments last year it was Randy’s leadership we were able to accomplish so much, and we have a high bar to meet this year. Sandra – Happy that she gets to spend a lot of time with her granddaughter. Announcements: Mary – Randy will be back in Tucson on July 13th. Kathy if anyone want to help this Saturday to move gravel this weekend let her know. Laura will drop off Don’s banner today. Next week is zoom only 4th Tuesday, what about July 5th, we can continue to meet if everyone wants to. Most everyone thought let’s meet. Dennis & Andy are sick, Peter is off traveling Sandra from Bag it Cancer www.bagitcancer.org What is self-advocacy at Bagit – the ability to communicate ones needs. Here are the ways:
Questions: Laura – Do you find that people are hesitant to talk frankly about their medical needs. Patients know it’s ok to speak up because the health care team really want that. Write your question down and be prepared with them. Becky – Having communication with the caregivers for the doctors’ appointments Kathy- what about doctors that don’t listen to you - Sandra said be assertive and if need be change doctors. |
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Home from ConventionTwo of our members John and Cindy Dooling return from the Rotary International Convention in Houston   |
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Rotary Meeting June 14, 2022Marana Rotary Club June 14, 2022 weekly meeting Randy returned to lead us in this hybrid meeting. Announcements Installation of new officers for 2022/23 will be held at Laura’s this Saturday from 5-7PM Happy Bucks Andy was happy to be back home after one month traveling in Africa Don was happy to have had his wife back from New York Adam was busy being a “financial therapist” during chaotic markets Randy was suffering a horrible internet connection but managed to have backed his car into a boat in northern Washington! Was the boat in the water? He didn’t say. Timothy, our guest speaker from Tanzania, was happy to be joining us from afar Bob was happy and sad; leaving for VA right after our meeting; contributed 40 happy bucks! Beckie’s daughter became married in the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas in front of a full congregation Harold was happy, but my notes are illegible, sorry Harold! You’re always happy though. John happily reported that he had “end Polio” pins for everyone and thanked us for the support Cindy attended the Melbourne preconference and was able to make connections with Youth Exchange committee members Laura also attended Melbourne ad reported inspiring speakers. Laura also attempted to get cash back at the grocery store for happy bucks, but learned it costs 50 cents to get your own money from Fry’s! Guest Speaker Today’s speaker is Timothy Massawa, aka “Michael” as repeatedly professed by Bob Bishop. Timothy, a rotary member since 2011 and past Assistant Governor of his region, co-founded an NGO dedicated to empowering children of Tanzania through education. Timothy, a member of the Massai indigenous culture of Tanzania described a fascinating program focused on children of the Ngorongoro region where, ironically, Andy had visited the week before. Timothy’s presentation raised several ideas for our club to consider in future project support. |
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District Awards Diana Ventura - Goodyear from District 5500 presented the Marana Rotary Club several awards. John Dooling our Past President is accepting the awards     |
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Rotary Meeting May 24, 2022May 24, 2022 Marana Rotary Club Meeting called to order Bob lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Check in with everyone/Happy Bucks’ Kathy-full house with visitors and the last of the students from TUSD graduating. Adam-Crazy month – going to CA next week 1st time at Disneyland. Bob- not happy bucks- there dog is going to be put down today. Don-feeling good today. Brother-in-law died a week before, Don had prostate cancer surgery they got it all. Because of that they nicked his colon he had some additional complications. Mary-on the mend from her latest treatment. Denise-going to Hawaii next month. Peter-Maui trip postponed tell September, he gave a talk to the Dove Mountain Rotary Club next Thursday. Laura-Thankful and happy that we are close enough that we can share our issues with each other Harold: Carpal Tunnel surgery this week, we will be thinking about you. Cindy-They had a fabulous graduation for their grandson. John is in Florida fishing. Sulee-Good to go and info that Marvin Swank passed away. Reminder next week’s meeting with be at Felicias Farms: 3761 E River Rd, Tucson, AZ 85718 Randy arrived last night at the cabin he drove down to a friend’s house to use his internet he is on his telephone – its 37 at his cabin in WA. Laura – Lynn will remain as treasurer, Sulee will be the Secretary and she will talk to others about positions. Mary – She sent out an invitation for Laura’s induction, please RSVP. June 18, 2022, Saturday at 5pm @ Laura’s place. Guests are welcome. Randy went over the Code of Conduct ROTARIAN CODE OF CONDUCT As a Rotarian, I will:
Discussion – after much discussion – the conclusion is that other than criminals we should respect all positions – any and all positions bring something to the club. ie Kathy said like fast food workers – we don’t know how to run the fry machine, they work hard and should have our utmost respect. Laura one thing we need to do is keep up with the ethics and integrity in our own positions. Like Mary sometimes we must make discissions based on how well we can do a job.
We rely on every person that joins our club. Laura said there is dignity in all work, and we need to approach people with open minds and hearts about their profession.
Randy said do we all have occupations where we help young people. Randy has helped people with diagnostic work to see if they have Alzheimer. Yes, we do by being involved with the foreign exchange students. Don said this is a lot of what we do with our service projects.
We are in a tricky time for this one, we should not go to a gathering and get drunk, or we could behave in a way that is challenging. The new mantra in Rotary is Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. We should go to our fellow Rotarians one-on-one and talk to them about how we feel we were offended. As Mary added she tried it and it didn’t go well and that may happen. Cindy said there is an incident in baseball right now where there is a racist comment. So things change and we need to keep up with things and people that are affected need to work it out. Laura said maybe we could get someone to present re how we can learn to discuss issues. Becky added a positive opinion the Tour De Cookie is a great reflection of our club.
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Rotary Meeting May 17, 2022May17, 2022 ROTARY MEETING From Maria Altamirano Boy am I so excited, the last few weeks have been pretty intense and demanding. Finished all my patients and clinical requirements last Wednesday and just finished my last two finals today. :) On top of the clinical and exams we just wrapped up our class community service event for May with a donation drive for Emerge here in Tucson. It was such an amazing thing to be able to help. Myself and faculty leaders, Ms Richards and Ms Smedley, really pushed for the month long drive with student and other faculty and we were able to donate everything from toothbrushes to suitcases. I attached a picture of our class holding just a few items we were able to donate. Heading into June I'm getting ready for my student delegate meeting and catching up on some recorded townhall meetings and reading up on some bylaws we'll be voting on in June. I'm so excited to learn this process. I'll start studying for boards this summer and finishing a computer class requirement (not to mention watching my two boys). Hopefully I'll get to see you guys virtually soon. Maria DON – his wife is not feeling well. DENISE- happy bucks – her cousin starting to talk after a horrific accident. CAROL– going to Denver to visit niece on Monday to visit family. RANDY– is in Pismo beach in CA, with Shirley and Dick Grace. SULEE -had a good weekend in bullhead city. BECKY– Internet was down .this morning – she is happy to have two beautiful granddaughters JOHN- Happy they have a grandson graduating from Ironwood HS - Carter Dooling and he was a grand champion swimmer. CINDY-8year old grandson Levi Dooling hit a grand slam in baseball and she is happy to be able to get to watch her grandson helping to kids who were having some kind of disagreement and he told them they need to respect one another. HAROLD– That the computer got hooked up. Dan - Just happy ADAM-a lot going on in the financial world, he considers himself a financial therapist at this time. KATHY – happy her kids are doing well; son graduated and had a visit with her mom. LAURA- Happy Randy this might be a good time to introduce the past District Governor PDG Diane Goodyear and her husband Gordon. She said the district started out with 50 clubs and ended with 50 clubs. She had some special awards for John Dooling #1 the Rotary Citation (at the first of the year you must state your goals and you must end with those goals). Polio plus award, 100% foundation giving (every Rotarian every year). #1 Club in the district. Congratulations John for year well done. Cindy, we have had an outreach from student from Marana high school who would like to be an outbounds student next year 23-24 school year. We need to be ready for the inbounds students who will be coming next year coming from Denmark, Spain, Belgium, and Holland. Bob introduced the speaker  Don Zavis National Sales Trainer at the Catalyst, Sales Trainer.The need is greater than it has been in volunteer group and less people stepping up to the need. Beneficial for the people – one or two things we might be struggling with what would they be? Kathy one of the problems she sees is there are different areas to give need clarity where to give $, do we give to the club etc. This is complicated for new members. He said he developed a program called the member code. How do I help, how do I do it. The three things we have an opportunity to do is Time, Talent & Treasures. Clubs are always talking about get new members – for every we should all have a Rotary Pamphlet and every day and have a meaningful conversation with someone in our world. If we do this every day, it will become a habit it’s the easiest way to be prepared. If every day all 17 of us have a meaningful conversation we could increase our club size. Polio being its own group can you donate to it, can you get host homes for your exchanges students yes, but we like to reach out to our group. What I would like to expect Member Code Road Map #1-We need to commit to remain engaged in the club. #2-All member need to have an opportunity to be creative; expect that every month every member comes up with an Idea. Do we give people the ability to be creative? #3-Commit to using my fiscal resources #4-Commit to brining one new person monthly, to become a member, the member is a guideline. #5-Commit to attend every event we have . #6-Commit to involving yourself – do we have jpeg item we use to promote out weekly session *it’s about what a wonderful organization, awards people have won... post on social media! #7-Creat a leadership group everyone needs a leadership role, where they gravitate to. We need to put the members in rolls that fit them. Team 100 concept = $100 each month, 100 minutes of time and 100 minutes of our talent each month. If you want a better club, be a better member, better spouse, if you want a better boss be a better father, child etc.. We need to look at the time/challenge/treasure Also remember clubs are a way to cure loneliness for some people. |
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Rotary Meeting May 10, 2022May 10, 2022 Rotary Marana Cindy led in the Pledge of Allegiance Raffel Tickets were sold Cindy Dolling is the Youth Coordinator for the district. There is a District Administrative position available with the passing of Liz Cohn. Kathy stepped up said she is interested the position. Happy Bucks Mary-doing good and the weather is still nice. Kathy-she is happy her mom and husband are in visiting and going to her son’s graduation who is graduating with honors at ASU. Lynn said she Himalayan rabbit stew because she found him lying in the road Bobs happy he is here because he keeps waking up with heart issues. Becky – happy she has two healthy grandbabies Harold happy that they got the computer going John is happy Kathy Dooling said she is happy with the bicycle race Dan said one of the things he misses is the fact we used to get in a small group when we all used to sit and talk. Dan happy about mother’s day, he will be inducted soon. Denise is happy her cousin is in the hospital after a freaky situation Lynn – she got to go on a retreat Randy happy he is getting to visit family and go to Washington Peace builder club meeting. Kathy said there are two district programs – District trainer and district grant chair. RYLA new chair out of Sierra Vista Club Bob introduced our speaker – she is a financial planner – Fund raiser and develop Presentation on everyone wants to know you to give more to Rotary. There is a lot of ways to give money to donate to Rotary happy bucks, donations etc. Today she is going to talk about major gifts, bequest etc. She is here to stimulate some ideas on how to give money to rotary that might help taxes. There are a lot of ways to give money, planned gift, bequest, structured gift. Some numbers 70.5 ( this is an age #) - QCD – Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRA or retirement plan. I.e. you can tell you investment person you can say I want to make the contribution and you are not taxed for it. This goes directly from IRA to Rotary. $1000 – Benefactor, you can gift $1000. Gift to Rotary Endowment Fund via estate plan. 10,000 Major Donor level
100,000 Charitable reminder trust( this could be cash securities, real estate, or possible liquid assets). This is lifetime funds. 25,000 Is astonishing
250,000 1,000,000 These # above reflect different gifts. What should you do to give more?
One simple way to leave money through your estate can me by adding it to your will We concluded the meeting by Harold lead us in the four way test |
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Rotary Meeting May 3, 2022May 3, 2022 Marana Rotary Club Hybrid meeting Meeting was called to order by Randy Brooks, John Dooling lead us in the Flag Salute. Randy stated that he would like to cancel the Board Meeting. Adam Potential member was introduced in person. Mary said that Felicia’s Farm came in under budget both the District Funds and funds donated by the Rotary Club of Marana. From our club it was $123.00 Peter Mack motioned to donate the funds back to Felicias Farm vs taking the money back and Harold Butzloff second the vote was made, and it was will in favor. The district funds will have to be returned to the Charitable Funds for 5500. Randy announced the sad news about the passing of Liz Cohn on 5/2/22. The District is going to give her a Rotarian for life. Also her club wants to create a Scholarship Fund in her name for the UofA. Lynne said we grossed $1535.00 from the shred event. Randy said Don offer to pay the Shred Truck. 50/50 tickets were sold Denise was the lucky one and pulled the Joker the pot was $180.00, and she donated it back to the club. Happy Bucks Bob the Computer is working we have Biffy from all the way in Africa Lynne did not have a good day yesterday, but the Startbucks server had a wonderful smile. Kathy said she is just happy. Adam happy to be in person Dan just happy Sulee Just Happy Harold Happy Computer worked for zoom John Shredding event was a great event Becky Happy she gets to babysit grand baby. Pete Happy that someone else has learned the computer Lynne told one of her great jokes “Did you hear about the hen who laid orange instead if egg and all the little chicks were running around, saying look at the orange mama laid”. Hahaha Kathy Dooling said they had a great outbound exchange student orientation Denise is happy Laura said she didn’t have a good week and didn’t elaborate Mary happy her brother is visiting Carol happy her 95-year-old mother few across the country to come and visit (I hope we can all do that someday) Randy he is happy that Biffy is with us today – he also gave a statue to John and Cindy Dooling for the daughter because she said she just bought a bicycle built for two. Speaker was Elizabeth (aka BiffY) Danckwerts from the Eastern Cape of Cape Town. Biffy was brought up in Eastern Cape and did a short stint in Johannesburg for 4 years in the 80’s. She joined Rotary in May of 2005 and was awarded a PH in 2009 and again 2019. Biffy serves in her club. Biffy is currently starting new Satellite Club called the MAD Rotary Club, she said this should be a fully-fledged club within a year. What an interesting lady – wish the vocals would have been better. She is the happiest working in Khayelitsha, it means new home) and her second language is Xhosa. She showed us pictures of the houses they are nothing more that shacks. Some of the small houses have 3-8 children in the tiny little house. She showed us a great PowerPoint about the school she is working to improve. The kids there are so excited to go to school. She has done so much to help the kids have a great education. She showed of the school, library, courtyard, lunch area. She showed us the original computer room and now they have an updated computer room the kids have 90 minutes per child to work on the computer there are 96 computers in the room. There are 1205 children in the school each day and it’s a very sandy play area. She had tried to grow trees, but they won’t grow. The kids must be feed breakfast and lunch each day. And they all sit in the cafeteria on the floor in the lunch area. Most of these kids come from homes with illiterate parents most of them don’t know how to read or write. Most of the children had never heard any kind of classical music, the now have a conductor and the children are playing instruments. There were 46 children per classroom before now they have hired more teachers. This was a great presentation from her. Randy said when he was visiting Biffy in Africa there was a house that had the Rotary seal on it. Randy said she has a hug heart and how she has worked with the children. |
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Marana Rotary Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion |
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Rotary Meeting April 26, 2022Marana Rotary Club Randy called the meeting to order Mary led us in the flag Salute. Randy said – sad news - Liz Cohen is very ill and was placed in hospice yesterday. Adam Pina a prospective member joined us via zoom (welcome). He is a financial advisor with Edwards Jones. He grew up in Tucson and Live in Marana with his wife, he was a private banker for Wells Fargo. He is a Yankees fan, Mary put on her NY hat, Kathy put on Cubs, Don put on his Boston hat, Laura put on her team hat. Ya we have baseball fans. (let’s go to a game) Lynne told a joke The Yankees were playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park a kid goes to the game he meets his priest there they get to talking and after the game the priest says can I get a ride home the kid says father, I would be happy to. So they are driving down the street and here is this Yankee fan all decked out in his garb, hat, shirt the whole 9 yards the kids swerves, and almost hits him. At the last minute he veers off and looks at the priest and said Father I am so sorry I shouldn’t have done that, and the priest said no worries my son I got him with the door. Happy Buck Time: Harold said he and Bob spent a couple of hours working on getting the computers going at the fire department, so at the next meeting we can be hybrid. Bob also happy about getting the computer going. Kathy – 450 new chicks at the farm we will be at her place to visit on 5/31. Becky – new grandma Elenore, and her other granddaughter June had her 4th birthday Saturday. Mary – another treatment - good news brother arriving today to help Mary. John – question for Kathy – with all the chicken can you use the chicken dropping to make her own compost and she explained how she does that. Don and Cindy hosted the District Governor and District Governor Elect at their house along with the outgoing foreign exchange students. Rotary 5500 has students going to Belgium, Thailand & Denmark and we will bring in four incoming students Laura – happy and relieved she is done with the AZ Supreme Court; she won’t know for four or five months if she wins or not. She said this was called a hot bench. it’s what the call a hot bench:* here is the meaning The Supreme Court justices are talking. And they are talking more than ever during oral argument. The term “hot bench” implies that appellate judges engage in vibrant verbal exchanges with the parties during oral hearings. Don, good news he watched the live streaming of Laura at the Supreme Court he said she was fantastic. Their daughter is an FBI agent in New York she was just selected to train for the Hostage Negotiation Team. Shelter Box update sense the beginning of the rotary year district 5500 has raised over $46,000 for shelter box. That ranks us 9th out of 150 some districts in the US and second in our zone and were one of the smallest districts in the zone. Sulee – Also watched Laura and we went to Bullhead with 18 family member and had a great time. Lynne happy tax season is off and happy she is semi-retired. We netted $7400.00 at the Tour de Cookie. Shredding event this Saturday
Student of the month: Denise Coronado, Student of the Month Brisel Rivera She went to school at Road runner and Marana Middle School and then to the High School. She wanted to graduate earlier and be with a smaller community. What she likes best about MCAT: is the schedule and that she has 6th period to use as independent time so she can catch up on her work. Denise said that Brisel is the one that really gets her work done! She will graduate in December she was supposed to be a May 2024 graduate, can you imagine graduating two years early? She is going to go to the Pima and then the UofA and get her teaching degree. Info her brother is also a graduate of MCAT Laura asked her what teaching area she is interested in and she said History. Mr Bohen is the person she picked to be there with her today he is her History Teacher. He said Brisel is supper self-directed she had a lot of questions and always want to know more. She is willing to help other students that are struggling a little bit. Because of that other student are also engaging more. She is a great role model. Rotary provided her with a certificate and a gift card to the movies. Brisel said it was an honor to be at MCAT. Denise said that MCAT, graduation is May 19th, 2022. She has four seats for us to join, let Randy know ASAP who is going. Mary – Past District governor Eli sent a card thanking for the video sent in for the peace pole. Laura and Mary have been planning Laura’s installation. She has picked June 18th for the date and to be held at Laura’s house and it will be catered. John recommends that Laura and Lynne put their heads together to discuss the budget for her year. John said the Annual Programs fund raising is , total contributions are at $8540. That includes polo plus and foundation. Randy’s goal was $10,000. Lynne has another $1600.00 to go in this will put him over his goal at $10,140. Membership goal was two and we have three new members, Cindy, Kathy and Carol. John will receive honors for his year as president. Club also submitted the paperwork we will be honored as a Prestige Club. John kind of related My Rotary, My Rotary in the district people registered 54%. The only two people in our club who are not registered Kathy and Carol are the only two members not registered. Next week’s hybrid meeting the speaker is Elizabeth "Biffie" Danckwert from South Africa. Mary asked on behalf of Jen our Youth Exchange Daughter if anyone would be willing to host her 24-year-old friend for three months. Don led us in the Four Way Test. |
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390th TourRotary Club of Marana Visits the 390th Air Museum  On March 26th, 10 members of our Rotary Club visited the 390th Museum at the Pima Air and Space Museum off of Valencia Road in Tucson. The 390th Air Museum is the Home of the B-17 “Super Fortress” bomber and tells the story of this World War II bomber group as they fought in the war in Europe.Harold Burtzloff and Beckie Penman had coordinated with Glenn Rosati of the museum to have meeting facilities available for members to gather and share coffee and doughnuts. There we met our tour guide, Col. Don Cassidy. Col. Don gave us an introductory briefing and then proceeded to show us the through all of the various exhibits within the building. The centerpiece was the last B-17 flown by any service. Members were allowed to look inside the aircraft and asked many questions. Of particular interest to most was the gallery of photos of every B-17 and their crews in the 390th. Along the walls were various examples of airplanes with their mission count and what happened to them. Many were lost over Germany. Nose Art (crew produced aircraft names and symbols (usually females) painted on the noses of each B-17, various flight jackets and uniforms, parachutes and other items used by the crews were displayed and explained. Of particular interest was the section on the Norden Bombsight, a top-secret device used by bombardiers, that allowed them to essentially take over the controls of the aircraft to guide it to a very precise drop point, insuring a target hit. According to Col. Don, a lady with some very long hair had donated her locks for the production of these sights – literally being used as “cross hairs” of the scope that were overlaid on the target. Our club was so impressed with the museum and their personnel that we voted to make a special donation of $200.00 to the museum.    |
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Shelter Box HEROA ShelterBox HERO Club Congratulations President Randy and members of the Rotary Club of Marana, Congratulations on receiving your latest ShelterBox HERO recognition! Your support is very much appreciated during this very challenging year of natural and manmade disasters. Your contributions have helped save lives and families in places like Haiti, and for the refugees in and near Ukraine. As you know, ShelterBox has provided aid to over 2 million people since 2000, we could not have reached them without clubs like yours. If you would like to have your certificate also presented in person at a club meeting, and/or you would like a 2022 ShelterBox update for your club please, just let us know! Thank you for being a ShelterBox HERO! |
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Rotary Meeting April 12, 2022Marana Rotary Club April 12, 2022 weekly meeting Randy returned to lead us in this hybrid meeting. Announcements Bob informed that speakers were set until June and that he would appreciate help as he will be leaving for Virginia in June. Randy told the group that he would be leaving in May for 4 months and that Laura will help run the meetings if he isn’t able to join remotely. Carol says she will be in Wales and Scotland in June/July as we consider timing for her formal induction Peter announced he will be out of pocket the next two weeks, Bob volunteered to set up the meeting room computer Cathy reminded the group that the next social, the fifth Tuesday of the month, will be held at Felicia’s Farms. Randy informed that Lynn has not gotten to the final accounting for the Tour de Cookie due to her heavy tax season load, but will do so after the 18th Randy and Don had lunch with Jeremy, the past speaker on the Marana detention facility, who is considering membership in our club. Randy will deliver to Lynn $190 from the Tour de C plus $27 in Happy Bucks. Happy Bucks Harold was happy that his 50th wedding anniversary celebration went so well and thanked everybody. Carol is happily preparing or retirement (again! Practice makes perfect) on June 30th Mary, joining incognito, explained that chemo had started and was rougher than expected. She will participate to the extent possible; we all wish her the very best and will support her in her treatment and full recovery. John reported that he was just happy, as usual and that two grandsons were winning at sports Sulee was happy and volunteered to take notes while Andy was in Africa the month of May. Thank you Sulee! Andy was happy that the howling winds had stopped in southern Utah. Guest Speaker Today’s speaker is Jake Snyder, head of Corporate Partnerships for the Roadrunners hockey team. Jake has only been in the position since last June, but seems to have energized the community partnerships with his team in a very short time. Jake came from positions at the Philadelphia 76er’s and New Jersey Devils. He made the decision to come to the Roadrunners where he felt he could accomplish more in a not-so-large corporate environment. Jake’s talk certainly relayed that passion for the local team. Jake described some of the 73 cooperate and community partnerships, some of which have linked to causes such as autism and Hispanic inclusion in the team’s sphere of influence. Very interesting presentation……thank you Bob for finding this one. Report on Recent Board Meeting Randy gave a brief report on the past Board meeting held April 6. The Board approved a $500 donation for a request brought forward by Elizabeth (last nameunclear) for the drilling of a water bore hole in S Africa in order for the local community to change their source of water from a distant pond shared by animals. Elizabeth will be presenting to the club in the near future Harold motioned that $200 be donated to the 390th Air Museum, the club approved the motion unanimously. |
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Rotary Meeting April 5, 2022Marana Rotary Club April 5, 2022 weekly meeting Laura led the hybrid meeting in Randy’s absence Announcements  Harold announced that TODAY is his and Ellen’s 50th wedding anniversary and contributed 50 bucks to Happy Bucks. Congratulations Harold!.Bob announced that there were two more applications for grants under the Rotary Vocational Fund of AZ and that volunteers were needed to interview applicants. Don reminded that the shredding event will be held Saturday, April 30th. Happy Bucks Beckie is a new grandmother! Don shared that a past member of our club (Lightfoot) had a grandson who he bragged about his basketball skills. Turns out it was Mitch Lightfoot who played for the Kansas Jayhawks in their NCAA Championship game last evening. Laura thanked Denise for the yummy treats Induction of Carol Buucks  Laura invited Don and Carol to the podium for the induction of Carol Buucks into the Marana Rotary Club. Carol, who is soon to retire, moved to Tucson over 40 years ago from Tennessee to complete her Masters at the U of A. Carol has already completed two of the three RLI on-line webinars. Laura, and the club, warmly welcomed Carol as she joins us in making Rotary ideals become reality.Guest Speaker Today’s speaker is our own Sulee, hence not a “guest”. Sulee made an amazing presentation of her passion project, the Missing in America Project (“MIAP”). Her talk was thought-provoking as well as informative. The statistics are mind-boggling; over 21, 000 veterans remains are being held in various locations, only some 5,000 have been identified, and 4,653 have been laid to rest. Veterans date back to as far as the Civil War. Sulee mentioned that the next internment event will be held in Marana on April 23 and encouraged anyone interested to attend; it is an emotional experience. Sulee is a veteran herself, having served in the U.S. Navy as well as retired from law enforcement, along with her husband. We deeply thank them both for their service and thank Sulee for a provocative talk today. In closing Bob reminded that our next week’s speaker will be Jake Snyder who will speak on the Roadrunners Hockey Team Mary announced that week after next is our “week of service”. Mary added that, much to her surprise, the bench will arrive in mid-April for the Peace Garden. |
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Rotary Meeting March 22, 2022Marana Rotary Club March 22, 2022 weekly meeting Announcements Mary reminded the group that this evening was the annual Peace Builders Clubs meeting. Mary also announced that the installation of Anita McDonald as District Governor would occur on June 26 and that volunteers were being sought for the registration table and sergeant of arms.. Volunteers would serve from the evening of the 25th until about noon on the 26th. Happy Bucks Randy lamented the lose of women’s UA basketball team in the NCAA Tournament. Bob reported a happy experience at the Sunlakes AZ aero-club where pilots gathered to share experiences Cindy related some RI news: the Youth Exchange Committee was formed in 1999 and disbanded in 2019. It is now being reinstated, giving the YE a seat at the RI table once again. John mentioned that Hank Marshall, a long-ago member of the Marana Club, has passed away. John was involved in the first Mars Rover where his name is included as a team member. John would like to place a memorial plaque for Hank on our equipment locker. Beckie has been checking on the Peace Garden as part of her commitment for March. Randy also pays occasional visits and both report that Garden is clean. Peter asked about the status of the bench; Mary responded that the order is still pending and likely won’t be received for a few more months. Denise will monitor the Garden in April Randy will be leaving on a journey starting in mid-May, returning mid-Sept; Mary will fill in for him if he is not able to lead any meetings. Harold made a motion that $500 be donated to the Rotary Vocational Fund of AZ. District 5500 has had the highest contribution record of the three AZ districts. Mary recommended that the amount be increased to $1,000. After discussion, Laura made the motion that the original motion be increased to $1,000 and the motion was carried unanimously. Don mentioned that the RLI leadership training coursewas held last Saturday and that Carol, yet to be inducted, had attended! Don also reminded the group of the shredding event on April 30th. John said that he will supply an insurance certification for our use of the Harkins facility. Beckie reminded the meeting that the social event will occur at the 390th museum and the group discussed logistics and meeting time. Peter apologized for the problems during his presentation last week and said he was working on the AV issues for the fire district meeting room. Bob asked for help in assembling future speakers. Sulee volunteered to present her Missing in America topic the first week in April. Several other ideas were discussed and Bob asked that contacts/suggestions be emailed to him. Randy had wanted to take up a discussion today about the RI code of ethics and behavior; however, we had run out of time and would table the topic until a future meeting. Peter remined that next week was dark. |
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Rotary Meeting March 15, 2022Marana Rotary Club March 15, 2022 weekly meeting Randy started saying it felt good to be back in person. Randy presented Harold with a Paul Harris Fellowship +3 Award, meaning that Harold had contributed $4,000 to Rotary. When matches are considered, this amounts to $16,000 in total donations! Harold has been in our club since 1990 doing good deeds. Everyone joined in a hearty round of applause. Way to go, Harold! Announcements Mary introduced our guest, Carol Buuck, who will be our newest member shortly. Mary also announced that a new grant opportunity will soon be appearing for a South Africa water project. Randy wants to bring this up at the next board meeting, and that it will fall under Laura’s presidency. Denise presented a $500 donation to the club from her business. The check is the result of her meeting special goals (“super-goals”) set by the company who chose to make the donation to our club Don reminded the club that RLI was beginning its on-line course this coming Saturday Happy Bucks Randy was happy to have seen his great granddaughter, 3 yrs old, in Las Vegas while visiting with his son Harold was happy to have had breakfast last week with John Z who is leaving for Canada for a few months. Harold was also fighting with over 10,000 slides from his world-wide travels in the 60’s and 70’s; the slides got spilled and were all mixed up! John happily reported that he turned 73 yesterday Carol attended the recent book fair on campus and reported delight in hearing authors’ lectures Mary and Cathy said that Felicia’s Farms was advancing well. Cathy will be in Rocky Point for a long weekend Don will be heading again to New York this Thursday where he will visit family Laura was delighted that the UA women’s (and men’s) basketball teams were so highly ranked ahead of the infamous March Madness tournament Peter regretted that he had to miss the past several meetings due to travel schedules Cindy was happy to have had a fantastic time with kids at the UA Festival of Books Randy was looking forward to attending his first women’s basketball game Beckie reminded all of the Poker Night fund raising event for the Dove Mtn club. She also reminded all of the upcoming social meeting at the 390th Air Museum on March 26. Don mentioned that the District has donated a total of $12,000 to Shelter Box and that ours and Dove Mtn were the first two clubs to raise the awareness. Guest Speaker  Needing no introduction, Peter Mack spoke of his fascinating career trajectory in astronomy and telescope construction, repair and restoration; beginning at a young age with a pair of binoculars and evolving into involvement with some the most sophisticated telescope projects world-wide. His education in England was followed by a stint teaching at Oklahoma, of all places, followed by a several year period at Kitt Peak. Peter broke from academia and research to form his own, independent telescope restoration and maintenance company which he remains very involved in to this very day. Peter’s story is truly unique and the club is most fortunate to have his support and membership. Everyone hopes to soon hear about his involvement in the JWST space telescope project! |
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Rotary Meeting March 8, 2022Marana Rotary Club March 8, 2022 weekly meeting Randy glowed over the success of the Tour de Cookie and thanked everyone for the unprecedented effort making this Tour the most successful yet. Happy Bucks A quick check in quickly turned into a recap of the Tour. Harold has over 70 photos that he can share to the website. Cathy heard a few comments that there was not enough signage: couple of folks asking directions. Dan thanked everyone for making this Tour the least stressful of all. Numbers not yet firm, but looks like we took in approx. $12,500. Beckie and Mary commented that a few voiced environmental concerns over the use of so many baggies for individual cookies. Laura suggested that we take all of the feedback into a small committee to evaluate for future Tours. Discussions turned to the tragic events unfolding in Ukraine. Don commented that Shelter Box has an assessment team on the ground in Poland, Romania and Hungary to determine what is needed besides tents or temporary shelter, such as building materials and tools. The supplies will be purchased locally to also help the effected economies. A donation of $1,000 will buy a shelter box with up to seven kits. Six rotary clubs are already raising funds for Shelter Box. Harold said the Foundation would contribute $1,000 to Shelter Box, Bob said he will match that donation amount. It was suggested that the Marana Rotary Foundation should contribute $2,000 to SB. A vote taken was unanimous. Also, it was noted that today being International Women’s Day, RI will match any gifts up to $10,000. Don Jorgensen said that he will make sure that any gifts made today will qualify for the match. Other announcements The Air Museum social event is slated for Saturday, March 26. Ten members said they planned to attend. Mary shared a video made by Sulee regarding the world peace essay contest. Sulee has done a fabulous job on this effort. Mary and Sulee commented that kids really put their hearts into the effort. Bob seconded the feeling and said that the event was quite emotional. The next meeting will be hybrid at the fire station. Peter Mack will present on the space telescope program. |
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Rotary Meeting March 1, 2022Marana Rotary Club March 1, 2022 weekly meeting Happy Bucks Randy was delighted with the number of events the club was involved in and the support of our members Harold had mixed feelings after selling his Bonanza airplane after 45 years of flying. Goodbye to a family member Cathy was happy about a memorial after 6 months Sulee was happy about the collaborative effort with Mary producing the Peace video Bob was breaking up with bad connection, so simply reported that he was happy! Cindy was happy to have a track event coming up involving her grandson. Randy suggested that she and John be given assigned reserved seats for all of the sporting events they attend John was just very happy today Beckie was happy to have the Tour de Cookies flyers ready to hand out and has been VERY busy with the event Laura was happy to have had a great experience at PETS last weekend in Los Angeles Mary was happy to have closed off the Cameroon Project with RI and to have shared an amazing time with the kids in the Four-Way essay contest Don also attended PETS where he met the incoming RI president, Jennifer Jones. He shared that Laura was really stepping up to the plate and taking on a lot of work as incoming Pres Andy was reporting in from Colorado Springs, more about that later! Denise was still happily working very hard on the Tour de C. Dan was also working hard on the Tour, which has grown immensely. Dan feels less nervous than previous years, despite there being over 300 riders expected. He is lining up the troops for this Saturday’s event. Miscellaneous Announcements Randy and Deb will work backwards at the Tour, thanking the booth sponsors as they ride to the starting point. Cindy mentioned that District Governor, “Hank”, will stop by our booth at the Tour Laura mentioned that there are over 80 Rotary Clubs in Ukraine with 1100 members. And that RI has expressed their concern and support for the crisis they are facing Guest Speaker Bob introduced today’s speakers, Mike and Joan of Primeamerica, a financial advisory firm providing counseling and guidance for money management. Mike explained their approach towards responsible money management and retirement planning. They guide their clients through debt strategies and retirement planning. Mike described their approach through a series of concepts that were thoughtfully presented. Most of us older folks could have used their visions during our earlier years! Thank you, Bob, for arranging this interesting talk! |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 22, 2022Marana Rotary Club February 22, 2022 weekly meeting Announcements March 19, Packing of Boxes March 16, Veterans one-stop-shop event, sponsored by the Dove Mtn. Club The first two meetings in March will be virtual before returning to hybrid Happy Bucks Mary- thanks to Bob, Linda, and Peter for attending the Four-way essay contest. John- “life is good”. John was especially happy for the article printed in this morning’s newspaper, “best news about our club ever published” Cindy- was happily working with the outbound orientation for exchange students Bob was entertaining guests from Oklahoma and thankful for the perfect rodeo weather Beckie was working hard on the Tour de Cookies event and shared her thoughts about format. Beckie’s also working on the air museum social event Laura was also happy about the news article and suggested it be shared on social media Cathy also shared some ideas including putting the article on Facebook Dan shared that we have over 200 riders at this point and that using Facebook has been very successful. Dan needs all the help he can get, the Tour is growing Denise raised the question of how many cookies Don reported that the April 30 shredding event was firm. He also reminded that Carol’s application had been circulated and her induction into the club is set to go. Bob informed that next week’s speaker will address “How Money Works”, and that Peter will present on March 15 Peter shared that the first images from the space telescope have been received and lamented the fact that a polio outbreak has een reported from Malawi Laura was happy to have her sister and husband visiting and they journeyed to Gardner Canyon, A real day off! Andy was looking forward to a special visit to see rarely seen petroglyphs MCAT student of the Month Denise Coronado presented Lillian, the student of the month, surrounded by teachers and family members. Lilliana just turned 16 and was selected for her leadership. She was described by her peers as a “student ambassador” . Lilliana always participates in volunteer events such as sending Valentines to poor families and supporting them during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Lilliana wants to go into real estate in Texas someday. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 15, 2022 Thanks to Laura, following are the minutes for our Feb 15 meeting. Marana Rotary Club February 15, 2022 weekly meeting Attendance: Denise West, John and Cindy Dooling, Bob Bishop, Dan Contorno, Sulee Edwards, Harold Burtzloff, Don Jorgensen, Mary Straus, Bouba, Beckie Penman, Cathy Lolwing, Laura Clymer. Guest: Norbert Stede from Porto Maroua, Cameroon. Continue virtual meetings only through March 8 – Plan to return to hybrid March 15. Busy times in the District. There are several other events going on the same day of our Tour de Cookie, including a Rotary river clean-up. Four-Way Test speech contest Mary met with the students on Wednesday and spoke with them, but unfortunately they were not prepared. Mary is doubtful that they will be able to pull it together. Food bank box packaging Volunteers regularly on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Next possible packing day week March 19: John and Cindy D., Mary, Denise, Bob, Randy, 7:45 a.m. Peace Garden update This past weekend, Peter, Mary and Randy installed the plaque Rotary Club of Marana Tour de Cookie update Dan C: Shirts ordered 220; 146 riders have registered. Thanks for all the behind-the-scenes work. One thing we can all do: we need sponsors $500 and logo. Need a few more sponsors. Cameroon Project update Bouba and Norbert Stede. Electricity is not reliable. Embroidery. May need a generator. Tailoring is operational and 9 students in training to make uniforms for school. Women’s group assessed the needs of women. Reading and writing skills are needed – book entries, income and expenses, etc. Second session of training occurred several weeks ago. Bouba has appointed a manager for Grain Mill who collect the money and manage, purchase and replace parts, and report to the women. Bouba and Norbert are visiting the grain mill to see how that management of the grain mill is going. Grain Bank has 50 bags of millet, which was handed out during last dry season. It’s turning out to be a good and useful investment for the poor people in the area. Intend to increase to 100 bags of millet in the bank. Water system: a pump kept failing so a more robust and new one was purchased in July 2021 and seems to be working better. Garden – termites keep eating the mango trees but the citrus trees are doing better. Goats managed to pass through the fencing, so the fencing had to reinforced with chicken wire to keep the goats out. Current project focuses on villages with about 2,000 residents. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 8, 2022Marana Rotary Club February 8, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting was held virtually, as will the remaining meetings through the end of February. Announcements Don reported that Harkin’s Theatre and the shredding company have confirmed the shredding event date for Saturday, April 30th. Mary has 173 of the cookie medallions for the upcoming Tour de Cookie event, and suggests providing 100 of the Ben’s Belt coins to augment memorabilia tokens for the Tour participants Mary also reports that, following up on the recent Board meeting’s discussion regarding the need for more local service projects, the Southern AZ Food Bank is seeking support. There are two options which Mary will research and report back upon for club members to volunteer. Randy mentioned that thank you letters have been received for our support to families over the holidays, our support for the Police Foundation, and a thank you was received from John Zwick for the flowers he received. Randy reported that at our latest Board meeting, John Z. would be given Emeritus status, wherein John would be invited to attend our meetings/events and club dues would be covered from club funds. Randy asked if any members had concerns to please contact him directly. Randy again asked for help promoting the Tour de Cookie promotions at Rillito Park, Sundays, from 9-11AM. After awkward silence, Mary volunteered, again. Randy noted that Don, Mary, and Cathy have been the sole volunteers and reminded that this was our biggest fund-raising event and asked for more support. Happy Bucks
Speakers Adriane Parry and Brad Lundell spoke on behalf of the Operation Mainstreet Project, the objective of which is to educate as to the sources of food production from the agricultural industry. Brad’s family runs a large family pig farming operation in Iowa. Brad described the many aspects of the pork industry that the general population is not aware of and dispelled many of the myths and misconceptions surrounding the pork industry. Especially enlightening were the evolution of the pig-farming business, misconceptions about the supposed “big-corporation” involvement in pig-farming, the environmental impacts (now greatly reduced) and the humane lifestyle the majority of pigs-in-waiting enjoy. Brad and Adrianne also explained many of the underlying food chain supply problems we’ve seen over the past two years. Interestingly, they also clarified what “organic” and “no antibiotic” terms mean and their usage on packaging. The pig farming business has evolved differently than my impressions led me to believe, and the talk was timely and enlightening. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 1, 2022Marana Rotary Club February 1, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting was held virtually, as will the remaining meetings through the end of February. Announcements Randy reminded that the monthly Board meeting will be held the following day at 12 noon. Laura is celebrating her birthday today (Hooray and perfectly sung Happy Birthday by the club choir). It was also noted that Dan’s birthday was yesterday, and that there seems an abundance of Aquarians in our club. Randy noted that we received a very nice letter thanking us for the X-mas and Thanksgiving support given to our sponsored families. Randy shared that his Sunday morning promotional efforts for the Tour de Cookie event have been productive; however, he would appreciate more help from club members to relieve him and Deb. Rillito Park, Sundays, 9-12 noon. There was brief discussion as to whether chocolate chip versus pumpkin cookies were more popular. Randy reminded all that the club dues notices were sent out by Lynn and would appreciate prompt attention. Mary met with Bouba last Wednesday. He is preparing a final report on the Cameroon Project to present to the club soon. Flyers are being prepared for distribution regarding the Peace Pole essay contest involving the Owl and Panther group. Winners will be invited to attend the Peace Garden event on Feb. 19. All are encouraged to attend to make these refugees feel welcome and comfortable. Speakers John, Don, and Laura created a presentation illustrating how donations to RI are treated and distributed. They explained, using a $100 donation example, that $47.50 goes to District Designated Funds, with $47.50 going to RI. The DDF monies are returned to the respective districts and used to match funds committed to qualified club service projects. Using the Cameroon Project as an example, DDF’s supplied $16,250 while matches brought the project total to $38,736. Other interesting facts: the cost to vaccinate one kid from Polio is 60 cents. And, approximately 7% of Rotarians are Paul Harris Society members. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 25, 2022Marana Rotary Club January 25, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting constituted the monthly business meeting, held virtually. The next two weeks will be virtual, followed by a poll to determine if there is comfort for meetings in person. Happy Bucks
Business Randy announced that Cathy Lowling has agreed to accept the nomination as Club President following Laura’s term. Randy formally made the motion to nominate Cathy, Bob seconded the motion, and the members approved unanimously. Randy spoke to the need for everyone to pitch in to help Dan with the March 5, Tour de Cookie. Needs include finding booth sponsors ($500 per booth), signage, on site direction-givers, advertising, etc. Dan reports that there are perhaps 45-50 riders confirmed this far. Dan informed that sponsors need to be finalized within two weeks in order for them to be included in the tee short designs. Beckie reported that there were 14 sponsors confirmed, so far, with roughly half being new sponsors and half repeats. Cookie needs are estimated to be 300-350 cookies provided per booth. Committee Reports Foundation matching donations- John reported that one person, Harold, met the two-month window ending Dec 31 for matching gifts up to $500 to Rotary International Randy announced that he had two Paul Harris pins; one for Harold and the other for Bob Bishop Mary reported on the status of the 2021-22 club service projects. Notably:
Mary also recommended that we adopt a quarterly club service workday at Felicias Farms. Wednesday was the suggested day and club members agreed with the suggestion. Don reported on the membership drive informing that Carol of the Food Bank had submitted her application for club membership. Harold reported that the Foundation held approximately $9,500 in cash, less the obligation to pay Shelter Box $1,000, and that the Foundation had spent $5,810 last year which is more than was taken in. MCAT student of the Month Jake Weller of Marana was presented to the club by his mentor/teacher, Denise de Coronado, accompanied by Jake’s mother and grandmother, and various colleagues and teachers. Jake described his journey beginning at Ironwood Elementary and Mountain View where COVI challenged his education and he discovered MCAT. Denise explained that Jake was chosen for his qualities not only in academics, but his attitude and level of engagement plus drive. Jake is a guitar player who will soon be appearing at the new Whiskey Road club at the Foothills Mall. The club commended Jake and Randy presented to him a $35 movie gift certificate. Randy ended the meeting sharing a recent experience where his neighbors house was demolished by an explosion rapidly followed by sweeping fire. |
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Rotary club business meeting 1/25/22Marana Rotary Club January 25, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting constituted the monthly business meeting, held virtually. The next two weeks will be virtual, followed by a poll to determine if there is comfort for meetings in person. Happy Bucks
Business Randy announced that Cathy Lowling has agreed to accept the nomination as Club President following Laura’s term. Randy formally made the motion to nominate Cathy, Bob seconded the motion, and the members approved unanimously. Randy spoke to the need for everyone to pitch in to help Dan with the March 5, Tour de Cookie. Needs include finding booth sponsors ($500 per booth), signage, on site direction-givers, advertising, etc. Dan reports that there are perhaps 45-50 riders confirmed this far. Dan informed that sponsors need to be finalized within two weeks in order for them to be included in the tee short designs. Beckie reported that there were 14 sponsors confirmed, so far, with roughly half being new sponsors and half repeats. Cookie needs are estimated to be 300-350 cookies provided per booth. Committee Reports Foundation matching donations- John reported that one person, Harold, met the two-month window ending Dec 31 for matching gifts up to $500 to Rotary International Randy announced that he had two Paul Harris pins; one for Harold and the other for Bob Bishop Mary reported on the status of the 2021-22 club service projects. Notably:
Mary also recommended that we adopt a quarterly club service workday at Felicias Farms. Wednesday was the suggested day and club members agreed with the suggestion. Don reported on the membership drive informing that Carol of the Food Bank had submitted her application for club membership. Harold reported that the Foundation held approximately $9,500 in cash, less the obligation to pay Shelter Box $1,000, and that the Foundation had spent $5,810 last year which is more than was taken in. MCAT student of the Month Jake Weller of Marana was presented to the club by his mentor/teacher, Denise de Coronado, accompanied by Jake’s mother and grandmother, and various colleagues and teachers. Jake described his journey beginning at Ironwood Elementary and Mountain View where COVI challenged his education and he discovered MCAT. Denise explained that Jake was chosen for his qualities not only in academics, but his attitude and level of engagement plus drive. Jake is a guitar player who will soon be appearing at the new Whiskey Road club at the Foothills Mall. The club commended Jake and Randy presented to him a $35 movie gift certificate. Randy ended the meeting sharing a recent experience where his neighbors house was demolished by an explosion rapidly followed by sweeping fire. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 18, 2022Marana Rotary Club January 18, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting was again held completely virtual given the ongoing Omicron situation. A poll was taken, and the majority wished that meetings remain virtual for the time being. Randy introduced our guests, Purdy Albien and Aleto Wiener, from the Dove Mtn. Rotary Club. Mary reported that the RI totals for the Ride to End Polio campaign has reached $56.3M over the past seven years with $2.96M raised this year alone. Dan presented three mock up tees for the Tour de Cookie event; colors included green, orang and red. After a vote, the “cardinal red” color was chosen. Despite, I might add, the dismal showing of the AZ Cardinals team last night in the wild card playoffs. Purdy announced that the Dove Mtn Club will be holding a casino night, Friday, March 18 at the Highlands. This is their major fund raising event. Entry will be $65 which includes food, one drink and “fun currency” for play. There will also be a “wine pull” where, for $20, you can pull one bottle of wine from a batch of 100 bottles valuing between $15 and 100 bucks. Randy suggested we help out Dove Mtn. and asked that Dove Mtn help our=t in the Tour de Cookie fund raising event. Flyers will be delivered to DM in hopes that they will agree to sponsor a booth. Speaking of the Tour de Cookie, Randy mentioned that he and Deb “worked” the bike path near the Rillito track between 9 and noon this past Sunday. Five candidates were for sure to participate with five more pretty good “maybe’s”. Dan suggested that bike shops be contacted and given flyers. Happy Bucks
Guest Speaker Randy introduced Jeremy Casey, Warden of the Marana Treatment Center for the past 9 years. Jeremy described the functions and operations of the treatment center, located west of the Avra Valley Airfield. The facility is designed to handle 513 males who have been convicted of non-violent crimes such as substance abuse/possession, DUI’s, theft, etc. Due primarily to COVID, the population is only 260 at present. The facility was established in 1994 and supplies activities both in-house and on community projects such as roadside cleanup. There is substantial community involvement including local business support. The Center provides educational support in the forms of GED and trade training and certification. Support also includes a volunteer mentor program, AA meetings, and creative writing courses. Since Jeremy’s company only runs the facility on behalf of the state government, he did not have data regarding recidivism (in response to Peter’s question). |
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Rotary meeting Jan 18, 2022Marana Rotary Club January 18, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting was again held completely virtual given the ongoing Omicron situation. A poll was taken, and the majority wished that meetings remain virtual for the time being. Randy introduced our guests, Purdy Albien and Aleto Wiener, from the Dove Mtn. Rotary Club. Mary reported that the RI totals for the Ride to End Polio campaign has reached $56.3M over the past seven years with $2.96M raised this year alone. Dan presented three mock up tees for the Tour de Cookie event; colors included green, orang and red. After a vote, the “cardinal red” color was chosen. Despite, I might add, the dismal showing of the AZ Cardinals team last night in the wild card playoffs. Purdy announced that the Dove Mtn Club will be holding a casino night, Friday, March 18 at the Highlands. This is their major fund raising event. Entry will be $65 which includes food, one drink and “fun currency” for play. There will also be a “wine pull” where, for $20, you can pull one bottle of wine from a batch of 100 bottles valuing between $15 and 100 bucks. Randy suggested we help out Dove Mtn. and asked that Dove Mtn help our=t in the Tour de Cookie fund raising event. Flyers will be delivered to DM in hopes that they will agree to sponsor a booth. Speaking of the Tour de Cookie, Randy mentioned that he and Deb “worked” the bike path near the Rillito track between 9 and noon this past Sunday. Five candidates were for sure to participate with five more pretty good “maybe’s”. Dan suggested that bike shops be contacted and given flyers. Happy Bucks
Guest Speaker Randy introduced Jeremy Casey, Warden of the Marana Treatment Center for the past 9 years. Jeremy described the functions and operations of the treatment center, located west of the Avra Valley Airfield. The facility is designed to handle 513 males who have been convicted of non-violent crimes such as substance abuse/possession, DUI’s, theft, etc. Due primarily to COVID, the population is only 260 at present. The facility was established in 1994 and supplies activities both in-house and on community projects such as roadside cleanup. There is substantial community involvement including local business support. The Center provides educational support in the forms of GED and trade training and certification. Support also includes a volunteer mentor program, AA meetings, and creative writing courses. Since Jeremy’s company only runs the facility on behalf of the state government, he did not have data regarding recidivism (in response to Peter’s question). |
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Rotary meeting Jan 11 202Marana Rotary Club January 11, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting was held completely virtual given the ongoing Omicron situation. Randy asked for assistance in arranging our speakers. Bob Bishop, who is slated to handle speakers the next quarter, agreed to move up his assignment to help out. The Tour de Cookie event needs support during the coming weekends to put out signs promoting the event. Dan and Peter volunteered their able hands to help out. Beckie asked for assistance seeking sponsors for the Tour de Cookie booths. Don announced that we have approval from Harkins Theatres to hold the next shredding event on Saturday, April 16. Happy Bucks
Guest Speaker Tom Elf, from the Rincon Rotary Club, spoke on his experiences during his 30 years with Rotary. First, he shared that our very own Randy Brooks is being nominated for induction into the Veterans Hall of Fame, Arizona. Tom relayed stories around what it meant to him to be a Rotarian and why he joined Rotary in the first place. His experiences included Boston, Connecticut and New York before landing permanently in Tucson. Tom stated that a sense of humor was an important life-dealing characteristic for him, personally. Interestingly, Tom shared some history regarding the challenges when women were allowed to join Rotary, and the resistance during the early years. Tom noted the high percentage of women in our club and said we were the best club outside of the city limits of Tucson. That qualification was included because the Rincon club lies within the city limits. |
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Tour de Cookie 22 |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 21, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Dec 21, 2021 This being our Christmas meeting it was held at Mary’s house Laura our VP took over for Randy who was visiting family Meeting started with Pledge Laura bought the club up to date on club business Laura ask each member to tell something special about Christmas that they remember After a fun time we all enjoyed a special breakfast by Mary Before we left John Dooling had a gift for each of members Laura informed us that there will not be a meeting on Dec 28th See you all next year       |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 4, 2022Marana Rotary Club January 4, 2022 weekly meeting This week’s meeting was held hybrid. Given the situation with rapidly spreading Omicron, it was agreed by members to hold our weekly meetings virtually through January, then re-evaluate going forward. The January 15 visit to El Cohibo in San Carlos is being postponed until later in the year. Happy Bucks
 John (as Chairman of the Foundation) and Cindy Dooling came forward to recognize Cindy’s joining of the club and recipient of the Paul Harris Society. The giving of $1,000 resulted in a total donation of $3,000 after matching donations.Announcements: Youth Services – a meeting with Denise will be arranged to determine the date for the MCAT student presentation. Guest Speaker  Randy introduced Captain Roberto Jimenez of the Marana Police Dept. Captain Jimenez spoke of his experiences during 23 years on the force in Marana, preceded by 5 years on the police force up in Eloy, AZ. Capt. Jimenez described several examples of how the Marana Police Dept. has strived to create a healthy relationship between the department and the community after suffering a reputation issue 8 years ago. He explained the recruitment and training process instituted by the Police Chief to engage officers with the community. Captain Jimenez also touched upon the challenges presented to law enforcement under stress and strain of the COVID pandemic.Following the talk, several members expressed strong interest in Captain Jimenez, and members of his department, to consider becoming a member of our club. Members also asked that he be invited back to speak about topics raised that time did not permit addressing. |
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Rotary Rose Bowl Float |
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El Cobijo Grand OpeningOne of Rotary Club of Marana MANY PROJECTS  |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 14, 2021Marana Rotary Club Weekly Meeting December 14, 2021, Minutes Announcements: Next week, Dec 21, the meeting will be a social gathering at Mary’s house. Ten people indicated that they will attend. Laura will run the meeting in Randy’s absence Tour de Cookie timing was discussed. Tentative new date is March 5 to capture snowbirds before their migration. Randy announced that $1,000 had been donated to the Zimbabwe, Africa project and that the $400 destined to the Oro Valley club for the Veterans Auxiliary Association may be too late for this year’s event. It was decided to give anyway as the money can be used for next year’s event if indeed too late for this year. Happy Bucks:
Guest Speaker  Randy introduced Dr. Anita McDonald, District Governor- elect, as our guest speaker. Dr. McDonald’s resume is impressive, which is an understatement. Anita became a Rotarian in 1998 in Indiana. Anita has an educational background that includes graduate level work in education and management from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Indiana. She has held high-level positions as Dean of Education and heads the Arizona Chapter of the ALS Foundation. Anita is a level 2, major donor to the Rotary Foundation.Dr. McDonald candidly described her challenges in attaining recognition and tenure as a colored woman in the academic world. She shared experiences along her path to success which illustrated that a black woman faced subtle obstacles in a path to leadership and academic success. Her message centered on the importance, and difficulty, of minority women in achieving diversity. The changes are happening, but much too slowly as she reflected on decades of experience. Anita’s talk was both-eye opening and hopeful. The club discussed the challenges of Rotary Club’s such as ours in changing the largely white, mid to upper class dominance of our membership. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 7, 2021Marana Rotary Club Weekly Meeting December 7, 2021, Minutes Announcements: December meetings
Guest Speaker  Mary introduced our guest speaker, Zoe Fullen, from the Sky Island Alliance. Zoe’s background covers a myriad of talents; Masters Degree in Environmental Sciences, micro-finance education, Peace Corp., to name but a few. Zoe described the work of the Alliance in partnership with numerous governmental, other conservation groups, and private entities which focuses on the megafauna and flora diversity of the mountain ranges comprising the Sky Island province of the SW U.S. and Sonora Mexico. Interesting and timely topics included the impact of the Border Wall project on wildlife migration and the effect of climate change on biodiversity. The Alliance is a nonprofit depending largely on donations and grants. Zoe described how individuals can volunteer for Alliance projects. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 16, 2021Marana Rotary Club Weekly meeting minutes, November 16, 2021 The meeting was held hybrid today, with two attending virtually. Next week’s meeting will be all virtual. The Board held a brief special meeting to approve a motion as follows: Motion: to provide $400 in club funds to support the laying of wreaths at Veterans’ gravesites. The event will occur in mid-November of 2021. The motion was approved and presented to the club for approval. Mary made the motion, Andy seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. Mary introduced to the club our guest speaker, Dr. Kiomi Marino of the University of Arizona Tree Ring Research Laboratory. Happy Bucks: Bob- was happy to be back in Tucson and gave fifty happy bucks to make up for his absence while in Virginia. Andy- commented that this was the first meeting where he couldn’t wear PJ’s, having attended virtually since his induction, and was inspired to match Bob’s $50 Harold- was happy to have survived a 6 hour “outpatient procedure” to remove his thyroid. All normal, thank goodness. Denise- was happy with the weather and sunshine Laura- was just happy- favorite time of the year, sun and cool temperatures. Apparently house chores are done. Mary- was happy after playing in the mud at Felicias Farms Kiomi- was happy to be meeting new people Cathy- just seemed happy! Peter-was happily traveling like crazy again. And enjoyed his stint greeting Rotary dignitaries at the airport last week Randy was happily training for the big ride; 28 and 20 mile practice rides. Thanked and reminded those who pledged to support his ride with donations for the end polio drive. Cindy Dooley was happy to have just gotten into the virtual meeting after being given the correct links by Sulee Sulee was happy to be meeting the daily challenges. Awaiting Jim’s biopsy results. We again pray for all to be good. Announcements Mary and Denise reminded all of the aide station and its location for this Saturday’s El Tour. Set up will be at 9:30 and our station should be finished receiving riders by 1PM. Any additional volunteers are welcome. A tradition of after the meeting breakfast at the Bisbee Club has begun. Bouba will attend this morning and maybe update those on the status of the women’s business endeavor in Cameroon. Randy reminded all that Cindy’s application for membership has been approved by the Board and that everyone has one week to respond before Cindy is inducted into our club. MCAT wanted to have their student of the month attend and speak at the Dec 30 meeting; however, we will be “dark”. Richie will arrange another date. Guest Speaker Mary introduced our speaker again, Kiomi. Dr. Marino is a research scientist at the U of A Tree Ring Lab having arrived at the U of A from Canada in the mid-1980’s and discovering her passion at the lab. Kiomi’s provocative presentation described how tree ring data contributes to the understanding of climate change. The talk sparked interesting questions and certainly brought new perspectives towards the usefulness of tree ring research. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 9, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Thanks to Laura for taking these excellent minutes! Andy Minutes from November 9 Rotary Club of Marana Meeting Club social planned for a wine tasting at Old Pueblo Cellars at the end of the month. Request has been made for the club to donate to a group that puts wreaths on veterans’ graves. It was suggested that we donate $400, a similar amount that we gave to the police foundation for officer equipment. Happy Buck highlights: Bob was happy about his wife’s upcoming birthday which they will celebrate in Sedona. Dan was happy to announce that we have two families from MCAT identified to be “adopted” for our Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner and presents gifts. Lynner, Harold, and Cathy all reported “just happy”. John was happy to watch grandsons compete in state championships in swimming and mountain bike racing. Don was beyond happy to convince his grandson to wear pants to daycare. Denise was happy to have our guests in attendance. Mary and Peter, as well, were happy to see everyone at the meeting. Laura was happy the UA football won a game and broke the 20-game losing streak. Randy was happy and thankful for those who helped him greet District Conference attendees at the airport and thankful to those supporting his ride in the El Tour de Tucson. Guest Speaker Shirley Grace Twenty-year Rotarian Shirley Grace, who is in town prepping for the El Tour de Tucson, was our guest speaker and shared “What I’ve Learned” from two decades of service through Rotary. First, you have to stop and take stake before you can move forward. Shirley had just finished a major project for Rotary and wanted to spend some time on herself. She went on an African safari through a Rotary club and then biked and boated across eight countries in Europe. She was then recharged and ready to go in January 2020 to participate in Operate Smile, which provides surgeries to correct cleft palates and cleft lips in infants and toddlers. Shirley went to Vietnam for Operation Smile where followed 9-month-old Nei through the process and eventual surgery. Second, be flexible. When the opportunity knocks, take it. Shirley did this and went to India where she not only got to see Rotary grants in action – the installation of libraries and restrooms for elementary children – but also to participate in a wedding celebration – all because of her Rotary connections. Third, be creative. Shirley and her husband decided to downsize and that meant finding new homes for an extensive cookie jar collection. They did so, in large part be donating the cookie jars to schools and other organizations who filled the jar with cookies and either sold them or gave them away. Finally, love thy neighbor. Just months after selling their home nestled in the California forest, the Creek fire ravaged the area and burned dozens of structures and homes, including their former house. It was a reminder that we must take care of one another. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 2, 2021NOVEMBER 2, 2021 ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA Opened the meeting at 7:00 am with the pledge of allegiance Randy started by telling us that Don and Randy went to the District conference and one of the sessions was on diversity, they talked about the struggle that Rotary in general with diversity, inclusion, and equity among the membership. Randy said he got a letter from Ri yesterday that said somebody donated a large sum of money from the club to the foundation. The check probably came from Lynne (remember we said a $2000 check was to be sent to the foundation). We received a certificate regarding the miles walked in the walk contest-Randy gave Don the certificate, As it turns out several members contributed to this walk. Including Sulee who walked hundreds of miles and Don J. who ran long distances. Randy contributed by walking as well. Great job team. Denise updated us about the El Tour, November 20, 2021, she gave us info on the Aid Station which will be at Redeemer Lutheran 8845 N Silverbell Rd, Tucson, AZ 85743 ( see picture below). She gave us all the info on aid station – must be ready to go by 10am. There will be an aid station contest (what can we do?). John will meet Dan and give him the canopy, table etc. Things we need:
Randy congratulated Mary for the Peace Garden and how good it looks (Mary thank you and your team for all the hard work). For a club social, in the future, Becky said Harold recommended a wine tasting from 4pm to 5:30pm it was presented and voted on and passed, they will provide additional information. Bob Bishop and John Dooling spoke on the Rotary Foundation Bob went first, regarding the Rotary Foundation. He described how the Rotary Foundation is funded in part by E.R.E.Y. (do you know what that means? another way is other doners who donate directly to the foundation. The last way is the endowment fund and bequests. There is a board of trustees who review and make the decision of how the funds are invested. The Rotary Foundation has very low overhead and comes in at #1 on Charity Navigator for keeping our overhead down. The money is divided up into two groups (World Fund and District Designated Fund). They get broken up into four funds (Polio Plus/Global Grants/District Grants/Peace Centers and other Districts). Randy recommends if you donate give to the Annual Fund, and/or Polio. Each contributions go toward your Paul Harris recognition. The annual fund is the only way District Designated Funds are returned to our district in 3 years to pay for grants. One of the questions that surprised me was are there any people still in an Iron Lung in USA? the answer was 2. Rotary’s goal is to 50 million in the polio fund in order to benefit from the Gates foundation match of 2-1 for polio eradication. Our club has several Paul Harris fellows and benefactors, and two bequest society members (annuities) and for the last 5 years our club per-capita we have been 2-4 times the average district donations. John described the three types of donation members: Sustaining Member (This is a Rotarian who donates at least $100 US to the Foundation in a Rotary year) Paul Harris Fellowship (When a Rotarian or a Club has donated $1,000US to the Foundation the Rotarian may elect to nominate another individual as a Paul Harris Fellow. Self-nomination by the Rotarian is completely acceptable. Cumulative donations by a Rotarian or a Club over multiple years count towards Paul Harris Fellowship recognition.) Paul Harris Society (When a Rotarian pledges to donate $1,000US per year to the Foundation that Rotarian becomes a member of the Paul Harris Society.) They must apply and commit to giving a minimum of $1000.00 per year to The Rotary Foundation. Major Donor Once a Rotarian has donated a total of $10,000 US cumulative over time, that Rotarian becomes a Major Donor Level 1. There are subsequent levels for further donations in varying increments. We have two major donors in the club. Arch Klumph Society (A Rotarian who donates $250,000US in a one-time donation of cash or equivalent become a member of the Arch Klumph Society.) Benefactor (Individuals who include The Rotary Foundation for any amount in their estate plans are recognized as Rotary Foundation Benefactors.) Bequest Society (Individuals who include The Rotary Foundation as a beneficiary of at least $10,000US in their estate plans are recognized as members of the Rotary Bequest Society Member Level 1. There are subsequent levels for further donations in varying increments.) Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 am |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 26, 2021Marana Rotary Notes 10/26/2021 Business meeting via zoom, called to order # 701 am We will have an MCAT student @745 am via zoom, Richie and Dan will be there in person Randy said several people said the MCAT Student presentation just doesn’t seem the same. Before the students and family were joining us in person for the whole meeting and it felt more intimate to see the kids in person. Dan said he talked to Denise from MCAT, and like the way the last one went. Dan said the zoom meetings work better for the kids and their family, not having to get transportation to the venue. Mary said there is a lot of value in the kids seeing our meeting we are supposed to be introducing our youth into leadership and there is a lost opportunity where they are not attending. Peter said it was nice when they came but the fact that we only get a donut, he felt the zoom one we had the last time wasn’t bad. Don feels the zoom works ok also, and hearing from Dan the transportation is such an issue, it’s working out ok. Richie said it falls back on us to connect with student as well, be prepared with questions. Sad news Randy and Don where is a meeting for crises response in Rotary and learned that the President of the Rotary Club of Casa Grande, drowned in a rip tide in Hawaii. So keep them in your thoughts. Randy said there was a special committee meeting regarding the additional funds the club has club regular account. Lynne spoke on behalf of the committee; Lynne had prepared a report of things we have to pay each quarter it was broken down by things we should pay, things we should pay and those that discretionary and the total is $148.00 a quarter so we will leave the dues at $150.00. She said they voted to waive the dues this quarter. And that donations will be $2000 to the Marana Rotary Foundation and $2000 to the Rotary International Annual fund. John, Peter & Harold will donate their quarterly dues to the Rotary annual Programs fund. Sulee will donate her fees to the Marana Rotary Foundation to be used for Thanksgiving or Christmas for the family selected. – Randy said taxes have been paid per Lynne. Volunteers need to be at the airport on Thursday November 11th from 8am to 8pm, to welcome Rotarians from around the world coming in for the District conference. Mary has volunteered and possibly Denise, coupon need to be hand them for $5.00 off for their taxi ride to their hotel. There is approximately 500 Rotarians coming to the conference. Shirley Grace will be our speaker on Nov 9th, she has a global grant for Zimbabwe boys and girls club in Harare, she has donated to us she is asking for $. The District Conference this week - Mary and Don will be attending. Harold said that Denise has a meeting October 30 from 11:30-1 re the El Tour De Tucson aid station Dan will be working to get a name of a family who is in need from Denise @ MCAT, for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sulee will be working with Dan to get the food together and gifts for the family. Randy and Mary said the Peace Pole Dedication was great, speakers were good and there was a great representation of the community (Law Enforcement- Fire Department). It was very unifying for our community and really felt like we were ONE. We didn’t do happy bucks today – but happy to see Becky joining us – recovery has been a bit harder than she thought it was going to be.  MCAT student: Paris Fisher her mom Nicole and Aunt with two cousins attended us via zoom.Denise started by saying she is changing up the format a little bit by asking some interviewing Paris. Denise said she is a triple threat student they grade on academics, attitude & attendance and she is exceeding all three of them. D - What schools did you go to in elementary. P- said she went to about 6 schools in elementary school, went to Tortilla Middles School and then went to Mountain View and they started online and then found she wanted to go to school in person and came to MCAT when she was behind in credits and now, she is going to graduate ahead of time. D- she is such a communicator P- Yes, I like to interact with people and be positive with them. D- What are going to do when you graduate P- I am thinking about moving to Oregon to be with my mom or to Phoenix where I have other relatives. D- What are going to do after graduation P- I am thinking about Bio-medical Engineering or Wildlife Research Richie gave her movie tickets and a certificate on behalf of the Rotary Club of Marana. |
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Marana Peace Garden DedicationMarana Peace Garden Dedication October 22, 2021 Members of the Town of Marana community gathered to dedicate its new Peace Garden, built by the Rotary Club of Marana in a peaceful enclave of the Marana Crossroads District Park. Participants of the event included the Marana Chief of Police and Officers, the Northwest Fire Chief, a Pima County Supervisor representative, past and future District 5500 Governors, the Pastor of a nearby church, a member of a local Orthodox Jewish community, and Rotary Club of Marana members and friends. With each speaker, a felt sense of community and responsibility to peace grew. Each spoke uniquely about peace, but there was also a common core addressed. Peace is an attitude of interest, compassion, and understanding toward ourselves and others, even in the face of internal or external conflict. Conflict is a symptom that occurs when parts of ourselves, a person, or group are not welcomed with understanding. As Rotarians, we know that conflict, hunger, poverty, disease, repression all underlie interruptions in peace. It is why our intent is to do good works in the Rotary Areas of Focus throughout the world. It is not enough, however, to do good deeds alone. The most important component of our work and the one with the most lasting value comes when we incorporate attitudes of peace; interest, compassion and understanding with those we serve; when we elevate voices. May Peace Prevail on Earth  |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 19, 2021Marana Rotary Club Weekly Meeting Minutes, Oct. 19, 2021 The hybrid meeting dove straight into Happy Bucks: John D. reports his wife was in San Francisco and N California for a week. Lynne was happy that tax season was over and shared a funny frog joke David was happy to have spent time in Pinetop and had a great time seeing the first snows of the season Andy was looking forward to his trip to Canada and S. America Sulee reported that her husband’s medical challenges had increased, ☹; all offered their support and prayers Harold was happy to see new members showing interest in our club John Z. happily reported on his great grand daughter’s marriage and that he was enjoying two great, great grandchildren, ages 2 and 4 Denise was happily preparing for a vacation to Sedona Don was happy to have the Tucson Car Show, and coveting the Bat Mobile Peter lost his bags for 5 days in Washington D.C., but managed to visit his wife in Minneapolis before she returns to Tucson following a prolonged absence, leaving Peter to his own resources Cathy’s best friend is visiting the next day AND she is celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary. Congratulations! Mary reports that she is getting though life and her daughter was a “handful” Richie was happy that our IT is running so well, and thanked Peter for his clear instructions and generous help throughout the meeting debugging. And, Richie was happy for the passing of the summer solstice and changing weather Laura was not happy with the U of A football team and offered anyone tickets if they wanted. (I’m sorry, Laura; the minutes are late and their record is now even worse) Randy was happy to be standing erect in front of us Drawing- Harold offered the deck and Sulee drew the four of clubs. Announcements
Mary Straus agreed to speak on Vocation as it relates to Ethics. As a part of her presentation, she asked each club member to describe their vocation and how they felt it related to ethical and sel-fulfilling values.
Mary wrapped up her presentation by touching on the backgrounds of three founders; Paul Harris, Arch Klumpf, and Herbert Taylor and the history of Rotary International under their guiding principles. She described each’s motivations in founding RI with regards to ethics and their specific vocations. The talk provided interesting perspective on the history of Rotary. Sulee commented that she thoroughly enjoyed each member sharing their story and that we all learned more about each other. |
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Rotary Event Oct 22, 2021 |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 12, 2021Marana Rotary Club Weekly meeting minutes October 12, 2021 Randy – said he would like to have $500.00 donated SALF (Southern Arizona Law Foundation) John Dooling made a motion to give up to $500.00 to he SALF organization. Don Second it, we voted majority vote was passed. Randy said at the board meeting, a new committee was formed, and John Dooling is the head of it. It is to decide what we will do with the excess funds the club has $18k in GF, and the foundations has $11k. The Peace Garden dedication will be Friday the 22nd from 3:00 – 4:00 pm. The poles have the phrase “May peace prevail on earth” in 16 languages. Randy said we still need some minister, rabbi, Muslim leader to speak the will speak about 2minutes. Laura will try and get on from the Lutheran Church and Kathy has a relationship with the Jewish Center she will contact them. Don will attempt to contact one of the Indian tribes to see if someone would be willing to talk. Sulee will take the banners next Tuesday and bring them on Friday to the dedication. The Marana Police Chief and some dignitaries from Rotary are already scheduled. Kathy has written a press release regarding the dedication. Happy Bucks: Harold – told Randy we had not received the $500 from RI for the bench at the peace pole, Randy said he would investigate it and that’s what Harold is happy about. Kathy things are going well. Sulee is just happy. John Dooling told us about his 50 years (college reunion and having some great conversations with some of his old friends. Deznise will not be in town next week (I guess she is happy to get out of dodge for a week). John Z, just happy. Richie is very excited he got a promotion at work to the HR Director this is a virtual pat on the back Richie. Don 2000 families received shelter boxes in Haiti, and he is a Red Sox fan and there still in it. Laura happy her brother came to town, and he fixed her screen door. Randy, Happy he went to Kathy (who was a foreign exchange student) wedding in TX. Our speaker was Ross Freezer, talked about Rotary Peace Corp Fellowship and where he was at,(I didn’t get the name of the location) and he said there are a 160 members of the Peace Corp that have returned and are here in the Tucson area. We should be cultivating them to become members. We can go online and see projects that peace club are posting online. He showed us a video of where he served and donated close to 20,000 books. The teacher and coordinator in the video said it how much the videos helped the kids. One of the teachers said she had grown up in the US in such book rich environment and these kiddos don’t have books they can usually read. The books have been a chance to help the feel successful and when the finish a book they feel so excited. The group have also been doing some training for teacher. COVID had truly affected how this group can function right now. I was truly touched by the video. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 5, 2021Marana Rotary Club Weekly meeting minutes October 5, 2021 The meeting was hybrid with Peter working out the last of the virtual bugs. Peter will not be here next week; Harold agreed to stick-handle the virtual setup. Peter will distribute setup -for -dummie -instructions to members for future use. Happy Bucks
Announcements
Speaker Mary presented one of two powerful presentations from the Rotary Peace Conference, District 5495. Unfortunately, the three of us on Zoom had no audio and , apparently, there were also sound issues in the NWFD meeting room. Mary subsequently circulated the presentations to members. Andy Swarthout, Secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 28, 2021Marana 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)
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:
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Rotary Meeting Sept 21, 2021Marana Rotary Club Meeting Information September 21, 2021  Guests of Honor: Governor “Hank” Huisking Assistant to the Governor Marc Snow Announcements: El Tour de Cookie is set for March 12th At last evening’s board meeting, the Governor mentioned that a foreign exchange student is available for school year 2022/2023, is anyone interested? Please consider and respond, if so. This is for an inbound candidate. Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Foundation is soliciting several levels of sponsorship. Is our club interested? For consideration and future discussion. Due to time constraints, there is no Happy Bucks today. Don won the drawing! Speakers Marc Snow, Governor-elect for 2024/25, introduced himself. Now living in Oro Valley, Marc is a native Montanan involved in Rotary for 15 years. He has attended two international conventions in person and two on-line. Marc has hosted several foreign exchange students. “Hank” Huisking spoke to her focus as Governor. Staying connected in these pandemic times is her driver. Her membership credo is “each one of us Rotarians bring one and keep one member”. Governor Huisking spoke about Rotary International’s president, Shekhar Mehta, and his philosophies leading Rotary. The guiding messages the Governor shared were:
Announcements from the Governor
MCAT student of the month Richie Benner presented Noah, our MCAT student, and his mom, Leandra. Noah graduates in March from Coronado High with all A’s and B’s. Noah checked all the boxes, Academics, Attendance and Attitude, in being selected for this honor. His current goal is to be a shoe designer (athletic, not fashion) and Noah is very business directed. |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 14, 2021Marana Rotary Club Meeting minutes Sept. 14, 2021 The hybrid meeting was held at Mary Straus’s home featuring Cathy Lowling’s induction into the Marana Club. Kudos to the numerous individuals who made this meeting a “virtual” success with respect to audio and visual components. Randy thanked all for their patience not only for the struggle getting our hybrid meetings up to snuff, but for support during his 2 and ½ month travels away from Tucson. Randy briefly described highlights of his Quixotic journey across the USA. His time with Bob Bishop in Virginia certainly fortified an already strong friendship. However, his serenading of folks along the shores of the lake in a paddle boat may have cost Bob some friendships. Seriously, it sounded wonderful. Randy also described an incident in the Midwest where a buffalo grabbed an errant tourist, removing her pants. “The Midwest was a pleasant surprise.” Announcements Randy asked Andy to order Rotary badges and pins for Sulee and Cathy. There will be a virtual only board meeting Monday evening with the District Governor, “Hank” Husking. Randy asked that Marana Club Board members attend, and all were welcomed and encouraged to attend. Goals and objectives of our club will be discussed; therefore, it is important that our club’s committee chairs attend as well. I will distribute the time and links once confirmed. Dianne will also attend our club meeting this coming Tuesday. Randy asked that everyone attend, if possible. The Governor personally attends over 50 club meetings per year; therefore, our efforts to attend are important. Harold summarized last week’s social event where 7 club members toured the Marana Health Center. Harold reported that there may be two great candidates there that may be interested in joining our club. Harold also reported on efforts to have the 5th Tuesday in November social gathering at the 390 Air Museum. Several suggestions were made as to day and time. Sulee offered to circulate a poll with options and set the meeting according to the majority preference.  Induction of Cathy Lolwing into the Marana Rotary Club (note that yours truly finally spelled her name correctly, my apologies)Mary Straus introduced Cathy, and her husband, Mark, to the club. Cathy is the Executive Director of Felicia’s Farms, who we have come to know well as one of our club’s newest community projects. Mark holds the position of Director of Circulation and Consumer Innovation of the Arizona Daily Star. Randy provided background color prior to the formal induction. Their daughter, Amanda, will be participating in RILA and they have a son, Sam, 21 years old studying to be an air traffic controller. Both Cathy and Mark are musicians. Cathy plays guitar and Mark has written over 1,000 songs. Between Randy and the new inductees, our entertainment needs will be met for the foreseeable future. Randy emphasized that Mark will also be considered a member and is invited to participate in the club’s activities. Lynne presented a check from our club to Felicia’s Farms in the amount of $3250, representing ½ of the donation to Felicia’s Farms pending the remaining balance from the District. Randy presented the pin to Cathy and the club warmly welcomed Cathy and mark to Rotary. One of Cathy’s first involvements will be to assist in the Tour de Cookie event.  Speaker, Don JorgensenDon provided more information regarding how Shelter Box functions. We are all familiar with Shelter Box having participated for almost three years in supporting the effort. The Marana Club has been named a “Hero Club” being one of the most successful clubs in raising funds; $1,000 per year for three years running. Don used the recent Haiti disaster in describing the behind-the-scenes activities of Shelter Box. Shelter Box is aiding Haiti for the third time. 2010- 20,000 families displaced by a major hurricane were provided shelter (tents) 2015- Haiti was once again hit by a major hurricane and Shelter Box supplied rebuilding supplies designed for the youth to be actively involved. Today- Haiti encountered both earthquake and hurricane wherein 137,000 families were wiped out. Don described just some of the methods that Shelter Box utilized before entering a country such as Haiti. SB liaises with organizations such as the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and the UN in designing logistical support. Disaster aid is a straight-forward concept. What is less understood are the steps taken before a decision is taken to provide assistance. Don described the following: An assessment team was sent, in this case, to the Dominican Republic because of uncertainty and political instability in adjoining Haiti. Questions asked included:
Needs in this case were determined to be quick, temporary shelter gear, mosquito netting, tarps, grommets, wire. The assistance is underway and ongoing. Thanks to Don for his commitment and eloquent presentation. Andy Swarthout, Secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 7, 2021Marana Rotary Club Meeting minutes September 7, 2021 Next Tuesday, September 14th, the meeting (hybrid) will be held at Mary’s house at 7AM and will include a guest speaker and the induction of Kathy Lowling into our club. The guest speaker will be Amanda, the CEO of the Marana Chamber of Commerce. Amanda was scheduled to speak today; however, technical problems precluded the ability to have an effective presentation. The meeting began with numerous glitches and frustration. Peter, Harold, Mary and others did their level best to overcome audio and video connection issues. The meeting was indeed hybrid with some using their phones and Mary refereeing communications using various devices. We discussed ideas going forward including going purely hybrid and/or purchasing a laptop which would be set up for and dedicated to our meetings. Harold will attend the Dove Mountain hybrid meeting this Thursday to observe how they deal with the venue. Randy suggested calling a special board meeting within one week to weigh different solutions for presentation to the club. Happy Bucks (abbreviated) Randy was elated to have encountered an albino wild turkey (proof unknown) during his travels in northeastern Washington state this morning on his way to an internet connection. Laura shared her happiness after just having four of her siblings visiting after a long absence Others present were certainly happy; however, reports were skipped due to the late start this morning. Announcements
Committee Reports Mary gave an update on special projects, time having run short at our last meeting:
Mary asked the club to consider additional projects. Randy suggested club members volunteer to visit assisted living, especially memory-assisted living facilities as a club support project. The idea was enthusiastically embraced. Also consider Veteran homes . Andy Swarthout, Secretary |
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Marana Service ProjectsService Projects 2018 to Present Food Distribution for Community Food Bank of Marana Annually Host the Best El Tour de Tucson Aid Station Purchased Shelter Boxes Recognition of Students at a High School that Serves High Risk Students Contribution to the End Polio Now Campaign Memory Screening for Underserved: Nogales, Sonora Holidays Family Support Built a Play and Exploratory Area at a MUSD Elementary School for Children with Special Needs No Cost Tax Preparation, partnering with the United Way Painted Elementary School Bathrooms Built a School and Playground in Natabayengwe, Zimbabwe Home Renovation for Veterans in Marana Literacy Project – Provided Books for Low Income Families Partnering with WIC Programs Rebuilt a Home and Hot Dog Cart for a Family in Lima, Peru, following a devastating earthquake Host Many Exchange Students Economic Development in Cameroon: Lifting a Village from Poverty and Malnutrition to Prosperity through Development of Expertise in Cottage Industries and Business Practices, Development of a Garden, and Purchasing a Starting Herd of Cattle to Feed School Children Provided Air Filtration Systems for Special Needs Classrooms in MUSD during Covid With other Rotary Clubs, Planted over 100 Trees at Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery Peace Garden with Peace Poles Renovation of Assisted Living Facility in Mexico Devastated by an Earthquake Distribute Fresh Organic Produce to the Picture Rocks Community Center Handbags of Hope for Victims of Domestic Violence. Renovated old folks home in Mexico. Backpacks for MUSD students Oxygen generators for COVID patients in India Oxygen tanks for COVID patients in Mexico |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 24, 2021Marana Rotary weekly meeting August 24, 2021 The meeting was held all virtual, again attended by folks from all sorts of locals including Tucson. Welcomed was our guest, Cathy Lowling from Felicia’s Farm Randy asked if everyone was in favor of Happy Bucks, having heard that there may be thoughts to the contrary. Members supported the continuation as a form of comradery and personalizing our meetings. So… Happy Bucks Harold loves the nice weather, for a change, and was happy to have had a good look at the space station circling the heavens Dan was not happy. His past weeks have been filled with house remodeling nightmares punctuated by mask conflicts within the school district Andy was happy that all of the fire smoke had dissipated over Utah….for now. Richie was happy for the follow-through and commitment to the Peace Poles Project, having been initiated 18 months ago under his watch John D was happy for he and Harold having delivered the first round of produce from Felita’s Farm. On a profoundly sad note, he lost an obviously close and important friend. Members reached out with strong emotional support. Maybe a good reminder as to why we share during Happy Bucks Don was happy for the completion of the Peace Pole project and noted that in his travels to Seattle and Rhode Island, he has not seen a drop of rain; ironic as Tucson is flooding. Laura was happy to see the start of teaching at the U of A Beckie was happy to have harvested several good speaker candidates at an Oro Valley event for nonprofits. Mary was happy that Cathy will soon be applying to our club for membership. She was also grateful for Peter pulling her stuck car out of her front yard (must be much more to this story?) Sulee was happy to have things going smoothly Bob was happy to have his 5 ½ year old grandson starting school Denise enjoyed a fun interview with a vocational fund applicant Peter enjoyed the process of hydraulically lifting his house, twice, so that he could video the event Cathy was happy to be joining the Marana club and that Felicia’s Farm produce was used in a Thai themed banquet Randy was happy to be soon welcoming Cathy and for our relationship with Felicia’s Farm Announcements Harold advised that the Peace Pole Project pictures were posted on the website. Everyone was grateful for the very hard work performed by Mary, Peter, and Laura over the past weekend. Next week the meeting will be “social” with a tour of the Marana Health Center; breakfast to follow. Meet up will be at 7AM; six people indicated their intention to join. Sulee will send specifics for the location. Lynne not being present, Randy briefly presented the Budget report. All-in-all, the club’s fund is robust with a balance of approximately $11,000 after taking into consideration monies owed or committed for Shelter Box, Felicia’s Farm, the San Carlos old folks project and, perhaps, the Uganda Project (to be confirmed). Randy noted that several club members are behind in dues and urged all to verify. Apparently, some communications from Lynne to members may have been lost as Lynne is using a new email address. (Look for possible emails from RotaryLynne@gmail.com) Denise has been kind enough to volunteer to bring goodies to in-person meetings for the month of September. Randy remined that the time is coming for adopting a family for Thanksgiving and X-mas; so, please start thinking. The topic was raised that clubs can reserve a table at the upcoming District Convention to showcase their club’s accomplishments. Mary recommended that we reserve the table now and decide later how and what to prepare. Peter offered the use of his display stands for a nice presentation. After discussion, it was generally felt that participating would inform the attendees of our club’s track-record and potentially attract new members. Committee Reports Membership- Don is compiling the questionnaires sent to club members and will report in more detail when time permits. Meanwhile, he made several general comments:
Foundation- John Dooling reported on his and Bob’s activities during a very successful year. The Marana Club may not be the biggest or wealthiest; however, the dollar amounts donated per member are the highest of any club in the District. Members are reminded that donations to the Annual Programs Fund are encouraged and that matching funds from the club will boost the donations. Matching funds, along with our donations, will count towards each individual’s Paul Harris designation. The Foundation meeting will be held on November 2. Youth Services- Richie announced that upcoming dates for the Student of the Month Program are Sept 14 and Oct. 26. Due to our limited time, Randy asked that Committee reports be continued at a later meeting. Andy Swarthout, Secretary |
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Rotary Club of Marana Peace Poles Rotary Club of Marana Peace Poles Crossroads at Silverbell District Park
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2020-21 Rotary Annual Awards |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 17, 2021Marana Rotary Club Meeting minutes Aug. 17, 2021 This was a hybrid meeting with attendees currently chiming in from such romantic locals such as Virginia, Washington, and Utah. The club welcomed our guest speaker, Abby Rosen, Executive Director of the Marana Community Food Bank. Happy Bucks (we seemed to have had to dig deep today!)
Announcements Shelter Box- Harold will determine if the $1,000 donation has been submitted by the Foundation. Don reported that Shelter Box assessment teams were already on the ground in Haiti. As soon as it is determined to be safe, more teams will be deployed to aid in the disaster. Randy announced that a young lady will be interviewing the following day for support from the Rotary Vocational Fund of AZ John D. and Harold reported that we need to start thinking about the next contribution for the Cobijo Project in San Carlos, Mexico. Randy pointed out that only 17 people have registered for the upcoming Conference and asked for more to consider attending. RILA- Randy reminded that he would like to see two candidates put forth for support from our club for RILA. He asked that any candidates be brought forth by the end of this week so that interviews can be scheduled for the following Monday. Nominees will not be considered beyond the end of the week. Sulee made the motion that the club fund up to $900 ($450/student), Laura seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. Speaker Abby Rosen gave an outstanding presentation on the Marana Community Food Bank’s vision and functions. The scope and reach of this organization were likely under-appreciated by most of us. Besides over 2,200 meals prepared daily, the organization provides support for acquiring GED’s, has a learning garden, manages a five-acre farm and provides a drive-through service supplying 3-5 days’ worth of food in the form of emergency meals. Its partnerships serve 5 counties in S Arizona. The Food Bank is also involved in broader policy issues such as advocating the increase of minimum wages to $15/hour in Arizona. The main purpose of the Food Bank is to provide food assistance in a way that allows for community members to participate with dignity. The Bank has 160 employees and thousands of volunteers. Randy noted that the Marana Rotary Club had supported the Marana Food Bank for as long as 30 years through meeting collections up until the Pandemic. He suggested that continued support should be discussed at the Club’s next Board meeting. Andy Swarthout, Secretary |
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SHELTERBOX HERO CLUB” club-specific certificate for MARANA ROTARY CLUB
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Rotary Meeting Aug 10, 2021MARANA ROTARY CLUB Meeting minutes, August 10, 2021 Mary welcomed our guest (and future club member?) from Felicia's Farms, Kathy Lowling. Randy announced:
Mary had two announcements:
Harold announced that for the 5th Tuesday social event this month (August 30th) there will be a tour of the Marana Health facility beginning at 7AM; breakfast possibilities to follow the tour. A discussion ensued regarding in-person versus hybrid versus virtual meetings in the face of rising concerns over the Delta Variant. Consensus was to continue status quo; however, Randy asked that anyone uncomfortable not attend in person and that everyone attending in person PLEASE wear a mask. Since we did not have a speaker, Randy asked for members to think about and share why we were Rotary members. The themes centered around fellowship and projects for the betterment of our communities, local and abroad. Many expressed the relatively small size of our club and, therefore the efficiency and passion behind our projects. Many referred to the ability to effect youth and pointed to their many positive and life-changing experiences with their involvement through exchange programs. Most agreed that the comradery of such a small but generous club was the motivator for being in Rotary. John compared the club to a secular church where he has made close friends in six countries. Sulee joined for business reasons; however, three youth exchange students changed their lives. Bob described a similar story after having taken in the first five Russian students after Glasnov and introducing them to capitalism. Happy Bucks Harold was happy to have found his raincoat John D. was just happy. He reported that his mountain biking injuries were improving. Peter related the emotional encounter with a procession of 200 emergency vehicles commemorating the recent death of a Tucson paramedic. Denise loves the rain but not the abundance of resulting flies. Her car is now safe as Carl has purchased a new car Laura happily scored 4 season tickets to the UA Women’s Basketball games. Everyone instantly became her best friend. Mary was happy to have ridden to the meeting with Kathy of FF Richie was happy that his new digs did not flood and that his roof was undamaged….unlike so many of his new neighbors Denise was happy to have had Laura drop by the store. She was also proud of the generosity of our club Don was happy to have seen family and friends back east and was trying to find his way home during the airline chaos Sulee was happy to have cleaned up after flooding Bob was looking forward to Randy’s (brief) visit to Virginian Randy was happy to advise Bob that he wouldn’t stay more than 90 days and was looking forward to the prolonged visit Andy was happy that the horrendous wildfire smoke was clearing in southern Utah in time to watch the meteor showers Andy Swarthout, Secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 3, 2021Marana Rotary Club Meeting Minutes August 3, 2021 The meeting was held hybrid with a smoother start thanks in large part to Richie and John D. Announcements Randy informed the club of Sally Montagne’s birthday party which sadly coincided with her husband, Ernie’s, bout with Stage 4 brain cancer. Randy asked members who knew them to reach out with messages of support. Don reported that 50% of the membership questionnaires had been received. The club has an opportunity to provide volunteers for the upcoming Balloon Festival, mid-November (exact date to be confirmed). The event will begin the afternoon and extend into the evening with tethered balloon rides. Randy was supportive; however, reminded all that it will occur close to the Zone Institute (November 11) where dignitaries from Rotary will be arriving at TIA for which volunteers are also needed. Mary reminded the club of the Peace Builder Network occurring August 17 at 6PM(date and time to be confirmed). As a member of a Peace Club, all are welcome to attend. Marana has informed us that the club will be responsible for the landscaping at the installation. Mary suggested a rock garden with few plants instead of a full blown garden. More peaceful, Zen-like. Volunteers are being sought for the project. Felicia’s Farm- Cathy has already made a produce run and is excited to have our support. Volunteers for deliveries, maybe twice per month, will be required. Harold noted that the woodchipper they have is inadequate for their purposes. Therefore, the grant amount will need to increase above the approved $3,000 budget. Happy Bucks Laura is happy for the flowers produced after the recent rains Mary is happy that she was able to mow her lawn after an apparent long period of growth. Denise was happy that her husband was feeling much better John Zwitzer was happy to be back amongst friends. John Dooley went fishing at Big Bear Lake where he attempted mountain biking. This is apparently not his sport as he fell no less than 5 times and suffered a concussion. Being a potentially serious matter, the club wished him a speedy recovery. Richie was happy that, unlike his neighbors, he didn’t lose his roof in the monsoon storms. And he was able to watch kayakers and fisherpersons plying the swollen washes. Andy was happy to have his internet back after lightening fried his electronics Denise was grateful for the rains but not the weeds Don was happy to be in the countryside north of NYC and looking forward to attending a 50 year wedding anniversary in Rhode Island Beckie echoed the happy sentiments regarding all of the refreshing rains Randy happily reported that the earth was indeed round as evidenced by the curvature observed in the Nebraska flatlands where he is visiting his cousin on his Jack Kerouac journey across the USA Speaker Alex Wright, Executive Director of the 390th Memorial Museum, gave a fascinating talk about this museum located on the grounds of the Pima Air Museum. Alex is a former Air Force fighter pilot who joined the museum in the summer of 2019. The 390th was one of three principal fighter wings based in England in WWII responsible for bombing campaigns over Germany and Nazi occupied Europe. The aircraft used was the B-17, of which one of 40 remaining is on display at the museum. This B-17 has a fascinating history. While it was produced in 1945 near the end of the war and never saw battle, it was deployed by the US Coast Guard in cartography projects followed by use as a slurry bomber in fire fighting until its retirement in 1979. It was installed in the museum in 1986. The purpose of the museum is to memorialize and commemorate the role of the 390th bomber wing in WWII. Alex described the many stories and ways in which the stories are preserved. The sacrifices and losses over the wing’s 20 months of bombing campaigns initiated from English soil. The museum has the largest collection of flight jackets in addition to exhibits on aircraft nose art, POW stories, a soon to be added turret exhibit, and an exhibit for the Chow Hound campaign at the end of the war where the 390th B-17’s were used for food drops into the winter-hardened Netherlands. Alex was an engaging speaker with a myriad of interesting facts about the 390th. The museum’s stories and objectives are described in their excellent website, www:390th.org. Randy indicated that the Museum would be ideal for one of the Club’s social meetings that occur monthly. Alex said he would welcome us and provide for a private experience for our club. An opportunity we will surely act upon. |
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Rotary Meeting July 27, 2021Marana Rotary Club Meeting minutes July 27, 2021 Yours truly is grateful to Mary for clarifying errors regarding the Cameroon Project in last week’s minutes. Happy Bucks
Speaker Mary introduced the speaker, our very own Richie Benner, to talk about the Watermark kids’ program. Richie described his journey from scouting to becoming involved with Watermark Retirement Communities, a nation-wide assisted living program. The scouting financial crisis led to Richie’s departure from scouting (at least in a salaried role) in June of last year; however, he landed quickly with Waymark one month later where he oversees move-ins, transfers, and about everything else where he can lend support. No surprises here! He has facilitated 28 move-ins/move-outs over the past 26 weeks. Richie’s talk focused on Watermark for Kids, a non-profit foundation aimed at providing opportunities for kids to thrive and to be empowered. The Foundation operates similarly to Rotary in its overall objectives, reaching out to make positive impacts in our communities. It differs mostly in its ability to be a bit more agile in decision-making; not surprising given its very streamlined structure. Watermark (a private company) provides one foundation administrator in Tucson whose salary and overhead are covered by Watermark. Donations go 100% towards funding kids’ programs. The only criteria, other than need, is that kids be between the ages of 6 to 22 years old under the premise that all kids deserve support. The role of the Foundation is to provide mentors with the objective of creating future leaders for our communities. Richie went on to describe six great examples of specific cases which illustrated the diverse array of backgrounds and projects being pursued by the kids. The examples included kids who were physically or financially challenged with dreams of becoming a softball star, a sled-hockey player, a culinary chef, and a supreme court justice. The examples represent only six of over 300 similar stories. Questions asked included “how are candidates selected, how big is the foundation, and what, exactly, do you do, Richie?” The year 2020 was only the second year after the establishment of the Foundation so the platform is still being built. Richie would like to see more kids being presented for consideration and a more effective spreading-of-the-word to find candidates beyond the Watermark group. Candidates are selected and matched with coaches who can be mentors and monitor the funding. Residents can be mentors. Safe to say that many members learned a different dimension of Richie’s character. Further illustrates why Richie is so involved in Rotary. Andy Swarthout |
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Rotary Meeting July 20, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Marana Rotary Club Meeting minutes, July 20, 2021 The meeting was held virtually instead of hybrid due to the NW Fire District’s need for both meeting rooms for a memorial in honor of the sudden death of the Fire Chief in a small aircraft crash while assisting firefighting in northwestern Arizona. Sulee, the scheduled presenter, was not able to attend as she was transporting her husband to the hospital for blood transfusions. The Club expressed their deepest wishes and support for his recovery. Absent a speaker, Randy framed the meeting as an informal club business meeting. Notable was the day’s attendance by members from all over N. America. Maybe further….who knows where Peter was logging in from. Happy Bucks- a rather light Happy Bucks session ensued. Don happily completed a ½ marathon in the Cascade Mtns. foothills while enjoying his time in Seattle. Harold was happy to have dined recently with John Zwick who will hopefully be attending our hybrid meetings. John Dooling said he “was just happy”. He attended a little league baseball game where his nephew played. John lamented that parents have changed little, expecting that their offspring be sports prodigies. Richie is happily filling holes with spackle in his new digs. He echoed the little league sentiment saying parents, just let your kids play and have fun. And that he was twice as happy being backup for Randy while Randy galivants across the country. Mary was happy to be back at work after two weeks off. Bob Bishop reported that he was enjoying 79-degree temps and overnight rains; Vail received over 1” of rain and he was excited to have guests soon to visit. Peter was very quiet with a broken microphone but texted that he was quite happy. Andy was in Belize scuba diving and promised to contribute $1 for every meter of decent under water. (Calculations are in process) John and Bob expressed delight over the successful launch of the Blue Horizon space vehicle and Bob revealed that he had the chance to sit in the space vehicle while visiting Seattle a while back. Laura was recharged after a vacation in Kauai, Hawaii. Jen was happy for the rain and excited to be a new member. Randy misses his moose and deer who apparently have distanced themselves from his Deer Lake cabin because of nearby timber cutting. Dan Contorno; we reported for Dan that he must be happy- he was fishing in Idaho. Denise was happy that June was potty trained. And she thanked Mary for her thoroughness and care towards the Cameroon Project. Other Discussions Beckie expressed thanks to Denise for her work on the Tour de Tucson aid station to be sponsored by Marana Club on November 20th. Denise described the Tour sponsorships. The Tour expects 6,000 to 9,000 riders. Sponsorships BEGIN at the Bronze level for $3,500 and that there were over 40 corporate sponsors. Randy suggested that the Club restrict our support to the Aid Station only and the members agreed. Volunteers for the aid station to be determined later. Mary mentioned that the Peace Poles have arrived. Marana would like to handle the installation: however, Mary said that the design would be directed by the Club. She suggested that a garden be designed and asked for input and volunteers on the design and construction. Mary also reported that the grant proposal for Felicia’s Farm had been accepted by the District for funding in August. She discussed the concept of supporting food insecure people in conjunction with the Picture Rocks Community Center Inc. Logistics were discussed for transporting the estimated 300 pounds of food per month. Excess could be donated to the Picture Rocks women’s shelter. Since Picture Rocks has little infrastructure (coolers, etc.) the distributions could be broken into 2-3 deliveries per month. Vehicles will be needed on a volunteer basis. Mary gave a brief presentation on the materials acquired for Felicia’s Farms and suggested that two volunteers could participate on a rotation basis for distribution of food 2-3 X/month. Mary also provided an update on the Cameroon Project. Certain administrative glitches have been resolved with the arrival onsite of Poobah (sp?). Classrooms are outfitted very well now, and attendance is increasing. The gardens are producing so kids don’t have to walk great distances home for lunch. Additionally, there are seven cows providing milk. Mary also reported that the grain bank was functioning well with over 100 sacks of millet providing for grains to be borrowed during the spring to summer season when crops are not available. Unfortunately, the women’s businesses are not going great due to administrative challenges. However, the local Rotary club is providing support for the Association of Women until things can be sorted out. Don advised that a rather thorough questionnaire will soon be sent to members. The survey will assist in seeking new members. Randy thanked Don for his hard work on the New Members task. Randy reached out to Jen, asking if there was anything further the Club could do to welcome her and assist as a new member. Jen said she felt at home and part of the family. Randy noted that on Nov 11 Rotarian dignitaries will be visiting Tucson and asked for volunteers to welcome them at TIA. If volunteers can provide their time on a two-hour basis that would be greatly appreciated. Volunteers can answer questions and make suggestions to welcome our visitors. Finally, Randy asked club members to think about local projects for the coming year. He also encouraged members to visit the “old folks” home in San Carlos as one of our local efforts. John Dooling said he will seek Board support for continued involvement in the San Carlos project for the coming year. Andy Swarthout |
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Rotary Meeting July 13, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting July 13, 2021 Club Business:
Happy Bucks
Program Our very own Sulee Edwards spoke with us about the Missing in America Project with which she’s been involved for over 6 years. The Missing in America Project began in 2007. MIAP locates, identifies, and inters the unclaimed remains of American Veterans. Its mission is to provide honor and respect for those who have served our country but had been lost. Individuals become ‘lost’ for a variety of reasons, from unknown whereabouts of family members to issues of PTSD and addiction that lead to alienation from family. To date, the project has located 21,499 unclaimed ashes of veterans across the United States. Of those, 2438 have been given a proper military burial. Veterans from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars have been interred. Ashes are brought to the burial service by a member of the branch in which the individual served. Each veteran receives a gun salute, a fly over, and a flag presented to family members. MIAP has no staff; volunteers provide what’s need for everything from locating and identifying to coordinating burial services to providing whatever is needed for the service. Marana Veteran’s Memorial donates space in its columbarium for the veteran’s urn and Adair Funeral Home donates urns. The next Missing in Action burial service will be in October at the Marana Veteran’s Memorial. President Randy suggested that we all consider attending. We are grateful to Sulee for bringing our attention to the honor our veterans deserve and to this non-profit dedicated to ensuring they receive it. Mary |
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Rotary Meeting July 6, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting Minutes July 6, 2021 Club Business Denise has secured an Aide Station at the intersection of Coachline and Silver Bell Roads for the Tour de Tucson in late November. Seven club members indicated their availability to assist. Further details to follow which will address health and safety protocols. Randy announced that Don Jorgensen is seeking the District 5500 Governorship for 2024/2025 and introduced a resolution for the Club’s endorsement. The club enthusiastically passed the resolution and will endeavor to complete the required paperwork by July 31. Congratulations Don! There will be a Board meeting Wednesday, July 7 to be held virtually. Randy welcomed Jen Shaw as the newest member of Marana Rotary. Jen gave a brief intro having recently arrived in Marana by way of southeast Tucson and Colorado. She is a single Mom of two, active in the Chamber of Commerce and a sales associate of Allstate. Randy warmly welcomed Jen and gently reminded her of her responsibilities as a Rotarian. The meeting warmly welcomed Jen to the Marana Club. Happy Bucks (abbreviated session due to technical issues and time constraints)
Raffle drawing, Lynne drew the 2 of diamonds. The pot continues to grow. Program Audio issues continue to plague us in our hybrid meetings despite heroic efforts made by Peter, Harold, Richie, John and others. Confidence is high that improvement will continue and victory is to be achieved. Presenters - Amy and Victoria of the Northwest Fire District spoke to the meeting on the dangers of monsoon flooding and heat-related health issues in the Tucson basin. Amy has been with NWFD for four years, the last two of which were dedicated to her passion, public education and awareness. Veronica came to the NWFD from Bisbee where she experienced first-hand the power and destruction of flash flooding in Miner’s Gulch running through a major part of town. Amy described the intensive training given to first responders for swift water rescue. She reminded us that flash flooding is an inherent risk of living in Pima County and that, despite the common sense rules, many long-time residents as well as new arrivals become complacent about entering flooded roadways. Interestingly, in 2017, we ranked number 8 in the nation for deaths due to flooding. And over half of fatalities were vehicle related. Quite the statistic for an arid, desert environment. We hear it every year; rescues and fatalities result from drivers ignoring barricades to enter flowing roadways under the belief that the water isn’t that deep, swift, or dangerous. Amy made the important point that only one foot of water will make a vehicle buoyant. Despite decreasing monsoon activity since 2014, rescues and fatalities remain some of the highest in the nation. Veronica presented the dangers of heat-related illness. The stages begin with Heat Cramps and progress through Heat Exhaustion and, finally, Heat Stroke. How to recognize each of these progressively worse conditions were explained and the “do’s and don’t do’s” described for each case. Again, despite common sense, we see the horrific results of ignorance every summer. Particularly alarming are the cases of infants or pets left in cars. Veronica showed graphics of temperatures rising within vehicles (even with windows partially open) for outside temperatures ranging from 80 to 120 degrees. Even at 80 degrees, the results were rapidly catastrophic. Amy’s and Veronica’s presentations focused on two themes. 1) NWFD places a great deal of emphasis on rescue and 2) there is constant public education in order to avoid having to utilize that expertise. Final thought- as this is my first set of meeting minutes produced, I welcome any feedback. Too dry? More/less detail? Warning- I tend to become more sardonic and editorial as comfort level grows! submitted by: Andy Swarthout, Secretary |
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Randy Brooks Installation 6/26/2021-2022Randy Brooks Installation June 26 2021 The installation party was held at the home of John Dooling The meeting was called to order by John Doolinig (president 2020/2021 year) The first order of business was to install Randy Brooks our 30th President of the Rotary Club of Marana After business was taken care of the Members and Guest partied on     |
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Rotary Meeting June 15, 2021Marana Rotary Meeting Notes. June 15 Meeting Attendance: Lynne, John D, John Z, Dan, David, Mary, Laura, Sulee, Andy, Richie, Peter, Harold B. and Randy. Few announcements: Banner year (3rd in district % of members who donated to Rotary Foundation Fund, #1 in per capita for district) June 26 installation at 6 p.m. for Randy Brooks as president for 2021-22. Sugar Skulls game this Friday — those attending will need to arrange to meet John before the game. Email from Joyce Zwick about the need for oxygen concentrators in India. Mary moves to donate $2,000 to the oxygen concentrator bank in India; Laura seconds. Passes unanimously. Lynne reported that the wire to San Carlos project for the renovation of the senior living home was completed. Happy Bucks Richie — UA men’s baseball team to Omaha and Suns doing well, Richie’s mom in town from Michigan to celebrate Charlie’s 3rd birthday. Sulee — happy to have husband back home after a trying hospital stay. Andy — family visiting from Illinois and sun out in the Northwest Lynne — “If you’re happy and you know it ...” Harold — Skin cancer removed and it went well John Z — I like the warm weather but this is ridiculous. Hoping for a good monsoon. Dan — Hoping for a good monsoon, too. David — After months of testing, pool no longer leaking. Mary — Headed up to Pacific NW for vacation. Just finished a seven-week course on Trauma and Wisdom which was really good. Laura — Happy that it is Pride Month and Juneteenth, a month of celebrating freedom and liberation in this great country of ours. John — Dan is a member of this organization. Dan’s journey — Born in Chicago. Moved to Marana when he was 5 because of “allergies”. Dan’s father was a lineman, who said there weren’t enough clothes for that job in Chicago. Dan’s mom was speaker for Weight Watchers and traveled nationally as a motivational speaker. Went to UA and got a degree in finance and accounting, and thought he was going to settle in Denver but tried to put in gas in his truck but there was ice caked on his truck. Opening in the MUSD business office, about 30 years ago and returned to Marana to take it. He is now going on 20 years as being the CFO for Marana Unified School District. Dan married to Heather — they met in an Eagles concert line for the Eagles farewell concert tour. Played lots of softball a while back. He loves to golf, and passionate about fishing (about the experience, about that one single moment like seeing a brown trout jumping out the water). He ties his own fishing flies. He and Heather have two children — Kelsey is 20 and working as a special education aide and Kaitlyn, who is married and has two children. Overall, he’s had a wonderful life. “It’s about relationships,” Dan said. |
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Rotary Meeting June 1, 2021Marana Rotary Meeting Notes June 1 Meeting A few technical difficulties that we are ironing out. Attendance: Robert Bishop, John Dooling, Andrew S, Peter M, Beckie P, Richie B, Harold B.guest Jen Shaw who wants to join our club. Celebrations today — Beckie Penman’s anniversary 51st — Harold Burtzloff’s 84th birthday Announcements Dan Contaro returning from White Mtns today and can’t be here. Happy Bucks Randy — had a great visit to Las Vegas, Son and daughter-in-law pregnant and buying a townhouse, donate $100 for Happy Bucks. Mary — brother and sister-in-law in town, put in drip system and planted roses and ate first home-grown tomato Andrew — will match Randy’s happy bucks, the sun is out in the NW. John Dooling — happy to see John Zwick. Bob Bishop — sending a check for $300 for happy bucks. Richie — watching UA women’s softball team advanced women’s college World Series and UA baseball team hosting Regionals. Complimented on eyebrows. Laura — Enjoyed family over Memorial Day. Denise — got together with siblings, seeing John Z, good business month in May Harold — spent time w/ granddaughter and go to do some flying. Paid $100 for Happy Bucks. John — nice to “get out of jail”, see the country and really happy that we are back together again. Thanks for the calls. Peter — great to be back in person again. $100 happy. Don — got back from NYC and New England Sunday night. Carlton Bradford — direct descendant of William Bradford who founded Plymouth Colony. $100 for Happy Bucks. June 26th — installation ceremony of new officers at John Dooling’s house. Rotary Intl — asked clubs to reach out to contacts in India and Brazil to find ways to help. India is no-go from a reliable source Randy knows. In Brazil, Randy heard from Emanuelle and he’s having a further conversation with her today. Natal, Brazil. Peace Poles update: ordered. Mary will follow up. And will follow up on the bench. |
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Rotary Meeting May 25, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; May 25, 2021 Club Business
Happy Bucks:
Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting May 18, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; May 18, 2021 Club Business:
Happy Bucks:
Program: Randy attended the monthly Peacebuilder Meeting for us, being a dedicated Peacebuilder Club. He was so touched by the meeting that he shared with us some of the lessons he took from the speaker, Jerry Leggit.
Randy recalled a personal experience that resonated while he listened to Jerry speak about peace. As a corpsman in the Vietnam war, he, along with another corpsman and two soldiers, would provide Medcaps. Medcaps were medical clinics set up in remote villages to treat local villagers. Randy recalled a feeling of complete peace, fulfillment, and love when working in the villages, fully aware that some of those he was treating were viet-cong. His heart was more open than it had ever been up to that point in his life. In retrospect, Randy identifies these moments as the moments he “became a Rotarian.” Many thanks to Randy for sharing Jerry’s inspiring lessons and his own inspiring experience. Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting May 11, 2021 Rotary Club of Marana Minutes of Meeting 5-11-2021 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: John D., Harold, Joyce (Guest), Sulee, Lynne, Andy, Denise, Don, Richie, Laura, Dan C and Beckie. Special guest and speaker Dot Santy John let us know he will be receiving a new hip on the 19th of May. Good luck, John. The club voted to move our meeting effective, June 1, 2021, to the Northwest Fire Department off of Ina. The actual street address is: 5125 W Camino De Fuego, Tucson, AZ 85743. Exit I-10 West at Ina Road. Turn South over the Freeway and get in the Right lane. Immediately after the Q Store turn right …. It is at the light. Just after the turn in the road and just before the trailer sales turn Left onto Camino De Fuego. Go about a block and you will see a large building and tower. Walk past the burned, railroad car to the main lobby. Say hi to Angellina and go down the hallway to your right to the second to last room on the right. We will be there. The club will provide coffee and pastries. As we go along we will refine the menu. You’re going to like this site. Call me if you get lost 520-403-4763. Masks will be suggested but not mandatory …. Those with immunizations for Covid are suggested to attend. We will make every attempt to have a hybrid meeting but it may be a challenge the first meeting. Fundraising – the 2nd Friday of June we will have an online poker tournament …. Dan C is arranging for this event the 11th of June. Details coming – when the flier is sent please distribute to everyone and everyone on your various mailing lists. They can be anywhere and join in on the fun. Sulee is helping with the tournament. John announced that in the next few weeks we will have a visitor from the La Jolla Club whom is traveling to Tucson on occasion and is interested in discussing with us Alzheimer’s disease. She is asking for volunteers for a study. Details to come. RI has asked that clubs in concert with one another or alone and attempt to find to help with the Covid situation in Brazil and India. Randy and John have contacted people in Brazil to determine need and Randy via of Shirley Grace (a friend of the club) has reached out to India. We may have up to 4 clubs and Jefferies Foundation willing to contribute to a few clubs and/or communities. Research in process. Happy Bucks: Harold: Sad actually, wife’s hard drive crashed. Joyce Z our Canadian friend is happy “spring is coming”, we skip that and go directly to summer. Randy – neither happy nor; sad. Skip him; Sulee, Jim is receiving massive amounts of chemo to attempt to strangle his cancer. This will go on for 6 weeks. Keep him in your thoughts. Andy – Not good or bad. Much like his friend Randy, Don J: Happy to be going back East tomorrow to see daughter, Grandson and old buddies, I mean really old buddy (96 years old). Lynne entertained us with a joke and Denise said it was happy Tuesday. She did not explain herself. Richie did a cool ‘Staycation’ that had an indoor water park. Dan had to leave because of a school bus accident. The child struck by the bus was later found to be OK and the incident will be investigated. John awoke to six deer at his water through this morning. Now that is cool. Laura visit her mother’s grave at the VA cemetery in Phoenix. Her mother is buried with her husband …. Whom by the way was a “Pharmacist mate” … that is what Hospital Corpsmen are called today? The change was made in 1948. Speaker: Dot Santy moved to Tucson many years ago to avoid cold winters, she bounced around and found her passion in helping children with few means to provide food, clothing and basic necessities for themselves. She started seeing homeless children and these events were an AWAKENING for her. Cindy Roust (Marana Community Services) and she started SOS – Success of Students – noticed that kids were hungry, could not afford to go on outings, they had no funds but Dot began asking for help. She raised $12,000 on her first fundraising activity. 40% of children need free or reduced meals in the Marana Unified School District. Her first year she raised 24,000. In 2019 her group was able to provide holiday meals to 700 families. SOS goal: is to establish a sustaining committee that wants to support these children by fundraising and donations to these children in need. Here are the groups working to support her wanting to raise enough for 700 backpacks: Del Webb, Silverbell Mines, Cal Portland and Watermark as well as the Marana Police Department. She stressed that children are innocent. The parents have found themselves in situation where they cannot help the children, Covid, economy, addiction, bad luck, lack of training …. Whatever. The children face the consequences of these issues. John discussed how many years ago our club supported immunizations for children via of the Marana Health Center … Sulee remains on the board of MHC and will speak to the board to see if the need exists anymore for help. If you would like to speak to Dot Santy she can be reached at dotsanty@gmail.com. Dot left the meeting and Lynne suggested we pool funds and buy 30 backpacks stuffed with school supplies. The club at John’s direction voted to supply 30 bags at a cost of $900.00. – |
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Rotary Meeting May 4, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; May 4, 2021 Club Business:
Happy Bucks
Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting April 27, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting April 27, 2021 This morning we took stock of our 2020-2021 Rotary Service Projects and are grateful to have had so many opportunities to touch lives.
Happy Bucks:
Program Laura introduced us to Cathy Lolwing, executive director of Felicia’s Farm. Cathy moved to Tucson in 2010 with her husband who works with the Arizona Daily Star. They have a 15 year old daughter and a rescue husky. Cathy has been with Felicia’s Farm since responding to their ad 10 years ago, “work in sunshine… help feed people.” Felicia’s Farm was created by David Cutler to honor the memory of his wife, Felicia Ann Cutler, who died in 2009. She was a compassionate woman whose vision was to “feed people and teach them to feed themselves”. A fitting legacy, David turned his backyard into Felicia’s Farm, and it has grown steadily since its humble beginnings. Currently the farm produces 700 pounds of organically grown produce and, with 700 hundred chickens, up to 2000 eggs per week, all of which is distributed at no cost. The Mission of Felicia’s Farm is “to lift lives in Tucson.” In 2019 one in five people in Tucson lived with food insecurity. The highest poverty rate was found in individuals below age 18. In South Tucson one out of two people had insufficient food. Since then, with the pandemic, poverty and food insecurity has only worsened. Felicia’s Farms distributes their produce and eggs to community groups who serve, for example, the homeless, fleeing battered women, families, and seniors. These groups include
Felicia’s Farm is also dedicated to environmental sustainability. They grow flowers to ensure bees for pollination. Cut flowers are then given to Senior Homes. The farm is currently on a well but will be implementing technology that draws humidity from the air. Felicia’s Farm administrative costs are only 5% of their budget. The farm depends on the work of approximately 50 volunteers a week. Volunteering is flexible and doesn’t require scheduling. Show up and you will be put to work in the compost, making berms, painting, weeding, harvesting… All the things. We thank Cathy for such an uplifting presentation and Felicia’s Farm for the heartfelt work it does in our communities. Submitted by Mary Straus |
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Rotary Meeting April 20, 2021ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MINUTES – 4.20.2021 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending Zoom Meeting: President John, Harold, Randy, Sulee, Joyce (Alberta visitor), Andy (Portland), Peter, Robert (Virginia), Denise, Laura, Richie, David, Beckie, Lynne, Dan C. (what a great turn out today) The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance by Denise. We went immediately into discussion about Venue for the future meetings. President John and others have been negotiating in good faith with a business called TOPS. There has been a struggle with this company, first being encouraged to meet on Tuesdays and then stating their staff did not want us to come on Tuesday. The Club considered moving to Thursday to accommodate TOPS. Peter and Don discussed with the owner the pricing structure and some of the things we may need going down the road. The owner countered with a letter to John indicating that she would authorize a three week trial period and complained the club kept trying to lower the price and were being unfair. Although there were several reasons this venue was attractive, there were issues that made a few of us uncomfortable about a long term relationship. Part of the problem is that Mary would not be able to attend Thursday morning meetings and David H may have to leave the club. Randy proposed that we withdraw our offer to meet at TOPS and after discussion the club voted to withdraw our offer and work to find another venue. Shredding Project went perfectly, the people coming through were happy and seem grateful to be able to rid themselves of confidential papers. Don J. did a great job of coordinating this event and with the help of John, Peter, Don, Harold, Beckie, the Dooling Family (5), Randy and Deb, Denise, Mary and anyone I missed (sorry) it went without a hitch and initial counting it appears we have a net of about $2.165.00 Don J. went by Nana’s and received a check for $200.00 for the screen we purchased to use at Nana’s Kitchen. Dan C., is suggesting we meet at Coyote Trails School beginning July 1, where we can bring our own food, use their internet and hold face to face and virtual meetings for the future. Dan will return with more concrete information soon. President John did a presentation about a project for seniors in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico in cooperation with rotary D 4100. This is or an “Old Peoples Home,” that was devastated in a hurricane many years ago. John also lost a boat he had stored in San Carlos during the storm. The structure of the buildings were left intact but the inside was severely damaged. This project at the “El Cobijo Old People Home,” will repair rooms, provide heat for the winter and provide air conditioning in the summer months. Phase one of the project is nearly complete, Phase II will cost about 32,596.00 and Phase III will pay for additional rehabilitation and will cost $97,803.57. The consumers of this home is homeless, elderly people. The club voted to donate from our Club Foundation $2,000.00 for this project and Randy agreed with John that he will request our club supporting this next year as well. Great presentation John, let’s move forward. Another advantage of this project we can, once we are safe from the virus, travel to San Carlos and see the project and maybe pitch in as well with muscles. This next week we will have a guest from Felicia’s Farm …. You do not want to miss this, another potential local project. John and Dan are reaching out to the Town of Marana, Northwest Fire, and Marana Unified School district for membership and meeting location. We hope good news arrives soon about a great meeting space. Meeting adjourned. |
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Shredding Event 04172021 PRESS RELEASE Contact: Donald G. Jorgensen 520-906-9148 donjorgensen@comcast.net Marana Rotary Club Shredding Event Raises $2800 for Local Projects Tucson, AZ, March 22, 2021 – The Rotary Club of Marana recently held a drive-through community shredding and electronics recycling fundraiser that raised over $2800 for humanitarian projects. Over 70 donors participated in the three-hour COVID-safe event at the Harkins Theater in Marana. All proceeds from the community fundraiser will support the Marana Rotary Club’s local and global humanitarian projects. Recent projects included the purchase of special air filters for Marana High School special needs classrooms, an adaptive playground for a local elementary school, health and education projects in Mexico and Cameroon. The Rotary Club of Marana is an open, non-partisan, non-political organization that believes in “service above self.” Membership provides community connection and participation in projects with men and women who act for a better world. The Rotary Club of Marana is proud to be designated a global “peacebuilder club.” www.maranarotary.org.   |
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Shelter Box Congratulations Congratulations to The Rotary Club of Marana, recognized as a District 5500 ShelterBox HERO club with the donation of $1,000 and three year pledge. ShelterBox, the leading international disaster relief charity, delivers humanitarian relief in the form of equipment and materials that bring shelter, warmth and dignity to people made homeless by natural or other disasters worldwide. ShelterBox is respected for its integrity and impartiality, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and often looked to by the United Nations Human Refugee Counsel to provide aid in the most difficult countries around the world. In 2012 ShelterBox became Rotary International's first Project Partner and only disaster relief charity. This agreement enables both organizations to collaborate more closely to bring relief and temporary shelter to survivors of disasters worldwide. The fundraising efforts by Rotarians make up a significant proportion of donations received by ShelterBox |
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Rotary Meeting April 13, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; April 13, 2021 Club Business:
Happy Bucks:
Our meeting closed reciting the 4-Way Test Submitted by Mary Straus |
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Rotary Meeting April 06, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; April 6, 2021 Club Business
Happy Bucks
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Rotary Meeting Mar 30, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; March 30, 2021 Club Business
Happy Bucks
Submitted by Mary Straus |
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Rotary Meeting Mar 23, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; March 23, 2021 Recognition of the Mountain View Interact Club, sponsored by Dove Mountain Rotary. Mountain View Interact donated 200 pairs of socks to Youth On their Own and has a nice write-up in today’s newspaper. Congratulations, Interactors! Club Business
Happy Bucks
Program In Celebration of Women’s History Month, Laura invited Jan Cleere to speak with us today. Jan is an author and historian who writes about experiences of first settlers in the southwest territories. She is particularly “fascinated with the hardships women faced in early settlements and forts in the western territories.” Her newest book is titled Military Wives in Arizona Territory: A History of Women Who Shaped the Frontier. In addition to books and magazine articles, the Arizona Daily Star publishes monthly articles by Jan that each introduce us to one of the women she has Jan introduced us to a couple of remarkable women who were in Arizona in the 1600s; Julia Davis and Elizabeth Hutchin Smith. Elizabeth was a black woman who at one time owned ½ of Wickenberg. Each story was a treat. We also, however, got a good taste of what it is like to research; to play hide and seek with sources, chasing rabbits into holes. The journeys generally begin in one of the following:
One of Jan’s closing remarks was sharing that the more a historian finds primary sources, the more one realizes that what is told and taught in history is not accurate. We are so pleased that Jan Cleere joined us today, inspiring each of us to connect to past times. Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting March 16, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; March 16, 2021 Today was a special day. John had the honor of performing “the greatest pleasure of a presidency,” installing Sulee Edwards into the family of the Rotary Club of Marana. We all are so pleased Sulee has rejoined us, as we know her to be an outstanding Rotarian and humanitarian. Sulee was appointed to serve on the Service Committee and to the Foundation Board. Today was also a special day because tomorrow is President John’s birthday. A pitiful but heartfelt song was sung, and best wishes from all of us are with him. Club Business:
Happy Bucks
Program Today we welcomed Karen Rorke from Watermark Retirement Communities, who spoke with us about aging and elder care. Karen became an employee with Watermark after experiencing her mother’s aging with Alzheimer’s. Her mother’s fear, anger, and anxiety were often not listened to or given proper attention. Because of these experiences, Karen was inspired to become involved with elder care. 20 years ago, elder care was revolutionized away from skilled nursing facilities toward a continuum of community care. Watermark is exemplary of another shift that is occurring in community-based elder care. What can typically occur is a placement when an individual isn’t able to meet their needs independently. The placement is, generally, a reaction to the client’s dysfunction. The care is focused on management of the clients symptoms. The emerging perspective in care is proactive, anticipatory and collaborative with the individual. In this perspective, choices regarding living are centered around the resident’s and family’s interests, needs, and choices. It supports the resident to “thrive, not just survive.” Ideally, there is a continuum of living options in one community. For example, Watermark offers short-term care living, independent living, enhanced assisted living, and memory care all in one campus. In such a community, residents can access more support as the need arises, disrupting their quality of life as little as possible. Communities that offer adjunct activities and create community with the residents also support the vitality in the individual. We thank Karen for inspiring us to be proactive advocates in our own aging and in the aging of our family members. Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Community Shredding Event |
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Rotary Meeting March 9, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting Minutes We were saddened to hear of the passing of a long-time, vital Rotary Club of Marana club member, David Lightfoot. David left our club approximately 6 years ago after he retired and moved to Phoenix. He is remembered affectionately and with respect. Our hearts are with his family. Today we were honored with the presence of our District Governor. Thank you DG Diane for visiting and keeping us connected to the District. Club Business:
Happy Bucks
Program Laura introduced us to the community outreach team from Northwest Fire Department. Laura sang their praises in her interactions with them as her mother aged. Joining us were Veronica, who has been with District for 20 years, Tom, who has been with the District for 18 years, and Amy, a newcomer from Oregon since 2017. Tom Krike for 18 years The Team spoke with us about home safety… Safety for Older Adults; Fire and Fall Prevention. Smoke Alarm Safety
Electrical Safety
Fall Prevention Falling is not a normal part of aging. What’s causing them?
Home Escape Plan
Many thanks to the Northwest Fire Department for the important information and for its concern and advocacy in our community. Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting Mar 2, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting The Meeting began with some wonderful news. Suelee Edwards submitted her application for membership to our club. Suelee has been a valued member in years past, and are very pleased she will be joining us again. Laura refused to sing the Star Spangled Banner for us, but she did produce a beautiful photo of our American flag to which we pledged our allegiance. With no members’ birthdays or anniversaries to celebrate, we dug a little deeper into the community and wished John Michael Straus, Mary’s brother, a happy birthday. Club Business:
Happy Bucks:
We had a special treat to close our meeting. Randy performed for us, as he gets ready for the District Conference. We are eager to hear more of his beautiful singing and his strumming. Thank you, Randy. Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotarm Meetinf Feb 23, 2021ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA, AZ MEETING MINUTES 02/24/21 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM via Zoom Submitted by Randy Brooks The club participated in a robust, yet fragmented pledge. Attending Today: John D., President; Joyce Zwick (guest from Canada); Randy, Laura, Sulee (Guest and potential member); Lynne, Don, Denise, Mary, Dan, Richie, David, Andy and Karl. We have another guest Dan Streeter, Superintendent of the Marana Unified School District attending – welcome Dr. Dan Streeter. The Rotary Convention has been cancelled for in person attendance. It will again this year be a virtual event. Perhaps a few of us can attend the event next year in Houston. There will be a Rotary District 5500 Conference in June in Tubac, Arizona. Hope it actually happens …. Our governor and her team deserve a break in having an in person event. President John is quite proud of our club, we are the only or one of a very few that have 100% registration with My Rotary. Way to go everyone. We have written several former Rotary Youth Exchange students asking that they send a photo from their youth exchange and only a few have responded so far. Jeanne from France and Eleana from Peru are two that have responded. We hope we receive more and that Richie is able to post their photos and comments on our Facebook page. Denise won a contest for her jewelry store in the amount of $500.00 which she in turn donated to the Rotary Club of Marana. Thank you so much Denise. Discussion but no resolution to the issue of used electronics. The shredding day is in our future in April, 17, 9 AM to noon. Don Jorgensen sent out a request for volunteers and asking to help with specific tasks. Anyone with graphic and marketing ability please help. Those able to shred please volunteer. Those that can register people and collect funds please help. We lost the ability to hold the Tour de Cookie this year and these small fundraising projects are extremely important. I know the event is in my calendar and I will help, I heard Mary volunteer and several others nodded your heads. Please e-mail Don and tell him what you can do: donjorgensen@comcast.net. Thanks. Happy Bucks Joyce Zwick: John, her father and our club member (95 years old), had his second COVID shot. Laura: has visitors (sister and family) and is enjoying the socially distant time with them. Sounds like a weird statement. “Come on over but don’t touch me and stay outside.” LOL Randy told a bad joke about COVID and its side effects. You would have had to been there. Let everyone know that Deb is doing well with the new knee. Two Hips, two knees, spinal cord and wrist. What could be next? Harold has his second COVID vaccine and visited with George Rigney, a former member whom lost his spouse recently. Sulee: Our newest potential member (in waiting period). Her husband has serious health issues and was having procedures on Tuesday AM. However the schedule has changed and so Sulee now can join our club. Great news for us. Those of you that don’t know, Sulee was a member several years ago and in my opinion welcome back. Don – happy that he participated in RYLA. 40 youth attended that seemed engaged. Thanks Don. Beckie – happy that she was able to go to a park with her extended family. Feels sort of normal again (not quite yet Beckie – but better). Dan C. – His latest binge watch on TB is “Songs that Changed Music.” He commented that playing guitar is complicated. Randy agreed and then confessed that he doesn’t know how to play either. Mary: received second COVID vaccine and had a slight sore arm, in spite of the joke, this writer, made about her. She misses Laura and cocktails in the evening (because of Laura’s guests). She was reassured they will begin again. Denise is very happy that her employees agreed to donate to the club and that Dr. Streeter is here to visit today. Lynne: Not happy, software issues that will be fixed soon. She told a joke about tomatoes not being a sweet fruit, and how most of us do not have tomato smoothies. Yea, you sure? Tomato, Lemon, spices, celery, and vodka that some have in the AM. That’s really close. Andy: Apologized for being late, he is in Portland, Oregon where up to 350,0K00 have been without power. He has had internment power. Stay warm Andy. Karl: Happy family visited Richie: received his second injection had some symptoms but is doing better now. David: Has enjoyed his children doing the study at home and is a little sad they will be going back in person. You’re a great dad, David. Introduction of Dr. Dan Streeter by Laura: Dan (we use first names in Rotary, Dan) Superintendent of Marana Unified School District – MUSD). As CEO he is in charge of day to day operations and tons of employees. Previously was Superintendent at Humboldt and the HR director. He has a PhD in Education Leadership and strongly feels personalized learning is the key to success for our children. He is happy he gets his second vaccine next week. Married for 21 years, two sons from the union, enjoys biking. One son is a senior at Mountain View High School. The other son is younger and in class. MUSD has 12,000 students, covers 500 square miles, 1,800 employees and 700 teachers. He believes in collaborative partnerships. MUSD is rated high in US News and World Report, Blue Ribbon Schools, considered electronically advanced and engages in “code to the future.” A coding process for counselors in all schools. He discussed Advanced Placement Program only 1,000 in the world. The school has been hybrid, open, closed, open closed …. Sounds a little crazy making. The staff have been cleaning, cleaning and cleaning, tedious but important. Literacy needs are being met, learning critical thinking and graduates are ready to contribute to society. “Identify what is right with children and engage their strengths … not weaknesses.” Great presentation Dr. Dan. Come back again. Meeting adjourned. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 9, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; February 9, 2021 Today began with a hurrah to our own Valentine: Peter Mack was born on Valentine’s Day and married on Valentine’s Day. Many happy wishes to him and his wife, Josie. Club Business:
Happy Bucks
Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 19, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Minutes – 1/19/21 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: John, Harold, Randy, Bob, Don, Peter, Andy, Richie, Carl, Joyce (visitor), Beckie I apologize for the tardiness of these minutes …. I was so excited about my birthday I completely forgot the minutes as well as my name and location. This was a general meeting without a presenter: Question if Denise is returning to the club ….. John will follow up with her. Dan C., and John held a meeting with the Old Pueblo club and discussed the possibility of a poker tournament. John announced a Neil Diamond concert with the Dove Mountain hosting. It will be held this Friday, 1/29/2021. Check the website for additional information. Randy mentioned his birthday and his total excitement in becoming 75. RYLA: We have two children registered and can take one more if you know a high school aged student. Dan will check with MCAT to see if they have someone. We have an opening for a student to participate in the 4-Way Speech contest. Needs to be registered by the 1st of February, 1st place is $1000.00. Please check out the website if you’re interested in referring a student. Peter visited a meeting in the UK for fun... Challenged everyone to join a meeting somewhere in the world this next week. Discussion of posting our connection information for our meetings and it was decided not to do it because we could be hacked and could experience naked people showing up at our meetings. LOL Don’s friend Carol is still interested in joining our club, but has some medical issues to resolve first. On Martin Luther King Day there is a meeting of all Peace Builder Clubs. Several members are hoping to attend. Actually, Don, Harold and Randy attended 38 attended from our district. They have a Rotary Action Group (RAG) that is a fundraising group and also acting on ways to foster peace around the world, including Peace Poles. They hold peace events and support scholars. Beckie discovered 5 guys’ burgers and sounds like she will return. Joyce went out to dinner. Richie will tomorrow receive his first COVID injection … yea. Carl wishes the new administration in DC and is hoping for peace. Andy: Hard to find happy right now (I get it), Rain is nice and is hoping the country will work together to be a “more perfect” union. Bob: completed a 1000 word jigsaw puzzle. His spouse has symptoms of COVID but actually it was a dental problem. Anyway that is what I heard. Peter: Renovating his bathroom and discovered the slab is broken under the tile. Mary: Apprehensive and hopeful for the new administration. Visited the Sandhill Cranes and enjoyed the moment. Don: Returning from NY and sad to leave his grandson behind. He has been helping Jana and her husband paint. Randy: Worried about COVID and his wife’s surgery tomorrow (she did fine by the way) Harold: Gets his COVID shot on the 28th and is happy. John: Played golf for the first time in forever. Scored an impressive 90 on the front 9 hole. Lost 9 balls but found 12. On Saturday he sat on a Prickly Pear Cactus. That’s it folks. As usual please keep needed corrections to yourself. As you know I have to write these from a few weeks ago and my retentive memory is strange. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 12, 2021Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; Jaunary 12, 2021 After the slow-motion rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance… Club Business::
Happy Bucks:
Submitted by Mary Straus, January 19, 2021 |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 5. 2021ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING MINUTES 1.5.2021 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: Harold, John, Randy, Andy, Richie, Peter, Mary, Dan C, Laura, Carl, Beckie and Don was excused, traveling. Richie was asked about his recovery from COVID 19. He is feeling better, was very ill. Lost the sense of smell, 14 pounds and was in isolation for about 10 days. Does not recommend COVID as a weight loss program. States breathing is a big deal (probably for all of us) and indicated that lying on your side or stomach and not your back is not suggested. If I were on my stomach it would resemble a child’s teeter totter but I digress. Little bits of exercise to keep the lungs working is important and unfortunately painful… He appreciated all the e-mail, texts and calls from the club during the illness. Glad you are back Richie. We learned of the unfortunate passing of Alice Rigney of a probable combination of heart disease and COVID. Not additional information is available. We all hope George is holding up OK. The annual USA/Mexico Peace Conference – to learn about global grants will be hosted by Mexico this year ….. Plans are to hold a virtual meeting lasting two days, February 13 – February 15, 2021. More information will follow and when President John receives it will pass it on to you. All are welcome to attend. Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) is around the corner. As most of you know it is a three part experience, Level 1, 2 and 3. I encourage all that have not complete attend and participate in this important learning experience. You can find registration information on the District Website. Google Rotary District 5500 webpage or go to www.rotaryD5500.org. To totally complete the program you must complete all three levels. This year you can attend three consecutive Saturdays and graduate. Trust me, if you can do three Satrudays it will save having to complete three sessions over a year. We are all hoping to have a place to meet face to face in the future, not sure when. Laura promised to check again with the YMCA and see if they have room for our locker with banners, flags and other items stored within. Andy had mention he may speak with the folks at Tohono Chul again. Dan and Mary delivered Christmas dinner and gifts to our adopted family. They seemed very appreciative of the effort by our club. Dan, Randy, Laura and John discussed the Tour de Cookie and the Covid virus. Early March seems to close with the numbers of those ill increasing and shoving it into April may be too late and quite a bit warmer. We also discussed that the winter visitors are usually departed by April. The board will discuss this evening about whether to have the event this year. We discussed a virtual poker tournament. Dan is going to look into it for us and as a dry run we will have one session just for members of the club and then hopefully a full-fledged event as a fundraising event after. Beckie suggested a raffle ….. If we do that it will be important to have a large ticket item to give away. We also discussed having a 50-50 raffle virtually as well. More to discuss. HAPPY BUCKS Harold …. Spending quiet time with family. However virtually attended a birthday party for his granddaughters first birthday. She did not eat her cake, just crunched it up with her hand and presumably smeared it around. Remind you of anyone? Randy- Has the Covid blues, wants the simple pleasure of going out to a movie and maybe dinner. Oh, yes, and Hawaii as well. Working around his place. Andy – Like Randy is tired of the isolation ….. As he sits in his newly built home in Utah, with beautiful snow around the property. Sounds like a winter wonderland. Must be tough, Andy. Peter- bought a smoker BBQ and made hamburgers for his crew. Went shopping on Christmas Eve at Costco, a family tradition for years. Very wise Peter, whatever you buy will last until next year at the same time, because everything is in bulk. Good job. Mary- 2020 is gone, says she with a small tear in her eye. Feels like the chaos is still with us, politics, virus …. But we still have Mary’s positive attitude. Actually, she is very hopeful for the New Year, the possible passing of the virus and for the potential growth of our club. Dan C. - Now here is a story, each year he and friends from Heather’s bicycle club climb Picacho Peak. Dan and another fellow hiked to the saddle on the mountain. The rest hiked to the peak. Dan’s new BFF (he was a talker) decided to fall off the mountain bouncing around on rocks and yelling and such. They had to call for an extraction by a helicopter for the fellow who suffered a loss of dignity, broken clavicle and ribs. Happy New Year to this fellow. Laura – returned yesterday from New Orleans where she attending a wedding for her nephew. Had a wonderful time and is now in quarantine for a week to make sure she is not contaminated with the virus. She thanked Mary for watching her horse sized puppy, Masie. Beckie – she says that she is enjoying the quarantine….. What? She did leave the house (busted) for one client and to purchase a ham. Says she has enough ham for the New Year. Richie- is grateful that his family is healthy is worried about elderly family members and for those that are pregnant. Carl- Great to be with his family and mentioned that several of his clients have had Covid but to his knowledge none have passed away. Our fingers are crossed for you and your clients, Carl. John D., he is missing his weekly trips to Costco however that does not deter him from doctors where he received an injection in his heal (ouch) and he is now painless from tendon and muscle pain in the foot. Maybe next year you can go to Costco with Peter. We have several pending new members, one a possible transfer from the Tucson Club, another a returning member and a third that is a friend of Don Jorgensen. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE and remember …. If you find that any of my ramblings are incorrect, it’s OK, Mary will be taking notes next week. Be well and be happy. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 22, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; December 22, 2020 Announcements:
Happy Bucks:
Program: Laura Introduced us to our very newest member, Andy Swarthout. Andy carries a degree in Economic Geology from the U of A; a degree in “prospecting”, as he puts it. He has participated in an/or led Minerals Exploration from the tip of South America to northern points of Alaska and across the world. In 1990 Andy accepted a 3 year assignment in Lima, Peru and ended up working and living there for 15 years. In the Andes Highlands he discovered the largest undeveloped silver deposit in the world. In 2000, Andy founded his company, Bear Creek Mining Corporation, from which he retired in 2017 but continues on the board. Andy has had many adventures and discovered quite a number of mineral and metal deposits in his tenure. He describes his business as high risk; with intrepid scientists, engineers, and field workers hazarding into very remote places. His means of transportation have spanned from planes to helicopter to cars to busses to burros. He has even survived a helicopter crash. Andy delighted in talking with us, however, not about his mining adventures, but about the culture of his company. Mining has a horrible legacy of indifference toward the people and environment where surface rights have been purchased. Mining regulations have begun to move toward more responsible approaches to mining. However, Andy’s company has led the charge with a model that stresses the company’s relationship with the public and the environment. This model has at times put him at odds with other mining companies. Andy illustrated this for us with, Bear Creek Mining’s relationship with the indigenous, Quechua people who live in the Andes Highlands where the company’s silver deposit is. There are approximately 25,000 Quechaus living in a 30 mile area at 18,000 feet in the Andes Highlands. Their language predates the Incans. They are a communal oriented, agrarian people whose livestock mainly consists of llamas. Their economy is based on their crops, their livestock, and wool of the llamas. They suffer poverty, malnutrition, poor education, and high mortality rates. Bear Creek Mining, Andy in particular, forged a trusting relationship with the Quechua community, listening to and coming to understand theer culture. Over time, he had conversations with all communities members and leaders about their ways, their strengths, their wishes and their needs. Together the Quechuas and Andy developed a plan to bring the community out of poverty through improved health, education, and commerce. With Bear Creek Mining support, the Quechuas transformed themselves into a healthy, economically autonomous community. Bear Creek put effort and money into its success; it built green houses, schools, and bathrooms for the community at large. It also supported the development and implementation of a nutrition program in the schools and offers college scholarships. Bear Creek even brought in a geneticist to evaluate and implement a plan for improved fiber from the Alpaca. Subsequently, it provided business micro loans, mostly to women who have the creativity and know how to produce textiles, weavings, and clothing for sale. Quechua fiber went from bringing in $7/kilogram to $25/kilogram. With their improved wool, business practices education provided by the Bear Creek, and microloans, Quechua women have become completely autonomous selling textiles known for being of the best quality in the region. They even have Italian importers in their customer base. With their greenhouses and bathrooms and education about nutrition and sanitation, health has greatly improved in the Quechua community. The mortality rate has decreased by 50%, respiratory infections by 25%, and acute infections in digestive tracts by 50%. There has also been a 6-fold increase in school attendance with corresponding improved literacy rates. There are even student who have been able to take advantage of college scholarships. Andy shared beautiful pictures with us of the Quechua people and their lives. In them it was apparent that the delight Andy exhibited in talking with us about the Quechuas was a mutual experience for them regarding Andy. Andy, a relatively new Rotarian, is someone who built a business based on the principles of the Rotary 4-Way Test. We are appreciative of the work he has done and proud to have him as a member. Submitted by Mary Straus, January 4, 2021 |
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Rotaary Meeting Dec 15, 2020ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA WEEKLY MEETING MINUTES 12.15.2020 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: Harold B., Randy, Joyce Z (visitor), John D. (president), Beckie P., Bob B., Don J., Andrew S., Peter M., Mary S., Lynne H., Laura C., Dan C., Mindy Blake (Guest and speaker RTA) Pledge of Allegiance: Harold President John stated the following will receive PHF awards in the mail. Congratulations to Andrew, Beckie, Peter and Mary. Mary, Chair of the Club Foundation went on to congratulate all the awardees and the entire club is appreciative of the effort. John asked if everyone has signed up on My Rotary yet? If not please do and help the club be the first 100% compliant club. If you are having trouble contact Harold and he will help. Slate of Officers for the Board of Directors for the RC of Marana and RC of Marana Foundations voted on and the results are: Rotary Club of Marana Board of Directors President: Randy Brooks Secretary – Andy Swarthout Treasurer – Lynne Himmer President Elect – Laura Clymer Member at Large – Mary Straus Member at Large – Don Jorgensen Immediate Past President – John Dooling Rotary Club of Marana Foundation Board President – Harold Burtzloff Secretary – Bob Bishop Treasurer – Lynne Himmer Member at Large – Beckie Penman Member at Large – Carl Maes Thank you all for offering and accepting to serve. The vote was unanimous. John is sending out information to members regarding a fundraising event for the Coolidge Rotary Club. Kingman Rotary Club requested our clubs help on a project in the Middle East. After discussion it was decided to table the request for a later date. HAPPY BUCKS Harold – Enjoying the weather and happy that his children are recovering nicely from Covid 19 Randy – Happy that so many stepped up to be board members and remarked his Diabetics is doing very well. Bob – Still in Oklahoma staying with family whom are recovering from Covid 19. Andy – Happy to be elected to the board and that he was awarded a PHF. Don – Excited that Seattle Magazine did an article on his book, “Three Worlds – One Voyage” You can purchase this book on Amazon or Kindle…. Just sayin. Peter – was excited to go to Chile and sad he unable to fly. Remember that Jupiter and Saturn will dazzle us now and into the solstice December 21. Mary – announced her niece is still Covid positive but, Mary and another niece are negative. She mentioned she is happy that the board was elected for next year. Laura – is happy that she has shopped and today is mailing gifts to her family and that they should arrive on time. Carl - Harold dropped by his office this week and picked up donated food for the needy. Lynne- Once again entertained with a funny joke about football. Dan – Crazy times at the school district... MUSD still meeting in person. Joyce – Pass John – Three of his family, first responders and pharmacist are receiving Covid immunizations this week. PRESENTER: MINDY BLAKE, OUTREACH COORDINATOR, REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY This has been a big year for the RTA and plans are being prepared for the future of the agency. She pointed out that RTA and the Pima Association of Government, PAG, are administratively the same. In order to make road improvements, build better bridges, bike paths and other efforts the voters voted for a ½ of a cent sales tax increase several years ago. For all you acronym lovers she showed us how funding works for various projects and agencies, involved in all of this ….. Here we go are: RTA, PAG, FPA HURF, FNWA and ADOT. The process: The advisory committee develops the recommendations for improvements, then they establish priorities, RTA approves or discusses, Public input is requested, Plan is reviewed, then a call for election is made (your vote). If you would like to get involved text 22828 or go to the web at www.rtanext.com. Wendy answered several questions regarding jurisdictions …… Pima County is responsible for unincorporated areas. RTA works mostly on arterial roads and projects within all the cities, municipalities, and tribal lands in our area. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 1, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Meeting, December 1, 2020 Everyone was in a cheerful mood on this chilly morning. We were honored to welcome District Governor, Diane Ventura Goodyear, to our club. Announcements/Club Business:
Assistant Governor Marc Snow introduced us to Diane Ventura-Goodyear DG Diane’s Rotary highlights include: presiding of the merger of two clubs; being part of a Global Team in Uganda, where she taught technology skills to women; transforming District 5500 to more sustainable technologies, involving moving trainings to online and setting up cloud-based infrastructures. These have benefited the district, clubs, and individual Rotarians alike. Diane was a computer professor and is a long-time owner of her business, The Computer Nanny. In addition to her career, Diane enjoys embroidery, yoga, and her family. She has been married to Gordon for 35 years and raised 2 children, both now young adults District Governor Diane Ventura Goodyear began with acknowledging the radical changes that were thrust onto all of us by the pandemic. She lamented that she was unable to follow through with her plans to spend significant time with “our brothers and sisters” outside the Tucson area. Diane encouraged us to continue to be cautious with in-person meetings, but also highlighted some of the benefits that have come from these challenges.
DG Diane shared with us RI President Holger Knaack’s Goals for Districts worldwide:
DG Diane further stressed with us the following:
DG Diane left us with the following: “Life is about using the whole box of crayons.” Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 24, 2020Meeting Minutes, 11-24-2020, 7:00 AM Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: President John, Harold, Randy, Andy, Bob B., Mary, Suelee, Dan, David, Don G., Peter, Laura, and Joyce Zwick Pledge was led by John. Discussion of handbags and it appears we donated over 115 bags to Gospel Rescue Mission and Sister Jose Center for Women. Both agencies appreciated our efforts. Thank you to all the Rotarians, family members and friends that donated purses, those that packed them, Carl for letting us use his office and those that delivered the purses. Dan Contorno, not to be out done, went shopping with Heather (his spouse) and shopped for Thanksgiving dinner for a family of 10 people. It was wonderful to see the photos of the food, as we all prepare to overdose on food, dessert and drinks ourselves in a few days. Thank you Dan and Heather. Christmas is around the corner and the Club (Dan, Mary and others) will shop for this same family for Christmas dinner and gifts for the family. John announces four members are not on “My Rotary” at the Rotary International site. Please update your records and visit our Rotary Club of Marana website as well. Next Monday, Nov 30, the Board of the RC of Marana will have a meeting with Governor Diane Ventura-Goodrich. The following day she will visit our club meeting so please attend. RYLA program: It will be virtual this year and the cost is only 50.00. Please encourage your friends and family to send their high school kids. There will be an In Door Ride to End Polio soon ….. Did not catch the date and planning is underway for the high school 4-Way Speech Contest as well. Happy Bucks: Harold had breakfast with John Zwick and John is hoping we get back to face to face meeting you he can join us and actually hear the conversation. Has no one shown him to hit the volume button on his computer? Harold also discussed distribution of 600 turkeys a year in Kansas and that it is hard to find a freezer that large. Randy: Happy about club projects and proud of our efforts. Andy: Happy to be back in Tucson – sad about accident on Interstate 10 and looking forward to a simple Thanksgiving. Bob B., is in Oklahoma staying with his mother in law … happy holidays Bob. Mary: congratulated Richie on the project of special air filters for disadvantaged children in the MUSD for students. Laura gave a website for a podcast that would give those of us that are challenged instructions on how to split a turkey in two, pound on it and then cook it. Ask Laura if you need help finding the website. She is also happy her brother Sister is visiting as well. They all were evaluated and practicing safe distancing. Suelee, application for membership has been sent to John D., welcome Suelee it is wonderful to have you back. Don J., Happy about the uplifting meeting and projects. Sad about the loss of a friend’s spouse. Peter: Discussed that he is happy about the holiday, will have a quiet day, glad the political season is coming to a close and glad a vaccine will soon become available for Covid. Joyce: Wishes us in the US a happy Thanksgiving (hers was in October, of course). Dan: Loved helping with the needy family and the club 300 budget was perfect. David: is happy with his family. His daughter joined the Marana High School Cross Country Team. But became ill …. However after running with his daughter he’s now in good enough shape to run in a race (Turkey Trot) himself. Go David. Richie: has a brand new puppy and reminded us to remind those that surround us. Nice John was driving to the airport with his granddaughter early in the morning and she saw her first sunrise. She was astonished and John was as well. Great story. Speaker Today: Club Foundation Chair Mary Straus Mary provided a great presentation on The Rotary Foundation and The Rotary Club of Marana: President John established a goal of $10,000 giving for club members this year. Whew, that is up from $7,000.00 last year. Let’s all help him reach that goal. She discussed how our club has participated in numerous District Grants, Global Grants and have been generous to the Rotary Foundation and our own Club Foundation. Brief discussion on the Areas of Focus: Disease Prevention, Peace and Conflict, Maternal and Child Health, Water sanitation, Basic Literacy and Community Development, Environment Our donations to the Annual Program Funds are sent to the Rotary Foundation where they sit for 3 year and the interest helps pay the overhead of the foundation. 50% of the money is returned to the district and allocated for District grants (under 8,000) or allocated to Global Grants (minimum of 30,000). The remainder of the fund donated are allocated to assist in the global grands requested by clubs. We are rated at the highest level …. 5 by Charity Navigator. A few of the things our club has done are; Coyote Trail School by building a park for handicapped children …. You should have seen the expression of sheer joy when a little girl was able to swing for the first time. Her mother and Mary beamed. We purchased a bus in India for blind children to be able to go to and from school and not be marginalized any more. We provided a school and a playground for a Primary school near Victoria Fall, Zimbabwe. Several club members traveled to Zimbabwe to assist on this project. Interestingly $16,000, was stolen via computer fraud. Randy told the club and many stepped forward to insure the project continued. $19,000 was raised in a week. And you ask why you are in Rotary? Also outside of Zimbabwe, we helped build a huge garden, watering system in a village where Randy had met a man starving …. Don J., Randy and our spouses started a program with the Rotary Club of Marana that is credited with saving 8,000 lives. We purchased thousands of dollars for books to be distributed by the Marana Healthcare system to low income pregnant women. This is just a few of the things we have done …. I think you’re getting the picture at this point. We are a generous and kind club... Nearly all of the members of our club are Paul Harris Fellows (one who has donated 1000 to the Foundation), 7 club members are Paul Harris Society Members (donate 1000 per year to the Foundation.) This month (Ending 30 November) we are matching up to 500 points for a 500 or less cash contribution. Several club members have taken advantage of this (this is off the top of my head so I apologize for any one I missed – John D., Randy, Don, Andy, Bob, Mary and Peter. Thank you and remember you have a few days to contribute before the 30th. Thank you Mary, for a wonderful presentation. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving |
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Thanksgiving Family Nov 2020Marana Rotary Club adopted a Marana Family with 8 kids as our Thanksgiving Family Dan Cortorna, long time member of Marana Rotary Club and his wife Heather went shopping and delivered Thanksgiving to the family. They were so appreciative. Nice family with 8 kids, Have a great Thanksgiving.   |
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Gospel Rescue Mission Nov 18, 2020  |
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Delivering Handbags of HopeMarana Rotary Club Delivering Handbags of Hope  |
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Handbags of Hope Nov 12, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 10,2020Rotary Club of Marana Meeting, November 10, 2020 On this day before Veteran’s Day, our meeting began as meaningfully as it ended. Peter Mack honored us with a video he recently took of the Raising of the Flag over the U.S. Naval Observatory, accompanying it with National Anthem. A quick detour to announcements and then we returned to honoring our veterans. In John’s absence, President Elect Randy facilitated our meeting today. Club Business
Laura led us in a wonderful exercise today. Each of us remembered a service member in our family.
Our Program today was provided to us by our very dear Randy Brooks, who served in the Navy and Marines in the Vietnam War. Randy joined the military immediately after graduating high school. He arrived to sign up with the Navy and was asked if he wanted to be a Naval corpsman. After it was explained to him that he could be treating wounded soldiers in a hospital in Japan or Spain, surrounded by nurses, Randy eagerly signed up. I believe the words were, “Heck, yah.” After Randy completed boot camp, he was transferred from the Navy to Camp Pendleton to serve with the Marines. Randy experienced his first, short-lived, singing career while at Pendleton. His commanding officer recognized his voice from his many times passing Randy singing Motown outside of the barracks. Randy was “invited” (commanded) to sing in the Marine Corp choir, where he performed a solo in the Christmas program. As quickly as it came, his career ended, until decades later. Randy was sent from Camp Pendleton back to the Navy for hospital corpsman training where he received additional specialized training in neuropsychiatry. Following he was sent back to the Marines for Field Medical School. After serving 3 of his 4 year commitment without deployment, Randy received his orders to Vietnam and departed with the 1st Marine Division in November of 1967. Once in country, Randy stood in a line for his assignment. Randy had proven to be a soldier who tended to follow his own set of rules. Young men/boys, 19 years and younger, were sent to the front because of their eagerness and recklessness. To his commanding officer’s disappointment, Randy, at 21, fell outside the age cutoff, and was instead assigned to the 1st Medical Battalion in Danang. Danang was a bustling military city. Randy was sent to serve outside of Danang in a full service hospital where he worked in Trauma. This was Randy’s first experience with the sheer overwhelm of the endless quantity of wounded, types of wounds, severity of wounds, and the body parts and fluids involved. From Danang the 1st Medical Battalion was sent to Phu Bai to work in a smaller, satellite unit. From Phu Bai, Randy was sent with an infantry unit to Hue City. 800 American soldiers were sent to ‘clear out’ 800 North Vietnamese soldiers (NVAs) at Hue City. As the soldiers engaged in battle outside the city gates, the NVAs eased up their fire, allowing our soldiers to enter the citadel. Immediately our soldiers were surrounded not by 800 but by 8000 VMAs. The Battle for Hue City was a horrific battle that lasted 28 days. 70% to 80% of American soldiers were wounded or killed. The USS New Jersey wouldn’t initially intervene because of cultural treasures housed in the citadel. However, at length, it had to intervene as there was no other hope of our troops survival much less success. Randy reported, “We won (the battle) but no one wins.” As Randy shared this story, he revealed that he’s not done so before. After Hue, Randy spent 8 more months in the bush, finally returning home in November 1968. Randy’s War Heroes were the helicopter pilots who came to evacuate and transport the injured and dead. Easy targets, a pilot would come, get shot down, and another would replace him again and again, until the task was completed. One of Randy’s biggest thrills was, when being transported by helicopter, jumping out of the hovering craft and running into bush. Randy “came home a mess.” He drank a lot and was violent when provoked. Randy was a middle weight boxing champ and engaged those skills. He was spit on, called a ‘baby killer’ and ‘scum’, and was beaten up in a bar for being military. He, and other Vietnam soldiers, suffered two traumas: “the war itself and coming home to hatred.” Randy treated his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder unorthodoxly but successfully. He has a love for veterans, knowing they have pledged a commitment to pay any price, including their lives, to protect us and our country. We are grateful to Randy for allowing us to even slightly comprehend his war experience. We also thank Laura for such a thoughtful exercise. Both brought us closer to comprehending the sacrifices demanded by democracy and freedom. We are indebted to all who have served and to the families of those who have and are serving. Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 3, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Meeting Minutes 11/3/2020 7:00 AM – 7:45 AM Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: Harold, Randy, President John, Joyce (Guest), Peter, Bob, Lynne, Beckie and Richie Pledge by John D. Mark Snow our Assistant Governor for our region and the District Governor Nominee Designate reported to John that the Governors Visit with the Board will be November 30 and the club visit will be December 1. Please plan to attend these events. John invited all members to attend the Virtual Zone Institute for the Big West Region of Rotary that includes Zones 26 and 27 (one third of the geographic US). It will be held November 26 and 27 online. John briefly discussed various Rotary Fellowships. A few include, BREW (guess what they do) of which Peter is a member, Caravanning (former member Debbie Conover has been active with this group), Flying (Harold has been a member but dropped out cause he was not interested in some of the locations the members were flying to), Computer, PDGs (Randy is a member), Photography, Quilting, Wine (Lynne is interested in this group) Yachting (John asked if we thought his canoe would qualify) and Slavery and Trafficking is another (Mary and Randy) are members of this Fellowship). Committed to attend the Morning of Peace include Mary and Randy this coming weekend. Applications for membership: We have two people interested in joining our ranks but neither, Andy nor Sulee have completed the applications. John is following up with them. Handbags of Hope, it turns out that any local nonprofit group could be given out to those in need. Mainly abused women’s shelters but others as well. Randy is going to call: Emerge, Interfaith services, and other shelters in town. John and Bob have agreed to meet Randy to go shopping sometime next week (John may be out of town so Bob and Randy will go it alone if necessary). Beckie has 4 bags that are stuffed, Sulee has over 20 bags, and others said they have several. Please deliver to Carl Maes at Edward Jones, 3005 W Ina Rd, #101 during business work hours. Happy bucks: John entertained us with a story of having to use a feminine hygiene product when in college after a football incident during a kick off. Harold has been flying and enjoying the weather. Randy is working on a deck at home where termites have been discovered. Ugh. Peter Mack … this is good …. Brushed his teeth with hydrocortisone yesterday. He wanted to make sure we all voted and that we use the 4 Way Test when doing so. He did mention that it is unlikely that any candidate would pass all 4 items on the test. Bob … Celebrating that a company he was a consultant for just sold for $1.5 Billion dollars. Bob, will you be my consultant to? Joyce: likes the weather, has met her sales for the month, and had a terrific time with her granddaughter on Halloween. Joyce is going through a warm spell in Canada, no one asked how warm it is knowing that her warm spell would be very cool for us in Arizona. Lynne, Tax season is over “what’s an alligator wearing a vest? … An Alligator” We have missed you Lynne. John discussed his termites at him home and it sounds like an annual struggle. Randy has been asked to facilitate the meeting next week. Richie, if you would prefer to provide this service you are welcome to. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 27, 2020ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MINUTES 10/27/2020 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: President John, Harold, Bob, Peter, Carl, Mary, Sulee (potential new member), Joyce (guest), Randy, Don, and Richie. Pledge by Randy, who I might add did a brilliant job. John informed us he will be unavailable to lead our meeting November 7-14th. Randy and John attended the Polio Seminar and both learned more about the disease. Zone Institute: John states that any Rotarian is invited to the Big West Rotary Institute November 12, 13, and 14 of November. The student that requested to be an exchange student aged out and is not eligible. Handbags for Hope is a project we decided to support this year. It is a project that will benefit women that have been abused and have abandoned their homes for safety. They leave quickly, often with no resources. This project is to assist them by giving them hand bags that, with your help, will be stuffed with toiletries (refer to the e-mail sent by John regarding needed supplies). DGE Hank Huisking is the contact for the efforts. Handbags can be dropped off at Carl’s office during work hours. Please complete this delivery by mid-November. We are seeking a new meeting place …. John states we have a few leads and is following up. The club has opted to sell the screen and projector to Xavier at Nana’s Kitchen rather than to remove the items. Happy Bucks Harold is very happy that his daughter gave him the opportunity to have the status of being a Grandfather. Bob B. has been here in Tucson, sleeping in front of the fireplace waiting for his ballot to arrive so he can vote and get back to his spouse. Peter M, is happy to be back home from Oklahoma and Texas where few took COVID 19 precautions. Mary S is grumpy today. Discussed an app she has on her cell that is teaching her phrases she never knew. Joyce discussed Provincial Elections in Canada. Sulee: our former member is willing to help with Handbags of Hope project. Thank you Sulee. Carl: Is going to New Mexico this weekend, I think Albuquerque …. Have a safe and fun trip, Carl. Don: States he is in NY with has daughter and grandchild. Returning in time to be a poll observer. Laura is not here today (deposition) but is a poll watcher as well. Randy was going to be one but they moved him out to the airport (from Marana). We learned that Andy was busy today and unable to attend. He will be with us next week. Richie is a poll observer next Tuesday and was encouraging Sulee. He either liked or disliked the cold weather … I can’t remember which. It is very impressive to me that Don, Laura, Richie all from our club, are engaged in poll observation. Not to mention Cindy Dooling and Deb Hume whom are working the polls as well. Because of the election we are like to have a small group next week. Please attend if you can. |
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World Polio Day Oct 24, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 13,2020Rotary Club of Marana Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; October 13, 2020 After morning greetings and pledging our allegiance, President John began with Announcements:
Happy Bucks
Program: Randy introduced us Amy Graves, who he knows from Rotary related travels to Yuma. He describes Amy as a Rotarian who is intelligent, thoughtful, and committed. Amy is currently the Chair of Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE), which is a 3 year commitment. She provided us with an overview of the administration of RYE. After the departure of Cindy Harrison who almost single-handedly ran the program for over a decade, PDG Kirk put a pause on RYE for the District be able to thoughtfully re-organize. The District has developed a sustainable Committee model for continued success with RYE. Under Amy are a Systems Administrator, Youth Protection Officer, Outbound Placement Officer, Compliance Officer, and a ROTEX Coordinator. A new website, with all information and forms, and a new data-base system are making participation in RYE much easier for clubs. All RYE related youth activities are centralized through the district. Clubs are responsible for finding, vetting, and training host families, providing a counselor for the youth, engaging youth in Rotary activities, and reporting as required. If a club would like to participate but isn’t able to host a student, it can support another club who is able to host. The cost is $3000 per student. Inbound and outbound Rotary Youth spend 10 to 11 months with 3 different families in their host towns. They attend the local high school for one academic year. The RYE Committee has a 3-year framework for each student. Year 1 is the application process. Year 2 is the exchange experience. Year 3 is a re-entry process. In years 1 and 3, the RYE committee engages the youth in meaningful activities, preparing them for being ambassadors and, following, for being leaders in peace and service. We are grateful to Amy for her commitment to the RYE program, a fundamental means through which Rotary promotes peace worldwide. Submitted by Mary Straus, October 25, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 6, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Meeting Minutes 0700-0800 10/06/2020 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: John Dooling, Randy B., Harold, Richie, Mary, Dan, Peter, Bob B., Beckie, Dave H, Don, Laura, Carl and our guest Andy Swarthout. Meeting Opened by John Dooling asking Richie Benner to lead us in the Pledge. The club, especially Harold and John thanked Mary in her efforts of taking and submitting minutes for the club. We have not found the young person requesting to be an exchange student and so that will be on hold for a while. Air purifiers discussed by Richie. He has purchased the machines and is in the process of creating stickers to place on the machines. Not really any opportunity for the club to attend a ceremony for the giving of the gift. These air purifiers are for the disabled class rooms at MUSD and we are all proud of the decision to make them a reality in order to assist these young people. A general discussion ensued regarding the need for us, as a club, to do better with advertising ourselves and letting our community know the good works we provide. Peace Poles: Dove Mountain has also decided to provide Peace Poles for the Marana Area. They will have one or more at a park near Dove Mountain area and ours will be at the library on Silverbell and Cortaro and hopefully at the Veteran’s Cemetery in Marana. Mary suggested we have a half day seminar when the pole are erected. Peter will be checking with the VA regarding the pole at the cemetery. Happy Bucks: Beckie, hoping to cool off this week, Dan Contorno was happy he found cool weather and a serene environment at Reservation Lake. Observed Elk, brown trout (he missed catching them), cows and bulls. Richie has been golfing and had a good front 9 and refused to discuss the back 9. Laura, has been bingeing on ”Schitt’s Creek” episodes. David H. had a family weekend, Andrew is loving his home Utah, Don said his grandson registered to vote yesterday he also mentioned he is going to New York for his grandson’s first birthday. Don’t worry Don, none of us will rat you out. Peter was traveling for three weeks in Washington, DC, missed the heat and had difficulty obtaining food. He has not been feeling well and is sleeping 13 hours a day. Get better soon, Peter. Not sure what my notes are saying for Bob. I had written “annual checkup. Battery dead.” Go back and get it charged, Bob, Geez. Harold had a medical review as well. Mary had a little break from her daughter while Lilly visited her father. Mary also enjoyed a robust game of “Cards against Humanity.” Randy is heading up to Las Vegas to visit with his son and friend Bert. Carl is hoping the weather improves. Our fearless leader, John, “went up north” for Turkey hunting and was skunked. He slept on the ground, and it felt great, that is until he realized it took several hours to stand in the morning. PRESENTATION – Mary Straus She gave us an update on the global grant we are providing to Malam Petel, Cameroon, Africa. Mary and Randy traveled to Cameroon to provide a community assessment for the project. Our project, again, located in Malam Petel is in the extreme north of the country. The project is to provide Economic Development, Women’s empowerment as well as food, latrines, school supplies, millet bank (like a food bank), tailoring and embroidering, and cattle for nutrition (milk and eventually meat). Also a large portion of this project is a grinding mill, water well and a garden. We hope these efforts will provide income for several of the villagers’, food for children, better hygiene. Those engaged in the project include the Women ’s council, village government of the village, Bouba (Chief), The Rotary Club of Malam Petel and the Rotary Club of Marana. Don’t forget clubs in Tucson that signed on to help. In spite of Covid in the village, the cattle have been purchased, two latrines completed, nut and millet grinders purchased, solar well and irrigation completed for the garden, fruit trees planted and gardening tools purchased. Fencing has been put in place. Mary wanted to thank the Rotary Club of Marana for the support, and Randy for his help. We want to thank Mary, Randy, Don, Bob and the club for all the assistance of money and time. Phil Silvers, PRID helped with measuring success monitors and we all discussed pride in the club and made a few jokes about the assessment trip and Boko Haram. |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 29, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; September 29th Guests We welcomed two guests to our meeting today. Andy Swarthout, a Rotarian with the Presidio Rotary Club, was Randy’s guest. Andy is checking out different club cultures, and we hope to see him again. Mary invited Dr. Daniel Twelker to join us. Dan is an Optometrist and has a PhD in Vision Science. He has come to talk with us about his work with Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity International. Announcements
Program: Dr. Daniel Twelker is a practitioner, a professor, and a researcher in Optometry and Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. In addition to his career he is an avid bicyclist, traveler, and advocate for local musicians. Dan also is a humanitarian and devotes significant time ensuring that underserved people worldwide are afforded the same optical care others receive. In this capacity, he is currently the President of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity International (VOSH International). 1 billion persons world-wide develop unnecessary blindness due to lack of eye care. Things that lead to blindness include unaddressed glasses correction, cataracts, corneal opacities, diabetic retinopathy, and trachoma. VOSH began in 1972 as a group of volunteers who believed that all people deserve the level of eye care normally afforded only to people of means. VOSH members traveled for a week at a time to various communities to provide cost-free clinics and eye-glasses, serving approximately 500 people each day. Over time and with VOSH membership growth, the places and numbers of people served expanded. Dan’s first clinic participation was in the Philippines in 1989. Other places VOSH has served include; Oakland and Alameda Counties in Ca, Honduras, Mexico, South Africa, Vietnam, Kenya, Haiti, Nicaragua. VOSH consists of local VOSH Chapters and VOSH International. The Rotary Club of Saddlebrook and Rotario Pitic, for example, coordinate with our local chapter of VOSH to provide clinics in Hermosillo. Aside from being Optometrists and Ophthalmologists with a shared vision of volunteering their time and skills to serve, however, local chapters and international are separate entities. VOSH International has divested energy from running to clinics. Instead, it has invested itself in the development of self-sustaining eye care in underserved communities worldwide and in instilling the value of service in young optometrist and Ophthalmologists Toward this end, VOSH have developed unique programs. One is dedicated to Student Involvement. VOSH encourages students to join or start VOSH Chapters in their schools. VI offers mentorships and internships and have a Chapter of the Month program. The VOSH Fellowship Program develops leaders. Graduates of the fellowship will be able to advise on the global challenge of preventable blindness. This includes the ability to foster the development of future leaders to meet the challenges of vision needs worldwide and to be able to consult with governmental agencies, educational, private, or public institutions, and the media on issues related to the mission and vision of VOSH/International. VOSH Corp, Ambassador and Mentorship programs provide short and long-term teaching and training of educators in vision care programs around the world. They also provide mentorship to VOSH groups abroad. VOSH International also has a disaster relief program. It sends volunteers to sites of devastation from natural disasters to meet immediate vision needs. We thank Dan for providing us a thoughtful and inspiring presentation on VOSH. As fellow pursuers in service-above-self, VOSH lightens our hearts. Submitted by Mary Straus, October 5, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 22, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Meeting Minutes 9.22.2020 Scribe: Randy Brooks Attending: Joyce Zwick (Canada), Harold, Randy Beckie, John, Don, Peter, Mary, Laura, Dave, Richie, Carl and special guest Melanie Larson. We were informed the Xavier has resigned from the club. President John is speaking with Xavier about whether we will return to Nana’s Kitchen or find a new place to meet after the virus allows us to congregate. Joyce reports she has been in quarantine since returning to Canada and let us know the fines and sanctions are very still for those not complying with COVID 19 mandates from the government. Happy Bucks: Beckie is sad, missing her granddaughter. Don J., happy that an old friend Melanie is visiting and that his book about his trip to Antarctica is nearly complete. Mary is happy about how the project is going in Cameroon and very sad about the loss to America Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Peter is in Washington, DC working on a telescope, he is happy that the Chinese government finally paid his invoice, attend a vigil for RBG in Washington, and purchased a hungry man a dinner. You are awesome, Peter. Laura is happy that Jennifer Tersigni, Fundraising Executive and member of the board for Mobile Meals is attending and very sad about RBG. “You can disagree without being disagreeable.” RBG. David claims he saw a drop of rain at his house this morning, the group seems to think it was a neighbor’s sprinkler. He has been going out early in the day riding bikes. Go David. Our guest Melanie said she appreciates all that Rotary does and thank Peter for his efforts at the Supreme Court and for feeding a hungry man. She encourages to remain optimistic in this time of upheaval. Richie “my toe is healing up” and feels Christmas in the air. He thanked Laura for her work on obtaining quality speakers. Carl says the stock market is a roll coaster at this time and is excited he is going to Albuquerque to visit his mother. Mary gave a very brief review of Malam Patel, project and will provide a more through update next week. Randy reports he will be gone much of June next year, as well as all of July, August and half of September. He wanted to let the club know he discussed this with the board and reported to them that several club presidents have offered to step up and facilitate the meetings in his absence. The board approved of the plan. At this weekly meeting Randy brought up the issue to the general membership, telling them if any were uncomfortable with his trip (he will be joining the meetings via of Zoom if possible) he would resign as President elect. He will attend meeting on Zoom as well as board meetings. The club voted and approved and his leading the club from a distance next summer and support past presidents’ in assisting next summer. Laura introduce Jennifer Tersigni, Board member of Mobile Meals of S. Arizona and a Fundraising Consultant. Off the bat she thanked Rotary for a scholarship to college and the fact she was on a Group Study Exchange (GSE) to Thailand (arranged by Randy and the District). As a result of her GSE experience she became a lover of travel. She sees beauty in life and she lives to serve others. Encourages us all to remain positive. Mobile Meals was started in 1970. It was started to be an assist to “shut ins” and has grown and grown. She states that COVID has strained operations with older vulnerable volunteers leaving for safety reasons and yet she has recruited replacements for those leaving. The cost of meals is $1.00 to $10.00 per meal. They are prepared mostly at local health facilities and taken, still warm to the beneficiaries. They do not provide meals in NW Tucson, but all of the rest of Tucson is covered, as well as Sahurita and Green Valley. Parts of Marana are now being served. The Mobile Meals are looking for a CEO. Their budget is about $850,000 per year. 5 FTE staff and one part time dietician. They have 280 Volunteers and 33 routes in Tucson and need 35 volunteers each day. They provide services to elderly, infirmed, and anyone that need their services they are always seeking volunteers in interested call 520.622.1600 or visit mobilemealssoaz.org. You can reach Jennifer at jennifer@mobilemealssoaz.org. Thank you Jennifer for a very interesting presentation Respectfully submitted: Randy |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 15, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; September 15, 2020 Guests We were very happy Joyce Zwick joined us from her home in Canada. Joyce traveled back home after spending significant time here supporting her parents. We miss her father, John, and look forward to his rejoining us. We were also pleased that Carol Buuck joined us again. We’ve enjoyed her thoughtful contributions to our meetings and hope to continue to see her. We also welcomed Mike Lange, a retired Tucson native, U of A Law School grad, former Pima County prosecutor, and Laura’s bleacher-mate at the U of A basketball games. For 6 years Mike has Chaired the Board of Interfaith Community Services. Announcements
Happy Bucks
Program Mike Lange was invited by Laura to provide a program for us today on Interfaith Community Services (ICS), their services, and how things have or have not changed in the pandemic. Interfaith Community Services is a multi-faith agency. Temples, Mosques, and Christian Churches form an extensive network dedicated to serving their own members in need and the Tucson area community at large. Additionally, ICS partners with other agencies, such as Catholic Charities and Mobile Meals, so the needs of the individual or family are met holistically. The general mission of ICS is to help individuals and families stabilize and improve their lives. ICS has a staff of 22 and over 1000 volunteers serving 30,000 to 40,000 people a year. From its humble beginnings with a $3000 budget, 40 years later ICS runs approximately an $8,000,000 dollar budget. As its budget increases ICS is afforded the ability to provide more and more robust services in the areas that it addresses. It has chosen this strategic ‘deepening of services’ over expanding the types of programs it provides. The pandemic has created unique conditions to ICS, some of them assets and some requiring creative problem solving. A majority of the 1000 volunteers who were serving people in the community were traditionally elderly. With the elderly being particularly vulnerable to Covid, much of this work force was forced to relinquish their service. As the needs of the community have increased in the Covid and economic environments, ICS initially had concerns about being able to provide services uninterrupted to all who needed them. As happens in communities, however, the need was filled. Young people came out of the woodwork to step in and services didn’t skip a beat. The ICS Food Bank is a service that required reworking with the pandemic. For the safety of the volunteers and those they serve and to increase its ability to serve more, ICS shifted to a drive in and pick up service. Previously folks were able to shop for their grocery selections, which may be more ideal, but will have to wait till safer times. Other evidence of a community stepping up in times of need is in that ICS has received an increase in donations and grant monies. Federal, state and city governments have contributed more monies to community serving agencies during the pandemic; grants and foundations have been generous; and private donations have increased. Our club donated money to ICS in July, knowing it to be a good steward of the community and the monies it receives. The Core Services ICS provides are:
We are grateful that ICS is creating such meaningful opportunity and change in our community and thank Mike Lange for coming to talk with us. Submitted by Mary Straus, |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 8, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; September 8, 2020 Guests: We welcomed two distinguished guests today. Rick Chimblo, a Rotarian for over 20 years, is currently a member of the Oro Valley Club. He is a Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation and an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Dima, Spain. Carol Buuck was Don’s guest. They met through Don’s wife who worked alongside Carol serving folks with visual and hearing impairment, Carol as a special education teacher. Currently, Carol is the Program Coordinator for the Marana Food Bank. We look forward to joining with her and her team in future service projects. Announcements:
Happy Buck Highlights:
Program In addition to his distinguished career as a Rotarian, Rick is a retired geophysicist and has been married for over 35 years to a woman who is his match in passion for adventure and service. They have 3 children together and 5 grandchildren. Rick was invited to talk with us about the El Jute service project he and his club are implementing with support from our club and many others The Oro Valley Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Gualan, Guatemala partnered together in a successful application for a Global Grant in Rotary’s International Avenues of Service. The grant is for a project focusing on RI's Hygiene and Sanitation Area of Focus in El Jute, Guatemala. The seeds for this project were planted in April 2017 when Rick and his wife visited the town of El Jute, Guatemala where indigenous peoples live. The town consists of 1900 residents, approximately 325 families. 80% of indigenous populations in Guatemala live in poverty, 40% of those in extreme poverty. El Jute is correspondingly representative. Rick began talking with families and town leadership, getting a feel for their strengths and needs and wants. Evident in this community assessment were competing needs; malnutrition, illiteracy, sanitation, disease, poverty. A committee of townspeople and Rotarians was formed. With all factors considered, the committee prioritized sanitation and hygiene above the others. In El Jute water is harvested from mountain streams, but it is not filtered. There are a few toilets and septic tanks exist. However, in the existing toilets, flushing isn’t thorough because there isn’t adequate water pressure. There is high frequency of disease, such as viral meningitis and typhoid, in the community, as well as high rates of infant mortality. Poor water sanitation and hygiene also impact student retention. In the school, there are no wash basins and too few toilets. 100% attendance in kindergarten drops to 13% attendance by the 6th grade. The Water Sanitation and Hygiene Committee got to work and will continue to provide oversight throughout the project. There are 3 parts to the El Jute Water Sanitation and Hygiene project:
Rick made El Jute, the people, and the project come alive for us, and we felt proud to have contributed to such a consequential endeavor. Congratulations to the Oro Valley Rotary Club! Submitted by Mary Straus September 9, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 1, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; September 1, 2020 President John opened the meeting by asking the two newest citizens of the United States to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. He then, on this September day, evoked the poignancy of the song September in the context of the climate of today: say, do you remember? dancin’ in September never was a cloudy day Guest: We were all heartened to welcome Eleana Acosta Zavala to our meeting today. Eleana is a Marana Club sponsored Youth Exchange Graduate of 2005-2006 and beloved daughter of John and Cindy Doolinig and Randy Brooks and Deb Hume. Announcements:
Happy Bucks Highlights:
President John introduced us to Eleana Acosta Zavala and to the power of Youth Exchange: Eleana, from Lima, Peru, is a beloved Youth Exchange daughter to John and his wife and to Randy and his wife. The close bonds with Eleana have extended into all of her family members; her parents and her brother and sister. The Doolings, Brooks, and Acostas have traveled back and forth between Peru and the States and have shared significant family events and travels together. Eleana, herself, is a remarkable young woman. Following her exchange, she graduated from the U of A. While there, she was an officer in the Rotaract Club, competed in synchronized swimming, and read all of Harry Potter in English and Spanish. She returned to Lima for medical school and graduated first in her class of 200. Eleana did internships in Texas and at Harvard, where she continues to be involved in research with the Harvard School of Public Health. Additionally Eleana is working with the Pima County Covid Response Development team. She is waiting to sit for the Medical Board of Examiners exam, after which she will practice medicine here in Tucson. Eleana married a Tucson man, with ceremonies both here and in Peru. She plans to reside here for the foreseeable future.   Eleana gave us a flavor for the activities she engaged in while on her exchange. Most impressive of all were the relationships she developed from these activites with the other Exchange Students who came to D5500 from other countries that same year… 
Eleana continues relationships with each of her Exchange brothers and sisters. A very impressive group. These youth and their relationships speak to the core value of Rotary Youth Exchange: PEACE. Understanding and Goodwill between peoples in the world contribute greatly to a world of Peace, and these young people spread these values exponentially when they return to their countries of origin. Host families of Youth Exchange students benefit equally. Many families have become extended in far-away countries bourgeoning mutual respect, care, and joy. Submitted by Mary Straus, September 8, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 25, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Minutes 8/25/2020 Submitted by Randy Brooks Attending: President John, Dave H., Richie B., Don J., Bob B., Peter M., Mary Straus, Beckie P., Randy B., Harold B., Joyce (Guest from Canada and daughter to John Zwick), Laura C., Carl M. Again today we discussed and did updates on projects, but first we say a resounding rendition of Happy Birthday for Carl. Whom seemed to be quite relived when it was over. So in the order they were discussed:
Whew, that seemed like a lot, but wait, wait there is more. Happy Bucks: Peter discussed the smoke off Table Mountain where he was working this week. We then started talking about fires generally and then Peter congratulated Don J. on his recognition by the US President for his volunteer work with Shelter Box. Yeah Don. Randy is happy he is going to see his son, and his friend, Bert later in the week in Las Vegas. Randy will be calling into the Board meeting next Tuesday as well as the for the Morning meeting. Harold had visit from his granddaughter. Don discussed the surprise that he received an award from the White House. He has also begun attending Rotary Leadership Academy. Congratulations. Bob from Virginia: Want to come back to Tucson to see all of us…. Come on Bob. Beckie: June Visited (I assume this is a grandchild and not dementia visiting) She discussed her work, and that the pressure is not like it was once when she was younger. Laura says, “I’m fine.” Then she went on to discuss work and COVID 19 precautions at the U of A. Concern that the students may act out over the Labor Day weekend. Richie, He is adjusting to his new job and seemed happy. Sister had a gender reveal and it’s a ………………………GIRL. He bought a bike and has been riding to the store without incidents. He found a Ben’s Bell and now has three. Carl took last Friday off for his birthday. He discussed his daughter moving to Tucson from Texas and seemed quite pleased. Joyce (remember, John Zwicks daughter) arrived July 6 and expressed interest on how Canadians and USA handle the pandemic differently. She did not elaborate. States the heat here is a little over the top. Her father is doing well and mother is vising from the rehab center five times a week. John D, shared childhood memories. Unfortunately with my own memory issues I can’t remember what he said. Sorry John. Mary S., Thanked Joyce for visiting and looking after her family. E |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 11, 2020Rotary Club of Marana : Attending: John, Harold, Beckie, Peter, Laura, Don, Bob, Lynne, Dan, Dave, Carl, guest speaker Wayne Wheeler of the Pima County Library. Absent: Mary, Randy, Dave, Richie Announcements Still looking for a youth-liaison officer – working with Interact Club, getting word out and finding a RYLA nomination. Randy is still in Washington; his wedding anniversary on August 8. Carl has a birthday and anniversary coming up later this month. John said there is no progress on where we will be meeting in person and when we will be meeting in person again. Former Marana Rotary member Maeve Johnson says “hello”. Peace Pole Project – Peter reported that he spoke with Nicole at Az Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Marana, she is interested. Peter hopes to meet with her soon. Happy Bucks Harold – staying close to home, lunch with friends at airport a couple of times a week. Peter – Spectrograph left for China yesterday, big deal. Lynne – “I got nothing.” Bob – Seeing the grandkids watching them take their first step and hear first word, “Oreo”. Carl – Thankful for family and health and good to be here with you. Beckie – Pretty normal here. Daughter’s roof getting repaired. Don – Up in Seattle, fun playing with 9-month-old grandchild, daughter and son-in-law visiting for the week. Dan – MUSD policy requires admin to wear masks. Great vacation in Idaho, west Yellowstone. Dave – School is going well for the first week. No complaints. Wayne Wheeler, guest speaker Wayne is a native Tucsonan who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NAU, received his MLS (Master of Library Science) degree from the UA, and a second Master's degree in International Relations from Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. He has worked in public and college libraries in Arizona and Pennsylvania carrying out a wide-range of responsibilities including grant-writing and grant-reviewing, and has lobbied local and federal elected officials for increased library funding. He has been with the Pima County Public Library System since April 2012, and has been the Grants and Nonprofits Librarian at the Joel D Valdez Main Library in downtown Tucson since March of 2018. In his spare time, Wayne enjoys singing, traveling, rodeo, and baseball. Wayne said he used to be at the Wheeler Taft Abbott Branch Library out here. His first job was at the Nogales Library. He then spent time in Pennsylvania working at various libraries. At the Pima County Library, Wayne is the non-profits and grants librarian. He assists non-profits to find grants. The non-profits database used to be available via on-site access only, but with COVID-19 the library has extended off-site access. Pima County has 26 libraries and uses a shared book system among the branches. Libraries have changed a lot from what they used to be, Wayne said. Libraries now offer electronic downloading music, streaming videos, and books. People are accessing content online using more than ever. Online licensing fees from publishers are more expensive than purchasing physical books, which is why “electronic” formats of books are limited to being checked out “one” at a time. Pima County Library’s values are: Education – we learn and teach every day; Service – we make an effort to serve everyone; Passion – we love what we do. Library Services are M-F, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open for computer access, too. Returned items are set aside for 3 days before being put back in publication. Services available in the open buildings include:
Phone and Online Services include:
Despite the challenging times, it was great learning about all the ways the libraries are continuing to serve its county patrons. Wayne can be reached at: Wayne.wheeler@pima.gov (520-594-5655). |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 4, 2020
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Rotary Meeting July 28, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Rotary Club of Marana Meeting; July 28, 2020 Today’s meeting opened with a beautiful, bucolic photograph of our American flag taken by our own Laura in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We welcomed two guests today. It was nice to re-welcome Janet Pipes. Janet is a friend of Bob and previous speaker on fiduciary elder abuse. We were also pleased to welcome Jill Jorden Spitz who joined us at Laura’s invitation. Of the 14 members and guests present at today’s meeting, and their represented children and grandchildren, three were CDO high school alumni, three current CDO attendees (children and grandchildren) and one a bitter Marana High School alum. Despite rivalry, a well-represented home-grown group. Announcements:
Happy Bucks Highlights
Our Program today was provided by Jill Jorden Spitz, Chief Editor of the Arizona Daily Star newspaper. Laura, a former journalist herself, introduced Jill, speaking to her ‘perfect temperament’ for such a position, being both grounded and impeccably ethical. Jill is also a native Tucsonan and cares deeply for her community. The Arizona Daily Star is an award-winning newspaper dedicated to investigative reporting, not simply news coverage. COVID-19 has had far-reaching impact on the Daily Star’s functioning; from how staff are working, to morale, to revenue. COVID has not, however, impacted the quantity or quality of reporting done by journalists and editors. One hundred percent of the Arizona Daily Star tasks are being done remotely. Business meetings have moved to Microsoft teams, journalist interviews, when can’t be done electronically, are done with distancing and masks, and photographers are using longer lenses to achieve greater distancing. There are advantages and disadvantages to the remote model. Jill’s office open-door policy allowed for spontaneous and meaningful conversations between her and all staff. Neither these conversations nor organic exchanges of ideas between journalists are able to take place currently. Without those mechanisms, both reporting and staff morale have been negatively impacted to some degree. However, most journalists have enjoyed the efficient use of time and productivity afforded by the remote work. When circumstances allow for a return to brick and mortar, the Star will likely implement a combined workplace model, with a shared work-space environment used in combination with remote work. Just prior to COVID, The Star had put their massive, 220,000 sqft, building, up for sale. Its home had once housed itself, the Tucson Citizen, and a printing press. The Citizen has been defunct since 1990 when it vacated. Additionally, a reluctant, budgetary imposed decision was made to stop operation of the printing press in 2018 and move printing to Phoenix. Sixty people lost their jobs with the close of the press, which had been particularly welcoming to people with hearing impairment where other employment opportunities aren’t. The Star’s felt loss was represented in Jill’s deportment. Needless to say, COVID has had substantial impact on The Star’s revenue. When stay-at-home orders first went into place, there was an 80% loss of revenue from advertisers. Revenue loss has become less dire since then but continues to be off by 20%. All staff were furloughed or took salary cuts. Additionally, The Star has been forced to consider creative means of generating income. 75% of revenue is from the newspaper’s printed product. While circulation is strong, printed circulation continues to decrease while digital increases. To compensate for income loss, the newspaper has implemented some programs. It is beginning to apply for grants, and it is offering Sponsored Content. All sponsored content must meet strong standards to ensure that it presents journalism in-line with the views of the sponsor by that does not support the sponsor. Other income generators that are being considered are events and marketing skills. Skills that might be offered include research writing and photography. Investigative reporting, with its research, documents, and lawyer vetting, is by far the biggest cost in reporting. The Star is dedicated to maintaining enough revenue to continue to produce this important work. Another development in the COVID environment is increased negativity toward media. In the past few years resentment toward the press has ramped up, but since COVID, the negativity has gotten much uglier. Not only are there the more typical cries of ‘fake news’, but additionally measures like trolling of commentators and reprehensible memes about reporters have taken a toll on journalists’ mental health. We are grateful the Arizona Daily Star journalists continue to persevere and serve us under these conditions. Many thanks to Jill Jorden Spitz for allowing us insight into the life of the Arizona Daily Star and of the staff and journalists who provide us with a basic and necessary ingredient to Democracy; free press. Submitted by Mary Straus  |
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Rotary Meeting July 21, 2020
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Rotary Meeting July 14, 2020 MINUTES OF ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING Submitted by Randy B, who is filling in for Mary Straus …… please don’t be to judgmental or you will be the next scribe. Attending: John D., Don, Mary Bob Laura, Dan, Peter, Harold, Beckie, Richie, Carl and our special guest Brian Clymer (brother of Laura and presenter today). Welcome Brian. Randy gave an overview of our club member’s suggestions for being engaged in our community. He and John will speak soon because Randy is leaving for a three week trip to his cabin in the northwestern US where it is so remote very little phone connection is available. Sorry my friends. Happy bucks …. I am sure I missed a few of you but gave it a college try: Dan, going to Idaho for a week fishing; for some reason Harold celebrating the quarantine (this might have been misunderstood by me). Randy going to Washington, will socially distance but attending a funeral and wedding. Bob is happy he is now $65.00 in the hole for happy bucks and is bobbing on the lake. Makes me wonder how deep the rest of us are. I will match Bob. Don is happy that he is leaving Thursday for Seattle, and overjoyed that he has completed the first draft of his book. It is about his last vacation a few weeks ago to Antarctica, Wondering if it is possible for him to relax. Mary was on the meeting as she was driving to San Diego to have a few days with friends … cool you can Zoom while zooming down the road. Laura is happy she is busy at work, please note her brother (whom she works with) was in attendance today. Lynne is excited that taxes are to be completed tomorrow. Said she was happy but while smiling was simultaneously sobbing in her granola. Peter was happy that he was on Mount Lemmon checking out the telescopes. Gave us a peek at how is looks up there. Most of the damage noticed was on the far side of the mountain. Beckie, happy her daughter is selling to her partner Jackpot Veterinary Clinic. They seem to be exploring different specialties. Richie, working on projects around the house and sees “too happy” that he has a new mattress. Carl only person wearing a tie, says his family is good. John took his teenage grandchildren fishing and seemed quite excited. He is the only one allowed to bait his hook. Guest Speaker: Brian Clymer, Esq., Attorney at Law. Brian is received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and later came to his senses and attended the U of A law school He is a wildcat through and through. He is noted for writing for the handbook of workman’s disability for the AZ Bar Association …… I know this wording is probably wrong ….. However, let’s us celebrate my attempt to be nearly accurate. He is on the Board of Directors of Legal Aid as well as a mentor to others and again, our own Lynne’s brother. Brain started by indicating the Social Security was developed to provide economic security to all of us in our golden years (I for one am not seeing the gold). Social Security Disability developed in 1950 for those whom have paid into the system could be paid in part by the contributions made by the employee while they were working. It is not SSI …. Which is for economically challenged folks. To be eligible for Social Security Disability they must; prove the inability to work for 12 months or, I assume be terminal, they must show medical records showing demonstrating the disability 3-4 months before the agency makes a decision. 75% of the claims will be denied. They may include the necessity of the claimant to see an Agency physician. The claimant with then wait another three or so months for a determination. Again the denial rate is about 90%. They are able to ask for a hearing that will take about a year. Average monthly payout is $1,237.74, a surviving spouse will receive $1194.01 and dependent children about $886.49. The process over the years has appeared to become more adversarial. Remember this is not an entitlement program. Those filing must have exhaustive documentation, letters from family are often ignored. Brian offer to see a friend of a member for no fee for an assessment. Thank you Brian, great presentation. Now about your sister ……….. |
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Rotary Meeting July 7, 2020
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Rotary Meeting June 30, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting June 23, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 6/23/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, John, Harold, Don, Peter, Randy, Mary, Bob, Denise, Lynne, Carl. Guest: Jim Nook, Oro Valley Rotary Club. Announcements: Check the District newsletter. Happy Bucks: For Lynne, who is on vacation from work is this week. Lynne's Joke: Did you hear the rumor about the peanut butter? I’d tell you but I don’t want to spread it. Reminders:
Richie expressed his appreciation to all for the hard work everyone put in this year. He was distraught about the service projects that we didn’t get to, however noted that we donated about $7,000 to various organizations: such as MCAP, adopted two families for Thanksgiving and Christmas, GAP Ministries, Peace Pole project, Interfaith Community Services, and supported Nana’s Kitchen during the pandemic. This doesn’t include the many contributions our individual members made to various annual fund and programs such as Tour de Cookie, Rotary International, and Ride to End Polio.
Mary said Richie’s district grant proposal was a really good idea and that she hoped we could re-start it. Richie said that we returned the district grant money, but the board hopes to apply a portion to executing the grant with the high school. Installation of 2020-21 Marana Rotary President In first-ever Zoom installation, Richie installed John Dooling as club president for 2020-21. John noted that we have very experienced group for the board, which includes: President-elect Randy B.; Treasurer Lynne H.; Secretary Harold B., with Randy and Mary will take the minutes; Members-at-Large are Bob B. and Don J. John then discussed ideas for membership growth and services projects, such as “CHRPA”, which stands for Community Home Repair Projects of Arizona. John also mentioned that there is a position open for a Youth Services Director. John said he plans to get and personally introduce himself to business and professional leaders, and is looking forward to this year and leading the club. Final expressions of gratitude from club members to Richie for his time as president came from Randy, who said, “Thanks to Richie for your efforts.” Mary added, “Thank you for keeping the club together during the pandemic.” Don and Denise expressed their thanks as well. And then we all gave Richie a very “Zoomy” and virtual round applause. Meeting was then adjourned.  |
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Rotary Meeting June 16, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 6/16/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, John, Harold, Don, Peter, Randy, Mary, Denise, Beckie, Lynne, Dave, Carl. Announcements:
Happy Bucks for: Carl had a nice week with family in California.; Randy went to a granddaughter’s wedding in Nevada; Happy Father’s Day to all our dads; and Beckie and her husband celebrated 50 years of marriage. Next week: Year-end wrap and installation of new Board for 2020-21. Guest Speaker: Randy Young, who spent 3 ½ years as manager of a jaguar reserve 55,000 acres in northern Mexico, Sonora, has started “La Tierra del Jaguar” (Land of the Jaguar). La Tierra Del Jaguar is 25 acres used as a demonstration site/conservation site to teach collectives about permaculture gardening because individual gardening helps reduce our carbon footprint. The goal is to create an opportunity to teach collectives to spread how create sustainable gardening. Plans include building a classroom and solar irrigation to teach classes and demonstrate how to it’s done. The long-term benefit is to decrease depredation and create a healthy ecosystem so the jaguars don’t hunt cattle. Extreme over-grazing of ranchlands has stressed the habitat, creating predator conflicts. Straggler male jaguars come up from northern Mexico because of this. Jaguars have a wide territory. The way we grow food impacts the environment in a multiple ways, and results in scarcity. Read more about La Tierra Del Jaguar here: https://latierradeljaguar.org/  |
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Rotary Meeting June 9, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 6/9/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, John, Harold, Bob, Don, Peter, Randy, Mary, Denise, Beckie, Dan. Our meeting was called to order by Richie, supplemented by a “JibJab” video of “singing and dancing” club members, courtesy of Mary. Among the announcements:
Happy Bucks
Richie then handed the meeting over to incoming President John Dooling, who noted that it was unlikely that we be gathering for installation of the new officers. Among the decisions that have to be made are whether we should do away with or keep breakfast? John said we do make a little bit of money off it, however eliminating breakfast would reduce dues by about $300. One thought is to offer Danish rolls and coffee and still meet at Nana’s Kitchen. Harold would step and be Secretary but doesn’t want to take minutes. Mary offered to help taking minutes. Denise can help with bringing breakfast rolls. Peter suggested that we adopt John’s suggestion for a bring-in breakfast to Nana’s Kitchen. |
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Rotary Meeting June 2, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 6/2/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, Harold, Bob, Don, Peter, Randy, Mary, Dave, Carl, Denise, and guest Ethan Orr. Announcements:
Guest speaker was Ethan Orr, Assistant Vice President of UA Government Affairs and Community Partnerships, to discuss the UA Land Grant projects and other ways the Government Affairs and Community Partnerships Department and the University of Arizona applies science to help address issues that face our state, from eating properly to living longer. Ethan Orr told us about the land grant system because no one really understands the land grant concept, which is a distinctly American concept. The idea is that knowledge should be accessible to everyone but practical and applicable. The land grant system sets aside land and money to build universities. Orr said we often overlook that investment in education spurred both the Industrial Revolution and Technological Boom by making education accessible to people. Multiplier effect of manufacturing creates more jobs. 2.5 jobs created by every manufacturing job. 6.2 jobs created by tech job. One problem though is job concentration for a particular industry (ie, automotive). But as industries “mature”, a diffusion of jobs takes place. For example, “precision health” which uses what we know about a person's genetic code could bring about a "democratization of health". |
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Rotary Meeting May 26, 2020 |
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Rotary Meeting May 19, 2020Marana 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:
Happy “bucks”
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.  |
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Rotary Meeting May 12, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 5/12/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, Peter, Harold, Denise, Bob, Don, Mary, Beckie, Randy, Dave. Guests: Rob Tommasone, DG Ellie Patterson, DG 1130 Tony Sharma (London). Announcements
Our very own Bob Bishop presented about his amazing achievements as a pilot and past president and owner of “Missile Defense” Aerial Productions Intl. Bob’s connection to Arizona goes back to his father who flew B-52s in World War II at just 21 (the navigator was 17!). After the war, Bob’s dad landed a job with Frontier Airlines and flew out of Phoenix Sky Harbor starting in 1951. Eventually, Bob’s dad started Marsh Aviation, the world’s largest agricultural crop dusting operation, which was Bob’s “playground”. He worked with his dad, who was a major influence on his life, until Bob’s father died in a crop dusting flying accident when Bob was 16. When Bob turned 20 he competed in flying races with airshow pilots. This led to a career in flying and building BD-5 jets, which are the smallest manned jets, in airshows. The BD-5 jet was plane flown by James Bond in “Octopussy”. Bob had a Coors Light Silver Bullet sponsorship, too. At one point, his company helped the Joint Cruise Missile Defense group. Our armed forces were really good at shooting cruise missiles but not sure how good we were at shooting them down, Bob said. BD jet reminiscent of a cruise missile. The Joint Cruise Missile Defense Joint Test & Evaluation was a five-year program. The inability to detect low-altitude missiles was a major threat. The BD-5 is the world’s smallest manned jet with the following capabilities:
It was an amazing presentation from our amazing Bob Bishop!  |
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Rotary Meeting May 5, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 5/5/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, Peter, Harold, Dan, Bob, Don, Mary, Beckie, John, Carl, Randy. Announcements:
Updates from club members in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic:
Happy Bucks:
 Speaker next week will be our own Bob Bishop this will be interesting |
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Rotary Meeting April 28, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 4/28/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, Peter, Harold, Don, Denise, Mary, Bob, Beckie, Dan, John, Randy, Dave. Announcements:
Our special presentation came from Don J. with “Antarctica: 3 Worlds. 1 Voyage.” Don and his wife embarked on an expedition cruise to Antarctica. A total of 162 passengers and crew were on board. They landed first in Ushuaia, S. America and traveled across the Drake Passage, which took 2 ½ days. South Shetland Islands were first sighting of land. They went out twice a day, sometimes on Zodiac cruises to look at glaciers and wildlife. Kayaking to see penguins, humpback whales, through ice flows, and landings. Penguins everywhere and never got tired looking at them. Leopard seals everywhere. Expedition guides gave mini-lectures about the geography, the ice, wildlife, etc. they explored Neptune’s Bellows, an extinct volcano and saw former whaling structures. They moved from day to day -- anchor and go on shore to different islands and then landed on the continent. Also landed at Port Lockroy, old observation and experimental station for the British from 1944-62. It was amazing to nature in action. They had a choice of mountaineering, camping, and kayaking but those were weather dependent activities. On the return trip, they were supposed to dock at Ushuasia on March 18th, but Argentina government said they were not allowed to dock because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crew then steered toward Buenos Aires, and it noticeably got warmer as they sailed north. They were not allowed to dock at Buenos Aires, so they then headed to Uruguay. Docked on the 25th in Uruguay, but had to have had proof of travel, masks, gloves, and were taken directly to airport. Five days of anxiety to trying get flights home while traveling up the coast to find a place to dock. Fortunately, they made it home from an Incredibly memorable trip  |
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Rotary April 26, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Clubs in District 5500 reaching out and offering help to their communities in need at a rapid pace with COVID-19 Emergency funds and at the same time rediscovering who we are. In PDG’s Kirk Reed’s words, “In times of crisis we discover –or rediscover—who we are. Do we gripe and moan? Or do we dig deep to find inner strength? Do we feel sorry for ourselves? Or do we say, I can’t do everything, but I can do something for my community and my world.” On April 3, 2020 Rotary District 5500 issued a challenge to local Rotary clubs in Southern Arizona. “You can receive a gift of $500 today from District if you want to help your communities and neighbors in times of crisis.” Well, the clubs immediately responded AND at a rapid pace. The Rotary Clubs of District 5500 are truly PEOPLE OF ACTION and demonstrated compassion, caring and kindness as they moved quickly to extend help in their communities. Look what they did. Ten Rotary clubs decided to invest in their local food banks and pantries coming from Benson, Coolidge, Globe, Green Valley, Oro Valley, SaddleBrooke Sunrise, Sierra Vista, Superior and Valle Verde. Each of these food banks, when adequately supplied, provides daily life support for families. Rotarians said, “We can help.” Eleven Rotary clubs remembered their most vulnerable neighbors and donated to local missions, foundations, community centers, schools and youth programs coming from the Rotary clubs of Bisbee, Casas Adobes, Dove Mountain, Fort Yuma, Marana, Mountain Empire (Sonoita-Patagonia), Pantano, Rincon, SaddleBrooke, Sierra Vista Sunrise, and Yuma. These investments by local Rotary clubs will impact thousands of lives. Ten Rotary clubs filled a need of providing urgently needed supplies by making or purchasing supplies: face masks, latex gloves, sanitizer, wipes, toilet paper, disposable surgical robes and more. These supplies came from Casa Grande Daybreak, Douglas, Rio Rico, San Luis Frontera, Sierra Vista West, Somerton, Tucson, Tucson Presidio, Vail, Yuma Crossing. The Kino Rotary club said thank you to first responders and emergency room staff by delivering lunches and dinners to hospitals, police and firefighters. Two Rotary clubs connected kids and families to online learning by purchasing hot spots and data plans. These actions came from Tubac and Old Pueblo clubs. Willcox Rotary made sure cultural activities continue by empowering the Wilcox Historic Theatre to offer art lessons, concerts and STEM program online. Two Rotary clubs helped keep shelters open by responding to a sewer system crisis at a local shelter that caused 99 women and children to be evacuated and by providing support for overstressed staff at a domestic violence shelter for women and children. These clubs were Sierra Vista South and Yuma Foothills. Two clubs recognized the need to care for homeless and unaccompanied youth making it possible for them to graduate. These clubs were Catalina (Tucson) and Tucson Sunrise. From Yuma to Douglas, from Globe to Rio Rico, Rotary funds are making a huge difference in local communities. We keep rediscovering who we are as members of Rotary clubs in Southern Arizona. YIR, Richie |
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Rotary Meeting 04-21-2020 Our third virtual meeting
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Rotary Meeting April 14, 2020Marana Rotary Zoom Round-Up for 4/14/20 Attendance: Richie, Laura, Don, John, Harold, Peter, Dave, Bob, Mary, Beckie, Carl, Randy. Denise. Richie submitted $500 check from District 5500 and we received it. Lynne sent the money to Interfaith Community Services already. Randy says we need to ask IFC for documentation of how it will use the money. Randy reported that the district has already exhausted the $12,000 that was set aside for the DG. There is unused $7,000 from the DDF – and hopefully the clubs who didn’t get their $500. Tucson Sunrise Rotary is putting together a PenPal project to send a card or note to folks in senior care facilities. District Grant online seminar available. Grant process. Mary has taken it. We need it another person to take the class. Updates
 Our Second Virtual Meeting using ZOOM |
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Rotary Meeting 03/03/2020Rotary Club of Marana Announcements: The Marana Chamber of Commerce’s 20 for ’20 Guide to Marana is out. We encourage you to give a good look. Our Marana Rotary Board Meeting is moved to Wednesday, March 11, at John Dooling’s office. Happy bucks given for: Grateful for family (Carl); a Science Fair-winning daughter (David); attending Peter’s Citizenship Ceremony and trip to Antarctica (Don); feeling like “I really belong here” at our Rotary meetings (Peter) and passing his pilot’s flight physical (Harold, 54 years and counting).  Javier Avalos of Spectrum Ina Road Auto Collision was our guest speaker and spoke to us about the demand for auto and collision repair technicians. Dramatic changes in the automobile industry, such as electric cars and hi-tech bells and whistles, present challenges to the automotive and collision repair shops. Newer cars have from 32 to 40 computerized components that require technicians to test, not guess, what repairs need addressing, Javier said. To keep up with the technological advances, the county needs a robust J-Ted and J-Tech programs to train prospective high school graduates in auto and collision repair. Starting salaries range from $35,000 to $40,000, and five years’ experience could lead to salaries exceeding $75,000. New technology – self-parking cars, self-driving cars – is here and someone needs to be able to fix the technology, Javier explained. The good news is that Pima Community College broke ground in November 2019 on a new J-Tech facility for its Automotive Technology and Innovation Center. Thank you, Javier, not only for your longtime support of the Marana Rotary, but also for your 30-plus years of business leadership. Laura Clymer, Secretary |
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FEb 2020Rotary Club of Marana Marana Rotary Round-Up for 2/4/20 Announcements: Our very own John Zwick celebrated his 55th (Yes, 55th!) year in Rotary this month. Congratulations, John. Peter and Beckie observed birthdays this week. Happy Birthday! With only 29 days in February this month, it should be easy to wear your Rotary pin every day. Consider yourself challenged. Ever clever John Dooling noted that Peter, our resident stargazer, stabilized the precariously perched projector with tape and commented: “It still doesn’t work but we can see the farthest points of the universe.” Indeed! Happy bucks given for: our visitor Martin, Bob Bishop’s return, MCAT’s success (on track to have 100 grads in May), b  icycle riding, shooting stars and the night sky. MCAT Principal Denise Coronado introduced Student of the Month Bright Cox, who attended breakfast with her mom Summer Cox. After struggling academically at MHS, Bright found her place at MCAT where she’s consistently been on the on Honor Roll. Bright thanked her mom for always being her ally. Bright has been a model of persistence and perseverance at MCAT. She hopes to become a dental assistant after graduating from MCAT. Our final presentation about a microloan program in Hermosillo, Mexico came from our own Randy Brooks and fellow Rotarian Gary Friedman. Randy and Gary traveled to Mexico to learn more about the Sonora Mexico Rotary Microcredit program. They visited 10 businesses wh  ose owners have used the microloan program to start-up various businesses, such as selling cheese, tortillas, cosmetics, and clothing. In existence for about 12 years, the program is the No. 1 microcredit source in Sonora, Mexico. FinReg, a for-profit financial institution services the microloans (up to $500). FinReg looks for potential borrowers in the rural parts of the northern Mexican state. A group of borrowers consists of five to seven aspiring entrepreneurs. The program teaches participants how to run a business, the cost of credit, product pricing, and how to calculate income, expenses and losses. Ninety percent of the borrowers are women; 70 percent live in rural areas, and 70 percent renew their loans. Marana Rotary Round-Up for 2/11/20 Announcements: John Dooling reported the PETS (President-elect Training Seminar) held in Los Angeles was a compelling program that was very well done. “A lot of effort went into the program,” John added. Of note, coming up: Rotary Day of Peace on April 4 (register here: https://rotaryd5500.org/Stories/day-of-peace-april-4-2020 ) and Rotarians at Work Day on April 25. Happy bucks given for: Gem Show (traffic) almos  t over, visits from extended family, desert rains (and subsequent desert blooms), Mary’s cookies, playing music with The Defenders, and swinging golf clubs on your birthday. We welcomed Rotarian visitor Tom from Burton, MI., who shared a bit about his club. Tom, a Rotarian since 1983, retired after 34 years as an educator. His club raises about $5,000 each year through a “feast” where tickets are sold for $125. Our own Bob Bisho  p was honored for becoming a Paul Harris Fellow, which signifies that he’s given a total of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. “I’m very happy to give to a group that actually helps people,” Bob said. Club president Richie Benner, field director for the Catalina Council of Scouts, BSA, shared the latest developments of the Boy Scouts organization, including the launch of new programs for girls, the exit of the LDS church youth, and the likely filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Richie also described the variety of programs offered, including Sea Scouts, Venturing, Exploring, and STEM Scouts, and noted that local Eagle Scouts contributed 30,000 hours of community service projects last year alone. Marana Rotary Round-Up for 2/18/20 Announcements: Peter Mack’s Citizenship Ceremony is set for 1:30 p.m. on February 21. Happy bucks given for: Wine festivals, sold-out cookie booths (way to go, Beckie), beautiful mornings, the U.S. Naval Observatories in Chile and Flagstaff, Shelter Box, our Navy visitors, and the g  lorious weather. U.S. Navy Commander Douglas Pratt, commanding officer of the USS Tucson, told us about the primary missions of the fast-tact submarine and its crew. The USS Tucson is home-ported at Pearl Harbor. At sea 70 percent of the time, the USS Tucson conducts reconnaissance, surveillance, and special forces operations for the Navy. The enduring mission of the U.S. Navy is to promote and protect peace, CDR Pratt said. One of the primary missions is to keep sea lanes open for trade. CDR Pratt noted that 26 percent of U.S. jobs are tied to global trade, 26 percent of U.S. manufacturing depends on exports, and 20 percent of U.S. agricultural products are sold overseas. Currently, the Navy has 290 ships in its battle force, with hopes of adding another 65 ships. Primary areas of concern include the South China Sea and the Black Sea. Joining CDR Pratt were LTJG Alan Schaefer and LT Jacqui Maxwell. Marana Rotary Round-Up for 2/25/20 Announcements: Registrations for Tour de Cookie are behind last year at this time. Please do what you can to promote the race. Upcoming dates of importance: April 4, Rotary Day of Peace; April 18, Four-Way Test speech contest; and April 25, Rotarians at Work Day. President Richie Benner handed out a list of possible community service projects for us to consider. Happy bucks given for: Poker night winnings; watching the Rodeo Parade with grandchildren; remembering “Show Tuesday” and the fa  mous Pancake Race in Liberal, KS; applying for an American passport; and glorious weather. Former engineers Phil and Nancy Rink shared with us their “novel” approach to writing books that target fifth- to eighth-graders who have difficulty reading. Phil has written and self-published nine “Jimi & Isaac” books, which boast “big ideas using little words” and promote the importance of problem solving. Big publishing houses focus mostly on literary books and books that can be “marketed”, Phil said. Phil wants the books to be similar to the “Tom Swift” book series from 1910 to 1941. The “Jimi & Isaac” books are about 125 pages and use short words and sentences to encourage young readers. Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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The Ride to End Polio 2019RTEP Final Results The Ride to End Polio (RTEP) results are in! We raised $4,930,956 in the Ride To End Polio 2019. Here’s the breakdown... $822,805 in cash contributions (EndPolio.org, Rotary Ideas, Facebook and checks mailed in) $410,423.13 in District Designated Funds $410,423.13 in World Fund Match Total - $1,643,652.00 (No Gates match) $4,930,956.00 with the Gates match That puts our cumulative total at $58,233,506! Truly Amazing! Great job District 5500 for putting on such an amazing, International event! We had a total of 120 riders riding on behalf of Rotary in the road ride. Much thanks goes out to those 120 riders. And, we cannot forget our wonderful Indoor riders. The 357 Indoor riders raised $101,142(not including any matches). Even though El Tour did not host an Indoor ride, Charlotte Harris did. Thank you Charlotte for orchestrating and organizing such a successful Indoor ride this year! So, what’s new for 2020? Well, change is in the air. We have already booked the new Pre-Ride Dinner location in the Atrium at the Viscount Suites on Broadway. Plus, we will have a block of rooms there for any out-of-towners who want to stay close to the action. We are working on a new fundraising platform, there will be a new route for the Ride, and many more improvements. So, stay tuned and keep an eye on the Ride To End Polio webpage for updates. Thank you to everyone who helped make the RTEP 2019 such an amazing District-wide event and success. Natasha Wrae District RTEP Chair |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 28, 2020Rotary Club of Marana Announcements: With four members celebrating birthdays, we opened the meeting with a robust singing of “Happy Birthday.” President Richie Benner noted that he, Denise West and Laura Clymer participated the Rotary Leadership Institute training on January 25, and Mary Straus served on the faculty. Richie and Denise have completed two of three sessions. Rotary Community Service Day will be April 25, so save the date and mark your calendar. Happy bucks for: Our our guests, personalized “Happy Birthday” serenades from Carl Maes, beautiful weather (compared to Alaska this time of year), the approaching Gem Show, and an upcoming citizenship ceremony (2/21/20) for our own Peter Mack who somehow duped us ;) into letting him become a citizen. I will vouch that our country is getting the better end of this deal. Let’s just hope we can keep up our end in these precarious times.  Guest speakers: We welcomed back U.S. Border Patrol officers Jesus Vasavilbaso and Sergio Leones Jr. Both are assigned to the Tucson Sector, which runs for 262 linear miles along our border with Mexico from the Pima County line to the New Mexico state line. A total of 3,900 agents with the federal government patrol the sector.Vasavilbaso and Leones noted some of the arrests and drug seizures that have been made recently and made public through news releases. Additionally, as of December 25, 2019, the Border Patrol had rescued 243 crossers for the year. The Tucson Sector has 34 rescue beacons, which can be activated by desperate or abandoned crossers. Vasavilbaso also explained that drug cartels often control how, when, and where undocumented immigrants are going to cross the border. The cartels target vulnerable people who want to immigrate to the States for a better life, Vasavilbaso said. The population of crossers has changed as well with more people from destabilized and violent Central American countries. The officers also noted that they are seeing an uptick in dubious claims from the crossers seeking asylum with children, prompting immigration officials to conduct DNA-swab tests to verify whether the minors crossing with adults have familial ties. Finally, the officers noted the decrease over the last 10 years in marijuana seizures as compared to the dramatic increase in narcotic seizures as drug cartels increase their efforts to push heroin and fentanyl into the U.S. Presumably this is to capitalize on the opioid crisis, fueled in part by the over-prescribing of pain medication that was marketed aggressively by pharmaceutical giants, as pain med-addicts turned to heroin and fentanyl. Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 21, 2020Rotary Club of Marana We had the pleasure of welcoming a visiting Rotarian all the way from London, Tony Sharma, DG for Rotary District 1130. Tony felt right at home as Mother Nature delivered a steady, driving rain during our breakfast meeting.  Tony told us about two service projects that his Rotary club has sponsored: 1) a global grant which set up a fire station in Ethiopia using a refurbished fire truck; and 2) a double-decker “Shelter Bus” which travels around London and makes various stops to provide food, clothing and counseling to the homeless. The “upstairs” of the bus has clothes that the clients can pick out for themselves. Impressive projects, no doubt. Announcements included:
Happy Bucks flowed for the rain, the rain, and the rain. And more bucks showered down for our visitor from the U.K., our own Carl Maes for speaking about the “Secure Act”, for visits from children and grandchildren, for hikes, and jazz concerts. Lynne’s joke was lighthearted and garnered laughs and a few groans: “I went to see my financial planner and asked him to check my balance. He tried to push me over.”  Carl Maes, our resident financial planner, presented information about the “Secure Act”, which went into effect January 1, 2020. While the long-term implications are still being determined, Carl said one of the main take-aways is the increase in age for the required minimum distribution from 70 ½ to 72. Additionally, you can keep contributing pre-tax dollars into a traditional IRA or Roth until age 72.The Secure Act also increased the incentive (from a $500 to a $5,000 tax credit) for small businesses to start-up retirement plans for employees. If you have questions or need more detail about how the Secure Act impacts your small business, check in with Carl. Carl also reminded us that it is important that you update your beneficiaries because many of the changes could end up affecting them. Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 14, 2020Rotary Club of Marana  At our breakfast meeting we joyously welcomed back Bouba Hamadon, who was in town visiting and to express his appreciation for the successful securing of the global grant for the Malam Center in Cameroon.“I’m here to acknowledge the hard work of the club for the global grant, and in particular Mary (Straus) and Randy (Brooks),” Bouba said. “Now the burden is on us. Thank you on behalf of the village the Rotary Club in Maroua. We appreciate the help and the commitment.” An additional $4,000 from us will go Malam School Center project, and Marana Rotary President Richie Benner presented that check to Bouba as well. Announcements from our merry morning included:
We doled out “Happy Bucks” for seeing grandchildren, for completing the first international trip of the year (Peter Mack, of course), for Bouba’s visit, for the Rotary Foundation, and for feeling like “it’s home here” at the Marana Rotary club meetings (Bouba). Deputy Pima County Attorney Jonathan Mosher returned for another presentation in his series, “How Not to Get Away with Murder.” This time, the featured case was “State v. Joshua Lelevier”. Lelevier of Vail was convicted of first-degree murder of his 13-year-old stepdaughter. Mosher, who is running in the Democratic primary to replace retiring County Prosecutor Barbara LaWall, emphasized how the county attorney’s office is using technology to create a visual story of what happened for jurors. Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary. This version corrects three mistakes in the first version sent out. My apologies. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 7 2020Rotary Club of Marana After two “dark” weeks to celebrate the holidays, we rang in 2020 with a joyful breakfast meeting featuring lots of warm greetings and guest speaker Jana Jorgensen, FBI special agent for the New York Field Office. John Dooling subbed for President Richie Benner to run the show. We also welcomed Alaska Rotarian Martin who has recently moved to the Silver Bell and Ina area, and is looking at local clubs. Announcements included the following: • Dan reported that he’s likely finalized the Tour de Cookie route. We need more sponsors, but the ride is coming together. It was suggested that we order Marana Rotary t-shirts to wear so that riders know who we are. • Mary reported that our Global Grant totaling $33,000 for the Cameroon project got fully funded! John thanked Mary and Randy for their “tremendous efforts in shepherding it through.” Great work, Mary and Randy! • The Rotary Leadership Institute will be January 25th. Sign up to register here: https://rotaryd5500.org/event/rli/ “Happy Bucks” were offered for the New Year, for holidays spent with family, for winning at “high stakes” poker (John), for her daughter’s recovery from being kicked by a horse (Beckie), for everyone who made the holiday season special, and for our guests Jana and Martin.  We were thrilled that member Don Jorgensen used his special connections to score a very special guest, FBI Special Agent Jana Jorgensen. Jana delighted us with her story about how she decided to join FBI after serving as a prosecuting attorney in Seattle. The two-year FBI application process required three interviews, three physical fitness tests, and a lie detector test. Her training at the FBI Academy at the facility in Quantico, Virginia (https://www.fbi.gov/services/training-academy) included being pepper-sprayed, tactical training, and classroom training. Special Agent Jorgensen explained that the FBI has 56 field offices, plus satellite offices. After graduating, the new agents rank the field offices by preference. Jana was assigned to New York City, the biggest field office. Specifically, Jana has worked the Metro Safe Streets Task Force, and her team conducted the search of Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion after his arrest. We won’t mention the super-creepy stuff the team found, but I think we all can agree it was super creepy, and the world’s a better place without that person being in it. Special Agent Jorgensen also kindly disabused us of the notions that FBI trainees at Quantico wear stylish training outfits (as seen on tv), that the FBI barges in and takes cases away from local law enforcement (story arc as seen on tv), and that FBI field offices have state-of-the-art technology with touch-screens and fancy graphics (as seen on tv). It was a gentle reminder that separating fact from fiction simply requires talking with a first-person source! All in all, it was a grand start to the new year and the new decade. Happy 2020! |
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Rotary Meeting 12/17/2019Rotary Club of Marana Hi Again, With no notes and with a head cold that blocks out 50% of all sound (added to my 25% hearing loss) I shall try to reconstruct what happened at today's meeting. Attendance was less than robust, but those who attended seemed to know the Pledge of Allegiance well enough, if not the lyrics to We Wish You A Merry Christmas. There were few announcements, Randy had one, believe it or not, but dang if I can recall what it was. I had one, urging someone to step up and be our President Elect for 2020/2021. Hey, it is a do nothing job, plus for being president the following year we will send you to Taipei, the capitol city of Taiwan for the 2021 RI Conference. You know, Formosa, as it was called when John Zwick was a little boy. David? Denise? Beckie? Randy? Buehler? Buehler? There were three jokes thanks to Lynne's two and Richie's solo contribution. All were one liners and I remember thinking they were funny, but unfortunately that is all I can recall.  The Club presented a check to GAP Ministries, the largest Foster Care program in Pima County. Jason Ayers represented GAP and received the check of $1,100, which constituted 100% of our net proceeds from our poker night a couple of months ago. By the way, the big winner that night was an 80 plus year young lady who gave a lot of her winnings to adopt a family through GAP Ministries. Again, a big thank you to Dan Contorno for leading this fund raiser. By the way, GAP qualifies for the Foster Care State Tax Credit should you be so inclined. Next up was the Executive Director of the Marana Chamber of Commerce who was representing the Marana Food Bank on whose Board she sits. President Benner presented Audra Winters a check from our club in the amount of $800. Audra replaced Ed Stolmaker, a former member of this Rotary Club, last February.Happy Bucks did occur, but my mind is a blank. I know, tell you something you did not already know. I can't even recall what I was happy about, so do not feel slighted if you had a really good Happy Buck thought and it did not get recorded.  Our own Don Jorgensen was the presenter today and spoke on an organization he has supported with time and money for several years, ShelterBox, USA. Begun as a Rotary project by a Club out of the UK, ShelterBox has grown by leaps and bounds over the past ten years. Stepping in wherever there has been catastrophic natural or man made destruction ShelterBox has made a name for itself rivaling organizations such as Red Cross and Red Crescent. Necessities such as tents, tools, blankets, solar lights and even personal water purification systems have been given to over a million people in need. Don noted our club has generously donated the $1,000 needed to sponsor na ShelterBox several times in the past, but not last year. He is hopeful we can again this year.Don would have had more time for his presentation had not Richie opted to read Dr Jorgensen's lengthy and impressive resume. This cut about half an hour from the presentation. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NO MEETING NEXT TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First meeting in January 2020 will be an agent of The Federal Bureau of Investigation. You felons have been warned. Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Your's Truly, John the Scribe |
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25th year aid station Our 25th Year Aid Station for El Tour De Tucson  |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 19, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Geared up for the El Tour and cranked up for Rotary “Quizmania”, our club demonstrated that we are a competitive lot, even at 7 o’clock in the morning. Our El Tour aid station is ready for action and located at Moore Road and Camino de Oeste. We had a spirited “Quizmania” that had club members matching wits for accolades and chocolates. But first, Assistant District Governor Marc Snow visited and presented information about the Rotary Vocational Fund, which qualifies for a state of Arizona tax credit. The Vocational Fund pays for vocational training, which goes directly to the institution on behalf of the student. Marc noted that in 2018-19, the Vocational Fund served more students than ever before (nearly 100), but had to defer funding about 25 students. Demand continues to rise, Marc said. Marc also talked about how rewarding it is to watch the impact of the Vocational Fund grants. Locally, the Pima County program “Job Path” is a pipeline of qualified students. Marc added that another $30,000 to $40,000 would go a long way toward meeting the demand. The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona is 501 (c)(3) non-profit, organization and a Qualified Charitable Organization, which means a taxpayer may claim a donation as a tax credit up to the allowable amount on her or his Arizona personal income tax return. To learn more The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona and its local impact, check out this story from the Arizona Daily Star. Mary Straus finished up “Foundation Month” with “Quizmania” of Foundation facts. We split up into three teams and battled for glory. Team #1 emerged the winner, beating out Team #3 in overtime. But in reality we were all winners in the end for having learned about this important way to make the world a better place.  Team 3 (from left): Beckie, David, Denise and Lynne. |
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Rotry Meeting Nov 12, 2019
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Rotary Meeting Nov 5, 2019Rotary Club of Marana What a start to November it was. We had our MCAT Student of the Month in attendance. Rotarian Marie Andree Zachrisson visited us from Nueva Guatemala Rotary Club. Plus, guest speaker Susan Friese shared with us the amazing work Literacy Connects.  The MCAT Student of the Month was Alexis Falcon, who was joined by her mother Irasema Teran and family guest Cody Hudson. Student Support Coach Laura Garcia attended as well as Principal Denise Coronado. Ms. Coronado explained that Alexis had a really hard time in middle school and got distracted socially. It was Mr. Todd, her math teacher who realized that Alexis needed specialized support in math. Once that was in place, Alexis began to thrive. “I also saw that I couldn’t do anything without my diploma,” Alexis said. She’s on track to graduate in December. She’s “deeply grateful” for her mother’s tough love and thanked the Club for selecting her Student of the Month. Alexis plans to pursue the culinary arts after graduation.  From Literacy Connects, community outreach coordinator Susan Friese explained some of the life-changing programs of the Tucson non-profit, which works for social justice through reading literary and creative expression.The “Reading Seed” Program, in its 25th year, focuses on creating lifelong learners. Over 1,600 students have been served. Sessions allow for one-on-one work with a reading tutor and a free book after each session. Why is early childhood reading so important? “Because it from kindergarten to third grade that children learn to read, and from fourth grade, they are reading to learn,” Friese explained. Literary Connects outreach includes:
Literary Connects has an annual budget of $1.9 million, and relies on about $1.2 million worth of volunteer time. More than 110,000 books have been donated through Literacy Connects. Literacy Connects is a qualifying charitable organization for the Arizona tax credit. We offered up Happy Bucks for our guests Alexis, Susan and Marie, near perfect attendance, and sunrises. Lynne’s joke struck a familiar chord for many of us: “I would do my math homework but I’ve got my own problems.” The club's Rotary Foundation Director Mary Strauss also presented the first of a three-part informational series about The Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation, with a $1.2 billion endowment, funds district grants, global grants, Rotary peace scholars, and polio eradication efforts.  Guest Marie Andree Zachrisson from Nueva Guatemala Rotary Club. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 29, 2019Rotary Club of Marana The best and the brightest the The Rotary club of Marana has to offer gathered for a Trivia contest last Tuesday at Native Grill and Wings two doors down from Nana's Kitchen. Randy and John D were also able to attend. We knew it was going to be a fun evening right from the start when, after a half hour, we still could not figure out how to operate the gizmos. Eventually we divided into two groups, Peter Mack (a surprise attendee because riots in Chile have shut down the country) vs the rest of us. Just kidding. Actually, Richie dominated the entire evening. Even when he quit playing out of boredom I lost to him the next three games. Maybe he had the "master" gizmo? You know, like the teachers workbook with ll the answers? The 10 dozen wings were great of course and, although thoroughly stuffed, we managed to wolf down two magnificent pizzas. Did not know they had such tasty pizza. It was a good thing we had a private room as Harold, Deb Hume and Cindy Dooling tended to be quite boisterous. Not to mention the Benner family. Yes, Einstein, er, Richie brought his whole family! New member applicant and Rotary raffle aficionado, Vince, joined us as well. The Jorgensen's bowed out at the last minute in order to listen to a play by play call of the birth of a grandchild. Deb and Geary Conover reported they would attend, but alas were no shows. Next time I get Hindman or Clymer on my team because I think I could have challenged the machine's answers given the right attorney. |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 22, 2019Rotary Club of Marana  With all members in attendance*, our guest District Governor Ellie Patterson delivered a message worth remembering: Never lose sight of Rotary’s local and worldwide reach, and our ability to change our community and therefore, change the world because “Rotary connects the world.”  Joining Ellie was assistant governor Marc Snow. Also in attendance was Vince Reilly, who recently moved to Tucson from Texas. Vince is a Realtor with Tierra Antigua Realty. He’s also a lucky fellow because he won the raffle and then pulled a “Joker” for half the pot! “Happy Bucks” were doled out for “being in the club”, for Ellie and Marc attending, for “installing a telescope in Connecticut (Peter, of course), for good fall breaks, and for “what dreams may come.” We settled on a new date for Tour de Cookie, which will be March 14, 2020. Mark your calendar. District Governor Ellie then spoke to the club about Rotary, our district, and our club, and the ways we can continue t  o make an impact and how we can grow our membership. At the district level, Ellie said she sees “1-50-1” – 1 district, 50 clubs, 1 team. A collective leadership team at the district level combined with individual team members will continue to propel Rotary forward. Folks join Rotary because they are people of action who enjoy connecting through fellowship and purpose, she said.The question becomes: How can we grow more and thus accomplish more? While visiting every club in the district, Ellie said each club is unique, especially with its acts of kindness. It’s important, though, to ask ourselves, how do we attract and retain members? What would we stop doing? What would we change? What is the one thing I would do? One way to attract and retain members is to remin  d folks of what we do to change our community and the world. For example, Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio globally have been largely successful but the costs have risen because vaccines have to be delivered to remote and politically sensitive locations. Local, district, and global grants allow us to target specific needs within the local community and across the globe.In closing, Ellie reminded us that Rotarians like to “break things” – from breaking the seal of a polio vaccine, to breaking the cycle of poverty with local grants and community service, to breaking the record for consecutive years providing an aid station for El Tour de Tucson, to the MCAT student who breaks into a smile for being named “student of the month” by our club. With that inspirational closing from Ellie, we adjourned full of pep and purpose! |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 15, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Meeting Minutes 10/15/19 Guests: Candace Greenberg, artist and educator, was introduced to us by Randy. We all enjoyed her kindness and enthusiasm. Announcements:
Happy Bucks:
  Today’s Program was presented by Yanick Hicks who spoke with us about Leadership Development Yanick Hicks is a delightful young man and pharmacist who spoke with us about the development of leadership and its importance. He began with a quote from his mentor and friend John Maxwell: To be influential, smile, share, give, and turn the other cheek. Following this opening, Yanick shared his story of emigrating from Cameroon with family to the United States at age 16. His transition to high school was difficult; he wanted very much to fit in but was picked on because of his accent and difference. This period changed when he was introduced to alcohol, night clubs, and marijuana. He quickly became socially engaged and had a group of friends. While he felt happy, his grades plummeted. This young man, who had sites on becoming a pharmacist and who had been taught to work hard and to care for his community by his grandfather, no longer cared about his goals, his future, or service to his community. Having little hope of being accepted to any university pharmacy program after high school, Yannick nonetheless applied to 5 schools. While waiting for responses, a friend recommended and sent him a link to a video. It was a life changing experience for him. A talk by John Maxwell on leadership, growth, and development. Yannick immediately started reinvesting in himself. He stopped drinking and smoking, and committed himself to making a difference in his own and others’ lives. Yannick was accepted by one pharmacy school. While completing his program, he found his true passion was in leadership. In addition to being a pharmacist, Yannick sought out John Maxwell and eventually joined his organization training on leadership, personal and organizational growth, and development. Yannick shared with us gems of his trainings:
The Lid refers to the maximum capacity or robustness of one’s leadership skills.This Lid limits the degree to which an organization under your leadership can be creative, effective, and grow.
Yannick closed his talk by emphasizing the importance of striving to make a difference in the lives of others. Without this perspective, one’s leadership will be very limited and self-serving. The Rotary Club of Marana expresses our appreciation to Yanick Hicks for an inspiring presentation. Submitted by Rotarian Mary Straus, 10/15/19 |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 8, 2019Rotary Club of Marana We received good news from the El Tour de Tucson folks – our aid station remains on the route and in the same location. Folks should plan on helping the entire day, Saturday, Nov. 23, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Our service project coming up at the end of month will be Saturday, October 26 at Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse. Save the date, and plan on helping from 8 a.m. to noon. The Poker Tournament to benefit the Foundation and GAP Ministries drew about 30 players, including a half-dozen or so from GAP. We’re still crunching the numbers but bottom line is: Everyone had fun. We had “happy bucks” for finding a forever home (Beckie) to feeling young because it only takes 10 minutes to get ready for Rotary (John) to our “crisp” mornings and lovely fall-feeling weather. Our MCAT Student of the Month was Jayden, who unfortunately was unable to attend. MCAT Principal Denise Coronado and social studies/history teacher Mr. Bowen joined us on Jayden’s behalf. Ms. Coronado explained that Jayden attended six different elementary schools growing up and four different high schools before settling in at MCAT. Jayden works 30 hours a week as well. Congratulations, Jayden! Randy Brooks led our “Growing Membership”, Part 2 discussion. Membership depends on recruitment and then retention. The consensus is that our club has a strong and active core, however we’ve lost numbers because members have typically moved away for job promotions (ie, Tony Hunter). On the survey, everyone said they are willing to invite a friend or colleague. Many of us are attracted to Rotary's emphasis on giving back to our community. Randy suggested it is important to tell people what Rotary means to you, such as listing our local service projects and emphasizing that we are professionals who develop friendships and connections. “Why we join may be different than why we stay,” Randy noted. Various members then responded to what persuaded them to join Rotary and stay in Rotary:
Randy then handed out some “homework”, the “Identifying Prospective Members Worksheet” that we are to complete. The worksheet prompts us to think about our professional and service contacts. Please complete the worksheet. Our next “Growing Membership” discussion will be November 12, when Mary Strauss leads the workshop. Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 1, 2019Rotary Club of Marana With a turn of the calendar, our first October meeting began with a series of important announcements:
"Happy bucks" ranged from coaching a youth soccer team (David) to servicing a telescope on top of a volcano (Peter, of course), from selling a “good” Jeep (Randy) to morning temperatures in the low 60s (Harold), and all points in between. Lynne made a “funny” joke* about lawyers, and because the Club secretary is a lawyer, it shall not be repeated here … in the law, we call that exercising “judicial discretion”.  Our guest speaker was Trevor Edwards, the Community Recruitment Program Coordinator for Pima County’s Community Justice Boards. “Restorative justice” is the philosophical underpinning of the program. The purpose is to focus on at-risk youth who have been arrested for non-violent infractions and divert them a 90-day, non-punitive program that focuses on the impact of their actions and creates individualized plans to help them gain strategies and skills to make better decisions for their future. About a 100 community volunteers serve on Community Justice Boards. A total of 19 boards operate with their neighborhoods across Pima County, Trevor said. In fact, Trevor noted that Vail, located east of Tucson, was starting its new Community Justice Board on October 24. Each board uses a team approach to develop a set of consequences for each youth. Consequence plans may include letters of apology, community service, empowerment groups, educational programs, or creative- and career-based projects. Volunteer projects include working with Ben’s Bells, mural artists, and the Tucson Youth Poetry Slam. Victims are heard from as well through Victim Impact Statements. Children, aged 8 to 17, who are first or second non-violent offenders are eligible. The top offenses are possession of marijuana and property damage. The program boasts a 94% completion rate, with only a 5% recidivism rate. Parent report a 98% satisfaction rate with the program. Trevor’s informative talk gave no time for questions, but he left us with lots of literature and an understanding of how restorative justice works in the real world. Thanks, Trevor! Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary * Question: What do you call 25 lawyers skydiving? Answer: Skeet. |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 24, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Our Global Grant was funded (!) -- after nearly two years, from inception to final approval – thanks to visionary efforts of our local members Randy, Mary, Don, Bob, Phil, and Bouba. Mary, who did much of the grant writing’s heavy-lifting, reminded us that the grant will fund six, economic-based development projects for the village through three different industries: tailoring, milling, and ranching. Sewing machines will be used tailoring and embroidering work. A nut and wheat grinding will mill food products for the grain “bank”. A cattle ranch will produce milk to supplement the diets of schoolchildren, with the excess milk sold at market. A vegetable garden will be located next to the school. Separate from the Global Grant, our club has raised another $3,000 for a much-needed latrine project as well. Well done, everyone. Well done! Joining us at our meeting was guest Gwen Henderson, who is a business development professional, and Gordon Wainwright, a Rotarian from the Saddlebrooke Club. We approved a $500 donation to the Marana High School “S.O.S.” Fund, as well as a Shelter Box donation for $500. Both passed unanimously. Guest speaker Gordon Wainwright told us about his club’s 22nd annual “Fore for Kids” golf tournament, which tees off April 13, 2020, at the Oro Valley Country Club. Last year’s tournament raised $30,000, bringing the event’s grand total to $500,000 raised over the last 21 years. Proceeds help fund several exceptional programs, including: Teens Sew Cool; Math Plus; Little Hooves, Big Hearts; First Tee Tucson; Connections Learning; and a Make A Wish Foundation wish. Entry cost is $150 per individual or $140 per person for a team of four. Sponsorships cost $1,000. Gordon issued a special challenge for all golf-playing Rotarians to compete for the “Best Rotary Team” honors. Grab your clubs and sign up for the 2020 "Fore the Kids" beFore it is too late! Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 17, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Our mid-September meeting kicked off with a bevy of announcements and happy bucks, and concluded with informative presentation about the critical role the Arizona Corporation Commission’s Securities Division plays in educating and protecting consumers from “too-good-to-be-true” investments and scam artists. Randy Brooks reminded us to mark our calendars for the following upcoming events: “Denim and Diamonds” event on 11/9 and a special screening of “Breathe” at The Loft on 11/26. President Richie Benner said the Catalina Rotary member Anita McDonald was selected a District Governor Designee for 2022-23. Happy Bucks ranged from “a nice trip to Illinois” to new puppies, from UA Football finding its defense to a “good” Jeep for sale, and lots of other tidbits to be happy about in between.  Investor Education Coordinator Terri Alexon drove down from the Arizona Corporation Commission in Phoenix to describe crucial work performed by this state agency. Ms. Alexon has worked for A.C.C. since 2002. The Securities Division registers and regulates “securities” which are investments, such as stocks, bonds, commodities, mutual funds, and any other number of ways of entrusting money to another person. The Securities Division employs about 45 folks who work either in Registration and Compliance, or Enforcement. The Enforcement staff employs police officers and attorneys to investigate and prosecute securities violations. One local scam investigated by the Enforcement staff was based right here in Marana. Terri said the Enforcement Division relies on tips from engaged citizens who can leave confidential information on a tip line. The division typically has about 100 open cases at a time. Ms. Alexon then shared three “red flags” consumers should be on the lookout for when evaluating an investment product: 1) If it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is; 2) If seller is pressuring you to buy, then be wary; and 3) If the product targets the elderly. The #1 victims are “Baby-Boomer” men. You should “ask and check before you invest” or “verify before you buy”, Ms. Alexon suggested. To verify registrations, file a complaint or ask about statutes and rules, folks can call the Duty Officer at 602-542-0662, or email to securitiesdiv@azcc.gov . After Ms. Alexon’s informative presentation, we adjourned. -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 10, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Was it the presence of our first MCAT Student of the Month of the new school year? Or, the inspiring reminder of Rotary’s foundational connection to peace building across the globe? Conceivably, it was because 9-10-19 is a “palindrome” day. The confluence of all three buoyed our spirits and made for an uplifting breakfast meeting. After announcements, fellowship, and “happy bucks”, Principal Denise Coronado  from MCAT introduced us to Student of the Month Alexas Rowe, who was joined by her Grandpa Bob and Grandma Linda. Ms. Coronado explained that Alexas had fallen into the wrong crowd at MHS, but found her path at MCAT where she is on course to graduate next May. Support from her grandparents and her stepmom Sharie has made a big difference in Alexas’s turnaround as well.Mr. Oliver Bowen, a social studies/government/history teacher at MCAT, said Alexas positively exemplifies three “As” – attendance, academics, and attitude. “She was frustrated with the pace of classes, but empowered herself to learn,” he said. Mr. Rowe added that Alexas has matured into an independent learner and is individually driven. “She’s learned how to ask.” Alexas, after thanking the club for the award and opportunity, said she’s interested in nursing or forensic science as possible careers after graduation. Rotarian Chris Jo  hnson then spoke to us about Rotary’s peace building history and in action. He reminded us about Rotary’s long-standing commitment to peace building, which dates back to 1921, and the 1940s when 49 Rotarians participated in the drafting of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.The Rotary Foundation awards up to 100 fully funded Rotary Peace fellowships for either the Master’s Degree program or the Professional development certificate program at Rotary Peace Centers. The purpose? Peace building. Conflict resolution. Mediation. Bridging cultures. Chris said there are not enough applicants from the U.S. The Master’s Degree program is offered at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill in North Carolina. The Certificate program, which takes three to six months to complete, requires 10 years of professional experience. Chris then encouraged us to nominate candidates. “We make peace happen,” Chris concluded. Want to learn more? Here’s the link to Rotary’s Peace Fellowships: https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/peace-fellowships . After these inspiring stories, we adjourned. -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 3, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Tony Hunter opened the meeting one last time before he moves to Phoenix with a song and a club favorite – “Yellow Submarine”. We sang along as we best as we could remember the lyrics, and all reports are that it was much improved from the first time the club sang it. President Benner reminded us that November 9 is an important day because it features the Foundation Day Workshop (free of charge) from 10 a.m. to Noon at Habitat for Humanity, 3501 N. Mountain Ave., followed by the “Denim & Diamonds” fundraiser beginning at 6 p.m. at The Playground, 278 E. Congress, in downtown Tucson. Cost is $60 for Rotarians; $50 for non-Rotarians. To register for either event, go to our district’s home page: https://rotaryd5500.org/ We then shared “happy bucks”, and a laugh for Lynne’s “riddle”: 30 cows 28 chickens, how many didn’t? (Answer: 10). Our club’s membership has slipped a bit, due in large part to changes in life circumstances for several members. Randy, Mary and Laura attended the district’s membership training a month ago, and the trio came back with some ideas to gauge membership satisfaction, to assess club effectiveness not only recruiting new members but also “re-recruiting” or keeping current members engaged, and to think of new ways to grow. So, instead of a guest speaker, we spent the remainder of the meeting reviewing a membership satisfaction survey that Randy asked us to complete. Some of the recommendations from the survey included: requiring committee reports once a month, sending out a reminder about our guest speakers, offer different levels of membership, and consider a change in meeting venue. Reviewing the results of the survey led to really good discussion, and a desire expressed by members to work on finding ways to strengthen our club. Mary then distributed a two-page “assessment” of the club for members to complete. This self-assessment was a tool provided at the district-wide membership training. Mary will compile the results and report back later. Once the “membership trio” has the results tallied, it will be put on the regular meeting rotation for discussion. On that note, the meeting adjourned. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 27, 2019Rotary Club of Marana A bittersweet meeting it was as we heard the news from past-President Tony Hunter that he has accepted a job with the State of Arizona in Phoenix and will be moving to the state capital in September. Tony will work as a government transformation officer, a similar position that he held with the town of Marana, only a larger scale. Tony’s last meeting with us will be next Tuesday, September 3.  Tony, a Marana Rotary member for five years, told us that it has been “amazing” to work and serve with our club. Tony will hand over the reins as Project Lead for our aid station at the El Tour de Tucson, as well a bunch of club supplies stored in his garage! Tony plans to stay involved in Rotary, but added, “This club is special.” Well, this club thinks Tony is special. Our happy bucks reflected that sentiment as members expressed how happy they were for Tony and his wife and their new beginning in Phoenix. John Dooling, on the other hand  turned his happy bucks to “sad” bucks because he won’t be able to have breakfast with Tony anymore and steal the bacon off Tony’s plate. In all seriousness, John said he was happy for Tony and wished him the best. Other gratitude bucks for the recovery of a friend from a heart attack (Harold) and an 8-foot by 12-foot by 5-foot moving “pod” filled with $70,000 worth (wow!) of in-kind donations of children’s clothing for needy families (Rachel).Our guest speaker Jason Ayers from GAP Ministries explained about the start, growth, and extent of the faith-based, non-profit that serves the greater Tucson area. GAP began 20 years ago when Jason’s parents moved to Tucson and converted their garage into a food pantry and opened their home to foster a child. Today, GAP is the largest foster care provider in southeastern Arizona with 10 group homes for about 100 foster children and teens. GAP also runs a 55,000 square-foot food warehouse that supplies food to 15-20 non-profits for distribution, and a “stuffs” warehouse that 30 non-profits “shop” to help support their individual missions. “We do what we do because of our faith,” Jason said. Additionally, GAP has a “second chance” program that offers full-time, 10-week training programs in auto mechanics and culinary arts. Both tracks provide skills-based training and certifications that help program graduates land jobs in their chosen trade. GAP’s commercial kitchen partners with Flowing Wells School District’s Title One schools to provide hot meals for the after school programs. The Gap Garage is a for-profit auto repair shop that funnels its profits back to GAP Ministries. Several weeks ago, our fellow Rotarian John Dooling brought the club’s attention to GAP’s need to raise $500,000. Jason Ayers explained why there was a shortfall, and noted that since that appeal for funds, donations totaling $250,000 have cut GAP’s gap in half. And on that positive note, the meeting was adjourned. -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 20, 2019Marana Rotary Round-Up for August 20 After being called to order and the Pledge, President Benner got right down to the business of announcements, which included: 1) Sept. 21 is the District Leadership Retreat (no registration fee) at the Habitat for Humanity offices on Mountain Avenue; 2) November 9 is the Foundation Training event (also free), followed by a Country Western “Extravaganza!” that evening at The Playground in downtown Tucson; and 3) April 25, 2020 is service project work day. Top “happy bucks” for:
Denise won the raffle – no joke. Really, there was no joke off because Lynne was absent. Our guest speaker Jonathan Mosher, chief criminal deputy prosecutor for the Pima County Attorney’s Office, returned to present, “How Not To Get Away With Murder.” Mr. Mosher’s presentation centered on a relatively recent case, State v. James Lapan, which was also featured on “Dateline.” The case was particularly interesting to members because it happened in Marana. Mr. Mosher explained the theory the county attorney’s office pursued, including Lapan’s likely motive, and used multiple slides showing where detectives had collected forensic evidence, including lots of DNA evidence from blood on Lapan’s jeans and matched shell casings, from both the victim’s house and Lapan’s residence. Mr. Mosher explained that it has become important tool for the County Attorney’s Office to use visual presentations at the trial for the jury because of the complexity of prosecuting murders. For example, it is easier to show a visual representation of the probability (or improbability) of a DNA match because folks generally have difficulty grasping really big numbers, such as a trillion (1,000,000,000,000) versus a septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). [Peter will you verify, please?] The sheer amount of DNA and forensic evidence and a strong theory about Lapan’s motive made this case a pretty clear example of how not to get away with murder, Mosher concluded. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 a.m. -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 13, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Benner called us to order, and we were led in the Pledge by visiting Spokane (WA) Rotarian Stephen Joswick, who is a longtime member, bicyclist enthusiast, and recently retired mortgage broker. Stephen is visiting Tucson-area Rotary clubs because he’s considering moving down to Arizona. Our club members seized upon Stephen’s biking interest and immediately regaled him with stories about our wonderful and successful Tour de Cookie. But our regular meet .jpg "image") ing was really about inducting Carl Maes into the Marana Rotary. After his induction ceremony, Carl mentioned that Rotary reminds him “how to be a better person, how to help people.” Carl, who has his PhD. in optical sciences, is a financial advisor with Edward Jones. He and his wife, Patricia, have been married for 27 years, and they have three children. Carl is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Carl said that through Rotary he is looking forward to advocating for folks who don’t have a voice.Before Carl’s induction, President Benner ran down some important announcements, including:
On a more somber note, John Dooling mentioned that GAP Ministries, which provides care for foster teens and other vulnerable communities, desperately needs to raise $500,000 this month. After fellowship and breakfast, we had happy bucks, including a few tepid happy bucks, for the following:
Lynne’s joke aimed at our visitor from Washington. “What is a Seattle Seahawk’s fan’s favorite wine?” Answer: “We can’t beat the Arizona Cardinals.” Our Tour de Cookie date has been set for March 7, 2020! Dan thought the start from the Rillito Race Track worked well. General discussion was to have the route focus a bit more along the Loop which runs into Marana. We hope to cross-promote Tour de Cookie at the Tour de Tucson in November. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 6, 2019Meeting was called to order by our President Announcements: Randy, Mary and Laura attending the membership seminar this last weekend. They will be doing a special presentation on membership soon Happy bucks John- happy to spend time fishing with the grandkids event if 0 fish were caught Dan- happy that all the kids who made the trek to the first day of school made it back home Bob happy to be back temporarily Peter- happy to be here. Will be headed to San Diego soon Carl- happy to be back from moving his daughter and excited she will be starting work soon Becky- happy for the person who invented AC. Mary- her daughter will be starting high school at CDO. JoAnn our guest from the Primavera Foundation where they help anywhere from a simple roof over their head for the night to being the first person in their family to own their own home. The Primavera Foundation was started by members of our community in 1983 by people who were really concerned about the most vulnerable members of our community. Here we are so many years later, Primavera continues to provide not just vital services, but economic investment back into the community so that everyone has a safe place to call home. When the most marginalized have equity, we are all enriched, and our community can thrive.GOALS
Meeting ended with the 4 way test |
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Rotary Meeting July 30, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Our fifth Tuesday “social” meeting was at the Hampton Inn where club members dined on the hotel’s breakfast bar and met Megan Gilfillan, a Vocational Fund of Arizona scholarship nominee. Megan has applied for the need-based, $2,000 scholarship, which if granted, would help her as she begins a nine-month, dental assistant training program at Pima Medical Institute. Previously, Megan was caregiver for five years and then earned a medical assistant certification. She grew up in Tucson, and will continue to work full time while going to dental assistant school in the evening. Megan has a great smile, and she hopes one day to help others find their smiles while at their dentist’s office. -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting July 23, 2019Marana Rotary Weekly Meeting Round-Up An enthusiastic ring of the bell jolted us into order by former club president John Dooling, who subbed for a vacationing President Benner. John wryly noted that the last time he was at the podium, “Randy was a teenager.” Since no one was “dying to break out in song,” John reminded members that the Membership Seminar will take place on August 3 in Green Valley. As of now, Randy, Mary, Laura, and maybe Rachel are planning to attend. Randy suggested that the club reimburse members who attend the seminar. The board will take up the recommendation at its next meeting. Mary reported that she’s continuing to work with Bouba on the next phase of the grant writing. Harold reminded folks that next week we’re meeting at the Hampton Inn at 7 a.m. for a “fifth Tuesday” social breakfast. After fellowship and breakfast, “Happy Bucks” for the following:
Lynne tickled our funny bones with “you might be a crisis manager if …” riffs. Randy “won” the raffle. .jpg) Guest Vanessa Helms of the Pima County Victim Services Division spoke about the groundbreaking history of victims rights and advocacy, which got much of its start right here in southeastern Arizona. Victim Services started in 1975 and has grown from an initial staff of four to 30. Ms. Helms noted that Arizona has one of the most comprehensive Victim Services programs in country. Pima County Victim Services has collaborated across the state with other similar agencies to create renowned advocacy network for victims of crime and victims of crisis events.Programs include RAMP protocol for victims of domestic violence, a “Kids in Court” program that helps when children have to testify, and courthouse dogs Baja and Blake who offer support to victims. The mission of Pima County Victim Services Division is to support, educate, and empower victims of crime to seek justice and strengthen and rebuild their lives. Victim Services advocates accomplish this by:
Ms. Helms noted that Victim Services relies its strong volunteer program that has more than 100 volunteers who have contributed 24,000 hours, saving the county more than $460,000. Volunteers undergo extensive training comprised of 36 hours of basic crisis intervention plus another 30 hours of advanced training. More information can be found at: vsvolunteers@pcao.pima.gov . Victim Services also works with national organizations for victim assistance in mass casualty incidents, whether those incidents are human-caused or not. For example, Pima County Victim Services has sent teams in the past to respond to the following: Bosnian Civil War, Oklahoma City domestic terrorist bombing, Arkansas tornado disaster, and September 11 attacks. Much closer to home, Pima County Victim Services volunteers responded immediately to the 2011 Tucson Tragedy at the Ina and Oracle Safeway where Gabby Giffords and others were shot. In its initial callout, Victim Services deployed 36 advocates to six different sites. Ms. Helms said that with so many law enforcement agencies responding that day, victims can get marginalized. More recently, Pima County Victim Services sent a team of 14 to respond to the Las Vegas “Harvest Festival” mass shooting where 58 people were killed and more than 850 were wounded. Ms. Helms said the strength of Victim Services is its unified team purpose, shared training, shared deployment, and existing deployment services which have been developed since the organization’s inception in 1975. After yet another informative talk – hats off to Denise who lines up our speaker series – we signed off with recitation of the Four Way Test. -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting July 9, 2019Marana Rotary Weekly Meeting Round-Up After the Pledge of Allegiance and in harmony with our guest speaker from the Tucson Wildlife Center, we opened the meeting with a one-verse, rousing rendition of “Old McDonald” featuring the owl. Fair to say, it was a hoot. President Benner announced that Carl Maes has been approved by the board for membership, and general members can weigh in as well by sending their comments to him or Randy Brooks. In other general announcements, President Benner noted the following:
Member Rachel Cheeseman let us know that the United Way is launching a matching platform where folks can find volunteer opportunities and log their time giving back to our communities. Contact Rachel for more information. After fellowship and a hearty breakfast, “Happy Bucks” for:
Lynne, flying solo, told a joke in harmony with our “wildlife/animal” theme. Denise “won” the raffle. Guest Speaker Angeline Fahey, education coordinator for the Tucson Wildlife Center, delivered a fascinating talk about her organization that rehabilitates injured and abandoned wildlife – everything from pack rats to bobcats to coyotes to raptors, and even Gila monsters (yikes!). Tucson Wildlife Center is the only wildlife hospital in Southern Arizona with two full-time veterinarians. The center only treats injured, ill, or orphaned wildlife. It’s funded 100% by donations, and licensed by Arizona Game and Fish. Its mascots in sanctuary are appropriately a pair of wildcats, Wilbur and Wilma. Tucson Wildlife Center sends trained staff and volunteers to assess and locate injured or abandoned wildlife, which are humanely trapped and transported to TWC for treatment and rehabilitation. About 80 percent of the animals injured or orphaned are because of human activity, and up to 80 percent of the wildlife brought to TWC treated and released back into the wild. Poisons, traps, glue traps, and electrocution pose some of the greatest threats to wildlife, Ms. Fahey explained. Dislocated “babies” and other orphaned young require special care because the wildlife rehabilitation specialists want to prevent imprinting. TWC uses puppets, “snuggle pets” with battery-operated heartbeat, and “Ghillie” suits to avoid imprinting. Ms. Fahey also disabused us of the myth that you cannot touch baby birds. If you find one on the ground, she suggested that you put it back in the nest. You can even construct a nest using a small container with holes in the bottom and grass and rehang the “nest” near the old one. The parents will likely return. At the fledging stage, parents are still caring for the young, so if the fledgling appears healthy, leave it alone. When you encounter an injured animal, confine your pets and call TWC for advise. Don’t feed the injured animal, and try transfer to box with holes. A simple “fix” to help wildlife from escape pools includes the “frog log”. For quail nesting in flower pots, use a t-shirt to create a “ramp” for the hatchlings to get out of the pot. Tucson Wildlife Center can be reached by calling 520-290-9453. Its website is: TucsonWildlife.com After Ms. Fahey’s informative talk, we signed off with the Four Way Test. -- Submitted by Laura Clymer, secretary |
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Rotary Meeting July 16, 2019Rotary Club of Marana John Dooling subbing for Laura Clymer President Benner started our meeting, as standard practice, with he Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. We almost escaped without song, but John Dooling, with strong support from our guest speaker if not club members, requested "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in light of the nice rainfall some of the valley experienced over the weekend. We sounded amazing. District 5500 will be one of the prime sponsors of the El Tour de Tucson. Tony Hunter has accepted the job of Aid Station Coordinator and several members volunteered to assist. David Hindman was "volunteered" as he had yet to enter the meeting when we voted. PETS registration in September and yours truly will be attending one of the sessions. Planning still underway for our 5th Tuesday of July meeting. Stay tuned. Our club's District grant proposal was submitted on time. We owe President Richie Benner our gratitude for shepherding this project. A "brief" overview: The project will assist the MUSD MHS Special Ed Department in training students to learn basic skill sets o run a coffee shop. Carl Maes attended our meeting and a membership vote will soon take place. Happy Bucks David-Back from Idaho John-Rain Dan-Rain Tony-More Rain Harold-Ellen continues long road to recovery Denise-Our Guest from Reid Park Zoo Randy-Carl Maes Beckie-She has termites. Well her home does. I am positive this is not why she is happy, but I missed that part. Mary-Unloaded a bunch of times, slowly, so she got her money's worth in telling us why she is happy. She will have to give more to see her happiness in print. Rachel-Her and Madison are victims of their own success. Richie-Sad and Happy. Will miss next two weeks as he will be at the Scout Jamboree in another state. Joke Off? Lynne-Why do they not play poker at the zoo? Too many cheetahs. Lynne- Another zoo joke this one ended with the punchline something about "puma my pants." Those of you who are familiar with the work of comedy giants Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Lynne Himmer will understand the trampling of lines during the uncontrolled laughter of your own humor. Lynne won! Beckie won and lost the raffle. .jpg) Nancy Kluge President of the Reid Park Zooological Society was today's speaker. The Zoo is the largest gated attraction in southern AZ with over half a million attendees this past year. Her talk centered around Bigger Spaces Smiling Faces, the Zoo's expansion plans made possible by the passing of the Bond Issue last year.Phase One will be ASIA-The expansion of footprint by 3.5 acres benefiting Tigers Habitat, Reptile House and Primate Island Phase Two-With Safari Loop, Hippo underwater habitat and Rhino feeding Phase Three- Expanded gift shop, Infrastructure improvements and a Mayan themed Play area Nancy told us a major gift from the Rotary Club of Tucson. Speaking of the Rotary club of Tucson they will be sponsoring a Tucson Mayoral candidate Meet and Greet followed by Debate and Forum on 7/24/2019. Go to www.TucsonRotary.org for details. You will not want to miss next Tuesday's meeting as the fellow at the podium has not stood at that position since the last week of June 2007. |
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Rotary Meeting July 2, 2019
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President Richie Benner Installation 2019-2020Rotary Club of Marana If you like window shaking raucous behavior, June heat and pizza you should have joined your fellow members at the home of Mary Strauss last night. Mary provided the pizza, AZ the heat, while our new president's one year old son provided the excitement/noise. Yes, Charlie was quite animated in his approval of our choice of President for 2019/2020. .jpg) To begin the meeting out going president Tony Hunter provided an over view of our Club's lengthy accomplishments of the past twelve months. Tony recognized many in attendance with a card of thanks and an aloe cactus plant. Specifically he noted membership growth, the significant increase in riders and revenue of our Tour de Cookie fundraiser and thanked Dan for his leadership in this regard, Denise was thanked for her dedication to our weekly speaker agenda, Harold for his institutional knowledge of the Rotary Club of Marana and his willingness to share the same, Bob Bishop for something important, John for the humorous minutes, Lynne for all things financial, Randy and Mary for District and Club Foundation reps, Mary again for Global grant work, Dan again for District Foundation Treasurer and others which I do not have listed as I was distracted watching and waving to Charlie as he beat on the glass and waived his arms from within the house. (This is probably why teachers always made me sit in the front row.)Where was I? Oh, yes..... Richie Benner was then brought forward and sworn in as our new President.(Squealing, window pounding and light applause from the crowd!) GREAT NEWS! With some arm twisting Laura Clymer agreed to be our new Club Secretary. Joining her, Board Members John Dooling, Harold Burtzloff and now Past President Tony Hunter were sworn in by President Benner. With Laura's acceptance of the Secretarial position we will need someone to step up and assist her with outreach to our Tortolita Middle School Rotaract Club. Someone? Someone? .jpg) Richie's acceptance speech noted we are continually evolving and we must be ready to accept changes as they occur. He said some other profound stuff, but Dan took this moment to show me a picture of a Rooster fish that had to be at least 60 pounds. He did this to prove my wife wrong about the Rooster being an ugly fish and indeed they truly are a beautiful fish. In closing Richie basically said "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we do here. It is up to us to dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work of those who have gone before." Thank you Laura for taking the photos and Mary for opening your home. (BTW, love your dog. Hope he likes pizza as much as he does swimming pool water.) The following all received a Rotary Club of Marana Tour de Cookie pin from new President Benner as a reward for attending the installation: Randy Brooks, Don Jorgensen, Laura Clymer, Mary Strauss, Dan Contorno, Harold Burtzloff, Denise West, Cindy Dooling, Mrs Benner and ...........Charlie! (This is a benefit of having younger members and I for one would welcome more kids to liven up our get-togethers!) |
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Rotary Meeting June 25, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Tony Hunter ducked out on the final Tuesday meeting of his term leaving it in the good hands of President Elect Richie Benner. While Richie did allow Randy to lead us all in The Pledge singing was prohibited. We have the next twelve months to bend President Benner to our will. (insert evil laugh) Guest today was Carl May who visited our Club once before. Carl, as you may recall, was referred by departing (as in moving to Illinois not as in departed) member Maeve Johnson. Per Randy, Carl "WILL" join our Club. (insert not so evil laugh). At least two of our members attended the District 5500 Governor installation of Ellie Patterson. Thank you Randy and Richie. Please send volunteer hours to Rachel Cheeseman. I missed her email address so please see her. August 3rd will be a District membership symposium. The end of October will be a four day cruise to Ensenada, MX for those who wish to attend the District 5500 Conference. Daily meetings/Presentations will take place plus a joint project with several Rotario Clubs will take place in Ensenada. Cost is $470 or so per person. Our new Club officers to be installed tomorrow evening 6/26/2019 starting at 6 pm. Location is the home of Mary Straus 6925 N Donatello Way. Randy, District 5500 Foundation Chair announced that our District, the smallest of seven in our zone, led the way in donation participation and we were third in average donation per member. Thank you. Happy Bucks John- Convinced aliens are real after visiting Roswell, NM Alien Museum last week. The famous Section #51 holds the contents from this crash site. Dan- Happy for officer installation (I think?) Mary-Happy to hear of Harold's childhood ranch life. Harold-Ellen continues to make good progress with her medical issues. John Zwick says hi and his wife has made a nice recovery from recent stroke. John is in Canada for a few months. Beckie-Happy about new potential member and a lot of other stuff that Denise now knows since Beckie spoke facing away from me in a normal conversational tone directed at her table mate Denise. David-Happy (good to see you!) Denise-Happy Randy is back as is our speaker fom a couple of yers ago, Mindy Blake from the RTA Laura-Not happy because Roswell "stole" the alien gig from Corona, NM where the aliens actually crashed. Also discussed were The Lincoln County War, the movie Young Guns, Pat Garret, Billy the Kid and John Simpson Chisum, the largest cattle rancher in the US in the late 1800's. (John apologized to Mindy for taking some of her time.) Randy-Really not happy for misdiagnosing his wife Deb's broken arm when she fell in Germany two weeks ago. Rachel-Belongs to a train and bus group. I know I missed the salient parts of what she said, but my guess most of the group were Thomas The Train fans as little tykes. When you see her about reporting volunteer hours you can gather more info about Planes, Trains and Automobiles. YUK, YUK. Beckie won and lost the raffle. JOKE Maeve not here but really did not matter as Lynne presented a doozy! Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson were on a camping trip. Sensing Watson was awake in the wee hours of the night Holmes says, "Doctor, open your eyes and tell me what you notice." Watson does as instructed and says, "I see millions and millions of stars and knowing there are millions and millions of galaxies I realize how massive the universe is and the likelihood somewhere an alien being is staring into the same vastness of space and pondering its existence." Holmes replies, "You idiot, I notice our tent is missing." The moral of the story is (supplied by yours truly) do not over think the situation.  Our speaker, Mindy Blake, is the Community Relations representative from the Regional Transportation Authority. (RTA)We were presented with a newly minted booklet regarding the current state of affairs within the RTA with completed, in progress and planned projects detailed in its sixteen pages. The RTA consists of the following: South Tucson, Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana, Sahuarita, Pima County, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tohono O'odoham Nation and the AZ State Transportation Board. The RTA was funded for 20 years by a 1/2 cent sales tax (estimated at $16 a year per household) and is scheduled to expire in 2026 if not renewed by public vote. Planning is afoot to renew the program in 2026 capitalizing on past successes of this multi jurisdictional program under the auspices of the Pima Association of Governments (PAG). PAG manages the RTA through a Memorandum of Understanding while the RTA serves as the fiscal manager through 2026. Eight hundred and forty projects have been completed throughout Pima County including at least eight in the Marana area. Dollars budgeted for the twenty years of projects total close to 2 billion with another half a billion from non RTA revenues. This money goes towards new construction projects with no money earmarked for maintenance which remains the individual jurisdiction responsibilities. They have my vote, says the unasked scribe. BTW, we may still be in need of a Club Secretary beginning 7/1/2019. See Richie if interested/willing, otherwise I get two votes at every Board meeting since I was hornswoggled into being President Elect. |
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Rotary Int Convention Hamburg 2019Hamburg was an amazing opportunity. there were plenty of new experiences for me. I was able to travel to/through three different countries on my way to and from the Rotary International Convention. The first interesting thing I experienced is that all three were on different currencies. This made it interesting for currency exchanges while in these countries. Europe is green both from a nature and a technological point of view. It was very different coming from the desert. I did appreciate that they had a very comprehensive public transit system. It made getting around town very easy. Most everything was in German as well as English. The rotary convention was well put together. While it was very spread out compared to other conventions, there was plenty of signage and maps to get you to where you needed to go. The programs that were presented were great. The presenters were well prepared, and the topics helped attendees plan for their future in Rotary. Overall there was a lot to experience both from the conference and the city of Hamburg.     |
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Rotary Meeting June 18, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter rang in the meeting to a sparse, but musically gifted crowd. After the pledge Maeve, attending her final Rotary Club of Marana meeting as a member, requested we sing It's a Grand Old Flag. If one closed their eyes and had poor hearing you might have thought James Cagney had entered Nana's Kitchen. For you younger folks think Michael Jackson only different. Cagney was a song and dance man who appeared in over seventy films from the 1930's to the 1980's. But I digress. We did have over 50% attendance, barely. Factors such as summer heat, European vacations, work, cancellation of Diamond Children's Hospital tour and the cancellation/un-cancellation of today's meeting all played a part in our poorest attendance of the year. We did have fun though! ) Maeve said her goodbyes. She was given the Rotary card of the President of the Champaign, IL Rotary Club's President by John. John happened to meet the Illinoisian Rotarian while attending the RI conference. Tony presented Maeve with flowers and thanked her for her excellent participation in all of our projects over the past nine years. Safe travels and God Speed. Come back to visit whenever you can.Guest Tom Neidecker from Peteluma Valley rotary Club has visited us again today. Tom, a native of Basal, Switzerland, sold his Electronics company and now is an Art and Book Collector. He also has a home in Oro Valley. Possible new member? Joke Off Maeve-Lady gets off work and stops for drink. Handsome blonde guy sitting at bar next to her when TV news shows man on ledge. Handsome guy says, "Bet you $20 he does not jump." She takes him up on the offer and indeed he does jump and she wins. "I cannot take your money", she says, "I saw this earlier on the 5 o"clock news." The handsome blonde stranger says' " I did too." I just thought this time he would change his mind." Lynne- The one celled organism called out to his friends as he left the meeting, "Adios amoebas.". Again, no winner this week. Just kidding. We are all winners. We will miss this part of the meeting and a replacement must be found for Maeve, if that is even possible.  Richie was our speaker and showed us 15 slides of his European Vacation before he got out of Chicago!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, his detailed revue of his time in Sweden and Germany does not rival Rick Steves, but it was informative and interesting. We learned All European Nations are in the Euro Zone (use the Euro as currency) and meat for breakfast is SOP in Germany. Also, I for one did not know you could get fried chicken at Micky D's in Europe. All in all Richie enjoyed his time at the RI Conference and we were by all indications well represented by our incoming President. Thank you, Richie.See you next Tuesday and do not forget Richie's installation on Wednesday 6/26/2019 starting at 6 pm at the home of Mary Strauss. |
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Rotary Meeting June 11, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter began the meeting by leading the members in The Pledge. He greeted visitors Charlie Benner (who is now one year old) and Diane Snedden a guest of Beckie Penman (I do not know their ages). No song as no one responded to Tony's request for submissions. Tony acknowledged the presence of Rotarian's Dooling and Benner who have returned from Rotary's International Conference and the absence of Brooks and Jorgensen who attended the conference and who are now somewhere on the Danube. Tony discussed Rotary PR mailings to newcomers in the area and how the PR will help Rotary in general and perhaps our club with membership inquiries. Tony then asked for District Governor wannabes to step forward as nominations are now being accepted. Also mentioned was the Saddlebrook Rotary Club's memorial to veterans and first responders project and the possibility of our club participating. Board meeting tomorrow at John's office where this and other matters to be discussed. All welcomed to attend. NEXT WEEK'S MEETING WILL BE TOUR OF DIAMOND/BANNER CHILDREN HOSPITAL. WE WILL NOT MEET AT NANA'S. Installation of Richie Benner as President as well as other officers to be held at the home of Mary Straus on June 26th starting at 6 pm. John and Richie spoke of their conference experiences. There is no better way to meet people from all over the world and develop friendships. The camaraderie among members is instantaneous and genuine. Richie and John have already signed up for next years conference in Hawaii. Happy Bucks John-Happy Dan-Happy and is a world class fishing guide (if not fisherman) Ask him about fly fishing for Rooster fish in Sea of Cortez Jeff-Happy coaching youth basketball Richie-Charlie is a year old! Bob-Will someday download his knowledge of water projects, but until August will be out of state. Harold-Wife Ellen has been released from hospital. Daughter Sue will be providing the necessary follow up medical care at her home until Ellen can return to her own home. Mary-Happy Laura-Happy Denise-Happy Beckie-Happy the resident scribe (me) has returned and potential member, Diane Snedden has accompanied her to today's meeting Peter-Happy? Ashamed is a better word as Beckie has brought a potential member and Peter, a twenty year club member, has yet to do so. (Peter, I am right there with you. My only recruit left after two years, although Hank Marshall did build our club's storage cabinet before leaving for CA.) JOKE OFF Lynne Wins! Lynne Wins! Lynne Wins! Maeve not here. When you stomp on a grape it lets out a little w(h)ine. Dad buying a carton of milk and clerk asks if he wants it in a bag. Dad responds, "No, just leave it in the carton." Should have been here Maeve. You might of had a chance. Speaker today is Fernando Molina of Tucson Water. He spoke of the four sources of water in Tucson #1 Groundwater, #2 Colorado River 3# Recycled #4 Rainwater. Tucson was aware of the overdraft from groundwater in the 1940's. We have been using recycled water since 1964 for landscaping and golf courses. We are currently using only half of our effluent water with the remainder discharged into the Santa Cruz. Plans are afoot to re-purpose this affluent as has Disneyland and the City of New Orleans for everyday use. The Colorado River water is being used to recharge our existing aquifer and the water level is growing. The water from the Colorado is determined by the water level in Lake Mead. California, AZ and Nevada use Colorado River water with Nevada's share dependent upon Lake Powell's water level. If a cutback occurs agriculture will be the first to experience the pain. If you have not visited the Sweetwater Wetlands you are encouraged o do so. The amount of wildlife is exceptional. The vision of Tucson Water is to use reclaimed water to revitalize the Santa Cruz. The project is economically feasible, the water will remain in Tucson, recharge credits will be earned, riparian habitat will return and potentially this will boost economic development downtown. Remember-No meting at Nana's next week Tour at Diamond Childrens Hospital Board meeting tomorrow at 5:30 pm John Dooling's office |
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Rotary Meeting June 4, 2019Our June 4, 2019 meeting was held in a small meeting room at the Hampton Inn. President Hunter recognized Rob and Adam from Tucson Botanical Gardens are our speakers or today. Laura introduced Michelle as a returning guest. A lot of folks are in Germany at the conference. Ritchie, Randy, John and Dawn. Richie sent a text this morning that he is at the session ready to cast his vote on behalf of the club. Randy is taking a cruise on the Danube River following the conference. Next week’s speaker is from Tucson Sweetwater Project. Banner Hospital tour is on June 18th as a follow up from when they spoke to us earlier. Following week is Ritchie’s installation at Nana’s but the location has not been confirmed. Mary has hosted installations in the past and she offered to make her house available again. Denise continued to let us know about future speakers. July 9th will be Tucson Wildlife followed by the Reid Park Zoo on the 16th and Pima County Attorney regarding Crisis Intervention on the 24th. Next Board Meeting will be at Johns next Wednesday since Ritchie is out of town. Mary was concerned about the District Grant for Human trafficking. Harold reminded us to go to the website whenever we have a question. Watch for emails regarding forms to submit recommendations for achievement awards. We are coming up to the yearend closings. Mary updated us regarding our pending Global Grant. Rotary International wants a business plan from the Village including details regarding specifics regarding costs. Randy went to the Foundations International and complained. There is a woman who is directing Global Grants in Africa who wants to hear from Mary as well as Buba. Mary’s hope is she will help facilitate the process for us. It’s getting complicated like a Masters Thesis. Harold said his wife is expected to leave hospital on Friday. This is her 43rd day in ICU. President Hunter advised us our speakers brought some guest passes that we will be able to give away or the club could put to good use. After a short break to enjoy breakfast was Happy Bucks; Dave- No 100 degree days so far this year Denise- Happy for guest and speakers Mary- Gay Pride Month Bob- Happy for Mary and her tenacity Laura- Happy for Harolds wife coming come and for her guest Michelle- Happy to signed a lease for possibly January. Denise introduced speakers from Tucson Botanical Gardens Rob Elias – Dir. of Marketing & Communication Adam Farrell-Wortman – Horticultural Manager Rob began presentation explaining the Disney Institute is a program that teaches you about Disney’s philosophies on guest engagement, innovation, culture protection, creativity and innovation. The Tucson Botanical Garden is located on Grant and Alvernon. It started in 1930’s with the Porter Family who came from the East Coast. Their original home is still in use for offices. They started a landscaping business as well as a nursery. The property was gifted to the city by the family and today it is a not for profit which functions from guest admissions and gifts. No city of county support. Their Mission is to connect people with plants and nature through art, science, history and culture. There are fabulous art galleries that people are not aware of. Currently on 5.5 acres in downtown Tucson with 18 pocket gardens. Over 150,000 guests a year. 300 events a year. Ranked as one of the top 10 gardens worth traveling to from the Canadian Garden Council. Last year a Corpse plant bloomed for 36 hours and was 4.5 feet tall. Only about 100 have bloomed in cultivation and about 10,000 physically came to see the bloom. The live cam was viewed in 187 countries with the average time of 38 minutes. They only bloom twice in its life. Their pocket garden was selected as only 1 of 2 to appear at the entrance of the US Botanic Gardens for the conference of American Public Gardens Association in Washington DC. The exhibit is on display now with only actual gardens on display. There are only 14 total gardens and Tucson also is 1 of 6 photo gardens on display. Space is only 15 X 25 but is a cool space where you can enter and sit to enjoy the garden. There was a lot of support from nurseries in the area in making the pocket garden possible. Designed with one half as edible and the other side being plants found in AZ. Wheelbarrow and pots used in the display. Visitors are able to enter the garden and sit to take in the South West atmosphere. The other gardens are designed for people to only look at the gardens. The different plants will stay and go to the national collection, schools and horticulturalists when the pocket garden is taken down. Dog Days have just started and will go through September. Working on building a new Butterfly Exhibit but this has not yet been announced. 1500 sq. feet with $15 mil. capital campaign starting next year. |
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Rotary Meeting May 28, 2019Rotary Club of Marana At President Hunter’s request Bob led us in the Pledge. Bob brought several guests to today’s meeting. Bob introduced his wife Linda, then his friends Rich and Gail Hopkinson. They have participated with Rotary International Water Summit two years in a row and will again this year. Mark Rebholz will be our speaker today. Hunter began a discussion about nice it was to have so many members attend the MCAT graduation ceremony last week. He talked about how nice the ceremony was and that Denise Coronado gave a lovely speech. Our club was mentioned and it was nice to see our Students of Month complete their graduation process. Maeve mentioned how impressive it was to see the number of graduates identified as the first in their entire families to graduate from high school. One graduate had dropped out of high school 3 times earlier. Thanks to Dan was up on stage to represent our club. MCAT stands for Marana Career and Technical. It no longer a technical school but an alternative school that has kept the original name. It was good to hear speeches from several of our students of the month. President Hunter said it was a loud and lively event. Several of our members are absent today attending the Rotary International Conference in Hamburg Germany. The Doolings have already arrived and Mary was dropping Randy and Deb off at the airport. John Jorgensen and Ritchie are also leaving for Germany. Flowers for Maeve, however she has informed us the movers are scheduled for June 16th so she will be able to attend a few more times. The meeting next week will be at the Hampton Inn near the Factory outlets off of Twin Peaks. There is a private meeting room and we will be able to participate in the Breakfast Buffet. Denise has lined up speaker from the Tucson Botanical Gardens. Happy Bucks after Pancakes, sausage and eggs breakfast. Dan - Happy for MCAT graduates and their accomplishments Beckie - Happy for Tucson weather, no tornadoes, no snow Peter - Busy week painting leaving for Chili to see the eclipse of the sun John - Heading up North so he will see us in the Fall David - Thanks to John for help with pizza oven that got christened this week Harold - Wife is doing better and should be going home soon Bob - 4 guests Laura - Memorial Day barbeques with family and friends Denise - Happy for MCAT grads and sad that 15 year old dog died Ritchie - 1st transatlantic flight heading to Germany & MCAT graduates Rachel - MCAT graduates - poker night - nice to be alive Joke Off Lynn - Arab fathers joke: They blow up so quickly Maeve - Blonde admiring curtains that pay for themselves in a year. Bob - New pilot landing at night radios “Guess who?” Airport turns off lights and replies “Guess where?” Speaker - Bob introduced Mark Rebholz. In 1919 John Alcock and Arthur Brown landed their Vickers Vimy biplane in a bog in Clifden, Ireland, marking the end of the first nonstop flight across the Alantic. On July 2, 2005, Steve Fossett and co-pilot Mark Rebholz recreated the first nonstop crossing in the open cockpit Vickers Vimy replica landing on the 8th fairway of the Connemara Golf Links. Presentation included brief recap of historical flights and details of what was done to recreate the original 1919 flight. Meeting ended with a reminder to meet next week at the Hampton Inn |
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Rotary Meeting May 21, 2019Rotary Club of Marana With guitar in hand President Hunter began the meeting with 85% club attendance and the pledge followed by a pretty good rendition of my Old Kentucky Home. Most everyone could be heard even Dan Contorno seemed to know this song. Although the original lyrics contained the word "darkies", which was the vernacular of the time, this anti slavery ballad by Stephen Foster was praised in his 1855 biography published five years before the start of the Civil War by no less than Frederick Douglass. Guests included potential members Carl (?) the new guy at Edward Jones where departing member Maeve Johnson is employed and Michelle Estheimer a MUSD product who is opening her veterinary clinic. Michelle is a guest of our new member Laura Clymer. Odds and Ends 1)Nana's closed in two weeks will meet at Hampton Inn. 2)MCAT grad night is Thursday 5/23/2019 at 7 pm. Several members still planning on dinner at Nana's before attending the graduation. 3)Several members, specifically Rachel and Richie, thinking about various District Grant proposals and Club community involvement for the 2019/2020 year. District Grants should be applied for by 7/15/2019, but not mandatory. Mary also mentioned possibility of sex trafficking project she is thinking about. (It seem stupid for this writer to say "anti" sex trafficking so I didn't. Or did I?) 4. DGE to be installed 6/23/2019 in Tubac. All members should have received email from Wendy Hobbs regarding particulars. Encourage all to consider attending. 5)Four members, Benner, Brooks, Dooling, Jorgensen, will be in Hamburg at Rotary International Convention first week of June. 6) Richie Benner's installation as Club President will be last Tuesday of June, POSSIBLY in the evening. Please save 6/25/2019. Happy Bucks John-Happy to see two former Rotary Exchange Students Richie-snow on Boy Scout Camp in the Catalina Mts. (first snow this time of year in 27 years) Dan- Bought a few raffle tickets and won a $1,200 Fly Fishing reel Don-Happy Randy-Praised Laura for bringing in potential new member and shamed the rest of us Harold-Wife Ellen may be released from hospital by June 1st!!!! John Z-Wife of 70 years, Sylvia, had minor stroke but is home and dealing with slight speech involvement Beckie-Did not catch it all, but in spite of looks "Cactus flowers re real!" Peter-Guests and weather Laura-Guests Rachel-Promoted! Also spoke of a program that pays off medical debt for the poor for pennies on the dollar. Plus pins are out of broken wrist! (I think) Joke Off Lynne- This may have been the funniest golf joke ever delivered at our morning breakfast (for at least one member) Fortunately for me I heard it a long time ago. The only reason no one laughed today (with one glaring exception) was that no one could make out the punch line. Those were real tears flowing down Lynne's cheeks as she did her best to deliver the final line between convulsive fits of laughter. I officially give her a mulligan (redo) and she can try this again next week. Maeve-Unlike Lynne, who is her own Harvey Korman to Tim Conway combination, Maeve must make do with selecting a good joke and working on her delivery. Maeve excelled in both this week, except she chose a joke that half the population in the room (the men) were the butt of the punchline. Here goes: Husband of many years sees his wife looking at herself in the mirror and knowing she was nearing another birthday asks his wife if she were okay. She replied that she wished she were eight again. Birthday arrives and husband fixes her Cocoa Puffs and Pop Tarts for breakfast. He takes her for a day at Adventure World where they went on every ride. For dinner it was MacDonald's and a Happy Meal with toy. When they finally return home he asks if she feels like she was eight again. Her reply, "I was speaking of my dress size.". The moral of the story, even when men listen they get it wrong! The ladies laughed. The mood in the room changed quickly as Pima County Prosecutor for Sex Trafficking, Tracy Miller, took the lectern. My notes are almost non existent except for a comment regarding the number one source of sex trafficking participants are homeless boys and girls who are groomed for the trade. Sexual exploitation occurs when a victim through force, fraud or coercion is placed in a situation to give sexual services to customers. It was pointed out that prostitution, which some believe to be a victimless crime between consenting adults, often is consensual due to the coercion or force placed on one of the participants. This was a tough topic to consider at seven in the morning. How fortunate/protected most of us have been in our lives. John Dooling, me, will be out of country for next two meetings. Someone will need to take notes and attendance. June Board meeting will be rescheduled to Wednesday June 12th, 5:30 pm my office. |
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Rotary Meeting May 14, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter requested Dan to lead the Pledge and he did! El Presidente then gave us a plausible excuse as to why he was not ready to lead us in My Old Kentucky Home. BUT, he promises to be ready with Johnny Cash's version next week. Ninety percent attendance today! Denise Coronado explained why no MCAT SOM today. Living in a world where you cannot leave your abode because it is rural and there is no money for gas is a world most of us have never experienced. In any case, it sounds like Gissel Quesada was an excellent choice and perhaps we may meet her in the future. She will be graduating in a few days. We wish her the best. Several members have or are planning to complete the training for writing grant proposals. Easy to sign up and course is about an hour or so. Go to MyRotary.Org and take the brief Introduction To Learning Center course then on to the Grant Writing course. District Conference cruise will be great fun if anything like the Mexican Riviera Cruise/Conference held by PDG Tom Tilton when he was Governor, so says Randy Brooks. Sign up on District Website. MCAT graduation 5/23/2019 at 7 pm. Some members plan to dine at Nana's before attending the grad night. Anticipated graduates for the year numbering about 60 with around 40 to 50 attending the ceremony. Middle School graduation, which includes many of our Interact Students, is the 22nd at 8 am. Joke Off Maeve .jpg) Her husbands pet duck was very ill. Vet said he was sorry but duck was dead. Maeve's husband asked asked for another opinion so Vet brought in his Labrador Retriever that sniffed shook his head and left the room. Vet says "I am sorry your pet is dead." Mr Maeve says "I want a third opinion." The Doc brings in his cat. It sniffs the duck, taps it with a paw a few times then leaves the room. Vet says "Your duck is dead, I'll get your bill." Bill is over a $1,000. Mr Maeve says why so much? Vet says " My diagnosis, The Lab's work and the Cat's scan." This was well received by the elder members with memory difficulties and newer members under age forty who possibly had never heard it before. I must say there was was genuine laughter unlike the usual groans heard after Maeve's delivery. Lynne .jpg) Contractor puts Russian in charge of cement, the German in charge of dirt and Korean in charge of supplies. Tells them I will be offsite today but will be back at 5 to check your work. At 5 he returns and compliments the Russian then compliments the German. He then looks around and says, " Where is the Korean?". At that moment the Korean jumps out startling all three and yells, "Supplies!"Most all got a chuckle out of this and most all will be scheduled for PC training next week. Happy Bucks John-happy Rich-happy but poor Dan-just poor David-Likes our sub 100 degree weather Peter-Likes our guests Harold-Wife slowly improving John Z-happy Denise-Speakers and indeed as promised last week, son has graduated from UA Randy-Daughter-in-law and granddaughter graduated Rachel-SOM and speakers. Plus she will soon have her appendix removed.(well that was what I heard. Richie and Dan explained she said "pins" removed from her wrist/hand. MARY WON AND WON!!!!!SHE DONATED THE WINNINGS TO THE ANNUAL PROGRAM FUND!!!!!!!THANKS, MARY!!! Speakers/representatives were from Banner Children's Diamond Children's Medical Center. TJ did most of the talking with Barbara as backup. Built with 100% philanthropy money with initial seed money of 15 million from recently deceased developer Don Diamond. Several stories and photos of children patients were presented. Some had happy endings, but not all. The Children Life Specialists, young recent college graduates, are an integral part of the care provided. They do pre and post surgery consultation with the children regarding topics like pain, medication and most any other topic the kids need to discuss. There is also a Princess Team that regularly visits the young girl patients. The vision of the Children's Hospital includes play space/stage/theater, a hospital school program so student can keep up with their studies, treatment space, Family support such as gas and food gift certificates for those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. Banner University has 732 total beds with 83 for the children's program. Last year Banner, a Level 1 Trauma Center, did 164 organ transplants, 18,415 surgeries, took in 6,588 patients transferred from other hospitals and had 28,732 Acute Admissions. The value of 466 volunteers approached $1,000,000. |
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Rotary Meeting MaY 7, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Jeff P led us in the pledge. No singing, but I believe Lynne mentioned maybe "My Old Kentucky Home" next week and maybe Javier could provide mint juleps. .jpg) Tony asked Maeve to share her plans with the members. She will be moving to Champaign, IL where she has a granddaughter. Maeve has been a very active member and our loss will be Rotary Club of Champaign's gain.Rachel is back, soft cast and all. She went over the handlebars of her bike and considers herself lucky not to have a more serious problem. Ninety Percent attendance. Way to Go! Happy Bucks John D-Gave away 200 hot dogs and 600 snow-cones at a St Elizabeth Ann Seton Church/School fundraiser Saturday night. Turns out That what he thought was an Allstate Insurance tablecloth he was using turned out to be a Marana Rotary one! Very busy evening and he did not discover his mistake until viewing Facebook photos next day. Oh well, free publicity for our club. Jeff-Son graduating from 8th grade. Jeff will be gone for a couple of weeks Dan-Daughter is graduating from high school. Miracle of miracles! Tony-Happy (probably because he got to eat breakfast today) John Z-A baby girl was born into his family making John a great,great grandfather. Yep, five generations! Congratulations! Harold-Ellen is out of the hospital and in a convalescence center. She continues to improve. Peter-Happy Becki-Granddaughter's birthday Denise-Son is graduating from UA! Mary-Thanks, Maeve Don-Thanks, Maeve. Headed to NYC for birth of a grandchild. Shelter Box raised $7,000 from bowling party last Saturday. Laura-Cooler weather (for now) Randy-Sad Maeve is going Rachael-Happy about being ALIVE! Joke Off Lynne- A good one about $500 doctor office visits and $1,000 back if not satisfied. Maeve-Mickey Mouse is not the equivalent of Donald duck if you are in the Secret Service. Becki won and lost with Ace of Diamonds. President Elect Richie Benner took over the meeting from President Hunter (allowing Tony to eat at a leisurely pace) and the rest of the time was spent in planning and goal setting for 2019/2020 Rotary year. Membership was good this current year. We added four new members and lost only one. Goal for coming year is a net gain of three. I believe Randy will remain membership chair? Fund Raising was best in several years thanks to Dan Contorno and numerous volunteers. Tour de Cookie netted almost nine thousand and Poker tournaments earned another $1,500 or so. Speaker Program has been excellent with Denise West efforts combined with members suggestions. I believe Denise will continue with this position. Community Service-Rachel Cheeseman has volunteered to head up this committee and some ideas are in the works involving MUSD. Interact Club at Tortolita had maybe its best year ever in quality and quantity of students involved. Thank you Kathleen Neighbors.Graduation will be 5/22 at 8am. MCAT program will continue as a Club favorite. It was mentioned that graduation is 5/23 and those me,mbers planning on attending the 7 pm event will gather at Nana's for dinner prior to the ceremony. Goals for 2019/2020 include: Calendar of Events 10 Community Service Projects a District Grant Project (online training is available with Mary and Randy having completed training and Peter and a few other planning to do so.) Global grant Enhanced website of all projects Hours of service tracking Mary will remain our Foundation Chair/Rep and our goal will be $10,000. Should be easy as we have several Paul Harris Fellows (have given $1,000 total) and several Paul Harris Society Members who pledge $1,000 annually. We also collect as part of our dues $100 a year for the Every Rotarian Every Year program. John D is President Elect and Secretary. Willing to do both, but maybe a problem with wearing two hats at Board meetings and quorum problems if he misses a meeting. More discussion on this topic needed. Lynne, God Bless her pea pickin heart, will continue on as Treasurer. Good job, Richie. Visit our Facebook Page- Rotary Club of Marana (the correct one has current postings and members holding blue bells in front of our banners) Please "Like" and "Share" |
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Rotary Meeting April 30, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Tony a little under the weather so no singing today. Ralph, one of three Dove Mountain Rotary member guests, led us in the pledge. He then presented our club with a check for $100 thanks to member Rachel Cheeseman volunteering time at the Dove Mountain Rotary run beer tent at the Cotton Festival. Speaking of Rachel, she was hit while riding her bike and while not seriously injured, did break a finger. Bob Bishop says our May 29th speaker is well known in aeronautical circles as the man who recreated the first trans-Atlantic flight from one hundred years ago. Please go to our Rotary Club of Marana for more detail. While there please "Like" and "Share". By the way, Bob, several of us might have begun our travels to the International Conference around that time. At this time Richie, Randy, Don and myself are attending although I do not know everyone's travel plans. Cameroon project has run into more red tape. International now wants a market study regarding the need for the products being produced by the grant. While disconcerting we have no doubt that Mary and her team will persevere. THANK YOU MARY! Randy mentioned the Spring Training this Saturday for new to Rotary and incoming officers. Reference past newsletters or District 5500 website for details. Happy Bucks John-grandson not doing well in French at CDO High School. Dropped it and joined choir. A Month later he is in NYC performing in Carnegie Hall Harold-Wife Ellen underwent major surgery stemming from her scoliosis. Doing great, but may be hospitalized for another week Beckie and Dave-DM guests Laura-Our health professionals Mary-??? Bob-Mary's tenacity and will be gone three weeks Peter-??? Richie-Denver last week with BSA and renewed old friendships Randy-Ellen's surgery went well Tony-Taxes?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Joke #1 Lynne- Little known fact. Captain Kirk had three ears. The normal left and right, plus a final front ear. Good one, Lynne. Joke #2 Bob gave us a story of good fortune and bad fortune. The good fortune consisted of a plane ride, a parachute and a haystack. The bad fortune consisted of plane trouble, chute not opening, pitch fork in the haystack. In the good, but also bad category is the subjects chute maneuvering skills. John won the ticket portion again, but Mary failed to do her part when requested to draw the winning card. .JPG) Member Dr Peter Mack spoke on Egypt, a country he has visited numerous times as part of his occupation and their National Observatory. As many of you know Dr Mack builds and services telescopes of the largest scale.Egypt and Sudan were one country and split about 100 years ago. Following WWI and in the same year as Versailles Peace Accord of 1919 Egypt experienced a revolution led by women of the upper layer of society. A second revolution took place in 1952 when the Monarchy was replaced by a Republic. Presidents served varying amounts of time in office with Nassar, Sadat, Mubarak, Morsi and el-Sisi all having spent time in office. The last revolution occurred as part of the Arab Spring When President Mubarek was forced out of office after a thirty year reign .and imprisoned. Last week, President el-Sisi, who was running for re-election, was proclaimed President for life in an election he won by over 90% of the vote, but with only 30% participation. Major events of the 20th century included the aforementioned revolutions, the 1956 Suez crisis involving Russia, France, The UK and Israel, the Six Day war with Israel when Egypt loss 100% of its Air Force in minutes, The Yom Kippur war fought to regain part of Sinai lost in the Six Day War, the Egypt-Israel Peace treaty formed at Camp David and the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1989. Today the economy, normally buoyed by tourism is not good. Oil prices have recently helped but terrorism has dramatically cut into the tourist dollar. Monetarily they experienced 30% inflation a couple of years ago before allowing their Egyptian pound to float among the world's currencies. Oil, agriculture, tourism and revenue from the Suez Canal users fees are their biggest sources of income. Ships passing through the canal shave 8,000 miles off the alternative of going around The Cape of Good Hope. Spectacular population growth, encouraged by the government as a way of combating what they see as the Israeli threat, has led to great poverty and an extremely large and poor lower class when compared to the small middle class and the elite class. Gas is under twenty-five cents a gallon due to the western oil reserves/refineries and a minimum wage of about sixty-nine cents an hour. Housing has been built, but remains unoccupied as developers will not lower prices and poor cannot afford. Cairo and surrounding areas has a population of bout 45 million. Dr Mack's work involves the relocation of the National Observatory which has been forced by the encroachment of civilization at the current site. The new site will be in Southern Sinai which is considered safer from terrorist threats than the northern portion of the peninsula. He finds the people to be friendly and the drivers to be aggressive! REMINDER BOARD MEETING JOHN DOOLNG'S OFFICE TOMORROW 5:30 PM. |
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Rotary Meeting April 23, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter has returned with his guitar! After Bob Bishop led us in the pledge Tony banged out "Hard Days Night" by an English group that was popular in the 1960's. Truth be known, "Hard Days Night" is the only 45 rpm record I ever bought. All in attendance mouthed the words and many also made recognizable sounds. While I did not sing along with the fervor of my youth I was one of those uttering the words. Thanks, Tony. What a meeting!!!!!!!!!!Ninety-five% attendance. Buehler? Buehler? Er, I mean Cheeseman? Cheeseman? Six guests and President Tony swore in TWO NEW MEMBERS! District 5500 needs only 200K to be named the prime sponsor of the Tour de Tucson. This recognition would have to be good for membership and insure the Tour de Tucson goes on along with our 45 million dollars raised to date from pledges to eradicate polio. Easy to make a payment and each of you should have received an email from District with instructions on how to do so. District Conference will be a cruise. This has been done before and was fun and beneficial to the town in Mexico where the cruise ship docked. All should consider the Mexican Riviera cruise. Check out the District website for additional information. Need to think about RYLA involvement and student sponsorship for this coming year. Spring Training, Rotary Style, coming up May 4th in Green Valley. New officers and new members would benefit from this. See District website for additional info. Cameron project resubmitted. At this point our Club's share will be $5,000.  New members Laura Clymer and Jeff Pridgett were pinned by POTRCOM. Welcome to you both.Happy Bucks John-Easter family get together Dan-Wife is leaving for Ethiopia with church group. No mention of her returning. Harold, John Z, Denise, David, Randy, Mary all happy to have new members and six guests Richie-enjoyed lazy weekend Bob-Happy his spouse Linda joined us and Col. Grasky for being our speaker today. Joke Off There was none today. Maeve just got two more weeks of detention and Lynne was assaulted. John D won and lost with 2 of hearts. Robert Bishop, Honorary Commander of the 214 Attack Group stationed at Davis Monthan Air Force Base introduced our speaker Col. Brian "Padre" Grasky, Commander of the 214 Attack Group stationed at DM AFB. The 214th is part of the AZ National Guard. They fly remotely controlled airplanes, commonly known as drones, as far as 8,000 miles from AZ! The Reaper is an unmanned, armed, intelligence, reconaissance, surveillance aircraft. They have two operators for each drone. The skill set needed is more of an engineer than a pilot to fly these aircraft. They are aloft 24/7 landing about every 24 hours for fuel. The Colonel gave specific examples as how this high tech machine aides grand troupes and even helps to fight forest fires. There are about 250 people assigned to 214th. Thank you Colonel for your presentation and your service. Next week join us for a presentation by our own, Peter Mack, as he discusses the relocation of five million Egyptians and their national observatory. |
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Rotary Meeting April 16, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Richie Benner took the reins this morning substituting for President Hunter who is celebrating marital bliss in Hawaii. With no thoughts to be mined from this played out claim, Richie tried to bypass singing and go straight to club business. "Not so fast there!" shouted Lynn and Randy who individually entertained themselves with somewhat weak offerings. Hurry back, Tony. The day of reckoning is fast approaching for Laura Clymer who is to be sworn in as our newest member next Tuesday. HAPPY BUCKS John-Grandson knows 24 quarters is not seven dollars Dan, Mary, David, Harold, Beckie among others are happy Richie-Ina Open!!!!!!!! However announcement on Facebook was premature Denise -Happy about our speaker from ALS Association, Quinn Epstein-Tracy Bob- Happy and a reminder that next week we will have the Commander of the Predator and Reaper program located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as quest speaker PLEASE SHARE AND CONSIDER BRING A GUEST OR TWO. JOKE OFF Maeve- Due to time and space considerations I cannot do Maeve's offering justice even though it deserves a "little". I did smile. Sorry, no "Little Johnny" jokes for three more weeks. Lynne-Motorist swerves to miss boxes of spilled tax on the roadway. (most know the punchline by now). Cop stops him and starts to write a ticket. Motorist says, "Hey, I had to drive erratically to avoid hitting the debris." Cop says, "This is for tax evasion." Starting to see a theme here, Lynne. I have a great joke involving tax and prophylactics. Think I will give it to Maeve for when she gets off detention. John won and lost with Ace of Spades. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig Disease was the topic of today's presentation.Quinn Epstein-Tracy is the Care Services Coordinator for the Southern AZ branch of the AZ Chapter of The ALS Association. ALS has no cure and life expectancy following diagnosis is 2 to 5 years. ALS is hard to diagnose, there is no test and it is the fallback diagnosis once other neurological diseases have been ruled out. Approximately 400 individuals are diagnosed in AZ every year. Over 90% of those diagnosed are sporadic in nature with less than 10% having a known familial etiology. First symptoms are usually in the limbs with lessening strength and feeling in the hands and arms. Bulbar symptoms may also occur with difficulty in chewing, swallowing and speaking. Severe cognitive changes appear in about 20% of those diagnosed. The mission of the ALS Association AZ Chapter is to serve and empower people affected by ALS to live their lives to the fullest. For more information contact Quin@alsaz.org or go to www.alsaz.org Side note, I recommend viewing "Pride of the Yankees, The Lou Gehrig Story" filmed in 1942 and starring Gary Cooper. Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey, Mark Koeing and Bill Stern all play themselves in this sad but feel good true story. Bob- Happy and a reminder that next week we will have the Commander of the Predator and Reaper program located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base as quest speaker PLEASE SHARE AND CONSIDER BRING A GUEST OR TWO. (worth repeating) |
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Rotary Meeting April 4, 2019Rotary Club of Marana El Hefe, also referred to as President Hunter called upon prodigal son Bob bishop to lead us in the pledge. Without asking for thoughts for the day (has he learned the lesson?) Tony led us in the Beatles tune, "Let It Be". Tony was great and many members sang along, although not enough. The sound was not half bad, but, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give us a solid six. Even though I personally did not participate (much, since I prefer a lower key) I have had an ear worm for the past seven hours! Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be............speaking words of wisdom LET IT BE!!!!!!!! Lara Clymer in attendance once again, anxiously awaiting membership request status. As mentioned above, Bob Bishop has returned from Virginia. Bob was very impressed with his twin granddaughters weight gain, doubling from 5 pounds to 10 during his stay, AND the ability of the Richmond Rotary to raise $200,000 in one evening at a Casino Night while he was there. (in that order, by the way) May 4th at Quail Creek in Green Valley there will be Spring Training for incoming officers and any members who wish to learn about our marvelous organization. Amanda, beneficiary of a Rotary Vocational grant, briefly spoke with our club about her experience at Vet Tech school. Official graduation is in June, but she has completed all requirements and will graduate with Honors. She might be in the right field as she mentioned she loves animals numerous times! Happy Bucks John- great weekend-wife did not die or get injured in All Terrain Race at Old Tombstone Harold & John Z- MCAT Student of the Month Bob-Virginia is for lovers and friends of Bob. You are all welcome to visit and stay a few weeks Mary-Way to Go Amanda! Beckie-Jackpot Veterinary Open House was successful. Randy-MCAT SOM Rachel- (Remember her?) Glad to be back now that tax season is winding down and she is headed for a friend's Sedona wedding. At risk of not being politically correct-she looks great! Joke Off Speaking of not being politically correct Maeve told a joke she had offered to Mary. Mary had the good sense to turn it down. Maeve decided to tell it anyway. There was nervous laughter. Next time you see her ask her about it. Lynne, in lieu of a joke, recited a poem that I am sure tickled CPA's everywhere. Unfortunately Lynn was the only CPA in attendance. Maeve won, but she will be in detention for the next four weeks. Beckie won and lost with six of Spades.  Patrick Cavoulos was our MCAT Student of the Month. An experienced heeler with a talented header for a friend, Patrick proudly displayed a belt buckle the size of a dinner platter he won as part of a team roping competition. This exceptional young man had dropped out of high school and was headed in the wrong direction. MCAT turned him around and in his own words, "The future looks bright.". While nervous about addressing our Club I was impressed that he thanked all of our members, Nana's Kitchen and staff, his parents, Ms Coronado, Oliver Bowen his Social Studies teacher and especially his nana Delores. Patrick was accompanied by his nana, his dad-Danny and his mom-Monica. As always our MCAT honoree was presented with an Honorary Certificate, a Marana Rotary cowbell and a gift certificate to Harkins Theaters.MCAT Graduation begins 7:30 PM on 5/23/2019 and all are welcome. Our Club is usually well represented. |
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Rotary Meeting April 2, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Seven AM again saw the Rotary Club of Marana get called to order by President Hunter. Without hesitation Dan Contorno responded to the request to lead in the Pledge of Allegiance. No song today. Is it this writers harsh reviews? Maybe we should all move to Rome where the city council recently voted to ban singing on city buses. While they also banned nudity and semi nudity the banning of song seems a bit extreme. But I digress......... Laura Clymer joined us again and she paid her membership application fee, which is a bit odd since the Board voted to do away with the fee a month go. Coming soon: Rotary Day of Peace and AZ Kids (A donation to a kid's not for profit gets matched by an unknown donor. Last year there was $180,000 match!) Saddlebrook Rotary is puttting out feelers to other Rotary Clubs to join them in the erecting of a monument to First Responders. More on this later as only 25% of the required funding has been raised and construction will not bein until 100% of the money is raised. Some discussion on Cameroon project with all who spoke in favor of funding the project to the original amount planned, even if not a 100% RI match is to be had. Board will discuss at tomorrow's meeting. Happy Bucks John-UA Women's Basketball Richie-UA Softball swept ASU and he was there Dan-At LA Fitness (did not say why) and patron wearing a Tour de Cookie Shirt John & Harold-Great Weather Beckie-Jackpot to hold grand opening of their equine hospital Mary-Always Happy Randy-Laura's pending membership and today's speaker Denise-Weather and speaker .jpg) Lynne-Dr. and atty. conversing at a cocktail party. Dr, "I always get approached at parties by multiple people describing their symptoms to me and asking for free medical advice. How do you handle the problem of free advice?" Atty, "I answer their question then send them a bill in the mail."Dr decides he will try it. He makes out the bills and takes to the PO. While their he gets his mail, which includes a bill from the atty. TADA! This joke won by a landslide as there were no other entries. Randy-WON AGAIN and LOST AGAIN this time with the nine of diamonds. Our speaker today is the Chief Trial Counsel for the Pima County Attorney's office, Jonathan Mosher. His excellent presentation was based on the murder of Kay Reed, a Tucson citizen, from 2008. The forensic evidence gathered from the crime scene and CCTV from a bank and service station proved sufficient for a conviction even though a body was never recovered. We learned the value of even a partial finger print and the challenges that are part of DNA evidence. Using an Ipad attached with a finger ring to his hand as he gave his presentation, in the same way he presents to a jury, it became evident of his ease when presenting his facts. Personable, bright and effective I believe we can all agree, Mr. Mosher is a great asset to our community at large and to the County Attorney's office specifically. |
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Rotary Meeting Mar 26, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Back from the sick bed President Hunter chose Mary S to lead us in the pledge. At the request of Lynne Himmer and the start of baseball season we sang "Take Me out To The Ballgame". Abner Doubleday now regrets he invented the game. Rotary Spring Training to be held in Green Valley 5/4/2019 at the Quail Creek Country Club. All members are welcome. See District 5500 newsletter for additional details. Southern AZ Day of Peace scheduled for 4/6/2019. See District 5500 newsletter for details. Mary Straus reports that Laura Clymer has submitted her membership application! Happy Bucks John D reminds folks that state Tax Credit for 2018 still available if you give to the Rotary Vocational Fund of AZ. Go to TRVFA.ORG Richie-Stay hydrated Dan-Went to White Sox /D'Backs game and sat in the dugout! Hey, I saw the pictures! Harold-Happy John Z-Happy (he got change from Javier) Beckie-SLC home is now vacant Denise-Being very polite, but having her mouthful when it was her turn to speak, Denise placed her hand in front of her mouth. Since I rely heavily on visual cues you will have to ask Denise what she was happy about. Don-Will be in Seattle to see his beloved BOSOX battle the Mariners. On Opening Day? Randy-Happy for Mary S and Bouba Hamadou. Joke Off Mary filled in for an ailing Maeve with: "Patient goes to see the psychiatrist for the first time. Patient is stripped naked and wrapped in Saran Wrap. Doctor says, "I can clearly see your nuts." Lynne, in an attempt to top what may have been the joke of the year served up numerous puns which I could not record due to the rapidity they were delivered. Many were good and involved tuna fish and pointless pencils. You had to be there. Bonus: Now that Mary has pushed the envelope I believe I have cover for this entry. Sign at convenience store "Beer nuts $1,29. Deer nuts under a buck.". Richie-Won and lost with Jack of Spades. .JPG) Mary Straus and Bouba Hamadou spoke on our Cameroon project. Bouba is a Tucsonian, a Cameroonian and a Rotarian. He also is the spiritual and community leader of the village in Cameroon where our project is planned. The position is one pased down through families and is for life, unless you resign. First appointed at age 18 Bouba served four years before deciding position held to much authority for one so young. Now a grandfather, Bouba resumed the duties five years ago. He helps to settle village disputes and serves as an intermediary between the village and state/national government.Bouba spoke of village kids leaving school after sixth grade to work in the fields. The school, established in 1962, has significantly increased attendance recently due to a push by Bouba (jailed his brother for failing to pay the $2 annual education fee and letting his sons skip school) to 450 students and now there are fifty-six 7th graders. Average life span has increased from forty-seven to fifty-two over the past twenty years. Our Global Grant has been trimmed by RI by $6,607. This means our match was reduced from $3,000 to $792 and the amount from District will be less. There is still a need for boy/girl latrines which will enable girls to remain in school past puberty when they currently tend to drop out. Other items lined out by RI, possibly due to sustainability, are needed. This topic of possible make up of RI cut funding will be discussed in the coming weeks. Enjoy our beautiful weather! |
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Rotary Meeting Mar 19, 2019Rotary Club of Marana .jpg) In President Tony Hunter's absence, President Elect Richie Benner began the meeting with the pledge. Foregoing any thoughts or songs PE Benner plunged ahead with the meeting directing all to "sit". Quack, quack, quack. (Inside joke)Members greeted Laura Clymer, a prospective member and friend of Mary Straus, visiting for the second time! Our Tour de Cookie netted $7,900 and substitute Sgt of Arms Brooks may have squeezed another $90 out of those in attendance. John sold a $10 cookie. Rotary Day of Peace scheduled for 4/6/2019. Rotary will partner with ten other organizations this date at 101 W 4th Street in Tucson. "Peace is more than the absence of conflict." will be the theme. For more information and to register go to www.rotary5500.org. Davis Monthan Air Show this weekend. Happy Bucks Peter-deliriously happy and math. (that is what my notes say) Oh, and gone next three weeks. John D and John Z-Happy Harold-Happy and a 51 year Rotary Member Denise-Happy Mary-Broke Maeve-Happy Richie-Happy & Charlie is 9 months doing well & got first "manly" haircut Lynne-Broke PE Benner announced approval by members and Board of Jeffrey Pridgett's application for membership. Joke Off .jpg) Maeve-Two men walk into bar and the third ducks. When the laughter quieted down Maeve tried to make up for this horrendous offering with: Fella awakens in the middle of the night a little hungry. Opens the fridge and the mayo shouts out, "Turn off the light, I'm dressing.".Give me a few minutes while I wipe the tears from my eyes. Whew. Oh my, when have I laughed so hard? .jpg) Lynne-Two old ladies looking for excitement. One decides to streak the flower show. Stripping then "running" as fast as her legs could go she entered the building. Screams and shouts were replaced by loud applause. When she exited she held a trophy. She exclaimed to her friend, "I won first place for "dried arrangement".Bonus joke from JD. Maeve's first joke reminded me of this one. A termite walks into the tavern and asks, "Where is the bar tender?" Randy won and lost with the 5 of diamonds. (Peter is calling for an investigation as his ticket gets called about once every twenty years) Rotarian Daniel Stringham addressed our Club regarding Rotary Microcredit project in Sonora, MX. Currently $300,000 has been donated for this project and Daniel is seeking another $100,000. The Microloan project is seen as a "Legacy" project as it lasts as long as the loans are being repaid. Loans from as little as $100 are made with the target amount being $800 and increasing bto $1,500 plus. Loan repayment is touted to be in the 95th plus percentile. Loans are made to co-signing borrowing groups of from four to eight people. This "peer pressure" in this writers words, is seen as the driving force in loan repayment. Interest rate is 4.5% a month. Our speaker explained that this rate is not uncommon in Mexico. To us a 69% APR loan (assuming no principal repayment for 12 months) is unthinkable. These zero collateral micro loans are extremely difficult to obtain anywhere else due to the administrative fees on such small loans and lack of collateral. FinReg, a specialized micro credit institution, has been operating in Sonora for 12 years. Rotary Clubs partner with FinReg by providing funds/capital to loan and they in turn establish borrowing groups, dispense and collect funds and assist customers to succeed in their businesses. FinRegs operating costs and net profit come from the interest earned on the loans. Requests for tax deductible donations to be used towards a Rotary Global Grant are requested to be sent to Tempe South Rotary Foundation. More detailed information provided in brochure passed out by Mr Stringham. |
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Rotary Meeting March 12, 2019Rotary Club of Marana On a cold and rainy 12th of March President Hunter called the large number of attendees to order. The Pledge was recited and then, in a partial tribute to our club's "Tour de Cookie" volunteers we sang. With apologies to Merle Haggard, no SERIOUSLY with apologies to Merle Haggard we attempted "The Running Kind" substituting the word "riding" for "running". It was Randy's idea but even he and Tony with guitar leading the way Merle would not recognize his song and it was not because of the word substitution. Possibly "Daisy, Daisy on a bicycle built for two" is more within our comfort zone. Loads of guests including: Doug, a Rotarian from Midland, MI who is moving to Tucson and who rode in Tour de Cookie and took photographs for the second time. Laura Climer, a former college women's basketball coach who was checking out our club. Dave Braaten, a Rotarian from Butte, MT who is escaping the cold Our MCAT Student of the month, Courtney Reid, her mother Sheryl and two siblings Ian and Jackie. Plus MCAT Principal Denise Coronado and staff representative Delight Craddock. We spent a lot of worthwhile time patting ourselves on the back for a very successful Tour de Cookie. One hundred more riders than last year! Singled out for special recognition were Dan "The Man" Contorno, Beckie Penman (six new cookie booths for a total of twelve with another two signed up for next year) and a cast of thousands. A little hyperbole there, but almost every member was involved in making this event a financial and community success. Thank you to all. We have a great club!  Denise Coronado introduced Courtney "Corey" Reid. Corey is a pleasure to have in class and personifies the AAA (Academics, Attendance, Attitude) motto of MCAT. Corey has lived in at least six states as her father transferred around the country with the US military. She plays several musical instruments and has a career goal of law enforcement or cosmetology. Lynne, our Club Secretary and a CPA, announced tax return due date has been moved back two months and the powers that be say every tax return will be reviewed. This is highly doubtful given the manpower available. Happy Bucks John, Dan, Mary, Denise, Don- All Happy Peter- Great fun and camaraderie working with fellow members at Tour de Cookie Richie- Brief reflection on how money from Tour de Cookie has been used in the past David-Happy for rain Tuesday and not last Saturday as originally forecast Randy-This is a head scratcher. If I got it right, he was happy because his wife tried to, well I do not know what she was trying to do, but she mixed his vitamins and hearing aide batteries together on the kitchen counter and Randy got the opportunity to see the ER and, I am guessing here, examine his stool for a couple of days! Truly sad what the geriatric set passes for happiness. Joke Off Lynne-What do you call 21 rabbits in a row who take a step back? A receding hare line! Now that is funny. Maeve-Wife tells husband to go to store and get a carton of milk and six eggs. Store out of eggs so husband brings back six cartons of milk..........If you get this joke please explain it to me. Beckie won and lost lottery with the nine of hearts. The pot continues to build. Our speaker today was a retired Registered Nurse representing Sister Jose Women's Center. This organization serves homeless women. The facility is open days M-S and it is open seven nights a week. Of the 100 to 120 women served daily half may be ages 45 to 55 with one aged 82. Possibly up to 90% have mental health issues not drug dependence. With help from local business man Buck O'Rielly a home of 750 sq ft was found to work out of. This proved too small and thy moved into the old Cummins Plumbing metal building on South Park. They are not allowed to prepare food on site, so they have to get creative in where the food comes from and how it is served. At the new location overnight emergency stays have grown six fold and meals served has tripled. In addition to overnight emergency stays and day visits including meals, laundry and showers are provided as well. Sister Jose was a Franciscan nun and the organizations namesake. She saw the need for a low barrier center that focuses on meeting the most basic needs of homeless women, regardless of personal situation or religious beliefs. Our speaker, Director of the Program, knew Sister Jose personally and was inspired to help fulfill Sister Jose's vision. |
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Rotary Meeting Mar 5, 2019Rotary Club of Marana I "think" president Hunter began the meeting by introducing Sergeant Jeff Pridgett of the Marana Police Department. After indulging in Dunkin Donut coffee and donuts during the Sergeant's introductory statement he led the attendees on a tour of the state of the art Marana Police Department Headquarters. Your Club Secretary went to Nana's Kitchen first this morning to be sure no one else did (tongue in cheek) and arrived to a locked building. I then texted Randy for assistance to break into the locked jail. Notes from this point on are not based on my surmises, but my actual first hand experience. The facility is truly amazing and built to meet the town's needs for at least 25 years. Meeting attendees saw the evidence warehouse room, the forensic science area, temporary lock ups including a padded room and officer work stations. We saw the body cameras and the vehicle cameras and were educated as how they record and upload all data on an easily retrievable basis. The facility has a spacious workout room that is filled with new workout equipment of every kind imaginable. Also saw the room dedicated to car searches that is complete with a lift! There were a couple of walls with empty shelving for future trophies to be won and a pretty nice cafeteria sans chef. All in all an impressive facility and an impressive job as tour guide by Sergeant Pridgett. Upcoming events: Tomorrow at Mary's home to string ceramic cookies 4:30PM Tomorrow at 5:30 Board Meeting at John Dooling's office SATURDAY everyone needs to be involved for our biggest fund raiser of the year. 8 to noon. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 26, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter gaveled in the meeting at precisely 8:00 AM and your's truly The Pledge. We almost got away without singing when former member and current E-club member Debbie Conover led us in If Your Happy And You Know It. Great participation until verse two when only two joined in the "stomp your feet". Todays guests included Terry and Peggy Greiger from Leon, IA. Both are Rotarians and Terry is a Past District Governor. They are here for the sunny weather and are part of the Rotary RV Fellowship which aforementioned Debbie Conover is President. The Rotary RV Fellowship has a project scheduled for this Saturday at the YMCA Youth Camp in Oracle, AZ. Anyone interested contact Debbie or Terry/Peggy at 641-442-5559.  Also today we were pleased to host MCAT Student of the Month, Andres Perez. Andres was accompanied by his mother Andrea Valencia, student support coach Laura Garcia and MCAT Principal Denise Coronado. Anrdes likes helping others and will attend Pima Community College west campus after graduation from MCAT this spring. His long term goal is either nurse or teacher. Denise shared some info regards MCAT's future. They will double in size next year from 100 to 200 students. New curriculum will include robotics, construction and computer networking. Also, MCAT graduation night is 5/23/2019 and will return to the Middle School this year. This is a Thursday 7:00 PM start time and all are welcome and encouraged to attend. By the way, our club has sponsored MCAT's Student of the month for twenty years, per Club Historian Harold Burtzloff. Richie reports a great learning experience at Northwest PETS (President Elect Training Seminar). Met loads of Canadians and Alaskans. He strongly recommends attending an Alaskan Hospitality room if you ever get the chance. .jpg) Dan Contorno reports we have 126 riders signed up for the Tour de Cookie fun ride scheduled for Saturday 3/9/2019. All memebrs are encouraged to share on Facebook. Many club volunteers are required for this event so it is an "All hands on deck" kind of thing for our major fundraiser for the year. It was suggested the Interact Club be approached for additional volunteers.Poker Night raised about $800 for our Foundation. Thanks, Dan Contorno and the others that helped. Happy Bucks John- Successful quail hunt in Sturgis, KY with two legends from the Gun Dog world. Great job Richie on our Club's Facebook page Dan-Granddaughter Ava. Deb Conover- SNOW! And Student of the Month (SOM) Peter-Great people and friends in Rotary (AMEN-my two cents worth!) Denise-SOM and "Caught the purse snatcher!" Harold-Sunshine John Z-Happy David-Took the kids to Flagstaff to play in the snow!!!!!!!!!!!For those of you not aware, Flagstaff, which gets a lot of snow every year, broke a record that has stood for over 100 years for snowfall last week. Great timing David. I propose David Hindman as FATHER of the YEAR!!!!!!! Richie-In the northwest, but missed the Tucson snowfall of 2019. Randy-Friends from Iowa who was DG same year as Randy. Lynne-SOM and snow Raffle-Harold won and lost with six of clubs. Joke Off Maeve-Cowboy rides into town known for its practical jokes. After a couple of shots he goes out and his horse is gone. He goes back in and loudly and menacingly "states my horse is gone and I do not want to happen here what happened in Texas last week." He has another shot then goes back out. Lo and behold his horse is back. As he mounts up one of the town folk comes up and asks, "What happened in Texas last week?" The cowboy looks him in the eye and slowly declares, "I had to walk home." Lynne-Cops nab a shoplifting old lady. In court the lady pleads guilty of stealing a can of peaches. Since there are nine peaches to a can he gave her nine days in jail. In attendance happened to be the old lady's husband of many years. He stands up and addresses the judge, "Excuse me your Honor, she also stole a can of peas." Humbly submitted by your lowly scribe, John Dooling |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 19, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Although I was out of state there was indeed a 2/19/2019 meeting. While I must use my imagination for some of this report much was taken from our Facebook Page. Thank you Richie Benner. After President Hunter called the meeting to order and the pledge was recited a major club event took place: the awarding of Paul Harris Fellows to members Denise West and Tony Hunter. Thank you to both for your hard work and club support in all its endeavors. You are roll models for each of us   .  Our speaker was Becky Noel of Therapeutic Riding of Tucson, TROT. Founded in 2006 TROT was originally established in cooperation of Southern AZ Veterans Admin Healthcare System for veterans of all ages to experience the physical and psychological benefits of riding. It has expanded so that today children and adults with cerebral palsy, mental retardation, Down;s Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and other special needs can benefit. For additional information one can access Rotary Club of Marana Facebook Page or visit www.trotarizona.org.According to my source the Joke Off was.....meh. No one won the lottery/raffle. Thank you to Harold Burtzloff for taking/reporting last weeks attendance. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 12, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Ten members met at The Cracker Barrel for today's meeting. This last minute change was necessitated by death of the mother of the young man who prepares our breakfast compounded by a child care commitment by owner/member Javier Terran. Mary suggested a sympathy card be sent. Maeve complimented Denise for the quality of our speakers. Next week we will be hearing from TROT, Therapeutic Riding of Tucson.  Last Friday Don, Tony, Beckie and John witnessed the swearing in of 17 Interact members at Tortolita Middle School. This is the largets group by far in the eleven years the program has been in existence. Honorary Rotarian Kathleen Neighbors has led the program from the beginning. Of the 17 members four are 7th graders. This should help in the continuity for next years members. It was suggested we may want to speak with Kathleen regarding donation of a Club banner or similar item to show our appreciation of their efforts. Also our members may wish to attend their meetings in the future. It should be noted that their efforts include: assistance with RoadRunner School painting, a candy drive for AZ National Guard, cleaning pumpkins post Halloween that were donated by Bucklew Farms to the Food Bank, making and selling salsa to fund their projects, assisting with our and another aide station during the Tour de Tucson, helping with AZ Air National Guard muster at DM Airport, collecting food for the food bank at Winter Haven Christmas Lights event and supporting Dan Heston's (father of one of the members)12 hour run marathon at Mt. View High School that raised thousands of dollars for the food bank. Finally, two members are part of the Tortolita Broadcasting team and are able to provide frequent videos of the Club's good work to the school during daily news casts beamed into all classrooms. Tour de Cookie PR folks will move the outreach from Sunday at the Farmers Market to Saturday at Christina Taylor Green Park across from Pima Community College NW Campus on Shannon. Be there around 9 AM if you can assist Dan and Mary. Much discussion regards the formalizing of list of past Club activities. Please send your thoughts/memories to Tony via email. There was a suggestion that the list be split by in country and out of country. John recommended asking Lynne to review our check register for those projects that required an expenditure of funds. Randy received an unsolicited round of applause for his six years of assisting PETS training of new Rotarian Leaders. He says the PETS is stronger and more impressive than at any time he has experienced in the past. Randy is stepping down from PETS to take over the Rotary Educational Fund District Chairmanship. Mary reports she recently witnessed it raining water. She also says the Cameroon Project approval process continues and final approval could be less than a month away. POKER TOURNAMENT this Friday. Try to be there by 6 PM to assist even if not playing. Still time to sign up players. Mary and Dan providing snacks. John will bring large cooler of bottled water and two 57 oz. cans of Planter's Dry Roasted Peanuts. March first there will be a honoring of former Club member and retiring Director of Marana Chamber of Commerce, Ed Stolmaker. More on this later. See you Friday night. GOOD LUCK! |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 5, 2019Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter requested Richie to lead us in the pledge and a find job he did. Lynne requested "Hey Jude", a Beatles tune from fifty-one years ago, be sung. Tony helped us with his guitar and I must say we sounded good. Good compared to our attempt at "Yellow Submarine" a few months ago, not good compared to John Lennon. All things are relative. Odds and Ends Our Top Golf event from last Tuesday got a few good reviews from those who were able to attend. It was announced that Bob Bishop's twin grand kids have arrived and doing well. Randy asked for a few members to remain after the meeting to interview Alexis Elarosa for possible Rotary Vocational Fund scholarship to Respiratory Therapist School. Board meeting at John's office tomorrow 2/6/2019 at 5:30 pm. Tour de Cookie rider prospecting done on Sundays at Farmers Market 9 am to noon. Help is appreciated and easy to do. Located near Rillito Park on First Street just south of River Rd. Beckie has several booth sign ups, but still looking for the $500 Sponsor. Dan requests any signs, tee shirts etc from last year please bring to next week meeting. Please share on Facebook and your email contacts. March 9th. Poker Tournament a week from Friday. Please share information with your email contacts, golf club members, fire department employees, congregation members and anyone else you can think of. Rachel spoke of the United Way's program to assist the working poor with the income tax refund process. There are nine sites in Pima County and one being at the Marana senior Citizens Center. Mary, Randy and Deb from our club are assisting and more needed. Hours of operation are Thursdays 4-7 and Saturday's 12:30 to 3:30. The UW is also partnering with PCC for basic tax accounting course. Tony says we are looking for an April project. Send him your ideas. Happy Bucks John-Thanks Tony for Top Golf outing David-Trial is over Don-Glad David was acquitted????? Harold-Enjoyed Top Golf Richie-Enjoyed Rotary Leadership Institute and recommends for new and old Rotarians Beckie-Happy to be here and hopes SLC home sells quickly Rachel-Heck if I know. I think I was asking for additional salsa at the time. Randy-Happy to have seen Richie on TV for a lengthy informative session on Scouting. Randy also claims to have hit a golf ball straight and far at Top Golf last Tuesday. He did not say if it was straight and far "in the direction he intended." Mary-Heck if I know. For some reason I miss Mary's comments on a regular basis. I apologize and short of writing me a note every time I do not know what else to do. Maybe you can sit with me and Dan from now on? Joke Off Lynne won easily as Maeve chose not to attend this morning. John-As usual won and lost the raffle this time with the 5 of hearts. Jeff Pridgett, Marana Police Department Sergeant and Public Information Officer (PIO), was our speaker this morning. Counting Jeff, Richie and Dan we had three Marana Tigers at our meeting. Jeff spent twelve years in the MUSD school system. He has held numerous positions from "beat" cop to school resource officer to motorcycle cop to in house Sergeant in charge to his current position as PIO. The new station is a place of pride having evolved from a triple wide mobile to the state of the art facility they now are housed in. The tax levy that raised the money for the new building is gone as promised. The headquarters is located across from Ora Mae Harn Park on Lon Adams Rd. A tour of the facility will be arranged. The MPD respond to all traffic incidents unlike TPD and writes a report for each. The MPD detectives are broad in scope and investigate all from purse snatchings to murder. The MPD responds to all calls and in a timely fashion, again unlike TPD. |
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Tour de Cookie 2019 |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 29, 2019Rotary Club of Marana Top Golf was the venue for January's 5th Tuesday social. Many may have stayed away, due to the fear of the cold. They had nothing to fear as the ceiling installed propane heaters not only kept the chill away they also had us stripping off our jackets and sweaters and working on our tans. John Zwick earns the "most people" award. Accompanying John was his wife, two daughters and a son-in-law. Tied for second was John and Cindy Dooling and Harold and Ellen Burtzloff. Trailing came Dan, Don, Randy and of course Tony. When I say "nothing to fear" I was strictly referencing the cold. The "crowd" retreated a few steps whenever John, Randy, Don or Tony took a whack. Tony had a few shots that reminded this reporter as to why the netting to the right was so high. Let's just say Tony has the banana slice perfected. Tony was also the only "golfer" to whiff. John, me, hit a duck hook that made many respond in awe. The shots taken by Randy and Don were not memorable and that is a good thing. Of course there are always show offs. In this category Dan Contorno is firmly placed along with John Zwick's daughter, the one not named Joyce. Shame on me for not recalling her name at this time. The food was much better than the golf and the beer was not bad either. Best of all was the company and I hope to see many more at our next event. Thank you Tony for planning it all. See you tomorrow! |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 21. 2019Rotary Club of Marana Dr Mack again led us in the Pledge. Apparently he has to do this until we get it right! President Hunter apologized for having neither a song nor his guitar then sought a thought for the day from our members. Beckie Penman had a good one I recall, but unfortunately that is all I recall. Peter suggested we be generous with the our weekly Food Bank donations as there may be an increase in need due to the Federal Government shutdown. Flash: "Life is a journey not a destination." Thanks, Beckie. No 7AM meeting next week. Members and their friends are encouraged to attend our 5th Tuesday social at Top Golf starting at 5:30 PM. Dan will again send the 2/15/2019 Poker Tournament flyer to all members as apparently some did not receive his first email. Please talk this up among friends and family. RLI this Saturday with Richie and Denise registered. Still time for more to register. Contact John or Randy for details. Happy Bucks John-Randy's birthday Dan- Randy's Birthday Harold-Weather here compared to rest of the country Rachel-Weather Beckie-Daughter engaged, home for sale in SLC, weather here compared to SLC with the cold and inversion problems Mary-Preliminary grant approval for Cameroon! Denise-Happy for today's speaker, Edna Rosas-Gutierrez. David-Happy about something(good to see you David. Happy New Year) Joke Off .jpg) Maeve began with lawyer trying to take advantage of old person. (Maeve apologized to David then continued). Lawyer says "I 'll ask you a question and if you do not know answer you pay me $5. Then you ask me and if I do not know I will pay you $500." Old guy agrees. Lawyer, "How many miles between the earth and the moon?" Old guy forks over $5. Old guy, "What goes up the hill on three legs and down on four legs?" Lawyer scratches his head. He consults the Internet. Tweets his friends. Finally gives up and gives the old man $500. The lawyer then asks the old guy, "just what does go up the hill on three legs and down the hill on four?" Old guy gives the lawyer $5!.jpg) Lynne countered with conversation between a "normal" person and a Psychiatrist. "Is there a simple test to determine if a person has mental illness?" "Yes, we tell the tested individual they have a bathtub full of water and a spoon and a bucket and ask how would thy empty the tub." "Ah, the normal person would use the bucket as it is larger/quicker than the spoon, right?""No, a normal person would pull the plug." "Would you prefer a padded room with a view or one closer to the cafeteria?" TIE! Harold won with ticket 121 and lost with the 7 of hearts. .jpg) Edna C Rosas-Gutierrez is the owner of Better Choices Counseling, LLC. Her practice specializes in treatment of child sexual predators. Roughly 75% of child sexual abuse cases are by family and 97% by males. Most cases are opportunistic in nature. These individuals can and do respond to counseling.d |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 15, 2019Rotary Club of Marana .JPG) Dr. Peter Mack led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. President Hunter did not seek thoughts of the day from members, obviously learning from past experiences in solicitation in this regard. He did do a shout out to Charlie Benner who is growing like a weed.A request was made to members to remain afterwards if they had input for the Tour de Cookie scheduled for 3/9/2019. This is our MAJOR fund raiser that enables us to do the various good deeds we do in this country and overseas. Everyone needs to get involved. Those who can might volunteer to distribute flyers to bicycle shops and help out on Sunday mornings at the Farmers Market from 8:30 to noon the next six or seven weeks.  Dan announced a Poker Tournament for Friday February 15th to be held at Vision Church off Silverbell south of Cortaro Rd. Dan has organized several of these for our Club's benefit. With a decent turnout we can net a thousand or more. Please share the flyer with friends and family when it becomes available in a few days.Discussion of a Club social the 29th of this month as it is the 5th Tuesday of January. Several ideas tossed out by members, but Top Golf seemed to be a popular idea. Since they were a sponsor of Tour de Cookie last year they might offer us a "deal". Tony to check it out and report next week. RLI "College of Rotary Knowledge" will be offered 1/26/2019. Location to be at The Viscount Suite Hotel on Broadway. The $65 cost of attendance, which includes continental breakfast and lunch is paid by the Club. Richie Benner has signed up and others are encouraged to do so. Registration information is on District 5500 Website or speak with Randy Brooks for additional information. Denise West reports her purse being stolen at COSTCO when a man approached her as she was entering her car. With this distraction her purse was taken from inside her car. There have been multiple reports of this happening at COSTCO. Rachel Cheeseman reports she too had this happen at Target a couple of weeks ago. Happy Bucks John-Happy to have Dan Contorno in our club. He is the main cog in our Tour de Cookie and Poker Tournament fundraisers. Don-Thanks, Dan Randy-Thanks, Dan John Z-Thanks, Dan Harold-Thanks, Dan Mary-Thanks, Dan Peter-Thanks, Dan Well, you get the idea. Also, Denise happy her jewelry was not taken Rachel-Her friend elected to Amphi School Board There were others that I just missed. Joke Off .jpg) Maeve-Patient goes to the Doc with carrots in his nose and broccoli in his ears. Doc immediately sizes up the situation and says, "I see the problem, you are not eating correctly". (I actually laughed at this simple humor) .jpg) Lynne-Three football Cardinal fans bemoaning thier team's dismal 2018 record. "I blame management" says the first. "I blame the players." announces the second. "I blame my parents." proclaims the third. If I had been born in Boston I would be a Patriots fan. (Truth demands that I report, as in most of her jokes, Lynne enjoyed her humor today as much OR more so than did her audience.Must be nice to have a Boston connection)Based on the visual imagery of the patient ( and hatred of the Yankees, er, Pats) I "give" this one to Maeve. John won AGAIN and lost AGAIN with four of hearts. Guest speakers today were Bonnie Dudelston, Cemetery Administrator for AZ Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Marana and Tom Shambo. Board Member of the AZ Veterans Memorial Cemetery Foundation-Marana. Bonnie played a video from www.cem.va.gov in an effort to provide an historical perspective up to the present of the Veteran's Memorial Cemetery program. Land donated by the Kai family enabled the cemetery to open 3/14/2016. Funding to the tune of 7.6 million was required to prepare the land as a cemetery. Money for the daily management comes from the AZ Department of Veterans Services and the local AZ Veteran's Memorial Cemetery Foundation. There have been 1,486 veterans interred in the past three years and there are 1,800 pre-registered, including our speaker Tom Shambo. The facility is designed to accommodate up to six burials a day with each having a twenty minute ceremony. For additional information see the website above or www.azdvs.gov or www.avmc-foundation.com Corrections or comments are appreciated. My attempts to report humorously AND accurately sometimes go astray. Your Scribe, John Dooling, Club Secretary |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 8,2019Rotary Club of Marana Arriving exactly at 7:00 AM both I and Maeve missed the pledge, guest introductions and any new year thoughts our membership may have offered up. As they say, "The early bird catches the worm." In this case our infamous cuckoo clock dictated the start of the meeting, not my cell phone. .jpg) Randy took the lead on our Club's family adoption for Christmas. Several hundred dollars donated by our club was spent in order for the family to have a merrier Christmas than what otherwise would have been possible. The family consists of a mother and four daughters, two of whom attend MCAT. Thanks, Randy.President Hunter announced a full court press in our member recruiting process with numerous members assisting. Happy Bucks John-HNY Dan-HNY Randy-a good buck and a bad buck (maybe two good bucks. He was sick for his own NY's party. Ritchie-Rain is always welcome in our arid state. Rachel-HNY and family time Beckie-Better weather here than SLC Don-Family time in Seattle and nicer weather too Denise-Sick??????? Peter-Daughter married Saturday and a shout out to Randy for Family sponsorship at Christmas Bob-Friends in town. Oh, and Linda here with him this morning as well as guest speaker.AND IDENTICAL TWIN GRANDKIDS born over the weekend Joke Off Lynne- I think it goes like this: Preacher and Cab driver arrive at the pearly gates at the same time and the cab driver gets a bigger halo. The preacher naturally challenges this and when questioned admitted that sometimes his sermons were boring and put people to sleep. St Peter explained that nobody ever slept in the aggressive taxi cab owners vehicle and many were driven to praying for their lives. Maeve How can I clean this up? This is beginning to be weekly problem with Maeve as she dives into ever sinking depths of lurid humor to get a laugh and beat out Lynne for the Joke of the Day crown. Okay, here goes: If you are taking a dump at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve is it the SOS different year? Maeve wins! Must admit she knows her audience. John won and lost the raffle with a 6 of diamonds.  Our guest speaker, invited to our club by Bob Bishop, was retired aerospace legend Burt Rutan. Burt was "twice" awarded the Collier Trophy presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics in America..........."Throughout his career he has worked on 46 manned research airplanes.Born into a family of Seventh Day Adventists sports were not allowed. At a very young age he was amazed to witness a low flying fleet of B36's and became enamored with building model planes. His first business after graduating from Cal Poly was started in 1973. It was the manufacturing of home built airplane kits. One of his companies founded in 1986 now has 600 employees. He is justifyingly proud of the "real" jobs and the tax revenue they create as opposed to government jobs that are 100% tax supported and created. Much of Mr Rutan's talk dealt with the significant demise of NASA and space exploration. The 1965 NASA budget was 5.3% of the total US budget. Today's budgeted dollars are less than one tenth of that 1965 number. He mentioned his disappointment after the meeting with the fact that China appears to want to take the lead in space exploration and the recent deployment of a rocket and lander/rover to the far side of the moon and the simultaneous launching of the communication satellite since there is no direct line of sight to the far side of the moon. To drive home this disturbing trend he noted no one born after 1935 has walked on the moon. Mr Rutan was proud of the fact that a piece of the carbon filter from one of his early creations is on the Horizon Spacecraft that has passed Pluto and recently returned photos of Ultima Thule, 4 billion miles from earth. His belief is if you are doing things that are doable you are in Product Development. If you are working on things that are questionably even possible you are doing Research. His most recent project, funded to the tune of 23 million by recently deceased Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is the Stratolaunch. its purpose to heave a half-million-pound rocket ship to cruising altitude and then drop it, whereupon the rocket would ignite its engines for a fiery ascent into space. Allen’s hope was that this extraordinary bird would be able to do quick laps between the ground and the stratosphere, making access to space no more exotic than a New York–to–Boston commuter flight. Launch is expected to be the fall of 2019. One could not help but be reminded of The Spruce Goose masterminded by Howard Hughes and its one solo flight. With Elon Musk's SpaceX reusable rockets driving the costs down and reliability up does the Stratolaunch face the same fate? Only time will tell. Today was a special day for our club. Seldom do we have the opportunity for such a distinguished person in their field speak to us. A winner of the prestigious Wernher Von Braun Memorial Award, named for the famous German rocket scientist who came to the USA after WWII, Mr Rutan provided us with a meeting to remember. As stated above he is truly a legend in the field of aerospace. Board meeting John's office at 5:30PM Wednesday 1/9/2019. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 18, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Today's meeting was a field trip to Jackpot Veterinary Center located at 6745 N La Canada Dr. Our tour guide, Karla Lombana DVM, is an owner and the daughter of Club Member Beckie Penman. Thirteen of our members enjoyed the tour and all were impressed with the size of the state of the art facility that is still partially under construction and the state of the art medical equipment. Jackpot Clinic serves both large and small animals and judging from the glowing review given by Maeve and Lyle Johnson the service is par none. It was voted best clinic in Pima county this past year. You can visit their website at http://www.jackpotvet.com. The Club will be dark the next two Tuesdays. See everyone on the 9th of January 2019! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 10, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Due to our Club's powerful connections we were greeted by none other than Ms Santa Claus as members and guests entered Nana's this morning. She even led us in the Pledge. President Hunter then led us in the singing of Frosty The Snowman with lyrics provided by Lynne. Those in attendance who had a more of a deprived/Dicksonian childhood could be spotted as they frequently referred to the printed lyrics, being unfamiliar with this festive Christmas carol. Today's guests included a friend of Bob Bishop's, Steve Prust. .JPG) MCAT Student of the Month Ashlynn Clevland, her mother Roxann, Grandmother Bruna, boyfriend, brother, Staff Rep Dani Anich and MCAT Principal Denise Coronado.Our Club will sponsor a family again this Christmas in the amount of $400. The committee consists of Richie, Tony, Randy and Rachel. Randy advises the Rotary Vocational Fund topped out its donations for the year. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Happy Bucks Bob Bishop did a fine job as Sgt At Arms. Harold-Paid his IOU from last meeting and a few extra! John-Student of the Month (SOM) Mary- Grateful for Global Grant donations to Cameroon Project and they are where they need to be to continue with the project. Denise, Steve, Beckie, Don Bob-All pleased for our SOM Randy-Happy we had Ms Claus visit us. Rachel-United Way Richie-Charlie is 6 months old Joke Off Ms Claus stood in for Maeve Johnson who could not make today's meeting. Given Ms Claus' background and her omniscient knowledge of good and bad children, her "joke" concerned the very bad behavior of one, Little Sammy, who decided the best way to get a new bike for Christmas was via kidnapping and extortion. Ms Claus did not say whether Little Sammy was successful or not. Lynne took her front stage opportunity to regale us with humor at the expense of those labeled with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Mental Disorders from Manuals 1,2,3,4 and 5. Randy, Mary and Don (and possibly others with a mental health background) are aware a reference to all five DSM publications was required as psychiatric disorders change with the times. What once was crazy ain't necessarily so in today's world. Any who, humor at the expense of those less fortunate is always welcomed at this club. As a hard of hearing person I should know. God help us if we ever get so PC that we cannot enjoy good natured ribbing. Excuse me while I get off my soapbox and let Lynne know I especially enjoyed the Manic and the Paranoid versions of Christmas. The Club by acclimation approved the following officers for fiscal 2018/2019: President-Richie Benner President Elect-John Dooling President Nominee-TBD Treasurer-Lynne Himmer Secretary-John Dooling Member at Large-Harold Burtzloff Member at Large-Bob Bishop Immediate Past President-Tony Hunter Somewhere along this time during our meeting Tony ducked out leaving President Elect Richie Benner in charge. We did not miss a beat. Our President Elect has a command presence and will do quite well come July 1. Former member and current Principal of MCAT Denise Coronado introduced SOM Ashlynn. Ashlynn will graduate in a few days. Her educational efforts, and I use that term advisedly, began in Benson, AZ . Eventually she found herself at Tortolita Middle School then Mountain View. She attributes her poor scholastic record to basic laziness. However, she runs Ms Cornado's front office and has significant accomplishments in the culinary field having won thousands of dollars in competition statewide and even finishing in the top 40 twice in national competition. Her favorite creation is Key Lime Pie. She cites a friend she no longer has with the motivation to complete her high school education. Ms Coronado, commenting on the closing of neighborhood Thornydale Grade School advised MCAT will be moving to that larger venue for school year 2019/2020. Also MCAT will be offering three courses in conjunction with JTED. JTED is funded by property taxes at the rate of .05 per $100 of assessed valuation. Don won the raffle AGAIN but lost. It bears repeating that Don donated his winnings from two weeks ago to our Marana Rotary Foundation. CORRECTION Last week's speaker was Brigadier General Andrew J MacDonald, Commander of the AZ Air National Guard. Next Tuesday's meeting will be held at Jackpot Veterinary Center located at 6745 N La Canada Dr. See you there! |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 05, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Tony Hunter asked yours truly to lead in the Pledge. Again today thoughts were not requested from the attendees, however there was music in the air. Thanks to Lynne Tony played Jingle Bells in a key unknown to most of us therefore we can blame, er, credit Tony with the questionably melodious result. Generally speaking the words in the refrain were recognizable. Tony advised all that next week is voting for officers and our Christmas Party. The following week we will meet at Jackpot Veterinary Center owned and operated by member Beckie Penman's daughter, Karla Lombana. Location is 6745 N La Canada Dr. The following two weeks are Christmas and New Years Day and we will be dark (no meeting). Maeve let us know that honoring Bush "41 the stock market will be closed 12/5/2018. She believes this is the first time this has ever happened. Roadrunner Hockey this Friday will benefit the needy so bring food and toys. Ten percent of the gate will go to The Rotary Foundation. This event is organized by Stacy Fox the current President of Oro Valley Rotary. Happy Bucks John-slayed a 14 point buck, the biggest in his 49 years of helping Illinois with their whitetail problem. Saved a car. Beckie, Denise, Mary and most everyone happy to welcome two representatives of the AZ Air National Guard as our speakers today. Randy-announced the new member recruiting award of a Paul Harris Fellow was given to Tony and Denise. Congratulations to you both. Richie-Happy about Kettlecorn and his niece (there was a connection here, but I missed it) and for his attendance at the "muster" Air Force and Army Guard Units at Kino over the weekend. Our guests were happy to learn Richie was among the 4,000 attendees. No raffle this morning due to no cards. We had numerous decks of cards donated to us a year ago, but they disappeared when a past president who shall go unnamed cleaned out our cabinet. Joke Off I know most of our usual readers will doubt my assessment of today's Joke Off, but I am tellin ya I think Maeve and Lynne could rival some of the entertainers from the Borscht Belt of old (look it up young'uns). Genuine and loud laughter followed both deliveries. In fact the laughter during Lynne's delivery was explosive. True, it was mostly her laughter, but I am sure the joke was hilarious from what I could hear between Lynne's uncontrolled bouts of spasmatic laughter as she delivered her lines. The joke is too long to repeat here, but I can say it involved a dog named "coffee break" and the impugning of government workers everywhere. Not to be outdone, Maeve came up with what may be the best of her career. Seems as though there are reasons the flight tower asks pilots where they are from when they ask "what time is it?" Now I could tell you the punch line(s), but then the readers who did not attend the meeting might think there is no downside to sleeping in. Let's just say it was very very funny and just a good thing there were no army guys in attendance.  Next Bob Bishop introduced Army National Guard Commander Andrew Day MacDonald and his companion a Brigadier General in the Tucson Army National Guard. The local guard trains pilots on the F-16 and the Reaper from numerous countries all over the world. Specifically they are now training pilots from Iraq and Kazakhstan. Their are 8,200 guardsmen in AZ. Seventy percent of these Citizen Airmen are full-time and thirty percent part-time. Recently they were able to assist with the California wildfires to assess and deliver information to the fire fighters on the ground of the fires path and growth. The Tucson base is close to 100 acres has, I believe, seventy F-16's. The economic impact on Tucson is judged to be 383 million and the 162 Wing of the Tucson ANG has a 98 million dollar annual payroll. Many thanks to Bob Bishop, who was able to arrange for these two men to speak to our club. They even offered that there may be a way to give us a flight simulator experience to maybe raffle or help in some way to raise funds for our charities. Board meeting at Dooling's office tomorrow at 5:30 pm. All welcomed. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 27, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter began the meeting with The Pledge followed by the welcoming of our guest Tom Mangold. Tom is a former member of our club and the Rotary E-club. With 95% attendance it is "too bad we did not sing". *An aside to Tony, I much prefer writing "We did not sing too bad." Hey, Holt! If you are reading this the election is over. Peter Mack, would be good to see your mug this month too. Dan advises we have our first registrant for Tour de Cookie! Rachel commented on a 250K grant that United Way and the Tucson Rotary Club are considering. Also, Rachel is in favor of Freedom to travel and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution. Richie reminds us all that today is giving Tuesday and that for many organizations such as BSA and United Way, this is their biggest fund raising day of the year. President Tony reminded all that 12/11 meeting will be a wild and crazy affair so be forewarned. Also, be aware that if you do not show up you may be voted into office for the coming year. On 12/18 we will be taking a field trip to Beckie's daughter's business. Happy Bucks John D- Deer Hunting in IL next five days and married 47 years as of today. Not necessarily listed in descending order of happiness. David, Dan, John Z -All happy Randy, Don, Harold, Richie-All happy My mind wandered and I'll be damned if I know what the above seven are happy about, just trust me they were all just tickled pink. Bob- News Flash! Hawaii might be a nice place to visit if you like to see one of the most beautiful areas on earth. Beckie-I know she lost her cell phone and found it. There may be more to this story, but you will have to ask Bob as she faced him during the entire tale. Oh, left off last week, Beckie is glad she is in Tucson as SLC was mid twenties last week. Beckie tells me it is even colder today. Rachel, Lynne and Maeve-Happy. You'll have to ask them why next time you see them. My mind apparently was out for a walk again. Mary-Happy or maybe proud that her profession blends so perfectly with the ideals of Rotary. Hugs are good. Joke Off Maeve's entry was a real knee slapper. "You cannot trust atom's. They make up everything." (my favorite for the day. Dan liked Lynne's best, even after I explained Maeve's joke to him.) Lynne's entry was pretty good too. Seems as though a princess trapped in the body of a frog hollered out to a passing male, who as fate would have it was an engineer. "Kiss me release me from this spell. I am a beautiful princess." The engineer picks up the frog and places it in his pocket. The princess hollers, "Hey, didn't you hear? Kiss me and I will turn into a beautiful princess." The engineer replies, "Yes, I heard you. But I am an engineer and I think having a talking frog is pretty cool." Lady Luck was in the room today and sitting at Don Jorgensen's table. Don won and WON $304. In the giving mood, considering it is Giving Tuesday, Don donated the entire amount to our club's foundation. This was at least partially due to our recent sponsorship of a Shelter Box and Don's involvement with that organization. Thank's Don. .JPG) Mary was our speaker and her able assistant was Randy. Members were divided into groups of four and we proceeded to play "What's My Rotary." We got off to a rough start with many members shouting out answers, ringing their bells too soon, not playing by the rules in general, dancing on the tables and obviously imbibing in too much coffee. Randy would not stand for this chicanery and quickly brought order to the room. Once order was established the team of Johnson, Contorno, West, Hindman and Dooling proved their mettle and dominated the exercise with an awesome display of Rotary knowledge. Perhaps the fact that our team of four had five members is the reason all teams received chocolate as a reward for participation rather than all the bags going to the aforementioned team? See you on the 4th of December, hopefully with deer pictures and I don't mean Rudolph. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 20, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Tony Hunter called upon our newest member, Beckie Penman, to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. A quick glance at the blank faces of our membership led Tony to skip the Thought of the Day portion of our meeting. Instead, he uncased his guitar, and at the request of Lynne Himmer, led us in singing that American staple "Old MacDonald Had A Farm". Of course, being the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the animal was a turkey. I was impressed that everybody knew the words and most sang in key. A good start to what proved to be a very good meeting with 90% attendance! Guests included John (?) a Rotarian from upstate Washington and our speaker from ADOT, Doug Nick. .jpg) Many kudos to and by Maeve for a successful Tour de Tucson Aid Station. Eleven of our members plus support from Casas Adobes/Dove Mountain Rotary Clubs and our Totolita Interact Club worked the event. Special thanks to Denise West's sister, Edisa, who worked the full shift. (about this time Rachel Cheeseman tried to slip in late, but since the back door was broken she had to make an entrance at the front of the meeting. Glad you could make it Rachel!) One of our Interact students asked Maeve "What is polio?" That is progress my friends. .JPG) Mary gave another short The Rotary Foundation (TRF) presentation hammering home the Three Legs of Rotary and the Six Areas of Focus. When quizzed membership struggled to recall what Mary had taught us over he last few weeks.(Aside to Mary, you might need a bigger hammer.) A slide presentation from our own project in Zimbabwe was presented. We partnered with a Yuma Club for this project. Randy recalled that the $14,000 which was raised for this project was stolen when wired to Africa. Randy stated this was a true "Rotary Moment" for him when Rotarians stepped up and within one week $18,000 was raised to replace the stolen money.Happy Bucks John-Tour de Tucson aid station workers. Special praise for Edisa, sister of Denise. A round of applause when John mentioned that Edisa would make a great member Richie-BSA popcorn sales are over but club members still have time to order the wonderful tins of popcorn for Christmas! Also, the 50th Commemoration of the tragic deaths of the scouts lost in a freak winter storm in the Santa Rita Mountains. Good came from this as hundreds if not thousands have been rescued by The Southern AZ Mounted Search and Rescue SAMSAR that was organized following this tragedy. John Z, Denise, Dan, Don, Mary, Randy, Tony-all happy for El Tour service project Bob- Helicopter ride to bottom of double falls on Oahu. Joke Off Lynne- Lady looking over the frozen turkey bin asks the store clerk, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" "No, ma'am" he replied, They're all dead." The attendees loved this one, as did I. Maeve- A pumpkin pie sells for $2.25 in St Martin. The same pie sells for $2.75 in Antigua. In Aruba it is $3.00. These are the Caribbean Pie Rates. I love a good pun and this qualifies as a very good one judging by the number and the decibel reading of the groans emitted. Bonus Extra- Reluctantly the teacher called on little Johnny during the first grade spelling contest. "Johnny, spell the word 'farm.' the teacher requested. Little Johnny replies, "EIEIO". John won and lost with the seven o hearts. Douglas Nick of ADOT told us that 2/3 of what ADOT does can be done on a smart phone or ServiceAZ on the web without having to go in person. Things like Registration,Permits, Licenses, Title Transfers, Special Plates and Insurance Updates can all be done remotely. ADOT now has Kiosks that also perform these functions. Office hours have been expanded and Over Time hours cut by 80%. Now when you do go to an ADOT office you are greeted by a human being who directs you the correct station and waiting times have been reduced from 52 to 22 minutes over the last couple of years. Charities have taken in 10.6 million through the Specialty Plate program. Additional questions can be sent to dnick@azdot.gov. Reminder, Johnny Cash show tomorrow at the Oro Valley Gaslight Theater. Tickets still available from District 5500 website. Money raised goes to TRF. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 13, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter led us in the Pledge on this cold (by AZ standards) and windy morning. No singing or thoughts, but a full house. Guests included Beckie Penman (to be sworn in as our newest member today), her husband Carl, daughter Carla and granddaughter June. Also, last weeks speaker, Janet pipes, is back and this time is interested in membership! Tony announced Club and Foundation decisions to fund a Shelterbox for $1,000 and the Cameroon Project for $5,000. Tony offered his appreciation to John Dooling, Mary Strauss and Lynne Himmer respectively for their home, food prep and wine knowledge they all shared at last Friday's member recruitment social. Also, thanks to Tony and Randy for their musical contribution. Maeve reminded us that Tour de Tucson workers are meeting for breakfast at 8am at Micky D's on Tangerine this Saturday then on to Moore and Camino de Oeste for Aid Station setup. .JPG) Mary spoke on The Rotary foundation. Reminded us of the three legs of Rotary 1.The Clubs, 2. Rotary International and 3. The Rotary foundation. TRF has six avenues of service 1. Peace and Conflict Resolution, 2. Maternal and Child Health, 3. Disease Prevention, 4. Water and sanitation, 5. Basic Education and Literacy, 6. Economic and Community Development.Foundation Fund Raiser at Oro Valley Gaslight Theater on 11/21/2018. Johnny Cash tribute. Order tickets at District 5500 website. Rachel Cheeseman installed as new member of our club last Friday. Welcome Rachel. Rachel mentioned IRS publication #5307 that explains new tax filing information. Rachel had the distinction of being our newest member for a grand total of 3 and 1/2 days. Tony brought Beckie to the podium where he shared some of her history. Denise West was the Club member that first discussed joining Rotary. Thanks, Denise. Beckie and husband Carl, married for 48 years, relocated to Tucson from Salt Lake City to be near their daughter and new granddaughter. Beckie has jumped right in and has volunteered for several projects even before today's meeting. She has a background in business services, specifically credit and debit processing and Lynne has already benefited from her expertise. Tony then inducted Beckie as our newest member and appointed her to the fundraiser committee. It was great to have her family here for the induction. Happy Bucks John D-He and Mary went all in against four seven's at the Old Pueblo Rotary's poker fundraiser Saturday night. They were both out before the break and Randy was able to see them get eliminated as he had been eliminated fifteen minutes earlier. Randy, Rachel, Denise, Mary, David, Richie and others happy for our new members and for John's 70th. Don- Shelterbox donation and new members John Zwick-70 years of marriage to same woman, Sylvia Joke Off Maeve-New teacher was trying out her recently gained knowledge of child psychology. She asked the class to stand up if they think they are stupid. Finally after a long pause little Johnny stood. The teacher then asked Johnny, "Do you really feel you are stupid?" Little Johnny replied, "No. but I did not want you to be the only one standing." Lynne-Priest, doctor and engineer playing golf. Group ahead were playing very slowly. The Ranger comes up and explains that the slow group were all blind firefighters who were injured saving the clubhouse last year when it caught fire. The priest says he will say a mass for their recovery, the doctor says he will consult with his good friend from medical school who was a top rated ophthalmologist and the engineer says, "Why don't they play at night?" Both rated a strong seven on the laugh-o-meter. We may have to go to a show of hands next time to determine the winner. Mary won and lost with the 8 of clubs. Denise, our speaker scheduler, introduced Jeanmarie Schiller-McGinnis. Jeanmarie is President of Hearts That Purr Feline Guardians. This organization provides shelter and loving care for felines made homeless due to the terminal illness, incapacitation or death of their owners. Many of these pets are hard to find new homes for they are often older and may have other characteristics consider not desireable. Hearts That Purr has a website at WWW.HEARTSTHATPURR.ORG and they can be reached by phone at 520-297-3780 and by email at heartsthatpurr@outlook.com. Hope to see many of you Saturday at the Aid Station and 11/21/2018 at the Gaslight Theater show and fund raiser. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 6, 2018Rotary Club of Marana .jpg) President Hunter led us in the Pledge. He followed with his guitar as we all more or less chimed in singing "Here Comes The Sun". While we could not compete with George Harrison's version(the song writer) or with Richie Havens(the best version of the song IMHO) we did attempt to sing along. George wrote the song at Eric Clapton's home in the year 1969 when he had temporarily left the Beatles due to the constant demands of Apple studios and his arrested for marijuana possession. After a rough cold winter the song reflects his welcoming of the warm spring sun.Moving on, party this Friday at my home. Hope to see many of you there with guests. This Saturday Old Pueblo Rotary's annual Poker fundraiser at the Viscount Hotel. Food at five cards at six. Only $60. Let's support them if at all possible. Youngest person in attendance award goes to Charlie Benner, age six months, who was accompanied by his father. Thank you to anyone who supported BSA and their popcorn fundraiser. .JPG) Mary explained TRF (The Rotary Foundation). As District Chair, Mary explained Rotary has three legs. #1 The Clubs, #2 Rotary International and #3 TRF. TRF recives the highest ratings possible for charitable organizations. Money given to TRF is returned to the Districts after three years of interest earning which TRF keeps. TRF money goes to District Grants, Polio fight, Peace Scholars and Global Grants. MCAT Student of the Month is Yazmin Lopez. Yazmin was accompanied by her sister, parents Javier and Yanicel and Laura Garcia her student support coach. Yazmin is a K through 12 MUSD student. She plans on attending PCC to study surgical technology. As is our standard practice she received a certificate suitable for framing (we have frames Tony in the cabinet) and movie tickets.Mary drew her own raffle ticket but her luck stopped there with the Ace of Clubs, I believe. Joke Off Maeve-Candy corn looks like Trump Lynne- It sounded like Weasel goes into a bar and when asked for drink order "Pop goes the weasel." I may have that wrong because a few people laughed. John- Did you hear about the termite that walked into the bar and asked "Where's the bar tender?' Our speaker Janet Pipes gave us a horrifying glimpse into the world of guardianship and probate gone wrong. Numerous examples of judges and attorneys not acting in the best interest of their wards. Two hand outs provide detail accounts of actual cases and the prevalence of these actions all over the USA, especially Florida, Nevada and Arizona where retirees/elderly flock. Several books were referenced as well as contact information provided. Final words were to record review of your will with heirs and fight/fight/fight a court appointed guardian. Board meeting tomorrow at John Dooling's office to start at 5:15pm. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 30, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Following the Pledge John, at the encouragement of Maeve, led the sparse "crowd" of ten people in a Halloween tune of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" complete with hand and arm imaging. We sounded better than usual, if you can believe that. Maeve also managed to have candy corn on each table. Thanks Maeve. President Tony tried his darndest to squeeze a thought out of the membership. Failing that he went to the time trusted Transcendental Meditation. However, without Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (the Beatles Guru) I fear this was a bust also. OHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Maybe incense next week? I salute that eternal bridesmaid Becky Penman who again was promised membership in the near future. We gotta speed this up. She has better attendance than a few members. By the way, if anyone needs Merchant Services debit/credit card processing done at their business Becky is your woman. Testimonial from our own Lynne Himmer. This past week saw the tragic killing of eleven people at a Synagogue in Pittsburgh by a deranged soul professing far right anti Jew ideology. Mary mentioned tht her father was from that neighborhood. At this writing a number of our members have pledged donations to the Rotary Club of Marana's Foundation to be sent to assist with the immigrant assistance program called HIAS operating from the facility where the attack occurred. It is believed the attack was partially due to the wonderful work being done by HIAS. Foundation "Fundation" Day is 11/3/2018. See District Newsletter for more info. Club elections coming up. Those interested in board positions please see Tony and volunteer. You will be treated with kid gloves if you volunteer and boxing gloves if you are volunteered. Incoming District Governor will have a "Mexican Riviera" cruise as her District Conference next year. PDG Tom Tilton did this a few years ago and was a great success. Tour de Tucson quick notes. 8A meet at McDonalds on Tangerine to have coffee/breakfast before set up. Best riders come through around 10:15. We are not certain, but Dan said this might be Marana Rotary's 143rd year of participating in this wonderful event begun in 1983 by Richard DeBernardis. Maeve has organized the tables/chairs/tents/work schedule basically everything for the event. Come see "Johnny Cash" at the Oro Valley Gaslight Theater on Wednesday 11/21/2018. Proceeds to End Polio. Best pricing available through District 5500 website Tucson Presidio Rotary's Passport fundraiser this Saturday. Each participant, for $50, gets a taste of about 10 or 12 downtown restaurants and a drink at each! See tucsonpresidiorotary.org for more info. Dan gave us a complete update on our own Tour de Cookie event scheduled 3/9/2019. Happy Bucks John and John-We like dessert with breakfast (candy corn) Randy-Give what you can. Do not get discouraged by all the requests for moola this time of the year. Richie-Last week of BSA popcorn sales. Give your order to Richie next week! also, something about the Redsox. Lynne-Something about the Redsox. Don-He was not here, but if he were it would be something about the Redsox. Several other donations for happy bucks, but heck if I know why their comments are not in my notes. Repeat it next week and I promise to publish. Joke Off Maeve-Little kid came trick or treating to the door in a suit and tie. Said I am from the IRS took 40% of the candy and left without saying thank you. Lynne- Woman enjoying the company of her husbands best friend. They were interrupted by the phone. Woman answers, "Yes, that is great." "Wow, sounds like a good time." "Good to hear from you". Woman hangs up. Husbands friend says "who was that?" Woman responds, "That was my husband telling me what a great time he is having on the fishing trip with you." Considering the timeliness of Maeve's joke gotta go with her on this one. Maeve, seems like I have mentioned her a lot today, won and lost with the king of Hearts. Pot up to 275,000 pennies. Hard to compete with Mega millions and Powerball. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 23, 2018Rotary Club of Marana .jpg) Richie, there is only one "R" in my last name, Benner rang in the meeting due to Tony's absence. He called upon the gray haired, grizzled and wise yours truly to lead the pledge. Lynne led us in a rousing rendition of Take Me Out To The Ball Game in honor of the World Series which starts today. From various comments it appears the Bosox are favored over da Bums by our membership. Looking forward to a great Series.Linda Bishop, wife of Bob, graced us with her appearance along with perennial guest soon to be member Becky Penman (like penmanship without the ship). Maeve again went over Tour De Tucson event. All worker bees invited to meet at the McDonalds on Tangerine at 8AM 11/17/2018. Mary announced a fund raiser for the Foundation, she is district chair, for the Oro Valley Gaslight theater on 11/21 and another Foundation Day event on 11/3/2018. Please reference your District newsletter for details. If you are not receiving the district newsletter please let me know and I will look into it. Mary also noted January is Foundation month. Thanks to Tony, Dan, Rachel, Randy, Deb, Mary and anyone I may have overlooked for assisting with the painting of the Road Runner school bathrooms. This was in conjunction with the United Way Volunteer Day. Rachel also noted volunteers from our club are assisting with tax returns for the elderly at the Marana Senior Center in conjunction with the United Way. I believe Randy and Deb are helping and possibly others I am leaving out. Happy Bucks John-Columbia River paddle wheeler trip and jet boat on the Snake. Also, proud papa as his oldest received national recognition by the Pharmaceutical Industry for Technological Advancement in Pharmacology. Dan-Volunteer painters at RR School Don-Boston Red Sox Bob (and Linda)-headed to Hawaii Denise-Sorry, missed it Rachel-baseball good times Richie- weather and successful BSA event(nobody died) Reminds me of a comment by our football coach sophomore year. We got beat 56 to 12. Coach's comment "Well look on the bright side, nobody got hurt!" Mary-Thanked Javier Becky-headed for Salt Lake City and a grand kid fix (or just got back?) Randy-Becky's admission to membership........some day. Maeve-A reference to Snake Farm Insurance, or was that me? JOKE OFF Getting a little long winded here so..... Maeve led off with the four time wedded lady who explained why she married each gentleman. One for the money (Banker) two for the show (circus ringmaster) three to get ready (teacher???) and four to go (mortician) good effort Maeve. Lynne gave us the strength exercise That starts out with 5 pound potato sacks while gradually increasing to 100 pound potato sacks with each arm! Next step is to add some taters to each bag. Some genuine laughter was heard. Richie won and lost with the 10 of Clubs. Pot is now over $20. Border Patrol speakers, whose names I did not catch spoke of Tan, Blue and Green uniform branches. Air and Marine wear tan, Office of the Field at the border stations wear blue and the USBP running check stations and desert searches wear green. Daily events were cited on June 6,20,22; July 2,5,8,17 all of which were newsworthy. Most of the folks crossing the border are asylum seekers. Court dates are a year and a half away.Once captured BP job is done. They hand them over to ICE or to which ever jurisdiction is in charge. Timely topic as an estimated 5,000 Hondurans are passing through Mexico as this is written. Club did a good job of tip toeing around this delicate subject without politics rearing its head. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 9, 2018Rotary Club of Marana The day started a bit chilly in the Sonoran Desert. Guests included: Prospective member Beckie Mary’s daughter-Lily Randy’s wife-Deb Janette Butcher- interested member Announcements: Randy. Gave out invitations to our November 9th Rotary Membership Open House. There will be three different kinds of meats, a wine pairing and “children’s drinks” for those of us who don’t drink Richie- October 20th Days of Caring Project. October 20th 8am at Roadrunner Elementary School. Our Interact club will be there and brining 9 youth to help with the projects Maeve- reminder about El Tour aid station on November 17th. Same location as last year. We need people to sign up and volunteer. The board voted to have a flag banner for the tour station. Dan- next week we will begin our planning meetings for the Tour de Cookie. Happy Bucks: John is happy to be home. Forrest fires were a big issue Mary- She was happy that Lily ate Javiers breakfast Rachel is happy about visiting her best friend on earth as well as going to the Balloon Festival In Albuquerque. Maeve- (from her 8 year old granddaughter) a knock knock joke about remembering her... we all didn’t Bob- had a lawyer joke... out in the woods... the check is in the male.... People were happy for John to be home, the weather and our several guests Our guest Janette won and then lost the raffle. .jpg) Randy and Mary presented on their trip to Cameroon. For international projects there has to be two clubs. One is the host club (Cameroon) and the other is an international club (Marana). We write the grant and raise the money and the host club is responsible for oversight and implementation for three years. MAROUA is the capital of the Far North Region of Cameroon. The area borders Nigeria and Chad. In the river that they use for their water source there are people who was their motorcycle, rugs and clothes. They also use it to bath and use the area around it as a bathroom facility. This is a big reason why the project is necessary. Millet is their primary food source. Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food We have two goals with the project: Economy and Education. We want to focus on education but we cannot get there without addressing the economy. When we asked the villagers as to why they want this issue fixed, the primary reason is money. They want their daughters educated and not married off at a young age. 15 is the legal age for young women to be married off and most are due to financial constraints on families in the villages. 30% of the Net proceeds will go to families to help defray a majority of the costs for families that can not afford it. Sustainability is a long term goal of this project. Our project will get the village up and going for the first year. We will provide fabric, sewing machines, embroidery machines etc. On the education side we need to do many things. The first is to build a well for the use of a garden to feed children. The idea is primarily for kindergarten students as they miss out on early childhood education because they can’t walk home to get lunch. We will also build 6 latrines for the school use. We will also buy 30 heads of cattle to provide milk for the students and eventually meat for the village. Finally we will be providing the school with supplies for their classrooms. Richie |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 2, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter requested John Dooling to lead the pledge and he/I did.Mary Straus requested "This Little Light of Mine" as the song of the week. Tony played his guitar admirably and I do believe ALL joined in. It got better the longer we sang and ended with many clapping to the beat. Those who have attended our meetings in the past are rightfully doubting recall of this mornings meeting, but I am tellin ya it was GREAT! Eighty-eight% of our members were in attendance! Guests galore included Rotarians and former Rotarians Jane Howell, Stephanie Rojas, Debbie Conover as well as speaker Roger Forrester, guest/new member Rachel Cheeseman and soon to be new member Becky Penman. Plus the MCAT folks, named below. Some reminders-El Tour de Tucson November 17th (Moore and Camino de Oeste)(Peter Mack has the signage), United Way Days of Caring October 19th and 20th, Volunteer opportunities with BSA this weekend.  MCAT Student of the month is Kayla Hayes. Joining Kayla were her father Clint, Pricipal Denise Coronado and Teacher Mr Bowen. Kaylas has been a MUSD student for her entire education. She combats anxiety on a daily basis, but has blossomed in the MCAT environment, as did her sister ten years ago.Kayla hails from a family of seven and plans to attend Pima Community College and study Care Giving and/or medical field. She was presented with a Certificate of Academic Achievement and Harkin's movie tickets by The Rotary Club of Marana.Happy Bucks John- Gone next two weeks. Richie will write up the meetings and Harold will keep attendance. John happy that Randy applied direct pressure to stop bleeding of Cindy Dooling's head after she fell at the Hospitality Event Friday. Alcohol was NOT involved! Dan-Good to see biggest Brown's fan Debbie Conover Randy-Great Conference and speakers plus new member Rachel Harold-Rain Deb Conover-Rotary's RV Club will be in Hamburg at International Conference Don-Student of the Month Peter-Actually a sad buck. Could not find the beer tent at Marana Farm Festival last Saturday(to volunteer) David-Student of the Month and fact that we skipped "pins and badges" Becky-Husband and daughter's birthdays Jane-Good to be here Denise-Student of the Month Roger-Thank for the invite Bob-Missed it Mary-Cameroon Grant is progressing Rachel-Thanks to Mary, Randy and Deb volunteering for the UW tax prep for elderly Tony-Missed it Maeve-Sunday breakfast at Nana's Lynne-Dissed Richie then said "Yea Pats" Football talk, I think. Joke Off Maeve led off with ventriloquist (I just spelled that without cheating) who was doing 100% "dumb blonde" jokes. Finally a blonde lady in the audience stands up and really lays into him. The ventriloquist apologizes profusely when the blonde replies "I am not talking to you, I'm talking to your partner." Lynn-Why did the golfer wear two pair of pants? In case he gets a hole-in-one! Personally, I liked them both. Of course I liked them both when I first heard them too, back in the 1960's. On a very close call I am giving this one to Maeve. Harold "The Shark" Burtzloff tried taking two cards in the raffle. Javier was all over him like a cheap suit. Neither card was a winner. Denise did a fine job of introducing Roger and Jane. "Back To Work" 50 plus is a Pima Community College program that is 65% funded by AARP. They assist folks 50 and over seeking full or part time work as well as employers looking for employees. The work force is made up of 25% over the age of 50. The program provides Job search skills, coaching, computer training, job placement and employer relations and lasts one month. The program is about 4.5 years old. Also mentioned is PCC's 50% tuition offer for those 55 and older. Board meeting tomorrow at 5:30pm. Call 744-3998 for directions. |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 25, 2018Rotary Club of Marana At the request of President Tony Hunter Dan Contorno led us in the Pledge. Next we had a prayer for the first time in a long long time. Maeve Johnson did the nondenominational honors. NEXT CAME MUSIC! Tony and his guitar plucked out This Land Is Your Land and numerous people chimed in. At Tony's request we sang in "G", but next time maybe we can try "E" or "D" keys? Da Da Da Daaaaaaaa. Lots of guests today with Rotarians: Tom Nydecker-Peta Luma, Ralph ?-Dove Mtn, Rich Chimbles-Oro Valley, Saad Allawi-Oro Valley. Also with us today are new member applicants Becky Penman and Rachel Cheeseman. Welcome all. Tony reminded the club that members may register for a single day if scheduling does not permit attending the full Conference this weekend. John Dooling will be sponsoring our Hospitality room Friday evening and requests everyone drop by. Rachel Cheeseman requested anyone willing and able to assist with the United Way's tax preparation program at the Marana Senior Center to see her. With four hours of training and volunteering only four hours per week you can help the needy/elderly to complete their returns. She also suggested members may want to go to the United Way website to learn more about this program and the United Way Volunteer Day and the numerous areas available for volunteerism on that day. Ralph is looking for assistance with this weekends Beer Garden at the Marana Cotton Festival. He apologized for the short notice. Our club has assisted in the past and earned a thousand or so, if memory serves.  Kathleen Nabors advises there are currently a dozen students interested in Interact Club at Tortolita. They will be assisting in the Tour de Tucson Rotary aid station. Mary suggested the possibility of the Interact folks getting in on the Four Way Test scholarship opportunity.Happy Bucks Harold-Paid off his IOU from last week John-Dodger game and all the guests Ralph-Any day above ground is a good day Richie-Something about the Steelers' and Charlie rolled over! Mary, Dan, Bob, Peter, Randy, Rachel, Maeve, Lynne and others all happy and willing to give a dollar or more to say so. Laugh Off Maeve-A good one about drunkeness and leading a low worthless life with an unexpected punchline concerning the leader of the Catholic faith. .jpg) Lynne-Ray and Blanche visited the State Fair and every time Ray would say "Let's go for the helicopter ride!" Blanche would retort "Ray, its $50 bucks and $50 bucks is $50 bucks."After many years of this routine and Ray turning 85, the pilot overheard this same old conversation regarding $50 bucks is $50 bucks and we cannot afford it." The pilot offered "I'll give you a free ride if you do not say anything during the ride, other wise you have to pay." Ray and Blanche agreed and climbed aboard. The pilot did barrel rolls, loop de loops both inside and outside, straight up then straight down, but nary a word from the couple. Finally the pilot sat the chopper down and without turning around said "Well I must say I am surprised that not a word was said. The ride is free." Ray replied, "I wanted to say something when Blanche fell out, but $50 bucks is $50 bucks!"  Saad Allawi is an Iraq native, author, business consultant, software developer, mechanical engineer, Rotarian and today's speaker. The topic was Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. This therapy has been used for years in numerous countries. The patient is placed in a pressurized chamber with 100% oxygen piped in. There are two chambers in AZ one of which is in Tucson. The federal government allows it for wound treatment for diabetics and to treat people who have been poisoned with Carbon Monoxide. Proponets say it has numerous other uses. Presently there is a bottoms up effort among twenty states to receive approval for using this "cure" vs "symptom treatment" modality.For more information go to our Rotary Club of Marana Facebook page or healingarizonavterans.org. Todays' meeting has been faithfully recorded in exact detail by your scribe, John Dooling |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 18, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter rang in the meeting to a full house. Eighty-seven percent attendance plus three guests and our speaker. In spite of this plethora of outwardly appearing intelligent folk nary a thought could be gleaned from any of the attendees. When an appeal for anyone with a song in their heart was made this too resulted in an awkward silence. Tony saved the day with a promise of bringing his guitar next week. Guests included Becky Penman who has relocated from Utah to be near her daughter and grandchild. Becky is a prospective member. Marc Snow, Oro Valley Rotarian who wanted to here our presenter. Rachel Cheeseman, prospective member who has visited four or five times I believe. Abigail Wilhelm, our speaker, from "free ever after."  The Club welcomed back Randy and Mary from Cameroon project assessment trip. They arrived back in Tucson at 11pm last night after a 36 hour journey. They met with over 300 villagers, a hydrologist, a representative of The Ministry of women Empowerment and many many others. No sightseeing or fancy dining. This was a working experience. They were welcomed by the Rotary Club of Maroua. However, there was a distinct feeling that the villagers were suspicious of these two fair skinned foreigners. Randy mused that perhaps this derives from an historical perspective of white interaction in African continent. Buba Hamadou, the Tucson Rotarian and a Cameroonian indicated there is a cultural paranoia when it comes to outsiders. After our weary travelers have a chance to sync with Tucson time I am sure we will learn more.President Hunter sat in on the nominating committee for our DGE. A woman was chosen, who would be the third female in a row to hold the position of District Governor. Tony also spoke of involvement by our club with Rotary's Freedom United. More on this later. Happy Bucks John- Happy for all the guests and our travelers safe return David-Happy that the rattlesnake that was hanging out by his mailbox did not strike Mary, Bob, Rachel, Denise, Marc Snow-All happy Harold -$5 IOU happy about something Peter-Wheels touched down in Tucson for a week after five weeks in Chili Randy-Happy Mary and he returned safely and that the proposed Cameroon project will improve/save thousands of lives Richie-Happy he was late????? May have been more to that. Joke Off Lynne won in a near unanimous decision. It was not close. Dominating. One sided. Did I mention Maeve was not here today?  Lynne had a segue for the ages. Following Randy and Mary's description of the very needy people in Cameroon, Lynne began with "On a lighter side a man had a heart attack". I kid you not, That's verbatim.Anyway, when he wakes up in the hospital there is a nun by his bedside. She abruptly asks how "How are you going to pay?" His response "I don't know." Looking at the clipboard in her lap she asks, "Do you have money?" "no." " Do you have insurance?" "no" "Do you have family?" He responds yes, but my only sibling is a spinster nun." The nun looks up from her clipboard and says "Nuns are not spinsters they are married to God!" The man replies, "Well send the bill to my brother-in-law." .jpeg) Abigail Wilhelm spoke on the mission and vision of "free ever after" Bridal Boutique. Sex trafficking occurs when there is force, coercion or fraud involved in a sex act for commercial purposes. This often occurs at an early age and the victims are not aware until later that their choices in life were taken before thy knew they had any. Sex trafficking is ongoing worldwide and Tucson is no exception. Often sex traffickers will follow major events such as sporting venues and even the Gem Show. The Bridal Boutique raises money via donated bridal gowns , they have over two hundred, that are sold to the public and occasionally given to victims. "free ever after" also sponsors 14 women in a mentoring program, led by a victim, that attempts to teach empowerment to women who have had little if any experience in that regard. For more information or to donate go to WWW.freeeverafter.com This scholarly synthesis has been brought to you by your Club Secretary, John Dooling. Complaints, concerns, additions or deletions should be submitted on the back of a twenty dollar bill and discretely slipped to me at our next meeting on 9/25/2018. |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 11, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Our meeting began a usual with The Pledge of Allegiance from 85% plus of our members in attendance. With Randy and Mar overseas on a Rotary project this is an excellent representation for our club. There was no singing and no thoughts were asked for or received. Possibly this was due to an extremely full meeting schedule. I like to think that is why. Or maybe I was not paying attention. Moving on. Guests were aplenty: Janis Wilkom from Interfaith Community Services is our speaker Merri Kae Vanderpleug who is a Rotarian and has moved here from Virginia and will be joining our club. Merri Kae is a counselor for MHS. Rachel Cheeseman, prospective member visiting for the third time. Denise Coronado- Administrator, Mr Todd-Math Teacher and Caleb Hines-Student of the Month all from MCAT. Some announcements included Maeve working on 11/17/18 Tour de Tucson, Don Jorgenson awarded 2018 Presidential Volunteer Service Award for assisting Shelterbox International, Shelterbox nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. FYI-Our Club has participated in multiple Shelterbox purchases over the years.  Caleb Hines is a K through 12 MUSD student. Mr Todd says Caleb is alert and attentive in the classroom and assists others in class and this is why he nominated Caleb for this award. Caleb intends to relocate to Nashville after graduation and become a tattoo artist with emphasis on "artist". He will be taking his guitar and possibly taking advantage of some "open mic" nights. With Caleb, Mr Todd and President Hunter all being guitarists and all at the podium together this writer was disappointed that NOT ONE thought to bring their instrument with them.Happy Bucks Many remembered the solemn occasion of the anniversary of 9/11. In addition: Merri Kae-Son's upcoming birthday in a day or two and happy he was not born on the exact day the US was attacked. Don-Headed to Denver Bob-Friends Rachel-Pastry Chef friend in Denver and somehow that leads to free vacations Denise, Dan, Richie and others-Student of the Month Tony reminded us all that two of our members, Mary and Randy, are in Cameroon assessing the grant proposal. We look forward to their safe return Joke Off Two jokes similar in style and substance. The normal groans were not heard and chuckling seemed more polite than spontaneous. We have come to expect a higher level of idiocy. Lynne led off with two Habitat for Humanity volunteers with one tossing half her nails away thinking they were defective, not realizing they were for the other side of the dwelling. (Lynne, I apologize if I missed the punch line as I had heard variations of this joke before and my mind may have wandered. Maeve followed up with the worker bagging M&M's and tossing out about half as they were stamped with W's!  Janis Wilkom worked as a docent and met an elderly woman who needed assistance in order to remain in her home.This led Janis to Interfaith Community Services (ICS). ICS is a Four Star National Non Profit organization made up of 105 different faith communities in Tucson and surrounding area. ICS has four main avenues of service 1. Care Giving and Senior Services, the one Janis participates in, 2. Emergency Services, 3. Self-Sufficiency Programs and 4. Communiy Health Outreach. Space does not allow a detailed list of services, but I would encourage you to check out ICS at WWW.icstucson.org or call 520-297-6049.Your Scribe, John Dooling |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 4. 2018Rotary Club of Marana Twelve of our members attended today's meeting along with guest speaker T Van Hook and former Illinoisian and former Rotarian John Johnson. President Tony rang the bell and led us in the pledge. With precious few thoughts and with none to be shared publicly, Randy Brooks saved the day with a brief rendition of one of his favorite songs. Showing the depth of his empathy, earned over decades counseling the unfortunate, Randy's "If Your Worthless and You Know It Clap Your Hands" submission left us all speechless.(eyes blinking mouth agape) Pantano Rotary is having a mixer this Thursday at BJ's on Broadway. All are welcomed to attend. Next week we have a speaker from Mobile Meals AND MCAT Student of the Month. We will be having a Hospitality Room, shared with the Oro Valley Club Friday evening of the District conference. Thanks John for stepping up. You're welcome, John. District has asked that we assist with the Four Way Test Contest for High School Students. It has been many years since our club participated but sounds like all those in attendance think it is a good idea. Our Interact students, being in 8th grade, are too young to participate. Maeve gave more info regards Tour De Tucson aide station. Location will again be Moore and Camino de la Oeste. Harold and John Z have setup with Denise in charge of food. We will have Burma Shave signs again and all workers plan to meet at 7AM at MacDonalds the morning of the race for breakfast. Mary Straus updated Cameroon assessment trip. Phil Silvers, Tucson Rotarian Renowned and former RI Director, believes Cameroon project is well within reason when it comes to potential danger. Cameroon is NOT on the Rotary "Do Not Travel" list. There are still some serious reservations among members, but all will welcome Randy and Mary back mid September with open arms. Happy Bucks Everybody happy. Mary got a dollar from her financial adviser (Maeve) so she was REALLY happy. Even "T" Van Hook (former Marana Rotarian)was $5 happy and she donated $200 to the Cameroon Assessment Travel Budget. Thanks "T". "T" also won and lost with the 9 of Diamonds. Joke Off Maeve gave us the old "UR a Pe un" bathroom joke while Lynne came in with a Little Mary joke. (Wonder if Little Mary knows Dirty Ernie). Well, Mary's mind went right to the gutter when the teacher asked what organ grows by a factor of ten when stimulated. Long story short the answer is your pupils and Mary will be disappointed on her wedding night. Not to be denied, John (me) entered with "Anyone heard about the smallest zoo in the world?" "Only has one animal and it is a dog" It's a real Shitzu." Now that's funny. "T" has been CEO of Habitat for Humanity (HH) for over four years. HH and Rotary International have had a working relationship for thirty years. The intent of HH is to break the cycle of poverty. While new homes get all the pres HH actually renovates over 100 homes every year. There are over 55,000 homes not up to code in Tucson. New homes are sold not given to recipients at very very low interest rates. Sales price is based on appraisal. Recipients (all inhabitants over age 18) must donate 250 hours towards the home construction and there are 9 months of basic consumer ed classes that are mandatory. One third of HH's revenue comes from their thrift Habistore located at 835 W Grant. Money is also raised via the sale of the homes. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 28, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter led us in the Pledge followed by introduction of speaker/guests Elsa Jacklitch and Sabrina Ray of Hughes Federal Credit Union. Also back to observe and join our club is Rachel Cheeseman. Randy Brooks provided her with membership application papers. Tony is not getting much sleep due to that dang puppy so we all had to suffer through another meeting sans guitar music. Suggested name for new puppy-"Downer". Thoughts were rare, when Randy suggested a moment of silence for the passing of US Senator from AZ, John McCain. This was later followed by Denise West's recommendations regarding wiping out negative feelings, popping the despair bubble and experience the joy of a pet or good book. Mary Straus took the floor and led a discussion on our Adopt a Village in Cameroon project. On September 8th Randy and Mary plan to board a plane with final travel destination of Malam-Petel in the far northern Region of Cameroon. This area has outstanding travel advisories from The French, United Kingdom and US Department of States. Violent crimes such as carjacking, armed robbery and terrorism are common. In addition there is tremendous civil unrest with French vs English speaking populace attacking and killing each, other leading up to this fall's election. Of the three types of advisories 1)See our advice before traveling, 2) Advise against all but essential travel and 3) Advise against ALL travel, Malam-Petel falls into category #3. Mary explained that with out The Assessment Team (Randy and Mary) pre-visiting the area there will be no international grant. Both she and Randy downplayed the danger saying Bouba Hamadou, a local Tucson Rotarian and Village Chief from the area says the danger is not really a major concern. Mary also stated they will be accompanied at all times by local leaders and even military. Cameroon is not on RI's Do Not Travel list. One of our members, Bob Bishop has decided not to go, but has generously donated money for the cause. Concern was mentioned that if the project received the go ahead by Rotary International few if any members may wish to participate in person whenever the project should come to fruition. Mary acknowledged this and indicated after the assessment and hoped for approval the entire project very possibly would be turned over to the locals without our Club member hands on involvement. I believe this was the first the club has heard of this possible eventuality. No doubt there is significant need in the area and both travelers fully understand the potential danger. Bottom line the very real danger is not 100%, nor is it 0%, but somewhere in between. Some club members believe discretion is the better part of valor while others prefer, as Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover!” If I may speak for the group, I hope Mark is right in this case. Maeve gave some updates on the Tour de Tucson Rotary Aid Station. Maeve announced Ed Stolmaker's retirement as Director of the Marana Chamber. District Conference coming up fast and we need a volunteer to manage/host our Hospitality Room on the evening of the 28th. Happy Bucks Harold-VOTE Javier-Oops. He left the meeting to get CO2 for beer. Denise, Rachel, Mary and Randy all happy and I apologize for not hearing why. Maybe we can pass the mic around so Harold (my hearing aide) and I will know what is all the happiness about on the south side of the room. (Which explains why yours truly got up to adjust our banners (read blinds) during the meeting. Hard to get visual cues staring into the sun Lynne's joke won hands down over Maeve's I-da-ho. Wife told her husband, who had forgotten her birthday, I want to see something in my drive way tomorrow that goes from 0 to 200 in just seconds. The next morning the wife sees a package in the drive, opens it and finds .................a bathroom scale! Hughes Federal Credit Union has 123,000 members and ix locations in Tucson. Founded in 1952 they are members of a Credit Union organization with 5,600 locations throughout the US with 30,000 ATM's. Auto loans are not "risk based" as same rate applies to all. They have seen auto loans with 20 to 25 percent being charged. Their arte is 4.9% for 72 months. Various CD and checking account programs were discussed. They Auto, home, boat, RV and many other kind of loans. For additional information click here: |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 21 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Hunter was greeted by 100% attendance (not counting two on extended leave) and rang in the meeting with a precision strike of our large brass Rotary Club of Marana Bell. Following the pledge, with no guitar and a thoughtless crowd, our leader went straight to welcoming back member Harold Burtzloff. Harold is back about a month earlier than planned, but no one is complaining. His brief but memorable description of Manure, North Dakota (preferred spelling Medora) and the surrounding Roosevelt National Park made all in attendance except President Hunter want to visit. Our sole guest is Rachel Cheeseman, last weeks speaker. Possible member? Maeve commented on her visit to the Port of Tucson sponsored by The Presidio Rotary Club and Rotarian/former Tucson mayor, Bob Walkup. The Port has just entered an agreement with Amazon for a major distribution center. District conference coming fast and the $79 a night Double Tree rooms are also going fast! The evening of Friday September 28th is the hospitality night and our club will be hosting a room, as we have done many, many times in the past. All members are encouraged to attend some if not all of the conference. Don spoke of the great need for Shelterbox's all over the world especially Indonesia where the proud leaders do not want to accept outside help, but where internal Rotary Clubs may work with clubs around the globe ,thus bypassing the regulations. Of course Quatamala and now India are in great need as well. Happy Bucks Richie-Baby son Charlie getting his immunization shots and Richie will be out of state for a couple of weeks Bob-Happy Harold-Good to be back David-May be the only one in Pima County that enjoyed the haboob Denise-Happy John-Happy Mary-Happy Randy-Happy Don is leaving and many other reasons Don-Happy Tony-I laugh while I write this, Tony happy because he has a Great Dane puppy plus pocketed a dollar from Maeve Maeve-Complimented Javier on the tasty quiche Javier-BIG HAIL Joke Off Three nuns died. Oh, the hilarity. Excuse me while I compose myself........St Peter, guardian of the Golden Gates, asks an entry question of each of the three. The first two get very easy questions regarding Christmas and Easter and Trumpets blare as the Gate open then closes respectively as the first two enter heaven. The third nun gets the question "What were the first words Eve said to Adam." The nun replied "Boy, that's a hard one." The trumpets blared a third time. Maeve may have had a winner, but decided to go with a loser joke vs club banishment with possible filing of obscenity charges. GOOD THINKING MAEVE! Maeve's punch line "Small Medium at Large" did bring forth a few titters from the crowd, most of whom heard this joke last century. Love you Maeve, but I am just trying to do my Simon Cowell impersonation. Nothing personal. Denise squeezed in a third joke, just under the gavel, of "What do you call a lazy joey kangaroo?" A pouch potato! Don (again) +ticket #0+7C=$0 payout. Is Don really lucky or not. Hmmm. Margie our speaker and a Rotarian, spoke of her own franchise home care business, "HomeWatch Care Givers". Margie's talk touched on the needs of folks with dementia, legal documents we should all have, AZ state regulatory overview of care providers and Long Term Care Insurance. As was the case last week, I recommend those interested in additional information go to our Rotary Club of Marana Facebook Page for a fantastic write up by our own Richie Benner. Please feel free to share this and past Facebook postings. Richie is doing a great job and sharing his posts will help with recruiting. Our speaker was rewarded with not ONLY a cowbell, but also flowers!!!!!!!!!!!! If word gets out the speakers will be lined up out the door and down the block. Til next week............. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 14, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Ya'll better read these damn things as I just spent forty minutes a huntin and a peckin just to have the work of art get lost in cyber land. Snivel. The Wise, Benevolent and migraine free President Tony Hunter returned this week with guitar in hand. After The Pledge and Denise West's reading of the Thought for the Day (All family are not "blood. In the lost version I had more, but this was a very well received Thought of the Day) Tony attempted to make up for his past misguided foray into our collective musical minds when the Beatles Yellow Submarine went over like the proverbial lead balloon two years ago. This time, while not receiving the Gold Buzzer, Tony definitely made it into the next round with his sing along rendition of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". This writer hopes that President Tony has a few more "hankerings" to play some JC for us now that he knows our sweet spot. RandyB then shared with us a little known fact that Mr Cash and the carter Family turned down a boat full of money from the maker of Preparation H who wanted to use the song in its commercials. It is this kind of nugget that keeps me coming back each week as a proud Rotarian yearning to learn. Ellie Patterson, DGE was our guest. Tony Hunter and Richie Benner attended Rotary member recruitment seminar in Green Valley and came back with lots of good information to share. Bob Bishop attended Rotary/Hope 4 Kids water conservation seminar in Phoenix last Saturday. Mary says Cameroon project progressing and she and RandyB are soon headed to Africa for the required project assessment. Safety is of paramount concern since apparently Cameroon is not in Kansas. Joke Off Lynne, the only contestant won easily with her joke about how Old Age and Treachery will overcome Youth and Skill on the golf course. (and many other places I might add). Happy Bucks Dan and John-Just plain happy Randy-Canada is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Good to see Ellie P. Don-Good to be back to cooler weather. Don was visiting the State of Washington Mary-Will be seeing old friends from grad school Richie-Membership is everyone's responsilbility Bob Bishop-New owner is FAAQ. In my first and lost version I had a lot more on this, but now I am more interested in just the facts. Raffle Don +ticket#01+card 4c=$0 Rachel Cheeseman spoke of the United Way and specifically on their VITA program.(See Richie Benner's excellent write up on our Marana Rotary Club Facebook Page). Rachel is the volunteer coordinator for the Pima County United Way and whose grandfather and mother were Rotarians in Lafayette, IN. Rachel shared with us the fact that 40% of Americans are just $400 away from a fiscally devastating calamity. The all volunteer VITA program assists with tax preparation and saves the payer around $300 were they to go to HR Block. Also, were thy to go to a less than reputable tax return specialist they might be talked into a loan advance on an inflated return with outrageous monthly compound interest rates. VITA has completed 15,000 free returns in Pima County. There are nine sites in the county including one at the Marana Senior center. Rachel may be contacted at 903-3919 or RCheeseman@unitedwaytucson.org. Board Meeting at John Dooling's office tonight at 5:30.All welcomed. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 7, 2018Rotary Club of Marana With President Hunter out with a migraine President Elect Richie Benner quickly established his brief but omnipotent reign of terror. NO SONG was his first proclamation quickly followed by belittling those in attendance for having no "thoughts" to share. With his minions trembling King Richie proclaimed "He who gives should never remember." and "He who receives should never forget." This was actually one of the better "thoughts" we have had this year imho. I write this not just to curry favor with next years president, but to also togain access to this years Marana Rotary Foundation President. With no guests and only ten members the meeting progressed swiftly. Mentioned were the upcoming Rotary Meeting in Green Valley that several members will be attending and the Rotary Water Conference that Bob Bishop will attend, both this coming Saturday. Do not forget the District Conference 9/28 & 29. Sign up on line. Support our District Governor and staff. Pantano Rotary partnering with Ben's Bells 8/14/2018. See Mary for additional information. Happy Bucks John-Five grandkids on Pima County Swim Championship Team plus they won Spirit Award. Grandson Carter set individual county records in three events. Son-in-law Justin doing very very well in his cancer fight and returned to full time employment as a Golder Ranch Fire Fighter. Peter- has been struck deaf as a result of tormenting his dog. I do not fully understand, but it seems as if Peter for hours repeatedly tossed a stick into his pool and before his dog, a pedigreed retriever, could get it Peter would dive in and get it first. I have no idea why Peter is happy about his water logged hearing/deafness but he gave us a dollar so who am I too ask? David-All the rugrats are back to school Dan-$2,600 feared auto repair bill turned into a minor thermostat repair. The money saved will soon be spent however as Dan is to be a grandpa!!!!!!!!!!! Denise- MADE IT! Sorry, I could not hear what she made. Ask her next week when you see her. Mary-Happy and a Joke Off competitor Maeve-Will be visiting out of state family next week. Joke Off- Mary-What did the German cowboy say when he went into the Dealership? Audi! Lynne- Joke too long to list here, but it did explain a lot about the stages of life and why animals are smarter/happier than us. Maeve's joke was hilarious but way too much sex for me to include in this puritanical summary. (Randy, you will love it!) This writer got into the swing of things with an entry about one of my all time favorite heroes, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. It seems Davy had a peculiar birth defect that is little known to today's citizens. He had three ears! A left ear, a right ear and a WILD FRONT EAR! Thus he was actually King of the Wild Front Ear!!!!!!! The voting was not close. All "vote" went to me. Following a stellar introduction by our despot in training, Richie Benner,our guest, the Rev Billy Still of the United Methodist Faith, spoke of The Inn, a migrant family shelter project. Housed in the basement of the local United Methodist Church the mostly volunteer staff have assisted almost 3,000 ICE captured immigrants with a few days of food, clothing, shelter and showers. After this brief but welcomed respite they are off to their sponsors often in other states. Seventy Six percent participating in the United Methodist assistance program are from Guatemala, a country that is broken and gang controlled. Before leaving for their sponsor each has an ankle bracelet for tracking. Rev Billy indicates 99% show up for adjudication (See Justice Department data below provided by this writer showing average of 24% to 43% judged inabsentia and trending higher) and seventy percent are returned to their country of origin.  The church receives no government funding for this project and the cost runs about $17 per person for the average two day stay. Our speaker stressed they are addressing the here and now problem and regardless of your beliefs about our immigration problem The Inn is helping people in need and could use financial support to continue their work. |
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Rotary Meeting July 31, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Today's meeting was held at the Conference Center of the Marana Municipal Complex. With nine members present President Tony Hunter called the meeting to order. The meeting covered the general areas 1) Club Experience 2)Service and Socials 3) Members 4) Image 5) Business Operations. The only area of deficiency that was noted was recruiting new members and maintaining members. Within this category those present felt improvement was needed in follow up of potential members, lead development and community presentation. Ideas presented by those in attendance included 1)Friend Storming 2)Lead development list 3) Vocational Speakers 4) More emphasis on business networking 5) Enhanced community awareness 6)Recruit past members 7) Exit interviews. It was announced that the Chair of the Marana Rotary Foundation for fiscal 2018/2019 will be Richie Benner. Treasurer will be Lynne Himmer with Denise West, Harold Burtzloff, Don Jorgensen and John Dooling also serving on the Board. Meeting concluded with the four way test performed admirably considering we were without access to the printed word. |
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Rotary Meeting July 24, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Tony Hunter rang the bell to attend one of the sparsest attended meetings in many a year. With District Governor Kirk Reed attending this was in deed unfortunate. With no fewer than five members out of state for the summer months it is understandable, but none the less unfortunate. Passers by would have recognized the lyrics to My Country Tis of Thee if not the actual melody. The SOP of our usual meeting was not adhered to as we began with individual tables discussing among themselves inspirational people in their lives. I was not privy to the discussions at the other tables, but Dan Contorno and I seem to have led remarkably uninspired lives up til now. No Happy Bucks today and our lone comedian Maeve (Lynne not here today) barely got off the stage with her life. Only her instinct allowed her to avoid the small but nasty crowd. (Inside joke. You had to be there). DG Kirk Reed's grandfather joined Rotary in 1922. His mother, age 97, is a Rotarian in Georgia and was their bookkeeper/secretary up until a few months ago. Kirk has been a Rotarian for twenty-seven years. His young grandson was very impressed when he learned Grandpa was the Governor of the Tucson Rodeo! DG Reed is an Eagle Scout, avid reader, cyclist and baseball fan. One of the people that inspired him was Ron Santo, famed third baseman of the Chicago Cubs from 1960 to 1973. Ron, a diabetic, raised millions for the fight against Juvenile Diabetes. Another inspiration in his life is his mother who not long ago called him and said "I do not want you to worry, but I am in the hospital and my house burned down!" In spite of this heavy blow, her attitude was "I might as well move closer to my Rotary Club since my home was seven miles from where the meetings were held!" So she moved closer! Bad things can happen, planning goes astray and the strong stumble. Credit goes not to the critic nor to the timid souls afraid to participate, they experience neither victory nor defeat, but rather credit goes to those who dare enter the arena. In closing he quoted Ghandi in saying "The best way to find yourself is to get lost in the service to others". DG Reed will take his message of "Have Fun-Get Stuff Done" to another forty-seven clubs before his year is finished. Our Club donated $100 to DG Reed in his Ride for The Cure polio eradication effort this coming November. Next week's meeting to be held at the Marana Town Hall and will serve as our annual Club Assembly. |
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Rotary Meeting July 17, 2018
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Rotary Meeting July 10, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Early arriving members gathered outside of the locked Nana's Kitchen doors. Javier and Nana arrived in time to open the doors, get coffee started by 7am. President Tony Hunter rang in the meeting at 7:02am. Not bad, plus Nana and Javier whipped up quiche, tater tots and sausage in short order. After the PofA Maeve decided we should sing "It's a Grand Old Flag" again. Next time we have a rainy day we might want to revisit "Itsy Bitsy Spider"? Guests included Amanda Rodriguis who was requesting a grant from The Rotary Vocational Fund to study as a veterinarian tech. (She was approved by the Randy Brooks led committee for a $3,000 scholarship), our speaker KarynVampotic and our youngest visitor EVER Charles Benner, age 30 days. Announcements included: Board Meeting at John Dooling's office Wednesday July 11th at 5:30. Call 520-250-4012 if you need directions. El Tour de Tucson rest/aid station will be headed up by Denise West. There will be a division of work assignments to be explained later. Global Grant- For our Cameroon Project will be coupled with a District Grant for travel expenses. At least that is the thinking. A proposal will be submitted to the board tomorrow. The Cameroon project will address Education and Poverty. A fruit and vegetable garden as well as a small milk cow herd are planned with food for the students and surplus sold in the market. Foot powered sewing machines and a grain mill are also in the works for the village to create jobs and bring money into the community. Mary presented. Denise mentioned that tomorrow is the final Food Bank food distribution in Picture Rocks at the Ortiz Clinic. Dan Contorno volunteered to assist Denise. Thank you to the both of you. Randy, with a little help from Lynn, earned and donated a little over a hundred dollars by singing and strumming last Friday evening. Bob Bishop will be attending a Az Water Summit meeting sponsored by Rotary in Phoenix on Saturday 8/11/2018. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Bob at 240-2338 to carpool. Happy Bucks: Dan-Liked the quiche Jo-Visited California relatives and avoided being bit.???????? Bob-Likes airplanes Don-Able to meet with numerous relatives, also in California, many of whom he had not seen for years. Don's family spans the globe. Denise-Vocalized all our thoughts when she mentioned her happiness caused by the rescue of the twelve Thai soccer players and their coach. Joke Off Maeve rear ended a dwarf. He was not Happy. Lynne knows of a set of identical twins that were adopted out at birth to families in different countries. Juan was raised in Spain and Amahl in Egypt. A few years later the birth mother received in the mail a photo of Juan. This made her very happy but she lamented that she would like to see a picture of Amahl. Her friend commented when you've seen Juan you've seen .................Amahl! Personally I think this was a tie, but the groaning from the audience was much louder following Lynn's delivery. Bob Bishop won then lost with a red ten. Speaker: Karyn Vamotie, a former teacher and a semi retired attorney spoke of the Tucson Pastel Society "TPS"of which she is a member. Boasting 100+ members their mission's condensed version is to promote art activities especially pastel fine art among members, art collectors and galleries. Recently a building was donated to them and they are renovating it. Presently they are trying to raise money for a new roof. TPS is trying to connect with local children's groups to allow for the exercising of their artistic talents. Next Tuesday-The Marana Town Manager is our guest speaker. In two weeks Governor Kirk Reed will be here. In three weeks our Club assembly is scheduled. |
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Rotary Meeting June 25, 2018Rotary Club of Marana As always, not withstanding last week, President Jo M Holt rang in the meeting at 7am (not to be confused with 8am) sharp. Jason Halper, (remember him?) led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Maeve once again demanded that we sing and once again we sang a patriotic song, "My Country Tis of Thee". Totally unbiased President Holt commented "Not too bad". High praise indeed. Next our leader, whose time in her lofty perch is short, polled the membership for an idea or thought. When none were forthcoming she suggested we incubate those thoughts/ideas that are in the zygote stage and possibly gift them to President Tony when he returns from the RI Conference in Toronto. Jo then shared a quote from Buddha regarding one candle can share it light with a thousand other candles and not diminish its brightness. The same can be said of human happiness. Mary spoke of Cameroon project. The country is dry for nine months then three months of torrential downpour. The inhabitants subsist on millet and water with few protein sources. Challenges in numerous areas such as disease control, education, economic growth and food scarcity. Our RI grant may include cows, sewing machines and a community garden project. Guidance from local Rotarian Phil Silvers who has sat on the RI Board in the past. An RI grant requires a community assessment and therefore possible travel to Cameroon by two or more Rotarians. This travel cannot be paid by RI grant money and could run about $2,000. Brief discussion followed regarding 1)Shelterbox for Guatemala, 2)Xray machine for Guatemala 3) AZ Rotary Vocational Fund. President Jo artfully and appropriatly ducked these discussions as being more correctly addressed by new President Tony Hunter. Happy Bucks Richie-Charlie is 8.5 pounds and doing well, lost his wallet (I lost my wallet once and indirectly cost me a night in jail and $50) and he's going to Washington DC in August. One out of three isn't too bad. Don- Spouse Kathy is undergoing her third of four scheduled eye surgeries this week Randy-Getting out of Dodge to see his family and his best friend Bert. Don was visibly hurt by this announcement about Bert. Denise-Happy for Tony in Toronto (probably because it is about a hundred degrees cooler there than here) Jo- Her son is back in school in NY and living in Hell's Kitchen. (I thought that was near Yuma) Mary-Rotary Joke Off Yes, Joke Off now gets its own heading. Maeve began by lowering the bar with a story about a guy wrapped in cellophane (invented by Swiss Chemist Jacques Brandenberger) going to his new psychologist for his first appointment. The psychologist exclaimed "You do not have to tell me about your situation, I can see your BLANK." Or alternatively, Randy's punch line "I can see you're BLANK" . Convinced that she had another victory, Lynne went with the nervous new priest who was given advice by the Monsignor to have a small glass of vodka next to his water at the pulpit during his prsentation. Well you guessed it, the new priest over imbibes and made numerous funny errors in his homily (it truly was as if Lynne was a member of the congregation as she struggled to get through her delivery without a complete collapse from her hysterical laughter) ending with the Monsignor's admonishment "There will be a taffy pull at St Peter's Church next Sunday, not a peter pull at St Taffy's Church." Denise "Lucky" West won and lost with the five of spades.  Jim Evers was our speaker today. Following his retirement as an ob/gyn he has volunteered for several years at Community Home Repair Project of AZ. CHRPA.The daily work as a new volunteer was abit too strenuous for Jim so he ended up on the board and is their current Board President. CHRPA is a 501c3 organization that does mobile home repairs for owners who are of limited means and ability. Coolers, bathrooms, floors, roofs, plumbing, ramps, etc. You name it they do it. The organization was founded over 35 years ago by Mennonites. Today they are still housed in the Mennonite church at 30th and Wilmot and pay $1 year for the facility. They have a million dollar a year budget and did 18oo projects last year in Tucson, primarily in the south and SW parts of town. 1/3 of the budget is from government grants, 1/3 from fees for service and 1/3 from donations. There is a shortage of funds due to city cutbacks and CHRPA is currently dipping into its surplus to provide needed projects. Volunteers are always welcomed, with or without skills. Many winter visitor RV'ers assist and religious groups from around the world that send young volunteers to do good in the world and end up in Tucson and participate. Volunteers include people from various backgrounds such as ob/gyn, a physicist and a Violin Player, not to mention building trades. Their culture is one of "No One Complains". Jim indicated they do a couple of ramps a week and they are very willing to work with Rotary when we can share the cost and provide some hands on labor.  See you all on July 3rd 2018 in the year of Tony The Hunter. |
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Rotary Meeting June 19, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Jo M Holt led us in The Pledge as the clock struck 8am. Her attempt to quickly begin reminiscing about her past year as club president wa thwarted by Member Maeve Johnson's enquiry "Isn't this a song month?" Without waiting for an answer Maeve pressed "Let's sing "Its a Grand Old Flag" I just love that song. And so we did. Some of our younger members (those under 70) may not know the background of this George M Cohen song written in 1906. The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, "She's a grand old rag." Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune "You're a Grand Old Rag." So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a "rag," however, that he "gave 'em what they wanted" and switched words, renaming the song "You're a Grand Old Flag".[1] — Library of Congress If you have three minutes check this out-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxyt1Vt5ejY .jpg) Back to President Jo's reflections on the past year. The year was filled with the planting of thousands if not tens of thousands of trees by Rotarians spurred by our RI President. Hundreds were planted in our own Marana Veterans cemetery. Tour De Tucson aide station was again our big November event. Rpotarians riding in this event have raised over FORTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for the fight against polio over the past few years. Our club has played a not so small part. Our own Tour de Cookie has also raised thousands of dollars for our charitable works. Our books for preschool kids project, in spite of a few twist and turns start to finish, provided over 6,000 books to needy families seeking services through the Women, Infants and Children program at The Marana Healthcare facility. A few hundred hours of hands on work were spent assisting the Food Bank at the Ortiz Clinic in Picture Rocks, AZ. Gifts were provided by Jo to her Board Members and she especially singled out Denise West, while not a member of the board, for her participation in so many of the years events. Then Maeve went on a roll. I missed 95% of what the hell was going on. However, I did learn a new word. "Jamoke". I think Randy is one, but as I said, I am not sure I heard everything correctly. There is a lot of stuff that goes on over in that corner of the room each week that is out of order and needs to be reigned in. I think our Sergeant of Arms needs to get involved. This kind of fun should be prohibited. Lynne, following up to last weeks hijinks, decided to read her joke of the week to us. While not as hilarious as last week, the gist of the humor was, if you are looking for a priest or a lawyer there may be better places than St Pete's backyard. We finally got around to swearing in Tony Hunter as our new president effective 7/1/2018 and he in turn swore in and pinned the following members: Richie Benner-President Elect John Dooling-Secretary Lynne Himmer-Treasurer Harold Burtzloff-Member at Large Bob Bishop-Member at Short (his joke, not mine) Tony addressed the club and notedly told us that Rotary International, the Zone, The District and The Club all run on their members. The thought was taken from this months Rotarian Magazine's article by the new RI President. After providing the backstory to the origin of the name Marana Tony encouraged us to take risks and "To Be The Inspiration". We look forward to Tony's year at the helm.  |
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Rotary Meeting June 12,2018Rotary Club of Marana The Rotary Club of Marana is becoming a very "exclusive" group judging by attendance today. Ten members and two speakers heard President Holt call the meeting to order at precisely 8 am sharp! Lynne Himmer came to the meeting prepared with a thought taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Happiness is not required for a successful life, but useful, honor and compassion are required. Randy Brooks took exception to this and in his best Bob Newhart impersonation said "uh, and happiness?" Struck me funny. Moving on.  President Holt congratulated new dad, Richie Benner. An "I love Rotary" outfit for Carl Benner and other gifts were given to Richie, Samantha and their son.President Jo advised the group that The Budget for Tony Hunter's year as president starting July 1st has been passed by the Board. "May the reign of terror begin." is pretty much a direct quote from lame duck Holt. The Food Bank Picture Rocks program is coming to an end as it has failed to grow as anticipated. Thank you to all who have participated over he past year or so. HAPPY BUCKS! John-Good to see Javier and Peter again. Dan-Bah Humbug, his last dollar was given to Sgt At Arms Javier Teran so no reason to be happy Peter-Stuck on a mountain in Chile with four gray walls to surround him. Down the road he looks and here comes Mary, hair of gold and lips like cherries and wild mules munching the green green grass over the septic. (Had to combine a few things due to space limitations) Mary-Happy Randy-Happy Richie-Happy, duh. Harold-Happy Virtually everybody happy except for the afore mentioned, Dan Contorno. One of the punniest jokes of all time was heard at our meeting this morning judging from the peal after peal of hysterical laughter and actual tears of joy coming from the joke teller herself, Lynne Himmer. "I crack myself up!" she was heard to exclaim as she made her way back to her table after finally getting through the "Sally sells c-cells at the sea shore" punchline. Four people in attendance clapped a total of five times in appreciation of her poised delivery technique. Seriously, she enjoyed the joke so much herself we all could not help but to enjoy it with her. Thanks, Lynne. You are a, um, a, um, a treasure! Peter won and lost and literally does not know a spade from a club. Our speakers, Colleen Leon and Jerry Simmons, were from SAMSAR-Southern Arizona Mounted Search And Rescue. This all volunteer organization got its start after the tragedy in the Santa Rita Mountains in 1958. You can copy and paste the following URL for more information. https://tucson.com/news/local/mt-baldy-surrenders-its-secret-at-last/article_66fef4e4-419c-5572-87e8-6c11c284729b.html While SAMSAR helps to coordinate numerous rescue service providers they are uniquely qualified when mounted recovery efforts are required. I regret that these minutes do not do the organization credit, but there skills and accomplishments are far to varied to give them justice here. They did mention that cases of dehydration are almost as frequent in the winter months as they are in the summer. This is often due to visitors unfamiliar with the extreme rough terrain of the Catalina's and surrounding mountains and the low humidity that allows heatstroke to sneak up on you. Jerry recommends that you keep a slip of paper in your wallet listing any meds you are taking and always leave a slip of paper on your dash when hiking stating when you left, destination, number in your party and expected time of return. There have been 50 rescues already this year and many from the Sabino Canyon area. Jerry and Colleen accepted numerous question with the only caveat being they must be about SAMSAR. See below.  Saturday 6:00 AM - 8:00 AM Your exclusive home for Tucson's longest running, most respected car care program. Jerry Simmons has been answering your car care questions each and every Saturday for 19 years! Call in to the show - 751-1041 In business at the same location (3743 S. Country Club) since 1974, Simmons is a full service repair center, as well as specializing in 4x4, drive shaft and exhaust system repairs. ASE certified technicians are well-trained in computer diagnostics. Hope to see a few more members returning from their summer travels next week. Don? Bob? |
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Rotary Meeting June 5, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Jo called the meeting to order, which was no easy feat as many were on a carb and sugar high from our Dunkin Donuts breakfast. As frequent readers may recall Nana's was closed Tuesday and arrangements were made to meet at Coyote Trail Elementary School. Thanks, Dan. Oh, and thanks Mary and Randy for the coffee, orange juice, bagels, cream cheese AND donuts. President Jo was a little run down from her Party's party the night before, I believe in Sedona. Never the less she called for Happy (no bucks) and many felt obliged to take advantage of this FREE opportunity. Some of the happy comments came from: Mary- Happy to have met Mirabel Randy-Happy to have his diabetes under control (as he bit into the first of two iced donuts) Dan-Wife is in Ethiopia and he cleaned the kitchen in her absence. I can understand the happiness in the first item, but the second? Tony-Legally married to a prosthetist. Hey, I just report what's said. David-Summer Vacation! Maeve-Lyle is left handed? Had to be there. Harold-Photos on website---with room for improvement Richie-Baby watch continues. Baby room painting complete. Looks like Harvey is not in the cards. Don-Shelter Box is in the running for Nobel Prize! Jo-Partied with her party this time for three days in Window Rock. If you are going to Window Rock, might as well party for three days.  Mirabel presented her Exchange Year.RYLA was GREAT. She was forced to work with others and develop skills of persuasion. She overcame fear of heights and made several friends with whom she remains in contact. She said she does not see the world as yes/no, up/down. black/white as much as when she arrived. She is more aware of the various shades and not so absolute. As all Exchange Students before her she commented on school in the US being less demanding than what she had experienced in her own country of Nigeria. Classes she took were Photography, Spanish, Choir and Biology. She indicated people in the USA smile and wave much more than in her home country, even if they do not know you! She traveled to Hollywood, CA, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and even into Mexico. She is very grateful for the opportunity to experience our culture and to now have a white family. She said she will miss In and Out Burger, Dessert after meals and all the fatty, fatty food. Randy summed up the club feelings when he stated we were grateful for the experience of sponsoring her and the opportunity to learn from her about her country and culture. This exchange student program definitely provides for growth and learning to both parties. A big thank you to Randy, Deb, Mary, Nancy, Bouba, David and Mrs Hindman for stepping up as host parents. Our entire club benefits.  |
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Oh What a Night!With no apologies to The Four Seasons the Fifth Tuesday Social held at Mr. Ans was a smash hit. Two chefs were required to serve our group of nineteen and both were at the top of their game. Food was flung everywhere and occasionally caught. Three foot tall flames, twirling knives and even two volcanoes set the tone for the evening. Prior to dinner being served Lynne Himmer shared a few words in praise of our president, Jo Holt, who's term ends 6/30/2018. No jokes from Lynne this time as she wanted to not distract from the praise lavished upon President Holt. Next Randy Brooks spoke about our Nigerian Exchange Student and recent graduate of MUSD, Mirabel. At times the evenings festivities looked like a party to honor Mirabel who will be departing for home in a few days. She even received the "lit candle on scoop of ice cream" treatment. She will be missed, but I think we may see her again in the future. Congratulations to Maeve Johnson for organizing the best 5th Tuesday Social our club has experienced in a long long time. Members attending were: .JPG) The Benner'sDenise West The Jorgensen's The Burtloff's The Zwick's The Johnson's The Brook's The Dooling's Jo Holt Lynne Himmer Kathleen Neighbors and, of course, Mirabel! .jpg)   .jpg) .jpg)   |
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Mirbel Exchange Student GraduatonOur Rotary Club of Marana exchange student at graduation May 23rd . Mirbel will be heading home to Nigeria in a few days and will be missed by us all. Great Job, great year Mirbel. Thanks to all host families and Club supporting her though out the year.  |
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MCAT Graduation The Rotary Club.of.Marana has been providing support and recognition for.these nontraditional students for.19 years. |
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Road Runner Book Fair Were you a good reader in first and second grade? Were you in the Redbird or the Bluebird group. Do you remember Dick, Jane and Spot or were David, Ann and Zip in your first grade reader? Did you go to college? Are you in a Book Club now? Do you like to curl up with a book or a Kindle and pass the hours reading fiction, history or my favorite historical fiction with an Ipad on my lap. It is a well proven fact that reading to preschool age children improves their vocabulary and their understanding of the reading process. Unfortunately, if a child is behind in their ability to read in the first few years of education there is a likelihood they will never catch up. If they are adept at learning to read in those early years the chances of success in the classroom and in life grows exponentially as you begin to read to learn. With this in mind local, good hearted, community minded people called Rotarians got together, raised money and donated it for the following project. The Rotary Club of Marana in conjunction with The Rotary Club of Dove Mountain and Rotary District 5500 raised almost $6,000 towards books for preschool children in the Marana area. Working through Scholastic Book Fairs, to make our dollars go further, we purchased roughly 1,700 books to be distributed free of charge to young mothers through MHC Healthcare's WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program. The Fair, held at Roadrunner Elementary in Avra Valley, was this past Tuesday May 22nd. By holding the event at Roadrunner School they too benefited by receiving Scholastic Bucks to be used in book purchases for their school. Will this project make a difference? Will the learning light shine into even one child's eyes as a direct result of this project? Could we hope for two or three? More? Like planting a seedling this project hopefully will sprout and maybe a future book club member or, dare we hope a Rotarian, may someday trace their thirst for knowledge back to this simple project. I know I remember the books I had available in my childhood home when I was young and I bet you do too. Rotarians making a difference and seeking members in the Marana area.    .JPG)     .jpg)    |
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Rotary Meeting May 15, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Jo welcomed a full house and then requested David Hindman to lead us in the Pledge. Maeve responded to the request for a thought for the day with something about a backbone, wishbone and a funny-bone are all that are needed in life. Many in attendance were left scratching their head bone. .jpeg) All members and quests in attendance raised their voices in a musical tribute to John Zwick and Harold Burtzloff for their combined 103 years of Service Above Self.Lynne Himmer led us in "For They's a Jolly Good Fellows". It was more loud than good, but I do believe both John and Harold appreciated the recognition. In attendance to lend their voices to the special recognition of John and Harold's acomplishmenst were: DG Joe Hentges, DGE Kirk Reed and DGD Diane Venture-Goodyear. Other guests included Kimberly Welch-Vocational Fund Scholarship applicant, Jen-French exchange student from two/three years ago.  MCAT honoree John Cain, his mother Elaine, two brothers Tim and Victor and a sister. John chose MCAT Secretary Tiffany Montes as someone to accompany him to the award ceremoney as she has been there for him since he started MCAT. John is 22 and running out of time to complete his high school education. He has dropped from MCAT twice but is determined to complete his studies this time. He wants to be a welder and has learned first hand of the doors that are shut to him without a HS diploma. John has a great support system as evidenced by his entourage and his biggest supporter appears to be his mom. His recognition by The Rotary Club of Marana was an emotional occurrence.  Next we presented John and Harold with token gifts of a Rotary pen and key chain for their support of Rotary over the years. Each has been a member of only one other club. Both were rather stoic in their comments regarding their accomplishments, but John did indicate that the Marana Club has a special feeling and that he has enjoyed our club to a greater degree over the first club he joined 2/13/1963. A rather large cake with special decorations celebrating John and Harold's longevity was sliced distributed to everyone in attendance. Special thanks I believe go to Randy Brooks for spearheading this richly deserved recognition meeting. Today was a special day also in that Richie Benner was welcomed into Paul Harris Fellowship by District Governor Hentges. Richie has excelled as an active member in his short time with The Rotary Club of Marana and this step is but one more to what we believe will be a long career with Rotary. Congratulations, Richie.NEWS FLASH NO MEETING NEXT WEEK. There will be a gathering at Roadrunner Elementary School for the Marana Rotary sponsored Scholastic Book Fair. The event runs from 7:30am to Noon. Location is 16651 W Calle Carmela. MCAT Graduation to be held Tuesday May 22 at 7pm. Many Rotarians plan to meet at 5:30 at Nana's Kitchen to eat before heading over to 11745 W Gladden Farms Dr NO MEETING 5/29/2018 as it is the 5th Tuesday of the month. Instead we will dine at Mr An's that evening. Many happy bucks for John and Harold and for our guests. One of particular note was John Zwick's "stung by a scorpion" trip to the hospital happy buck. Lynne shared a couple of teacher jokes that got a decent laugh and Maeve made amends for the dumb blonde detective wanna be joke from a few weeks ago by insulting the intelligence of Irish men. Maeve may have wanted us to extrapolate this lack of intelligence to all men, you will have to ask her. In any case HALF the audience seemed to rather enjoy the humor. Well that's it. Again, we will NOT be meeting for breakfast the next two Tuesdays. We will be DARK! See you for breakfast June 5th. |
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Rotary Meeting May 8, 2018Rotary Club of Marana  Newly married President Elect, Tony Hunter, led the meeting today. President Jo turned the reigns over to Tony so he could gain some experience running the meeting before taking over officially 7/1/2018.We did have a pledge, but no song, no prayer and literally not a single thought in the room. How can this be? You ask. All I can say is the reader will have to attend our next meeting and draw their own conclusions. We did have a mighty fine joke however, from Lynne Himmer. "What did the 0 say to the 8? Your belt's too tight!" Now that's knee slapping humor if I ever heard it. I passed this joke on to an adult lady friend who did not get it. I am trying to recruit her as she would fit right in with our "no thoughts" crowd. But I digress. Many guests including a former Exchange Student, Jen from Colmar,France and current Exchange Student from Nigeria, Mirabel. Two speakers addressed the club  Beth Garrow of Zone 26 our Rotary Foundation Chair (our zone) and Pam Kerr former PDG in the Chicago area that encompasses Evanston, IL where RI is headquartered. Pam's husband, Andy was also in attendance primarily to make sure Pam did not leave something out of her talk.Beth was very complimentary of our small club's record of giving. Unfortunately I missed much of the salient points in her talk due to impaired hearing. Happy bucks galore, but again I regret to say I missed most of what was being said. I do know that Don, Jo, Richie Tony, Denise, Randy and many others are happy about something. That's good. Personally I did hear what I said so.....Had a great trip down the Rhine. Visited Jen's home village of Colmar in the Alsace region of France and became reacquainted with the WWII heroics of Audie Murphy. This genuine hero went on to additional fame as a movie/western cowboy actor in the 1950's. To me it seems very strange that the most decorated soldier in WWII and a man who made many movies, including To Hell And Back where he actually played himself and was known to everyone in the USA is not recognized by many under the age of 60. Somebody once said "Sic transit gloria mundi." and you can look it up.  Harold Burtzloff made a generous donation to our club's foundation in recognition of his 50 years in Rotary. Thank you Harold for all your service over the years. As many of you are aware Harold also is a recipient of the Wright Bros Master Pilot Award for being a licensed pilot for fifty years. It is an honor to be in the same club as you Mr. Burtzloff.Lucky Mary won again(?) but did not draw the winning card.  Pam Kerr made an excellent presentation regarding Rotary's work in Guatemala. Primarily she spoke of the goal of raising 2.5 million to purchase 29 x-ray units. Eleven have been funded and eight have been installed. Each unit can serve between 50,000 to 100,000 persons a year. This is a true Global Grant with Taiwan Rotary clubs sponsoring three of the units. The individual machine/operational cost is $73,000 to run for two years with individual clubs raising $23,000 with the balance from matching funds from District and RI. Cooperation among RI, the Guatemalan Minister of Health and other governmental entities has been wonderful. Pam provided two pages of documentation concerning this project.By the way, Harold passed on a compliment to your's truly from Mindy Blake "Your writing is a perfect blend of humor, wit and facts." I thanked her for the comment and asked her to speak of my hidden talents to former members Jim DeGrood and Thomas Benavidez. Mindy, Jim and Thomas are all associated with PAG RTA. Mindy, if you are reading this we could offer a deal if all three of you wanted to become members. Hope to do a better job next week if this head cold passes and I get back to my normal poor hearing. |
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3rd Annual Tour de Cookie Rotary Club of Marana .png)  3rd Annual Tour de Cookie On April 14th nearly 200 riders, ages seven to seventy, came out on a beautiful Saturday for the 3rd annual Rotary Club of Marana’s Tour de Cookie. Smiles beamed on the faces of riders and cookie station hosts alike, as participants rode 28.6 miles from one cookie station to another along the paved Pima County Loop. Participants enjoyed community camaraderie and a wide variety of home-made cookies satisfying even the pickiest taste-buds. Moreover, 100% of proceeds from the ride directly funded the Rotary Club of Marana’s many local and international service projects. 2016-2018 projects have included food distribution in Marana, home repair, water sanitation in Mexico, tree planting at the Arizona Veteran’s Cemetery and Memorial in Marana, development of a playground for special needs elementary children in MUSD, building a school in Zimbabwe, 0 to 5 early education book distribution in Marana, memory screening and Alzheimer education, amongst others. Volunteer Cookie Station hosts were at the heart of the event. Each were responsible for baking their own cookies, and word has it that competition was steep. This year’s hosts were Chasse Building, Pathways Hospice, Tucson Roller-Derby, Top Golf, MHC Healthcare, Performance Bikes, Friese for House, The Optimist Club of Marana, Maeve Johnson-Edward Jones, John Dooling-All State Agent, Janice Meyer and Family, and the Tortolita Middle School Interact Club. Next year’s Rotary Club of Marana’s Tour de Cookie promises to be bigger and better. Stay tuned to experience what’s to come.   |
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Rotary Meeting May 1, 2018Randy started us off with the pledge. There was debate with whether or not we should sing a song, even though it is a song Month. We eventually settled on “ take me out to the ball game” Guests: one of our Rotary Exchange students from a few years ago, Jen ( I think was her name) - from France. She is now in Montreal studying Political Science. She is starting her third and final year. In Montreal degrees are awarded after three years. Linda, Bob’s wife joined us, although she doesn’t believe she is a guest anymore. Thought of the Day: from 1983-2006 KVOA ran an ice break contest. The goal was to try to guess when it would hit 100. In 2017 it was May the 4th. When will it hit 100 in 2018? Please don’t forget about some of our upcoming events: 5/4- sunrise rotary club fundraiser 5/9- picture rocks food bank 5/22- roadrunner book fair and MCAT graduation 5/29- we are dark- we have a social at Mr. An’s Happy Bucks: Tony- got married a few weeks ago. He was smart and got the date engraved into his ring so he won’t forget. Bob- happy he gets to get out of Tucson and visit family. Lots of people just happy in general, especially for our exchange student visit. Joke Off: Maeve: an engineer was unemployed and set up a shop. If your problems were not solved you got $1000, if so you owed $500. Needless to say, the engineer was up $1500 at the end of the day Lynne- a joke about baseball and a priest hitting a rival fan with a door. Randy won the raffle, but quickly lost with a 2. Discussion: Tour De Cookie: The good, the not so good, how do we improve Marketing:
Packet pick-up
Start point/ route
End of ride:
If you have any other suggestions email Dan Those in Attendance were: Jo Dan Denise Richie Harold John zwick Maeve Lynne Mary Randy Tony Bob Don Javier Richie Benner | Field Director 2017 National Jamboree Contingent Staff Adviser Activities Staff Adviser Membership Staff Adviser “Striving to Build Tomorrows Leaders, Today” BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA Catalina Council 2250 E Broadway Blvd Tucson, Az 85719 Office-520.750.0385 Direct Line- 520-585-5532 Fax-520-585-5556  |
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Rotary Meeting 04/24/2018 Marana Rotary Meeting Attendance: Richie Bob Don Jo Mary Denise Dan Harold Randy Lynne David Javier Mirabel Richie lead us in the pledge and it was announced there would be no song today. Everyone was devastated Thought of the day: Jim Henson- life is like a movie, write your own movie, keep believing and keep pretending (imagination and creativity) Announcements: Dan feels better about the Tour de Cookie two weeks post event. We are sticking with 175-ish riders Breaking News: the month of May starts next week! May is busy with the district assembly in Green Valley, food bank distribution, book fair at roadrunner, MCAT graduation and our 5th Tuesday social at Mr. An’s The MCAT graduation is at 7pm at Gladden Farms Elementary per the CFO of MUSD. Plans are in place to possible have dinner prior Rotary Vocational Fund update: we had a young lady interview for a dental hygienist school. They awarded her $3000 for her education. Happy bucks: Richie learned the Boy Scouts are working on growing new coral for the reefs in the Florida Keys Randy-won the basketball pool Don- spent two weeks in France (admittedly missing the tour de cookie) Mary- met a man who will be making Mirabel a dress for her 18th Birthday Jo- spent a few days with her son in New York Joke off..... something about a surgeon and god and attorney and chaos.... debating which profession was created first….or Some of was about a catholic priest and a jackass(donkey).... needless to say, Lynn was voted as the winner A lot of people are just happy in general for no apparent reason Raffle was won by Randy, Bob was saddened by his loss but happy Randy pulled a 5 of Diamonds.  Susan Friese was our guest speaker from Literacy Connects. Literacy Connects is a Tucson nonprofit connecting people of all ages to a world of opportunities through literacy and creative expression.Literacy Connects was hatched from an idea from a town hall meeting. Volunteers came together to discuss issues plaguing the community. Literacy was at the core of it all. The literacy community came together and started the organization. The ones that came together were: Literacy volunteers of Tucson Reading seed Stories that soar Literacy for life coalition Reach out and read southern Arizona They helped over 45,000 learners in 2017. The ages now range between newborn to 86. They have over 1,000 volunteers who help their organization. All their classes are free to anyone who needs them. They do not take any state education funding because of two issues: they must include standardized testing and they must provide immigration status. Their approach to working with students is student focused, individualized learning based on trust and personal relationships. They focus on the student’s abilities versus what they are lacking. Their reading seed program goes into elementary schools and identify those who are reading below their grade level. From there they are assigned a reading coach. Their goal is to connect to the students and find out what they are interested in to get them reading something. Here is an excerpt from their website: Envision a community where every child graduates from high school, crime and poverty rates are low, a skilled workforce is fostering a thriving economy, and the arts and culture environment is second to none. We do! From birth throughout adulthood, Literacy Connects’ programs offer opportunities for learners of all ages to realize their potential — at school and in the workplace, as parents, as consumers and as participants in the life of our community. Last year, our staff and more than 1,500 dedicated volunteers helped more than 50,000 individuals in Southern Arizona. The programs of Literacy Connects coach children in reading so they catch up with their peers and help adults with reading, writing, math and English. The programs teach parents the importance of reading to their children, help young people experience the power of words and ideas through the arts, and put books in the hands of people who need them. |
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Rotary Meeting 4-17-2018Rotary Club of Marana President Jo started the meeting by asking Dan C to lead the pledge. He did such a fine job that Maeve suggested we sing "For He Is a Jolly Good Fellow" to Dan. Sounded pretty good too! Lots of good advice this morning: Lynne- To paraphrase "If you are on the road to perdition go fast so you can get in and out before the devil knows you're there." Jo- Per Will Rogers "Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement!" Picture Rocks Food Bank recipients ran a little low last time for reasons unknown. .jpg) Lots of good discussion regards the Tour de Cookie fund raiser last Saturday. (The real reason we sang to Dan). Randy received a Canadian check that is not as easy to pass as a Loonie. Numerous comments about the Janice Meyer cookie booth and her families baking history. John sold some cookies and commented on the Cookie Monster shirts of several riders. Talk of moving event to earlier in the year. Dan will call a meeting soon to discuss possible changes and what we have learned from this years event. Dan ballparked the net profit at almost $6,000. Thank you EVERYONE that assisted. Due to travel etc several members could not help the day of the event but I know you were with us in spirit.HAPPY BUCKS John-Daughter and granddaughter attended the meeting and granddaughter spoke of her RYLA experience John-Will be out of country next two weeks and thank you to everyone for volunteering RICHIE BENNER to take minutes the next two meetings.(Richie, it doesn't pay to miss meetings) Dan-Sorry he is such a grouch David-He and his kids enjoyed the ride. Oldest daughter thinks they could enjoy it more if they ditched the younger ones and hit more cookie booths! Bob-Grateful for table companions Maeve-Had one of the longest lead ins in the history of jokedom to get to the punch line that Randy was not blessed by the pope but was actually kicked out of St Peter's Square. Randy-Sorry he missed T de C but learned new ways to get into our knickers for the Rotary Foundation Lynne-Pete and Repeat, etc. Harold and John-Happy although Harold was going to donate two dollars then changed his mind. Mary-Her little cousin, who she thinks of as an 8 year old, but actually closer to 50 is one of the worlds experts on the Rwandan genocide. Scott Strauss, a former free lance reporter in Kenya and now a professor at University of Wisconsin has written several books on the topics of genocide, war and the making and unmaking of nations. He was named a winner of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Along with the prestige he received $100,000. Randy WON then lost the raffle. Perennial winner Bob couldn't believe it.  Tyler McMurrich expressed her appreciation in being selected to attend RYLA. She enjoyed the interaction of being with a large group of strangers as this is fairly new to her. Tyler, a junior at BASIS Oro Valley has had the same 50 classmates for several years. She kind of enjoyed the "no tech" environment where cell phones were abandoned for personal interaction. She found it a challenge to get people to decide/agree in what direction to go for some of the activities. Being the oldest child and fairly opinionated she is used to others following her orders! She is still in contact with a few of the other participants. She liked the rock climbing, but did not participate in the telephone pole/zip line event. She plans on a career as a Forensic Pathologist and has visited schools in New York and also considering Washington University in St Louis, President Holt's alma mater.With no word to the contrary we believe Tony Hunter is now a married man. If we learn otherwise the crystal stemware shall be returned. See you all in May! |
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Rotary Meeting Apr 10, 2018Rotary Club of Marana After President Jo started the meeting with The Pledge the club gave one of its best efforts in singing Happy Birthday to Javier Teran. Denise then gave us a List to Live By from Benny Bear Wellness. Jo added a comment about an unnamed local office holder and political candidate who recently spoke of growing up poor and now being in a position to help others. Guests included Mirabel, our exchange student and Brianna Olivas, an applicant for a Rotary Vocational Fund Scholarship. Also a contingent from MUSD MCAT who shall be named later. Picture Rocks/Ortiz Clinic Food Bank work detail tomorrow for those who can assist from 9am to noon. Tour de Cookie this Saturday with potential 200 riders? Dan will be setting up at 7:30 am and could use assistance . Meet him at the Rillito Race Track on first south of River. The Farmers Market location. Mary read a list of booth sponsors. Thank you to Dan and his committee for another excellent job of planning this event. Mary mentioned the Leadership seminar 5/5/2018 to be held at Quail Canyon Country Club in Green Valley. All are encouraged to attend this meeting. Cost is $15 and includes breakfast. Go to District 5500 to register. Javier started the Happy Bucks giving with a dollar for every year that he has been on the earth. Dan, John and John all happy. David young son Tim was the last to lose his baby teeth in his entire class. David, being squeamish sort did not want to yank it out. Finally natural causes brought about its demise and made for one very happy young man. (Tim) Randy borrowed a dollar and thanked former Marana High School Principal Jim Doty for assistance with our club's Exchange Student program over the years. Tony mumbled something about being broke and a pleasant if dry bachelors party last weekend. Richie commented he was a "good kid" in Principal Doty's era while Jim rolled his eyes. Richie also shared information that if we can grow four members by 6/30/2018 our club will receive a Paul Harris award. Harold is happy that everyone talks so much, or not. Finally heard Mary speak, but she said nothing of importance! We learned Lynne knows a lot of tax accountant and alcohol jokes. Maeve, last heard the Texas swimming pool/Toilet joke when I was ten. You will never guess who won the raffle ticket draw AGAIN and proceeded to draw two cards neither of which was the one he wanted. Yep, Bob Bishop.  Our MCAT student of the month is Xavier Balderrama. He was accompanied by Dani Anich his MCAT attendance coach, his mother and the aforementioned Jim Doty. Xavier has found the smaller classes at MCAT to his liking. He has a knack for anything automotive and plans to study automotive and diesel mechanics after graduation. I believe he said the school of interest is UTI where auto body is also taught. He comes from a family with a lot of girls and appeared to enjoy a chance to speak. (Humor intended.) With his automotive knowledge he has been useful to fellow students, recently taking a look at a car leaking gas which he diagnosed as safe (probably not going to explode just sitting there) but not driveable. I personally had a 1951 Kaiser/Fraizure that fell into that same category of leaking gas, safe but not driveable without flame retardant clothing. Wish I had known Xavier back in the 60's. Xavier's long term plans would include owning his own shop.Following the meeting Randy, John, Jo, Mary and Richie met with Brianna Olivas and voted to award her with a Rotary Vocational Fund grant/scholarship for dental assistant training that starts his Monday. |
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Rotary Meeting Apr 03 2018Rotary Club of Marana The first meeting of April 2018 began with a "Welcome back Don" shout out to Mr Jorgensen. Bet you thought I was going to say it started with the Pledge. Maeve asked for a song but alas, being a no song month she was denied. She "threatened" the club with a Johnson/Dooling duet next week. The fear was palpable in the room. GREAT ATTENDANCE at 90%! Even Jason showed up. If we can get Clint, Mark and Jason at the same meeting I am donating an extra $20! Although Jorgensen and Mack both indicated they will be on the road again in the coming weeks it was good to see both. Javier was out on a father/daugher event, but Nana capably filled his shoes. Thought for the day came from Mr Richard Benner. Basically it was "Don't worry. Be Happy". Space limitations on the internet prohibit the full recitation of the thought. Odds and Ends The winner of one hundred dollar early bird Tour de Cookie sign upper is Roger somebody. Randy said he probably knows him and took the money. Club members all participated in the culling of poorly made ceramic cookies from the hundreds dumped on each table. Made for our club by Quail Run School as part of the Tour de Cookie fund raiser, we learned that not all ceramists ages 7 to 11 are created equal. Truth be told a some at our table were damaged by the CFO who tested a few for possible school lunch inclusions. Anything to save a dime at MUSD, right Dan? Thanks Quail Run. Board Meeting Thursday 5:30P start. John's office. All welcome. Thanks to Randy, Deb, Bob and Jo for working The Loop and getting out the word about Tour de Cookie. More Tour de Cookie-This Sunday 9A at the Farmers Market Rillito Park one last get the word out before the big event 4/14/2018. DID I MENTION TOUR DE COOKIE? OUR MAJOR FUND RAISER OF THE YEAR REQUIRES ALL HANDS ON DECK. To paraphrase Uncle Sam "WE NEED YOU!" With Don and Peter out of town and Tony getting married all those remaining in town need to make a concerted effort to be available. Friends, family and kids welcome to help.Thank you, the management. Party Time! May 29th is a 5th Tuesday and Mr An's will be where we gather for a fun filled evening. Maeve and Lynne are promising to have a rice flinging contest if Harold and John Z promise to be their open mouthed targets. This promises to be more hilarious than their "Battle of the Jokesters" skit we have come to loathe. (that is sarcasm) Speaking of this lovable duo Maeve spoke of poop maps and Lynne of IRS audits. Knee slapping hilarity. Oh my. Tears are running down my cheeks as I relive the moment. Ahem, moving on. Jo congratulated Maeve on her anniversary...........................six months early or late, we're not sure. Happy Bucks Dan-Pocketed a cool $202.25 at his garage sale and gave the club one half of one percent of the profit Peter-Visiting his father soon and then off to Chile for months Don-Here and gone Randy-Sold a tee shirt for $3 and made the buyer feel like a cheapskate. Seriously, Randy was happy about this, I kid you not. Mary-Only Denise and Tony who were sitting at her table know the reason for her happiness Bob-Wife returning to Tucson after short absence Denise-Sorry, I missed it. My ears exploded while trying to amplify Mary's reason for happiness Thanks to all who donated. Tony-Got five bucks out of him after last week's "zero". Headed to Flagstaff for a wild and crazy kind of time. Kind of like Vegas only NOT. Bob "Lucky" Bishop pulled the 4 of hearts. The sadness displayed by his fellow Rotarians at his misfortune tugged at this writer's heartstrings. Sniff.  Kimberly Ward, mother of two Eagle Scout's, friend of Richie Benner and Scholastic Book rep was our speaker. A few of the numerous points she made about reading are:1. 85% of your brain growth is over at age 3 2. Reading to young'uns three times a week improves their ????????by 25%. 3. The wealthier the family the more words/vocabulary a child is exposed to 4. 61% of low income families have no books in the home 5. If you enter school two years behind your peers in learning you may never catch up Kim read Malcome Mitchells "The Magic Hat" to us. My interpretation of the story is the magic hat is like a library. So many wondrous books on so many wondrous topics await you once you are inside. Open the cover and let your imagination loose.  |
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Rotary Meeting Mar 27, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Holt rang in the meeting at the designated hour. We all rose in unison and recited the pledge. In light of our speaker being US Congressman O'Halleran, President Jo quoted the Happy Warrior Hubert H Humphrey when he observed " I have seen more (enter a lengthy list of platitudes here) in the halls of Congress than anywhere else in the world." No song today and the die hard singers did not complain. It seems they have lost the battle. (There goes my sunshine, my only sunshine, it makes me happy when skies are gray).  Moving on, The Congressman did bring along two or three staffers, but I did not catch their names except for Max Oliver at the Constituent Office at Ina and Shannon.Javier has recovered nicely and there are no plans by the club to revisit The Village Inn anytime soon. *******************TOUR DE COOKIE NEWS********************** 61 registered riders(180) last year. 13 Cookie Booths Thirty families served by Jo and Denise at the Ortiz Clinic/Food Bank distribution center Tuesday. Thank you ladies. Sad news-Lori Malagone is leaving Rotary. Happy Bucks John-Daughter's Birthday Tony-Has no money. Ha, wait until he is married and kids. He'll look back on these days as rolling in the dough. David-Enjoyed telling a falsehood to his kids. For several hours they thought the car was traveling to the Grand Canyon. At some point they figured out Lego Land was the destination. Harold-Happy he figured out how to change Mary's email address on our website.NOTE-He was happy for less than a day. Down again. Denise-Last weeks vacation Benner-Putting a crib together not as hard as he had been told. Richie, you will not find that to be true in raising kids. Randy-Marched for ending the gun madness. His first march since vets against Viet Nam war. Denise raffle ticket drawn and there was much, dare I say giddiness in the room when she drew the Q of Clubs!  The Congressman took the stage and spoke of his 58,000 square miles of district. Twelve Indian tribes, Kingman, Sedona, Pinetop/Lakeside, Oro Valley, you name it he's got it.His background is unique in that he has been a bond trader, a cop, an elected Republican state official and an elected Demoratic US Congressman. He spoke of: Helicopters-we are losing some Infrastructure Bill-Not happening 111 in session working days in Congress-Not enough to do the work Loves Congress Trade/Tariff Wars-Dan still not sure of what to do about steel contractor bids on the new school Water-Twenty Lake Mead's worth of water in District 1 subsurface that could be brought to the surface with solar. We still got a problem and maybe a desalinization plant in the Sea of Cortez where the Colorado enters may be a good idea. No time to discuss subsidence or cotton subsidy/water consumption. Cyber Security-ASU has a Cyber school and the Government and private industry must work together as Private industry cannot protect us alone Medical- Violence in America, Opioid epidemic and 3-6 billions of dollars for mental health. |
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Rotary Meeting March 13, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Jo was back in full health to lead our meeting. She asked a lady from Nigeria to lead us in the Pledge and Mirabel did a fine job. Thoughts for the day revolved around the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. This calculation gives us Pi and its many uses especially in Rotarian Humor. (see further down) Picture Rocks/Ortiz Center Food Bank volunteers for tomorrow include Denise West and Jo Holt. Begins at 9:30 ends around noon. If you are interested and available they could use you. Speaking of being needed, this Saturday at Brandi Fenton Park we will have a booth marketing our Tour de Cookie. We need people from 8:30 setup until noon. Please let Dan or Mary know if you can assist. Roadrunner school will be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair on a Tuesday, possibly in April, and we will participate. It appears we may be able to purchase a 1,000 books plus RoadRunner will receive 10% of our purchase in Scholastic Bucks. We sang happy birthday to John, and I must say it sounded..........no, that would not be polite...........It sounded.............no shouldn't say that either..................thanks to all who tried. Okay, the word dirge came to mind. There, I said it. I am an ungrateful....... MOVING ON- Happy Bucks: John-UA BookFair & he made the "50 years ago today" column in a central IL newspaper for walking 65 miles in 23 hours, Denise West will have a forensic gemologist available 3/26/2018(see her for details), Harold-fixed Mary's email, Richie-Great day at UA BookFair representing Scouting at the Rock Climbing Wall, Randy-Successful foot surgery, David-Book Fair and attended daughter's performance at Centennial Hall on the UA Campus. Dan, Tony, John, Harold and others-I know you gave happy bucks but I have no idea why. Give more and I'll try to listen better. JUST KIDDING! Lynne led off with the old standby of NASA sending an astronaut on a one way trip to Mars. Not to give anything away, but the evil lawyer figures out a way to send the engineer and make a profit fo himself of a cool million. I saw David Hindman taking notes. ***********************************JOKE OFF************************************** Okay, you have read this far only because you need some Pi humor, right? Did you know that 3.14% of all sailors are PIrates? If you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter you get Pumpkin Pi? The roundest Knight at King Arthur's Court was Sir Cumference because he ate so much Pi? Maeve wins! Maeve wins! Maeve wins! Denise did doesn't.  Our guest and speaker was Diane Ventura Goodyear, DGND. She spoke on District 5500 Strategic Plan and specifically sought input in its development. Of particular interest seemed to be the Indicators of Success and Target Dates section. It has been a while since neither he District nor Clubs strategic plan has been addressed in recent years. All appeared to agree that a major indicator of success is membership numbers and unfortunately they are dropping significantly. Money for recruitment and Rotary name recognition was available for a couple of recent years. It was spent with no appreciable change in membership. Do not look for money in this regard any time soon. As it often does the bottom line falls on individual members to ask contacts to join you for a breakfast meeting. No commitment to join, just come check us out. Hey Maeve, thanks for the cherry and apple pie girl. Nice touch. Yummy. Too bad for you non attendees. Attendance at 72% today. |
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Rotary Meeting March 6 , 2018Rotary Club of Marana Fellow Rotarian's, our President has fallen ill. Our thoughts and prayers are with her along with the hope she is fully recovered from her cold by 3/13/2018 also known as Pie Day Eve. Showing he has the "crust" needed by "filling" in for President Jo our President-elect Tony Hunter deftly led today's meeting showing us all it is as easy as ............can be. Peter led us in the pledge. If there was a significant thought following the pledge I missed it. I meant to say "immediately" following the pledge. I am sure there were numerous significant thoughts as the meeting progressed. Had to be,....... right? Guests included Mirabel-our exchange student from Nigeria, Stephanie Rojas- of Tucson Sunrise Rotary.  Denise Coronado-MCAT Principal, Mr Bowen-Social Studies Teacher and Hamish Pottenger-MCAT Student of the Month.By the way, Mr Bowen is familiar with the Scholastic Book Program, looked up prices for under age 5 books while at our meeting ($3-5) and gave us the website URL-WWW.scholasticbookfair.com. That lovable duo Maeve and Lynne were at it again. While not up to their usual hilarity I distinctly heard Dan giggle over the "snake hadn't a leg to stand on" punchline delivered by Maeve. Denise Coronado groaned over "Nacho Cheese". Lynne, uyou can do better. Hey, Maeve, did you know snakes have no use for "Toe" trucks? Moving on...... Lucky Bob Bishop won but lost with the 9 of hearts. Crocodile tears were shed by many MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA: Left Denise West and son Chase off of last week Tree Planting attendee list. Thank you Denise, you are a terrific club member and active volunteer in most all club projects. Dan Contorno requested volunteers to work a Tour de Cookie rider recruitment booth this Saturday 3/10/2018 at 9:00 am located at the Rillito Race Track Farmers Market. Please assist Dan if you have a couple of hours to enjoy the outdoor weather and the Farmers Market. Guest Speaker Stephanie Rojas comes from a Rotarian family that sponsored four exchange students when she was a youth. (Many in our club believe Stephanie is still in her youth). Night of a Thousand Stars is the Tucson Sunrise fund raiser and she encouraged us to check it out. Date is 5/4/2018.  Our student of the month was unavoidably quite late in his arrival, but never the less made a powerful impact on our club. Without going into details, the adversity this young man has faced in his first eighteen years has been significant. The emotion felt by the club after hearing his life story moved Mary Straus to stand and applaud quickly followed by the entire club. Hamish works at The Ritz while attending MCAT full time. His immediate goal is to graduate and attend Pima Communiy College. His long term goal is to "make my mother proud". I love this club. Oh, missing only three members today. Way to go! |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 27, 2018Rotary 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. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 20, 2018Rotary Club of Marana Mark Murray led us in the Pledge. My notes are a little hazy here, but according to President Jo some guy named Lyons said something profound regarding if we fail to take notice we cannot take action because we failed to notice. This was followed by applause. (You had to be there). Not able to contain herself President Jo quoted Mia Hamm regards building fires. No applause. (You did not have to be there) We then learned that Richie Benner just had a wedding anniversary and that he is an expectant father. Bob Bishop proceeded to educate us explaining that having a baby is a process, but provided no further elucidation. Today we also learned that: 1) Tree planting ceremony is this Saturday, 2) Jo's relatives are leaving town soon (whew) 3) Our book program will be through WIC at MHC Healthcare and partnering with Make Way for Books 4) Over 30 families served at Ortiz Center via Food Bank last week. Thank you to our volunteers, 5) Don mentored at Open Doors and did not just recite his health problems as did the last presenter from our club.Randy? 6) At PETS Mary met other clubs possibly interested in our Cameroon project consideration Happy Bucks: 1) John suggested we partner up at our breakfast tables with at least one person with good hearing at each table. This suggestion was tabled as we may need to recruit more (younger) members in order to have a person with good hearing at EACH table. 2)Mary and Randy/Deb-Good time at Dove MTN fund raising event. Many others also gave but were too polite to say it was because Maeve had no joke today. Javier did have a joke. Maeve, your job is NOT in jeopardy. Don won and lost the drawing. This made Randy sad.  Speaker today, as just so happened, was Ally Baehr, the Director of Community Events for Make Way For Books. Ally, who will soon be joining the Tucson Sunrise Rotary Club, gave a wonderful presentation of the twenty year history of Make Way for Books. Numerous facts were shared such as: 1. At age 5 one can successfully predict if college is in the students future 2. Half of education gap is BEFORE child starts Kindergarten. 3. Poor readers are 4X more likely to drop out before high school graduation 4. 82% of neural connections complete by age three 5. The Pokey Little Puppy is the number one best seller of all time  Make Way for Books has kiosks where books are free and where they can be loaned like a libraryThey focus on 13 grade schools in Tucson where 95% of the students are on free or reduced lunch program Attendance at only 70% today. If you are reading this and did not attend today please try and make it next Tuesday. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 13, 2018Rotary Club of Marana The rabble were easily brought to order today, compared to a week ago, by President Holt, possibly because we dropped from 90% attendance to only 70% of our members in attendance this morning. John Zwick got us started with the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of Happy Birthday to Denise damn near ended the meeting. While I still support a "Singing Club" I am beginning to rethink my stand. I blame Maeve for a weak start, although she did try to pick up tempo by waving her arms like a clipped banty rooster but it was too late. The Titanic had sailed. Her math joke about drinking and deriving was a step up but still this act would not play in Peoria. Words of wisdom from Denise and Mary but you will have to see them as their comments did not make it past my eardrums. We either need to use the microphone or the club needs to buy me an ear horn. The Club welcomed Peggy Holt from Parker, AZ who now resides in Tucson. A Rotarian, Peggy is seeking a local club to join. If in need you can visit her at Sabino Canyon Recovery. Hopefully our singing did not scare her off. In spite of comments to the contrary I do not believe she is related to our Club's President. Also vacationing Rotarian Bill Woodard joined us from the northeast and gave an excellent presentation on Shelter Box. **********************Tree Planting 9 to noon at Veterans Memorial Cemetery 2/24/2018*************************** Tony-Happy for surviving PETS and loves his new flea collar Dave H-Nice visit with parents Randy-Successful PETS with 700 people attending Mary-After several attempts to communicate with this writer tossed her hands skyward in complete frustration. I requested she consider texting her happiness and/or deep thoughts. Harold won and lost the raffle. We once again gave Harold a round of applause for his Right Brother's Award of 50 years of error free flying. Less than 1% of all aviators have ever qualified for this award.  This writer was quite happy as I won the diamond pendant donated By Denise and Ben Bridge Jewelers. The fund raiser brought in $400. WOW! Thanks, Denise. Also, thanks for the box of chocolates given to all in attendance. Don-Happy about recent conversation with friend Bryce of Zimbabwe and the peaceful removal of Mugabe. During Mugabe's rule the country went from the breadbasket of Africa to a food importer. Don also sponsored today's speaker.Bill Woodard gave a presentation that made us all proud to be Rotarians. The number of homeless in the world has doubled in the past five years to 85 million. Climate disasters on a scale never seen before and man made turmoil have brought us to the crisis we see today. Shelter Box is making a dent in the need having served 160,000 families in 2017. Rotary provides 40% of their funding and a very large percentage of their staff. Shelter Box, Red Cross and the UN are the only three organizations that can take the lead in countries in need of humanitarian aid. With Rotary membership being made up of local leaders and business owners it is a natural to organize relief efforts plus it has instant credibility. Shelter Box has been allowed in North Korea and in to Myanmar where government or religious affiliated organizations were not allowed. Bill shared with us photos of places he has been as Shelter Box/Rotarian volunteer and told us the final two miles are often the most difficult in getting aid to those in need. If I was too harsh on Maeve let me know and I will pay a fine next week. |
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Rotary Meeting Feb 6, 2018Rotary Club of Marana President Holt had difficulty getting everyone's attention to start the meeting. We had numerous guests and over 90% member attendance. There was a great deal of conviviality going on. Finally she was able to get Mark Murray's attention to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and a fine job he did. Next we sang Happy Birthday to Dan Contorno although this was against club rules. We later found out we owe Denise West a Happy Birthday serenade this month as well. We actually sounded pretty good maybe because of the following guest voices: Kirk Reed, DG Elect, Lyle Johnson, Mary Straus's little girl, Lilly, Denny Scanlon, Dove Mountain Rotary President Donna Hansen and Dove Mountain Rotary Secretary John Mead. The older members of our club appreciated President Jo's quote from a name from the past Dr Albert Schweitzer, "The key to happiness is good health and a bad memory." Also, success does not proceed happiness, it is the other way around. Jo and Harold B cleaned out our club closet and transferred lots of useful stuff to Jo's guest room closet at home. By the way, Jo is looking for volunteers to help clean out her guest room closet. An update to Food Bank/Diaper Rack situation. The Food Bank has been notified the rack is theirs not ours and it can be used or disposed of at their determination. We are in touch with Make Way for Books regarding purchase of children's books and with the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program for possible distribution through the Marana Health Center, not through the Food Bank. *******Please get your money in for the diamond pendant raffle by 2/13/2018 and the tree planting ceremony /24/2018****** This month President Jo is doing vocational mentoring at Lori Malagone's Open Doors School. Last month it was Randy Brooks. All members please consider taking a turn.Rotary Club of Dove Mountain announced their annual fund raiser will be a Flamenco theme with professional guitar player and dancer. Date to be announced. Entertainment and meal $65. Denny Scanlon spoke of the lady who was severely injured while helping a stranded motorist. Many of us were familiar with her plight due to a three part front page story in the Star newspaper. Denny has asked our club to assist with installing a wheelchair ramp at her home as well as possible other aid. Members and guests were very generous today. Javier kicked in $100 due to a minor scheduling problem last week at our 5th Tuesday social. Seems like he closes Nana's at 8pm which happened to be the start time of the UA basketball game. Not a problem, we just migrated west about 90 feet to the Native Wing place and enjoyed nthe UA blowout of Washington State. John Dooling donated a $100 also. Apparently Tuesday the 1st of February is considered the first Tuesday of the month and when the Club's board showed up at 6pm for the monthly meeting John's office had already been closed for an hour. Sorry. Others donating were: Mark Murray-actually late, but due to the aforementioned conviviality beat the bell; Tony-Looking forward to "PETS" training where he will learn to sit, stay, roll over,etc.; Denny Scanlon-"Go Cats"; Don Jorgensen-was sitting about ten feet from the losing last second shot made by Washington U in Seattle last week (Why does that make him happy?); Richie B- happy for 108th Scouting in America anniversary and admission of the fairer sex (can I say that? I get so confused in the PC world) to Scouting; Bob Bishop-SOLD!, Jason watched the Super Bowl with friends visiting from Philly(Philly won for those of you who are Jeopardy types), Maeve, Phil and others were happy as well.  These notes are getting a little long in the tooth, so with no disrespect intended suffice to say our speaker Randy Brooks had a rough childhood and the words "scholar" and "Brooks" were not used in the same sentence during his teen years. However, the finished product that stood before us today was the result of the Marines, the GI Bill and vocational training. The Rotary Vocational Fund in AZ combines the north district with ours. Scholarships based on financial need goes to students for trade job training. There is a state tax credit of $400 per individual and $800 per couple. Donations for the 2017 tax year are still possible. Maximum grant per candidate is $3000. Last year 33 of 92 applicants received a grant. Aviation Tech, nursing, phlebotomy and solar certification were a few of the careers supported. Donations are encouraged and you can visit the website at WWW.TRVFA.ORG Before going I think it would be appropriate to point out that we had four Eagle Scouts in attendance! Great meeting. See you all next week. |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 23, 2018Rotary Club of Marana At the Request of President Holt, David Hindman led the club in the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Denise West gave us food for thought regarding the "precious present" being a gift. (Deep!) Dan Contorno led us in a pitiful rendition of "Happy Birth Day" to Mr. Randy Brooks. (Note to self: Do not EVER let Dan lead us in song) Guests included Denise Coronado Principal of MUSD's MCAT school, Mikyla Bambrough-Student of the Month, Mikyla's mother Pam and Step dad Fred Clark and Alexis Jacobs- visiting friend from California of Randy Brooks. Our two RYLA students sent notes of appreciation and will speak to the club at an upcoming meeting. Asst. District 5500 Governor Stacy Fox met with the Region 6 clubs made up of Marana, Dove Mtn, 2 Saddlebrook , Catalina and Oro Valley clubs. Looks like several opportunities to assist with tree planting project on February 24th and 25th. Details on what constitutes "tree planting" considering hole digging not required is forthcoming. Shovels optional? The Club has asked for a $5 donation from every member to cover the cost of the trees. Raffle tickets available for the diamond pendant donated by club member Denise West of Ben Bridge Jewelers. Price reduction from $40 to $25! Drawing to be day before Valentine's Day. This weekend Tony, Mary and Randy will all be in Los Angeles for PETS Assembly. This is training Rotary leaders for tomorrow. Cookie booth available. Please share with anyone who may be interested. No charge to advertise just provide cookies for 350 people. *****************DARK NEXT WEEK************ ****************Social next Wednesday 1/25/2018. Enjoy the UA basketball game. Nana's Kitchen 7:30pm Happy Bucks from Bob Bishop-spent night on live firing range(several members question sanity of someone who would be happy about this), Randy-visit from Alexis, Many members happy for our Student of the month. Bob knew who Ralph Edwards was and the show he hosted, but no prize for that. Tony won the raffle, but the King of Clubs did not win him a prize either.  Mikyla Bambrough, our Student of the Month, spent 71/2 years in the Casa Grande School system before moving to Marana and attending Tortolita and Mtn View schools. She struggles with shyness, but has blossomed at MCAT where she is getting "seven"A's in her classes. Mr Bowen, the staff rep, commented on her Compassion and her Concientiousness. (I spelled that without looking it up). Per Mr Bowen "She is onderful to have in class". She would like to study dermatology. See you next Wednesday? |
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Rotary Meeting 01/16/2018Rotary Club of Marana I arrived today at Nana's Kitchen at 7:45A and for a moment I thought I was late. Numerous members had arrived for our El Tour de Cookie fundraiser and were hard at work. Thank you to Dan, Mary, Randy, Tony, Lori, Richie and others who attended he planning meeting. President Jo called us to order at 8am sharp and Clint led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Although a song month we could not come up with a song that was within our skill zone, so no singing today. We did have words of wisdom from MLK. Joe Hentges, District 5500 Governor, visited and presented the Presidential citation to our club for last years accomplishments. Immediate Past President Mary accepted the reward on behalf of the club. Many happy bucks collected from mumblers of the first order. If you want the world to know why you are happy ask for the mic or speak up. Or sit at this writer's table! Jo was happy regards son's health and Jason was happy about getting mice on camera. Probably not as happy as Walt Disney though. Lot's of hungry people showed up last week at the Food bank, so many that the federal food boxes were all distributed and some needy left without a package. Rotary Leadership Institute will be held 1/20/2018 at the Viscount. Please consider attending to expand your knowledge of Rotary. The fifth Tuesday of January will be on Wednesday 1/31/2018. Yes, you read that correctly. Tuesday the 30th of January we will be dark. On the 31st we will meet at 7:30 at Nana's and enjoy the UA basketball game along with Rotarian's from Dove Mountain. Plan on attending. Ask Lynne how Yuma got it's name. Bob won the raffle, or at least the first half. Denise West has donated a diamond necklace valued at $370. I believe we decided to sell raffle tickets with the winner to be drawn on Valentine's Day. More to come. Tony spoke of projects to come then turned the mic over to Dan. Need to get the word out to friends and acquaintences regards the 4/14/2018 Tour de Cookie. Total ride is 28.6 miles, but lesser distances may be ridden. Corporate sponsors are desired and necessary to get into a five digit fundraiser. If you know possible corporate sponsors feel free to turn it over to Taylor Swift (Closer's Close) er, Mary Straus or Randy Brooks. Tremendous attendance today. WAY TO GO! |
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Rotary Meeting Jan 9th 2018.jpg) President Holt began the new year with a quote from singer Neil Diamond. Mr. Diamond urges us all to make mistakes in 2018. Making mistakes results in learning, living, changing the world. It means you are "DOING SOMETHING". Guests included our Exchange Student from Nigeria, Mirabel and our District Govern Joe Hentges. Maeve and John D led the club in one of the best renditions of Auld Lang Syne that has ever been sung or heard at Nana's Kitchen between 7:00AM and 7:05AM on a second Tuesday in January. There was a discussion regarding our 5th Tuesday of the month social meeting. Some confusion regarding Tuesday's being Thursday's in January and whether or not Thursday March first could be considered the last Tuesday in January. If so, we might meet with Dove Mountain club at Nana's Kitchen in the evening. More to follow once we consult with a planetary scientist who could shine some light on why the calendar is set up as it is and what's stopping us from making changes anyway.  The Governor commended our club for its generosity and singled out Don Jorgensen and John Dooling for their annual Paul Harris donation of $1,000.President Jo explained to the club that the Marana Food bank does not want our $2,400 gift of diaper holding bins, which they ordered. Unfortunately there is more to come on this story. Numerous members indicated their willingness to donate $25 for trees to be planted at the Veteran's Cemetery in Marana. Randy donated 100% of his share of the tip from the Picture Rocks New Year's Eve gig. This is enough to cover 5 trees! RYLA this weekend and our club is sponsoring two attendees. Happiness donations from Mark-Not suitable for Jury Duty, Lori-Holidays are over, Richie-Expectation of papahood in June, Mary-Thought Mark looked lovely in his go to court clothes, Plus many others welcoming the New Year. Again we were entertained by the Dueling jokesters Lynne and Maeve. Lynne's tree planting humor easily defeated Maeve's math joke. (Maeve, many of us still harbor ill feelings about our math experiences and do not consider math a humerus topic). Bob Bishop won and lost with a four of spades. Randy presented with a summary of the RI Foundation, The District Foundation and the Rotary Club of Marana Foundation and how they differ from one another. There is plenty of literature on the RI Foundation and their Annual Program Fund. For details about the District Foundation see Randy and for the Marana Foundation see Mary. This example may help: $2000 from our Marana Rotary Foundation gets matched with another $2,000 by District 5500 Foundation and a match of about $3,000 from RI Foundation turns a small project into a village changing international project in Cameroon. RI Foundation money is spent on Peace, Clean Water, Moms & Kids, Education, and Local Economies Development (micro loans). Randy did share that RI Foundation was ranked #1 by Charity Navigator and that over 90% of money spent on projects as opposed to salary and other overhead.  SHOW UP HALF AN HOUR EARLY NEXT WEEK TO HAVE INPUT ON TOUR DE COOKIE! Dan Contorno's request. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 19, 2017Rotary Club of Marana The last meeting of 2017 was called to order by President Holt and Javier Teran led us in the Pledge. Words of wisdom from ? indicated hey would not change anything in their past since it might lead to another door in which YOU were not there. Guest was Eric Munoz who is an applicant for a Rotary Vocational Scholarship. We broke club rules "again" and sang "We wish You a Merry Christmas" and we sang happy birthday to Richie Benner (31, OMG). Denise West again worked the Picture Rocks Food Bank along with Jo, Randy and Deb. Denise made all the top tier decisions. Denise is also heading up the adopt a family program with assistance from Jo. Speaking of Jo, do not let her near your tax returns. Thank you to Lynne on some Rotary donation/tax reporting dates. Also, reminding all that you might want to pay real estate taxes this year rather than waiting until spring deadline due to Federal Tax changes happening today. Randy playing at Picture Rocks "Horseshoe Cafe New Year's Eve from 8 to midnight. Food, drink and good music. Half the music donations go to Rotary. DIRECTIONS: Go to PR make a left and it is the 5th building on the right. Harold Burtzloff received The Wright Brothers "Master Pilot" designation for error free 50 years of flight. Additional Happy Bucks came from: Jo-Son her for Christmas Richie-? Bob-Buyer for his business Don-Not necessarily happy, had a few disparaging remarks about the PA. highway system.Daughter home for Christmas Randy- Got Steamrolled by a wisenheimer Peter-V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N Lori, Mary and Jason all happy as well. .jpg) Maeve let us in on a little known secret. After visiting the good boys and girls on Christmas Eve. Santa then visits the naughty girls. I cannot help but wonder how she knew this.  PE Tony Hunter went to the PE meeting at the Golden Pins Bowling Alley and he was packing. Happy to meet other PE's he will be working with. Tony discussed with us the Tree Program (Peter would like to se Interact involved), Aide Station, PR Food Bank, Diaper Program, Vocational Mentors at Lori Malagone's school, adopt a family and adopt a Cameroon Village. He announced Mary Straus will be one of the Assistant Governors next year. Thanks for stepping up, Mary.DARK NEXT TWO WEEKS. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and see you all Tuesday 1/9/2018. Be safe. |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 12. 2017Rotary Club of Marana Beautiful table set up with edible center pieces greeted the members and guests as they entered Nana's Kitchen Tuesday morning. I believe we have Maeve and Jo to thank for this display. Harold Burtzloff began the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Guests included the MCAT student of the month, Nathan Ryberg, his mom Laurie, dad Bill, teacher Mr Bowen and Principal Denise Coronado. Nathan came well prepared with an acceptance speech and was heavily praised by all as a conscientious hard worker. His plan is to attend Pima Community College. Happy bucks from this writer for son-in-laws recovery from eleven hours of cancer surgery in Houston, TX, Peter- ten day upcoming Canary Island work/cation, Lynne-happy+sad, David has accepted Mirabel into his home. There were many other contributors. Richie Benner has filled this years opening on the club board. We need a Member-At_Large for the 2017/2018 year and Peter Mack suggested we need a female (he was worried some one would nominate him possibly?) Tony wondered who would be the "Mystery Woman" willing to serve on his board. The nominated and unanimously approved board for 2017/2018 year are: President-Tony Hunter, Richie Benner- President Elect, Treasurer- Lynne Himmer, Secretary-John Dooling, Past President-Jo Holt, Member-At Large--Harold Burtzloff. I think I got this right. The "Three Wise Men" didn't stand a chance against "The Three Stooges". See Maeve for details. DENISE WEST WON & WON!!!!!!!!!! And promptly donated her $50 winnings to the Marana Rotary Foundation. Thank you Denise. .jpg) Our speaker today was Lynne Himmer and the topic was "WINE". The following are odds and ends from this writers notes:1. Serve white at 55* and red at 65* 2. Zin.... is a red grape white fruit. Thus depending on whether or not skin is included can be white or pinkish. 3. Tannin comes from the skin and gives wine a dry taste/feeling. It goes away over time. 4. You can drink Riesling with 11.5* alcohol and not get drunk. BWAHAHAHA! 5. Wine can bruise. I "think" it is better to store wine in a lateral vs horizontal position to allow it to breathe. 6. Champagne is only from an area in France and can be fermented a. In a bottle, b.In a steel tank, c. by carbonizing. Oh, and the bigger the bubbles the bigger the headache. Also get the New Mexico stuff. Weather is same as french area and taste is just as good with a lower price. 7. Sulfites are every where so do not worry about it 8. The lower the alcohol the sweeter the taste, usually. 9. Wine spoils. Centuries ago a boatload from Portugal sent to England went bad. The Potuguese added brandy and the subsequent brew is called Port. My personal favorite. 10. Pinot Noir is very versatile as to what food it pairs with. 11. Take a non drowsy antihistamine with Red Wine. Ask Lynne why. That's all my notes say. 12. Cork vs screw cap? There are now ventilated screw caps and some expensive wines now use screw caps can harbor bacteria. Any way, either is just fine. Lynne finished her presentation with a raffle of a fine bottle of Gruet sparkling Champagne. Be nice to me and I might share it with you! |
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Rotary Meeting Dec 5, 2017Rotary Club of Marana President Holt brought the meeting to order and Harold Burtzloff led us in the Pledge. No singing this month however, even in a no singing month we can quote a singer, Cheryl Crow. Cheryl said something to the effect of "if compassion was the motivating factor for all our actions the world would be a better place." Erica, the UA student/spy, was our only guest and she was quite complimentary regarding Rotary. She was not familiar with this organization before the assignment and now is considering membership!  A big shout out to David Hindman for not only stepping up to house our Rotary Exchange Student, Mirabel, but also to arrange for housing following her stay at the Hindman household. THANK YOU!Attendance was sparse with just under 60% in attendance. Of special note, John Zwick was among the missing-a very very rare occurrence. John is getting over a bout of flu and should be with us next week. Hopefully the same can be said about the other missing members as well. We sang. Rules are made to be broken, so Mary, Dan, John Z, Richie all were serenaded with "Happy Birthday". I think there may have been others as well. Peter reported on the Food Bank Diaper cage fiasco. Many Rotarians answered the call for assemblers, however the cabinets ordered/received will not do the job. Maeve to provide more info at a later date. Thanks to all who answered the bell. Speaking of Maeve, she broke a few HIPPA rules regarding Santa's sessions with Mary Straus, a mental health therapist. Apparently it all began when Santa's parents told him he did not exist.  Not to be out done, Lynne told of us two books she is reading. One she highly recommends: The Girl With Seven Faces about a North Korean girl. The other she does not recommend, but she cannot put it down. It is called Helium. One could call the group reaction to this second book as "speechless". Jaws opened as if to speak but they just hit the floor. Odds and Ends: Next year enter the football pool and let Randy make your picks. Dan says our first Tour de Cookie rider has signed up. Round of applause for Maeve for Aide Station work. Richie to speak at Open Doors, Lori Malagone's school. **********Harold is B-E-G-G-I-N-G for El Tour photos**************** Don happy about a surprise visit from daughter and son-in-law. Don also won and lost with a small heart. .jpg) Since we are on the topic of Don Jorgensen he was our speaker and gave an excellent presentation on ShelterBox.The big box with tent weighs about 140 pounds and costs about $1,000. It contains solar lights, saw, shovel, hoe, pots, pans and much other stuff. The solar light is about the size of a deck of cards before it is unfolded. It gained venture capital after appearing on Shark Tank!There is also a water purifier. Boxes are tailored for their audience. Tents come with or with out stoves and some are built to United Nation specifications. Mosquito netting where needed is packed and there is now a Shelter "Kit" sans tent for about $100 and maybe a quarter the size of the big box. The program was started and still is run by Rotarians out of Cornwall, England. There is also Shelter Box USA in Florida. The great Tsunami of 2004 in India put Shelter Box on the map. Since they have been in Panama, New Orleans, Haiti multiple times and currently in Madagascar, Mozambique, Syria, Peru, Columbia, Iraq, Somalia, Niger, Myranmar and Cameroon. Don showed a satellite photo of a spot on the map called Menawao in Cameroon that has grown from effectively zero inhabitants to 35,000 over just a couple of years due to migration of people fleeing Boka Haram. Shelter Box responds to both man made and natural catastrophes. See you all next week???????? |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 28, 2017.Rotary Club of Marana Harold Burtzloff led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to start off the meeting and Lynne led us in Home On The Range to almost end it. Seriously, it was close. Many in the assembly muttered under their breath "Thank God December is a no singing month.". .jpg) President Holt saved the day by introducing, Erica, the spy/observer who is working on her Communication degree from the University of AZ. Then quoting Henry David Thoreau and William Arthur Ward regarding their thoughts on Thanksgiving. WAW is one of the most prolific inspirational quote writers of the 20th century. In the words of President Holt "Who knew?" Of course we are all familiar with HDT the protege of RWE. PETER NEEDS ASSISTANCE WITH DIAPER CAGE ASSEMBLY THIS THURSDAY MORNING AT THE MARANA FOOD BANK. NO ONE AT TODAY'S MEETING IS AVAILABLE THURSDAY. The scheduled presenter, Randy Brooks, was out of town due to the recent death of his aunt. The time was filled by Happy Buck turkey day stories and by Maeve Johnson's review of the El Tour aide station project. Maeve began with "Why did the bikes keep tumbling over at the aide station? They were two tired." We decided to let her go on with the presentation anyway since it was only 8:30am.  The topics of balloons, Burma Shave Signs, site change from previous years and many others were touched upon. Maeve thanked the many people involved by name. Peter, Richie and his brother and Jason were all day help. Denise West was instrumental in planning and shopping and even had an employee assist us. She has agreed to head up the Rotary Club of Marana's aide station for 2018. In fact it seems almost everyone in the club was involved except this writer. To paraphrase Maeve and President Jo, "John was assisting the state of Illinois with their deer infestation problem. He personally slayed three of the great beasts and donated the meat to three separate low income families thus providing them with sustenance and protein during the coming winter months." This writer won the raffle and drew the winning JOKER and donated the $140 in winnings to the Marana Rotary Foundation. John also shared information regarding the Rotary Fire Fighter Apartments in Houston, TX that are available to Fire Fighters nationwide who need shelter while undergoing treatment at MD Anderson Hospital. The rate of cancer diagnosed in Fire Fighters is twice the national average. John's daughter and son in law will be staying there for the next three weeks while Justin undergoes surgery. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 21. 2017Rotary Club of Marana Our Thanksgiving week meeting began with The Pledge followed by the old standard "Old MacDonald Had A Farm". Lynne chose the song and the animal (turkey). Most members were familiar with the song. Guests included former Marana member Debbie Conover and Erica (?) an observer and communications student from UA. .jpg) Denise spoke at Lori Malangone's school Open Doors and awarded prizes to good listeners. I have Dollar General in my notes for reason unknown, but probably related to our meeting.President Holt spoke of progress with our multi club Tree Planting Project, but still no firm date. .jpg) Tour de Tucson Aide Station was a rousing success. Richie Benner was impressed with the turn out of so many "Friends of Rotary" including spouses and children (David Hindman). Peter does not like Peanut Butter. Peter's old truck was used as a dumpster, he has pictures to prove it, and John Zwick's new truck was not abused "this" year. It is anticipated Rotary International's "Ride for the Cure" is expected to raise ............10 MILLION DOLLARS towards the eradication of polio. Our Aide Station is the second most popular stop on the 110 mile tour next to the Firehouse Pancake stop.This is our 24th year.Everybody happy, except Peter and Tony(That's what my notes say). Randy was here, but not his name badge. If you had trouble remembering his name see him next meeting for a referral. Debbie Conover sang the praises of Rotary's RV Fellowship which she is heavily involved with. Dan won and lost the raffle. Loudest applause of the meeting was for Lynne's "No joke today." comment. .JPG) Peter Mack Astrophysicist and Marana Rotarian spoke of his 24 year old business Astronomical Associates. At one time he wrote programs for astronomers telling them where to point their telescopes to observe what they wanted to see. He now supports, renovates and manufactures scopes all over the world including Egypt, Australia and Chile. He spoke of the Large Synoptic Telescope and the smaller scope alongside it. The large scope takes pictures of large pieces of the universe and the smaller scope helps to determine the best time to photograph when the turbulence is low (the shimmering one observes when watching a sunset in the hot desert. Most scopes are located at 8,000 to 10,000 feet or higher to lessen the disturbance. Peter's explanation of the red spectrum shift (he specifically pointed out the indicator for the element sodium) being similar to the doppler effect experienced with sound enabled many of us to better understand the concept. This is used to determine distance from observer to object being observed.Many questions were deferred to another date as they were not specific to his business operation and time was limited. Peter did promise another field trip to Kitt Peak in the coming months and offered to be a speaker at a future meeting regarding general astronomy and recent major advances in the field of Astronomy. |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 14, 2017.jpg) As our Secretary John Dooling is out of town today, it has fallen upon Pres. Jo to report on today's meeting. It was OK. Folks were a little quiet. But I know deep in their hearts they were thrilled to be there. We had a large turnout, 77% attendance! Our speaker, Club member Jason Halper, brought his daughter Aliza along as his guest. He gave us a run-down of what he referred to as "pests". Specifically: pack rats, rattlesnakes, scorpions, roaches, palo verde beetles, mice, and did I say pack rats? But Jason also did something unexpected by talking about how he applied the Rotary four-way test to his job in pest control. In the course of dealing with customers and their fears,educating them, and earning their trust, Jason has seen the four-way test in action. He's intent on doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons. He wants to empower people to take care of themselves and their pest issues as much as possible. It was great to hear someone who is excited and passionate about their work, and that's our fellow Rotarian Jason. .jpg) In other news, Maeve Johnson led a lively discussion on preparations for our aid station for the upcoming El Tour de Tucson. We'll meet at the McDonald's on Tangerine & Thornydale at 7:45am and begin setting up after that. This is a very big deal for our Club and will be a lot of fun.There was, unfortunately, a joke-off between Maeve and Lynne. Who won is still undecided. .jpg) Denise is presenting on her career at Open Hands School on Friday! Randy won the football pool this week! And Richie reminded us about Giving Tuesday, coming up in two weeks.It was a good day at Rotary in Marana! |
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Rotary Meeting Nov 7, 2017Rotary Club of Marana President Holt has returned from New York with good news regards her son's health. Welcome back. Also we welcomed back Harold Burtzloff from his annual summer escape. Finally we welcomed Joan Buth, a Rotarian from Irvine, CA who now lives in our area and who is shopping for a club. Words of wisdom from Mirabel, "It is not an end it is a "bend". .jpg) President Jo advises that some believe politics is the art of getting money from the rich to buy votes from the poor in order to keep the two groups from killing each other. Hmmmmmmm. Oscar somebody said this. Oscar Levant (anybody else remember him?) said "A Politician is someone who will double cross that bridge when he comes to it."Joan Buth selected God Bless America as our song of the week and honestly we sounded pretty good.  Moving on, Maeve provided an update as to our Tour de Cookie aide station. This is scheduled 11/18,2017 and additional help is always welcomed. Contact Maeve.Next Dan gave us an update on our own Tour de Cookie. Many dollars collected as Happy Bucks from virtually every member (What a happy group!).  Mary Straus sent a sheet around for donations supporting our own riders (Randy and Mary and Deb Hume) in their "Ride to end polio. Thank you to everyone who pledged and of specific note a BIG THANK YOU to Peter Mack for his $1,000 donation.  Denise Coronado, Principal of MCAT introduced "Dave" math teacher at MCAT who was chosen as the favorite teacher by our Student of the Month winner Audrey Rhodes. Dave showered many superlatives when speaking of Audrey. She currently is taking three math classes! Audrey's mother is a Marine and she attend this mornings meeting along with Audrey's step father. Audrey has moved around the country frequently as her mother has been relocated. She looks forward to soon completing her high school requirements at MCAT and would like to study medicine in college with a goal of Medical Doctor.Great meeting with 80% attendance! |
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Rotary Meeting 10/23/2017
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Rotary Rotary Oct 17, 2017Rotary Club of Marana Our meeting was opened by President Holt sharply at 7AM. The pledge was followed by words of wisdom from RWE regarding "ENTHUSIASM". Emerson said nothing great is ever achieved without "ENTHUSIASUM"! President Holt then gave a mediocre half hearted example of enthusiasm. Guest for the meeting was one, Alex Droban. Alex is a current member of the Rotary Club of Valle Verde. He is now retired from the Sahuarita Police Dept, lives close to Nana's Kitchen and is shopping for a new club. (Dan, he is a fly fisherman) Richie Benner gave an overview of the District Conference. Richie did all the heavy lifting surrounding our Hospitality Room which consisted of putting tee shirts on chairs and passing out cookies. (his words). Over all he gave the conference good marks. Mary Straus told the club of our Presidential Citation for outstanding work. One of eight selected out of over 50 clubs. The Rotary Club of Marana was also #3 in the entire district for average donation to the Foundation per member. Great Job! Randy Brooks told of the Sunday morning recognition of our veteran members. Randy called Eric Miller up front to receive his Veteran/Rotarian pin. COTTON FESTIVAL- Will be this Saturday evening and we will need volunteers to vend beer along with the Dove Mountain Rotary. Festival held at Heritage Park, on Tangerine west of I10. The 23rd of October will be a meeting at President Holt's home for a review with Club Officers and District Governor Joe Hentges. The following morning DG Hentges will attend our Tuesday meeting. PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND. Maeve Johnson spoke at length regards her organization for Tour de Tucson aide station. A sign up sheet was sent around. Hopefully all who are in town will participate in this event that literally raises tens of millions of dollars for the eradication of polio. Lots of people happy for various and sundry reasons and were willing to pay to express their joy aloud. Thanks to Dan-Alabama golf with dad and bro, David Hindman -Himmel Park Trees being planted by his law firm, Lynne Himmer-end of tax season, Clint-trip to the frozen remote tundra of North Dakota to visit aeronautical school with his son. There were many others, but my favorite was deja poo- "I've seen this shit before." Thanks, Maeve. Mary won and lost the raffle/drawing with the 5 of spades. Mirabel, our Nigerian Exchange Student, was our presenter for the day. She started with a map of Nigeria pointing out the capitol of Abuja. She shared with us their Coat of Arms, motto of Unity, Faith, Peace and Progress. Mirabel comes from a family of five children although two are deceased. She did have a goal of being a pediatrician, no doubt influenced by the loss of two siblings. However, she is coming to the realization that their are many avenues in medicine that can be explored. Her father is usually away from home as he works in the oil industry. Her mother used to buy and sell items obtained from travels to Dubai, but no longer is doing that. Mirabel has two brothers and her favorite is the 11 year old as he does what she tells him, not so much the older brother. Politics were delved into and the beloved Goodluck Jonathon's presidency was much more pleasing than the current elderly, ill, military background of current president Muhammadu Buhari. He comes from the north which apparently is more violent than the south of Nigeria. Nigerians were colonized by the British and therefore English is their official language. They have been independent since 1960. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct 10, 2017Rotary Club of Marana Those arriving early were entertained by yours truly standing on a chair then a stool for the entertainment of president Holt. Speaking of our President she went out of her way to touch Peter Mack following The Pledge. Denise West then gave us food for thought quoting the self deceased Kurt Cobain "Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are." President Jo then explained the revised District grant and advised we had the "green Light" for the changes from the district.  Lynne Himmer presented a check to Executive Director of the Marana Food Bank, Linda Hampton. The check of $723 added to $150 already donated earlier this year comes to a total of $873. This money will provide over 3,000 meals.Tomorrow volunteers at the Marana/Picture Rocks Food bank will be Randy, Jo, Denise and Richie. District Conference starts Friday and we will be giving out Rotary cookies made by Copper Creek. Cotton Festival 10/21/2017 and we will be working the beer tent from 5 to 9. Maybe we could use a few more volunteers. Working with Dove Mtn club. Mole Day-Moles are small mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have cylindrical bodies, velvety fur, very small, inconspicuous ears and eyes, reduced hindlimbs and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging. Wikipedia Apparently when ground up you may express the number of atoms, ions or any other elementary entities in the sample by Avogardo's number 6.0225 X 10 to the 23rd. Ergo 10/23 is Mole Day. Thanks, Jo. Speaking of harming our animal friends Tony Hunter was one dollar happy to have split up a fawn from it's mother over the weekend. Among many happy people in attendance were John, Joe, Don, Lori, Peter (created a feintspectrophotomasstrigoncosineometer for the Egyptians), Denise, Randy(crossed off the movie Fitzcarraldo from his bucket list), and Richie. Randy won and lost. Lynne was so exhausted tired weekend she could not climb stairs or  Lori Malangone, club member, was our speaker. As Executive Director of Arizona Youth Partnership she was well versed on the subject matter, AZYP. Lori began with AZYP program following a short stint as a teacher and working for a title company. She has spent 12 years with them, the last four as Executive Director. They have offices in eight Arizona cities. AZYP was founded in 1990 to ensure the more rural areas of the state had resources similar to those available in the City of Tucson. Their mission is to cultivate healthy foundations for youth and promote strong families. They support numerous programs for youth including Healthy Relationship Education for 6th to 12th graders, Drug and Alcohol education including a tour of Banner University Medical Center to see first hand the ravages of drugs and alcohol, Stronger Families for parents and care givers with children in the 10 to 14 age range, Homeless Youth Shelters in Kingman and Bullhead City offer 30 days of temporary shelter to homeless and runaway boys and girls.Lori shared with us an exercise in which we all learned how uncoordinated Mary is and how difficult it is for all teens to keep educational goals, alcohol/drug/parties and dawning of sexual urges in relative perspective as they prepare for adulthood. Goals from our grade school days such as becoming a journalist, a physical therapist, an algebra teacher or even Paul McCartney's wife can be adversely affected by influences unrelated to the goal. Nice job Lori, I concur with Jo, you would have made a fine teacher. |
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Rotary Meeting Oct ,2 2017
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Rotary Meeting 9/26/2017Rotary Club of Marana President Holt has returned from Ireland's Matchmaking Festival. Few of us knew the reason for her trip to the Ol' Sod. She was impressed with the friendliness of their culture. She recited a lovely prayer thanking God for those who love us, asking God to turn the heart of those who do not and finally, to turn the ankle of those who still resist. I think I got that right. Anyway, she and her friends spent a lovely day at an Irish beach where they enjoyed the typical weather of the Emerald Isle, i.e. getting rained on and sand blasted by gale force winds. It's good to be back home. In her absence it is reported that Tony Hunter did a good job, but was mean to Maeve. (probably had it coming)  Today we honored Emily, a student at MCAT. Accompanying Emily were her mother, sister, Principal Denise Coronado and English teacher Melissa. Emily was a bit shy but did state her intent to attend PCC and study nursing. She will graduate ahead of schedule in early October! By the way, she is a gifted artist. Randy Brooks participated in the Old Pueblo poker tournament and, by our club standards, did quite well. Maeve Johnson gave a lengthy update on El Tour de Tucson bike race. She has attended multiple planning meetings. She will or has been in touch with our Interact Club. Maeve also made a last request for Burma Shave slogan submissions. Two prizes available to those among us with the gift of the bards. Denise West greeted everyone and guest Michael Drake drew the deuce of Clubs. Happy people included Don, Lori, Dan, David, John and Jo. Richie specifically mentioned that the diamondbacks are in the playoffs. Randy shared with us the fact that his name has a double entendre that could get you more attention than desired in Ireland. This is especially true I suppose if you happen to go to Eire during the Matchmaking Festival. Maeve shared with us "The Dali LLama isn't." and that the ratio of an igloo circumference to it's diameter is .............. wait for it...................Eskimo Pi! Nice to hear people laugh instead of groan. Michael Drake visited to accept our $1,000 donation towards Rotary's Global Grant benefiting disabled children in Palestine. The East Jerusalem Rotary Club, Clubs and individuals from District 5500 plus money from Rotary International will total $70,000 when the project commences. Michael is the Foundation Chair for District 5500 and he publicly thanked our own Lynne Himmer for her assistance. The meeting finished with a brief discussion regards the District Grant towards the Diaper Bank/Book Distribution. Of the $8,800 not all will go for book purchase. No money will be spent on tracking software but 45% is now planned for construction costs (separate bins required) with 55% for actual book purchase. This is this writer's understanding and I urge anyone to correct me if this is not accurate. There has been no intent to impugn anyone needlessly only where it was necessary. Have a good week. |
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Rotary Meeting 9/12/2017Rotary Club of Marana In the absence of President Holt, President elect Tony Hunter gaveled in the meeting. Tony shared with us the thought to "Go as far as you can see then you can see farther (or is it further). Whichever, it is a profound thought. Guests included Mirabel and Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, a member of the Presidio Rotary Club. Richie Benner led us in Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Denise donated a diamond pendant to the raffle/auction the town is organizing and in which our club will benefit. Food Bank workers in Picture Rocks needed for tomorrow. Contact Randy at randy@randy-brooks.com if you can help. Happy buck comments from: Peter- Victim of identity theft and the associated problems are a pain in the.....I did not catch the last word Tony-Happy for the heat?????????? Richie- Upcoming camping opportunity Jason-Grateful for copy of Eric Miller's new book Lynne- Squash a bug. Ever notice how soft spoken Lynne is? Mary-Was happy about Netflix then changed her mind and asked for her dollar back. Mayor Walkup asked us to spread the word about a trap shooting fundraiser the day after Tour de Tucson. If you want to learn how to fire a shotgun and shoot trap the Mayor is available every Saturday at 9am at the Pima County shooting range near the fairgrounds. Open to all ages and experience.  Speaker was our own author, Eric Miller. His book The Owners Compass is about Bio Communications and how personal vs business goals often collide. Eric himself used the Galvanic Response machine and found it to be amazingly accurate in assessing his strengths and areas in need of improvement. Tonal quality and emotion are as or more important than words in communication.Much of Eric's presentation deal with the process of book publishing including graphic designers, publishers and ghost writers and editors. Even with all of that a misspelling of a word on the cover! Eric provided each member a free copy of his book. By the way, the book was a #1 on Amazon before release and a #1 again in paperback sales. He also says Amazon is the best way to get published and in marketing a book. See everyone next Tuesday. |
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Rotary Meeting Sept 5, 2017Rotary Club of Marana Our meeting began, as always, with The Pledge. Denise West then addressed the club with thoughts regarding time management and showing respect for the time we have available to us. Mark Murray led us in an emotional if not rousing rendition of God Bless America. Don Jorgensen has returned with a West Seattle Rotary Club banner. Guests included four of Bob Bishops friends plus his new bride. In case you were checking your cell phone at the time President Holt explained this: Pythagorean Theorem Day or Pythagoras Theorem Day is celebrated when the sum of the squares of the first two digits in a date equals the square of the last digit in the date and it was 8/15/2017.. Not to worry, another one is due 12/16/2020. In any case, statues of Mr. Pythagoras might have to be torn down before then as recent discovery of Babylonian Trigonometry tables predate Pythagoras by a 1,000 years. Apparently "sharing" of mathematical knowledge was wide spread back then. ERRATA: Sunlight travels from sun to earth in 8 minutes, not months or seconds. This will be on the test. If I get fired from this job it is with good reason. Jo is from a small town near Houston that was evacuated due to flooding following Hurricane Harvey. Donations via Rotary District 5500 website are being accepted. By the way, Dan Contorno is the Treasurer for the District 5500 Foundation. Odds and Ends Lynne Himmer's birth on 9/28 is the only significant date this month. Randy asked for donations to assist Mirabel in her trip to Havasuppie Falls. Tony Hunter to be running the show the next two weeks since our leader will be out of state. Mary Straus is offering a bounty for the return of our Marana Rotary Banner. Tony attended the Rotary Membership Assembly and served on the Generational Panel discussing the recruitment of younger folk. He also mentioned a club opportunity to plant trees along with the Town. Our Club will be sending two representatives to RYLA. John Dooling's granddaughter, Tyler McMurrich and our Nigerian Exchange Student Mirabel. Maeve mentioned a 9/15/2017 meeting at the Marana Food bank where diaper and book distribution will be discussed. All welcomed to attend and learn more about our major project for this year. If anyone is wondering "Where's The Poop?" please call Maeve at home. More pearls from Maeve: Sunblock exceeding SPF 1 is not good for eyeballs, Chuckee Cheese tokens are not acceptable in the payment of fines at US libraries and Humpty Dumpty, after a mediocre summer is expected to have a great fall. Hey, I do not write em I just record em. Mary has dead rodents and Mark says Albuquerkians stare into space with their mouths agape. Denise West won and lost at our lottery. *****************DISTRICT CONFERENCE IN OCTOBER*********************************** Bob Bishop was our speaker and his subject was Water. Bob attended a seminar with about 30 people from all over.This morning the discussion revolved around cross boundary water claims and the problems especially with "limited" aquifers that are not being replenished. This cross border problem is with state to state, country to country and exists all over the globe. Desalinization and the harvest of brackish water may be the answer. The complex issues are compounded by 19th century laws, 20th century infrastructure and 21st century growth. There will be a board meting tomorrow starting at 6pm to be held at John Dooling's Allstate office located at 2005 W Ruthrauff Rd suite 157. Next to barber shop at SE corner of Ruthrauff and La Cholla. All are welcomed. Th, th, thats all folks. Ypour Scribe, John Dooling |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 15, 2017President Holt brought the meeting to order and after the pledge she shared the writings of Maya Angelou regarding a rich tapestry ,made up of thousands of threads of varying colors. Each is valuable to the overall effect regardless of color. Guests/ speakers included Bouba and Nancy Hamadou as well as Mirabel, our Nigerian Exchange student. Denise West and her son, along with Bob Bishop and President Holt were acknowledged for their assistance with the Food Bank distribution. President Holt advised of upcoming absences in September (a trip to the Old Sod with Donna of Thornydale) and October (son's anticipated adult onset epilepsy surgery at Mt Saini in NY.) Secretary Dooling advised of his absence next week (Eclipse viewing in Missouri(pronounced missura)) Need somew one to step up to take notes and attendance. NEWS FLASH- DISTRICT CONFERENCE IS THIS OCTOBER. August 26th Doubletree Hotel hosts annual Rotary Membership Seminar. Mirabel reports having met exchange students from Germany, France, Denmark and other countries. She has learned to swim, but also consumed copious amounts of water in the process. Maeve requests Burma Shave/Tour de Tucson slogan entries be submitted. Happy bucks came from: Mark-ON TIME for MEETING!!! Maeve -Nuclear Bikini contest- Hey, I just report em folks. See Maeve for details. Bob Bishop- Back from Scottsdale Rotary water project meeting and bride to soon return. Javier questioned why he was only $2 happy, but then quickly moved on before Bob could respond. Lynne- While totally messing up the punchline Lynne made it clear to all why she gave up her first career choice as a stand up comic in favor of the less humorless CPA gig. Mary- I think was happy, but she is very soft spoken. Denise West won again!!!!!Drew several cards but peer pressure forced her to return all but one to the deck. jack of clubs is no longer available. Bouba Hamadou presented a project for our consideration to adopt a village in Cameroon. Bouba, a former Marana Rotarian, lives in Tucson about 7 months a year and Cameroon the rest of the year. He is a member of the Rotary club of Maroua, Cameroon. His project vision is a multi-level endeavor including Clean Water/Sanitation, Education for adults and children, Health and Income Generation. Bouba provided all in attendance with a two page synopsis that included anticipated expenditures. There were many thought provoking episodes during his presentation, but the fact that teachers earn $40 a MONTH stood out to me as I took notes on his presentation. Copies of his presentation are available. Let me know if you need/want one. Next week-Open club discussion regarding anticipated projects this year and fiscal 2017/2018 budget. See you in two weeks. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 8, 2017Our meeting began with the pledge followed by words of wisdom from David Hindman regarding the power of a positive attitude. There were no "guests" this morning, but we did welcome Mirabel and soon to be new member Jason Halper. Happy Bucks came from: Lori-Great Pyrenees accepted into Obedience School Dan-Sixteen year old daughter Chelsi lasted 30 days before a minor fender bender Tony-Parents visiting Clint- ITS OFFICIAL! A NEW DAUGHTER. Richie-Football Season Lynne-Bad Jobs(I have no idea what I mean by that or what she said) Bob- On the road to recovery after a rough patch with the flu. Denise-Disneyland! Denise was also our lottery winner and loser. WARNING: Do not ask Maeve what you call a seagull by the bay. We next celebrated Rotary Membership month with the swearing in of Jason Halper as our newest member.(see I told you above it would be soon.) Jason has a background in scouting, he is an Eagle Scout, and various forms of law enforcement. Presently employed by Truly Nolen, Jason made a presentation that rodents everywhere would take exception to. We learned of the packrat breeding cycle, nesting habits, dietary preferences, use of whiskers and that peanut flavored wire harnesses are not a good thing in the Sonoran Desert. A final bit of advice-If you pour predator urine, mothballs, Irish Spring soap and hot peppers into a bucket then stir it up and pour onto your auto engine it is a waste of time. Thank you to Bob Bishop, Denise West and family and Jo Holt for stepping up to assist with the Picture Rocks Food Bank Distribution tomorrow. Next week our speaker is Bouba Hamadou. In two weeks we will discuss club projects, budgets and Rotary calendars. |
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Rotary Meeting Aug 1, 2017
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Make UpMarana Rotarian’s make Up at Cranbrook Rotary Club Cranbrook, BC. Canada Harold Burtzloff , John Zwick and his daughter Joyce Made Up at John’s old Club .jpg) |
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Rotary Meeting July 25, 2017Our meeting was brought to order by President Jo Holt. After Denise West led us in the Pledge President Holt gave us something to think about by quoting Martin Luther King, jr regarding being all you can be is only possible by letting others be all they can be. WE are all connected. The song Stand By Me was played by Maeve Johnson with her smart phone. This song and Tony Hunter came to us from 1961, or maybe not. Speaking of Maeve, one loud groan and one low mournful whimper were heard after she entertained us (?) with two jokes this morning. Be sure to get your Burma Shave/Tour de Tucson entries to Maeve. There will be a reading and a vote to select the best. We welcomed Jason Halper, who submitted his membership application this morning, Mirabel (YES THAT IS THE CORRECT SPELLING and NO, IT IS NOT PRONOUNCED MARYBELL), our new Exchange Student from Nigeria and Diane Ventura Goodyear, our speaker. President Holt made a commitment that we all will learn the correct pronunciation of Mirabel's first and last name sometime before she returns to Nigeria next June.  Mary Straus, newly appointed President of our very own Marana Rotary Foundation advised us of her board consisting of Lynne Himmer, Eric Miller, Randy Brooks and Lori Malangone. Mary also mentioned a District Membership Assembly scheduled for Saturday August 26th Cost of $30 covers a continental breakfast and lunch. The program runs from 9 am to 1 pm with location undetermined at this time. Many of us attended the membership assembly last year and found it to be very informative.SECRET GREETER- Starting next week we will have a secret greeter. Any member may be selected as the secret greeter. President Holt will announce the name of secret greeter just before Javier comes for our money. If any member did not shake the secret greeter's hand a fine will be meted out by Javier. This hopefully will encourage interaction with all members prior to the start of our meetings (and maybe lead to a decrease in late arrivals). The program will require a fair memory and the honor system. For these reasons the Secret Greeter program will be on a trial basis as those two attributes are in rare supply among our membership. The Loop the Loop bike ride, precursor to the Tour de Tucson, is September the 16th. Mary Straus may have a team and our club will assist with an aid station. In regards to Tour de Tucson donations to eradicate polio, The Secretary of Rotary International Foundation already has $100,000 in pledges. By the way our connection with the Bill gates Foundation came via a Rotarian who sits on the board of the Gates Foundation. There is a mixer TONIGHT of Rotarians at the Viscount Hotel on Broadway East of Swan. Starts at 5:30pm. You are all welcomed. Lots of happy bucks/members: John-grand kid swimming success in the Pima Co Swim Program (cost is only $20 per kid per season); David Hindman- Seven year old son broke arm while family vacationed in Idaho (I think he is happy because of the cool camoflage cast, but I could be wrong about that); Denise recited the connection between thoughts, words and actions in a way far superior to what I just wrote; many who donated were grateful for our soon to be new member Jason and Exchange Student Mirabel's presence. Randy was the lucky winner in the raffle and while I did not see his card the sound of many "Oh, too bad." comments leads me to believe the joker is still in the pack! Diane Ventura Goodyear (DVT), an Assistant District Governor for District 5500, spoke of her involvement with the Vocational Training Team and its travel to Uganda. This partnership lead by Phil Silvers of Green Valley Club, was began five years ago. A big part of the project deals with empowerment for women via education. Smart phones and computers were provided by Rotary. Internet was slow, but cell phone coverage was good. Areas of education are not only technical and vocational but also deal with Domestic Violence, women health issues, family planning etc. Three districts involved are Ghana, Uganda and District 5500. The film shown to us of the project was produced by DVG. John Dooling, Secretary |
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Rotary Meeting July 18, 2017Following the Pledge President Holt provided words of wisdom from Rotary 1957. Basically Rotary is universal and to thrive we must build on our commonalities and not focus on our differences. Next came a rousing rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame led by Lynn Himmer. Attendance continues to be lackluster mostly due to the summer travel plans of many members. There was one hell of a welcoming for Marana's version of the wondering son, Mark Murray. Good to see you, Mark. Hope the bike ride across Iowa next week goes well. Guests included potential new member Jason Halper and Fonda Insley, Tucson Club member and friend of Mary Straus. Brief discussion of our hastily submitted District Grant proposal. Due to number of requests and limited funds a cutoff date was imposed. President Holt has submitted a $10,000 proposal (half from our club with possible input from Dove Mountain Club) to provide reading material for young children in conjunction with the Diaper Bank program of the the Maana Food Bank. Also involved is MUSD's Christine Noriega.  Javier got pinned by President Holt!Happy bucks came from many including Joe Farr, a BIG boxing fan. Who knew? Some sad bucks when Randy shared with the club news of the passing of Rotary International's President elect. Sam F Owori of Uganda was to be only the second RI President from Africa. Speaker Michael Drake, a Stanford University graduate and UA trained attorney, was our speaker. His topic was a grant proposal for the area often referred to as Palestine. Mr Drake did his utmost to remain unpolitical in educating us on the troubled history of the area from League of Nations decision to split TtransJordan and Palestine from the area controlled by Lebanon and Syria. This is a fascinating opic and one in which I personally am quite interested in. However, space does not allow for me to go into greater detail from the two pages of notes. Bottom line there is a Rotary Club in Ramallah and one in Bethlehem plus two more. The Club in East Juruselem is seeking a Global Grant to assist with Ramallah Club in funding the Princess Basma School that serves about 300 disabled kids. Money will be for remodel of library, computers and training material. Total including match would be $70,000. DO NOT FORGET: Maribel, our Nigerian Exchange Student, arrives this Friday at the Tucson Airport. Please try to join your club members. Be there by 6 pm and flight arrives at 6:14 pm. |
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Rotary Meeting 7/11/2017.jpg) Todays meeting brought us the following guests: District Governor Joe Hentges,Kathy Carlisile (friend/co-worker of Maeve), new member inductee Robert Bishop and his fiance Linda Redman. Words of wisdom from President Holt came from Rotary in the year 1927. Rotary can and should be used as a source of friendship as the basis for enterprise. The "average" Rotarian was mentioned but not defined. President Holt discussed the District 5500 challenge to come up with a grant proposal by Saturday that targets youth literacy. The tentative plan is a children's book delivery tied to the existing Marana Diaper Bank program. This would be an ideal way to put books into the hands of young mothers ergo young potential readers at the earliest age possible. More on this topic to follow. Maeve mention a Burma Shave advertising program related to our Tour de Tucson aid station. She asked for slogan entries, but sounds like she already has a winner. Our Food Bank packing and distribution assistance at the Ortiz Clinic in Picture Rocks is tomorrow. As a reminder this takes place on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from about 9:30 til noon. Numerous club members have participated. Contact Randy or Mary to assist. We have confirmation of the scheduled arrival of our exchange student from Nigeria. Please consider welcoming Maribel July 21st at 6:30 pm at the Tucson Airport. All members are encouraged to be part of the welcoming committee.  Next President Holt swore in Rotary's newest member, Bob Bishop. His sponsor and mentor Don Jorgensen did the pinning. Bob's classification is Aircraft Research and Development. Bob recently returned from Russia, a trip he almost did not make as a result of a head-on collision on the way to the airport. Bob is a former Rotarian, but not to be confused with Bob Bishop, The Rotary Club of Marana's first president.Mike and Vickie Suba representing Rotary's District 5500 Paul Harris Society took center stage to award both Don Jorgensen and Jo Holt as our clubs newest Paul Harris Society members. Our club now has six members who have pledged a $1,000 each year to the Rotary Foundation. Midway in giving ourselves a pat on the back for having over 25% of membership in the Paul Harris Society our District Governor reminded us we can do better!  Richie Benner, club member and District Field Director of our local BSA council was guest speaker. We learned there are 7,000 scouts in the local Council hat covers Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz and Cochise counties. Programs are available from K through 12. The Lions are comprised mostly of kindergarten kids, Cubs are anywhere from k through 5th grade. Boy Scouts ages 11 to 18. Co-ed programs are Venturing (kayaking, canoeing, mountain climbing etc.), Explorer (vocational exploration with numerous police and fire departments as well as Customs, Border Patrol and US Army)and the newest STEM. The Tucson Council was founded in 1911 just one year after BSA was established in 1910.We ran out of time before Richie could discuss the newest Facebook enhancements, but he promised to return in three weeks. Numerous happy bucks were given for such varied causes as Foster Child adoption (Clint), rain (John), definition of "borrow"(Dan), Attendance of the DG Hentges and new member admission Bishop(Randy and others). This was an action packed meeting with Bob Bishop drawing the losing Jack of Clubs and President Holt still tingling from the nearby lightning strike she experienced last night. Its going to be a wild year if this meeting is any indication. If I have left off something or someone, please jot me a note on the back of a twenty dollar bill and give to me at our next meeting. Humbly and hopefully accurately submitted, John Dooling-Club Secretary. |
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Meeting SummaryROTARY CLUB OF MARANA SUMMARY OF MEETING – 6-27-17 Submitted by John Dooling, Secretary
Outgoing President Mary Straus began the meeting by greeting guest Jim Hazzard of New York, son of incoming President Jo Holt and Donna Mabry of Thornydale, BFF of incoming President Holt. In addition we had guests Jim Nook of the Dove Mountain club and Lyle Johnson, husband of Maeve, who probably answered a last minute call to arms to carry flowers and miniature iced cakes. President Straus thanked all in attendance for making her almost two year tour of duty possible and palatable. President Straus led us through some very turbulent times. We will be grateful for as long as there is a Rotary Club of Marana. Special thanks was given to the outgoing board. Member Randy Brooks was singled out as especially helpful in guiding her fledgling steps in the early months. By the way, we also learned that Randy has a new position with the District that requires he step in to lead should new District 5500 Governor Joe Hentges be unable to serve. Flowers were also given to Nana of Nana Kitchen fame for appreciation of her work and the outstanding quiche centerpiece of today’s breakfast. Next came the swearing in of 2017/2018 President Jo M Holt. Being of humble spirit the first thing Jo did was to put us all at ease by advising that she can be addressed as either Dr. President Holt or President Dr. Holt. She is comfortable with either. Jo went on to tell us of having been recruited by Randy Brooks with tales of the potentially significant lottery winnings she could partake of and tasty breakfasts fifty weeks a year. She was struck immediately and remains in awe of our naiveté in allowing one such as herself into our club. Actually, her awe truly comes from the simple wording of the Four Way Test and by our recitation of same at conclusion of each meeting. The stark contrast of its honest clear message versus the cynicism that too often comprises a big chunk of our daily lives is refreshing. One could say the theme of her address is that we are “all connected”. In turn the incoming board of Straus, Hunter, Dooling, Miller and Burtzloff received their pins. Outgoing/Incoming Treasurer, Lynn Himmer, could not attend todays meeting. The whole meeting makes one proud to say they are a Rotarian. Humbly and hopefully accurately submitted this day in the year of our Lord 2017. |
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Rotary Meeting June 20, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA SUMMARY OF MEETING – 6-20-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary 6-21-21 Great meeting today: 85% of the members attended and seemed engaged. Thank you one and all. Guests: Potential Member Bob Bishop (he will be inducted as a member July 11, 2017). With Bob was his finance Linda Raman. It was a pleasure meeting her and seeing Bob. Pledge completed by Tony, Mediation or Thought of the Day provided by Jo Holt. Song was unique. Maeve played a recording of a song “Hey Good Looking,” and the goal was to guess who in the club was born that year. (Answer: Jo Holt – she is born in 1968) I thought Hank Williams passed by then ….. Strange. She played another song done by Fred Astaire and it coincided with the birth date of Harold. (How is that possible? Harold is only 48) Although we have one more Tuesday left in the month this is Mary Straus’ last meeting as president. The reason? Mary gave President Elect Jo Holt the opportunity to use the meeting next week for Jo and her team to hold her installation during our regular meeting. Mary asked that we discuss the international conference. Mary, Jo and Randy provided insight to the event. Also attending the conference were Don Jorgensen and two of our spouses, Kathy Jorgensen and Deb Hume. Mary and Randy attended the pre-conference regarding Sex and Human Trafficking and found the experience to be amazing. Jo reported the attendance of about 43,000 Rotarians and friends at the conference. She particularly enjoyed the food court in the House of Friendship where she met people from around the world. She became aware that we have a “damn good club” compared to many around the world. She’s right. The Rotary Club of Marana received tremendous recognition among the participants (80 + countries) for partnering with the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation to provide mental health examinations. We provided 180 assessments and noted, in Randy’s case, about 8% had some degree of cognitive impairment and those individuals were referred to physicians in those their communities for follow-up. Some of the most helpful sessions were related to peace, sex trafficking, conflict between individuals and clubs and great plenary sessions with Dr. King presenting, Bill Gates, and many others. Basically it was awesome. Jo raised the question of whether Polio can really ever be eradicated. Randy as the Assistant Zone Rotary Regional Coordinator for the Rotary Foundation, is researching these observation to find out the most recent scientific studies and beliefs among the stakeholders. Randy will submit a report upon conclusion of conversations with physicians, scientists, CDC, WHO and others. This Sunday is Joe Hentges installation as Governor of D-5500. It appears that we have enough members attending but not sure about obtaining a table for just us at this late date. Happy Bucks: Most gave acknowledgement to Mary Straus for her creative and solid leadership; this past year. Denise thanked those that helped at the Food Bank this past week …. Delivering food for those with less. DENISE WAS AWARDED THE TITLE OF MARANA ROTARY CLUB MEMBER OF THE YEAR. A GREAT FEAT FOR A NEWER MEMBER. WE ARE ALL PROUD OF YOU. Eric stated that his book “Owner’s Compass” was the best seller for several days on Amazon in three categories. A Huge congratulations to Eric …. Proud of you. Richie just completed a two week summer camp with the Boy Scouts. Mary drew and quickly lost in the drawing. Mary recognized Peter Mack who received his Paul Harris recognition for both levels 2 and three. Thank you, Peter. He responded “this money comes back to us for projects. I tell other charities that my choice for donations is the annual program fund of the Rotary Foundation.” That quote is paraphrased …. But the message was clear. Mary Farewell Speech: .JPG) Mary discussed her year as president and how much it means to her to be involved in our club and district. On the District 5500 level she discussed, many projects that distinguish us. Further she stated that Dr King suggested that we are all connected as people and how we treat one another is as important as how we treat ourselves. Further she stated that as Dr King suggested we should be ashamed when we die if we have not lived a life of service.Mary discussed our success with projects and activities this year: Helping disadvantaged youth for MUSD, MCAT, Food Bank, Christmas and Thanksgiving food and gifts for family, Interact, RYLA, Peace Camp in Africa, Shelter box, funds for 3,000 polio vaccines, Alzheimer Prevention screenings, air conditioning for Vietnam Veteran, donated $7,000 + to The Rotary Foundation and $1,000 + to Polio Plus. Mary gave a hear felt thank you to board members, Joe Holt, Tony Hunter Maeve, Harold, Lynne and Randy Mary thanked the club for this experience made her a better speaker, leader and Rotarian. We sang “For she’s a jolly Good Fellow.” And gave a standing ovation. |
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Rotary Meeting 6/13/2017Well, here it goes. This bulletin is brought to you (maybe) by your Secretary Elect filling in for Sec Randy brooks. He plus fellow members Mary Straus, Jo Holt and Don Jorgensen are among the 40,000 plus attendees at the International conference in Atlanta, Georgia. President Elect Elect Tony Hunter gaveled (is that a word?) in the meeting promptly at 8am sharp and punctually ended it at 8am. In between were sporadic moments of laughter, enlightenment and coffee. Tony began with the reading of notes from President Elect Holt sent from Atlanta. Apparently in addition to our own Marana dignitaries others from around the world also attended including someone named Bill Gates. Javier collected Happy Bucks from Tony, Dan, Bob (soon to be a member) Bishop, Richie and others. A secretary with better hearing would have been able to report the source of their happiness. Lynn told a joke and since it included the name of a former presidential candidate perhaps her timing was perfect with so many of the Democratic persuasion being out of state. In any case this writer found it to be pretty funny. Our speaker, Sheila Foraker, was introduced by Maeve. Sheila is the Route Director for the Tour de Tucson and works for Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, a 501c3 organization. This non profit has raised about 78 million for 60 different charities in its first 34 years of existence. They operate four Bike Rides (not races) in Arizona 1) Tour de Phoenix/Mesa, 2)Tour de Tucson, 3) Pima Co Loop? and 4)?????. Their events are open to all ages and abilities. With ten staff and 1,000 plus volunteers they coordinate rides that require the involvement of numerous city, county, university and tribal governments. Eighteen aid stations with 180 portable toilets, 7,000 ponds of bananas, 7,230 gallons of water, 6,000 ponds of oranges, manned by church, club and civic organizations like our own Rotary Club of Marana makes the whole thing work. Sheila may be contacted at route@perimeterbicycling.com or 520-745-2033.
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Rotary Meeting June 6, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MINUTES 2-6-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Club Secretary  Meeting held offsite at the business of Bob Bishop whom will be joining our club in the very near future. Bob owns a company called Ariel Productions. No pledge, or invocation or song. Bob simply gave those in attendance a tour of his business and described how his one person airplane is made and the various uses of this amazing machine. Bob has been a pilot at Air Shows, his plane was in James Bond movies, TV shows. On the tail of each plane (he had about 4 present) is the logo for the Freedom Team. This plane could fit in your living room or garage. It is very small and only weighs about 500 pounds. It could take off on the deck of a cargo ship, almost vertical and travels very fast. As Bob says it is like flying a missile. .jpg) Bob gave us some of the applications of this airplane (it only fits one person) and flies at low altitudes (as low as 17 feet off the surface of the earth) and has many military uses. For example he has flown as close as a few hundred feet from the Pentagon and the White House to test our US defenses from missile attacks. His plane was used for the “Coor’s Silver Bullet” ad campaign. Bob has bailed out of his planes twice and he claims that is why he could be seen as vertically challenged.Many of the applications of the airplane he could not discuss because they are secret. He did discuss the various radar uses and the sophistication of the electronics on his airplane. One of his employees was in the Marine Corps …… hooorah and was the pilot of the helicopter for the Reagan and Bush administrations. Bob was very gracious in feeding us, giving us coffee to drink and made all of us comfortable. Thanks for a very interesting morning, Bob. Next week a few of us: President Mary, President Elect Jo, Don Jorgensen and I will be at the Rotary International Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. We will be helping with the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention booth (a club project) and at the Ride to End Polio booth (a district project), attending classes, receptions and generally having a good time John Dooling will be taking attendance and notes so treat him nice. I will see you all. Tuesday, June 20, 2017. With four of us gone it is important that as many of you as possible attend the meeting next week and for the rest of the year.  |
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Social May 2017 Rotary Club of Marana social Tuesday evening. John and Harold preparing to go away for the summer. We will miss you.
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Rotary Meeting May 23,2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING MINUTES 5-23-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary Meeting opened by President Mary Straus with the pledge and a thoughtful moment by President Elect Jo Holt. I am adding more titles today for new members that may be trying to figure out who is who in the club. We had 76% of our members attend today. Guests included Amber Mathewson, Director of the Pima County Libraries, our potential new member Bob Bishop s and Fred Fox of the Presidio Club of Tucson. REMINDER: WE ARE DARK NEXT WEEK. INSTEAD OF A MEETING WE WILL BE HOLDING A CLUB SOCIAL AT THE THUNDER MOUNTAIN BREWERY IN THE FOOTHILLS MALL AT 5:30 PM THAT EVENING. PLEASE LET JO HOLT KNOW IF YOU ARE NOT ATTENDING. Reminder President Elect Jo will be having her installation 27 June 2017 at our regular club meeting. Please invite your family, friends and business friends to this important event.  The 20th of June, President Mary Straus, will be conducting her last meeting and plans to find ways to thank the club for service to our community and for supporting her this past year. Congratulations to both of these fine leaders.This past weekend, President Mary, Secretary Elect John Dooling, Don Jorgensen President Nominee Designate Eric Miller and PDG Randy Brooks attended the district assembly. We encourage all of you to attend these district level training opportunities whenever possible. It makes us a more effective club and we find ourselves engaged at new levels. Bob Bishop informed the club that he is marrying his fiancé, July 22, in Sedona, AZ. Congratulations Bob.  President Mary inducted the following new members: Richie Benner, (John is his mentor) and promptly assigned him to the task of social media for the club. Richie is a lifelong Tucsonan, graduated from Marana High School and is Director of the Boy Scouts in this region. Welcome Richie. Lori Malagone (Mentor is Tony Hunter), M.Ed., is Executive Director of Arizona Youth Partnership. This organization works statewide. Lori is also a lifelong resident of Tucson and graduated from Mountain View High School. She is a wonderful young lady that will benefit our club for years to come. I said young because both of these new members are millennials. She will be assigned to community service. Bob Bishop will be voted on today for membership by the board of directors. He is CEO and President of Aerial Productions, Inc. He is a former Rotarian from Oregon. Bob will be voted on today by the board and members will have a week to respond with any concerns. He has attended three meetings and based on approval is eligible to join. Don’t forget we will have our meeting June 6 at his place of business at 7 AM. The address is 3865 N Business Center Drive., Suite 101, Tucson, AZ. Phone number is 520-682-1281. He has promised to allow Mary and Jo fly the aircraft that he designs and builds at his facility. We are dark because of the social next week but a few of us are meeting at 8 AM at the site of last year’s El Tour de Tucson aide station to discuss with Perimeter Cycling where we might be placed next year. The raffle was promptly won and lost by Denise. We all felt terrible for her lack of luck. Tonight is the MCAT High School graduation. Several of us are attending and having dinner first at Nana’s Kitchen. It will be fun and is always moving. The ceremony is at 7 PM and dinner at 5:30. We learned today that our club is eligible for the presidential citation after two members and the two new members made a donation to the annual programs fund of Rotary International Foundation. Congratulations to the club and thank you Mary for your leadership this past year. OK….. Finally to our guest speaker:  Amber Matheewson, Director, Pima County Libraries can be reached at 520-594-5650 or write her at amber.mathewson@pima.gov. Amber raised from being a customer service clerk to being the director of 26 libraries. She fell in love with books when she was 8 years old and foraging through the books at the bookmobile in her community. Libraries are “America’s great equalizer.” Any ethnicity, age, sex culture can enter and obtain a free library card and obtain educational and entertainment material. She has an “Impact Plan” that included Education, connected learning, and community outreach.Education: Improve early literacy, career study HS diploma as opposed to GED. She expressed concern that graduation rates are diminishing in Arizona. Connected learning: learn about business, and economic development. Connect to compete: Computer education. 25% of households do not have a computer but they can use one at the library and the library donated 50 computers last year to needy families. Community: you can check out plan and vegetable seeds (you don’t have to return them). They hold arts and cultural events. You may rent a space for your community meeting for no charge. There is a library nurse program. The nurse give educational presentations and refers people to treatment providers. They hold ESL classes, summer reading program and give books to kids that work throughout the summer. I am very impressed with our library and of Amber. Thank you so much for this presentation. |
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Rotary MeetingMay 16.2017MEETING MINUTES 5-16-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary 5-16-17 Meeting called to order by President Mary Straus. She also led the pledge. President Elect Jo Holt gave a thought for the day ….. From Mr. Rogers Attendance dipped below 80% attendance today for the first time in several months. Must be summer. Harold our resident greeter was not in attendance today ….. We were all concerned but we learned he is OK ….. A minor medical problem so Harold know we were thinking about you. Visitors: Richie Benner, Boy Scouts of America, will be inducted next week. Lori Malagone, Executive Director Arizona Youth Partnership, will be inducted next Tuesday. Bob Bishop, CEO, Aerial Productions Intl., Inc., guest today and officially submitted his application for membership. Carolyn Gorst, Education Manager, Junior Achievement of Arizona. The club expressed sadness regarding our guest and soon to be new member, Richie Benner, in regards to the loss of his niece in a swimming accident. Our thoughts are with you and your family Richie. Mary discussed that Rotarian Ray Naylor is advocating for the Civil Discourse initiative and it’s National Institute. This was founded after the terrible shooting in Tucson of politicians’, civilians and, children, January 8, 2011. Two of the members are past presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton. Civility can exist between all of us. Rotary proves that daily. We had not one but two jokes today from Maeve and Lynne. Sadly I did not write them down …. One was about a duck bill and the other referenced pasta. Sorry. Xavier provided levity during Happy Bucks John Dooling won and then lost the drawing. We then acknowledged Xavier’s Mother for her abilities as chef for our club meetings. Carolyn Gorst, Manager Education for Junior Achievement of Arizona presented at the invitation of Joseph Farr, Bank of the West. Here’s the news: Founded in 1919 as a response to the industrial revolution to help young men and women learn about financial literacy. Students working in that era were able to make money but made poor financial decisions (remind you of any other youth). Here are the stats: 30% of students do not graduate from high school, Arizona ranks near the bottom of graduation rates. Of the students in school and attending Junior Achievement 56% qualify for HUD housing assistance. Young adults from 21-15 years of age have the dubious recognition of filing bankruptcy at the highest rate of all persons. Traditionally children receive one semester of training about money in Economics. Now the fun started: we did an experiential exercise geared for third graders. It was fun and the team of Mary, Lori, Tony and Randy were the clear winners. Each work group was asked to form a business, decide location and pay rent, utilities, taxes, advertising, purchase goods and services, supplies, learn about credit. Again this is geared for 3rd graders so most of us were severely challenged. It was fun. Carolyn asked if members would be interested in volunteering for this organization. Deferred to President Elect Joe Holt. One day in the spring or for a week at the high school each year. Not a huge commitment and perhaps possible. Joseph Farr and Jo Holt may pursue. Carolyn: 520-792-2319 carolyng@jaaz.org. Do not miss the meeting next week where we will be inducting two new members to our Rotary family. Lori and Richie. |
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Rotary Meeting May 9, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MINUTES 5-9-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks Pledge and Reflection completed. Guests: Rob Bishop whom is submitted his application for membership in the next few days. Brenda Soto …. Math Teacher, MCAT and Denise Coronado Principal. The student of the month did not show for his award. Food Bank tomorrow: Mary, Randy, Don, Denise. Next month because several of us will be at the international convention the following have agreed to help: Denise, Tony and if he is in town, Peter Mack. MCAT Graduation is planned for Tuesday 5/23/17, 7:00 PM and all club members are encouraged to attend. Maeve suggested that those attending consider meeting at Nana’s Kitchen at 5:30 for dinner before proceeding to the Marana Middle School where the event is held. Mary discussed the presidential citation from Rotary and noted that we appear to be short on the Every Rotarian Every Year category. Lynne states that she does not make contributions until May so that observation may not be accurate. Our foundation giving is very good … we are third in the district at giving (per capita) at this time. Thank you to our club members. She also noted that at one time (a few years ago) our club was 50% female. That figure has dropped to 29% at this time. Mary requested that everyone go to the www.myrotary.org and sign on as a member if you have not Denise won the drawing and then promptly lost. Sorry. Visit our club website and have a look. Harold has done a great job on updating the site and Mary has downloaded photographs to compliment his work. Go to www.maranarotary.org. President Jo Holt will be installed as president June 27, 2017 7 AM during our regular meeting time. It is asked that your contact Maeve’s assistant to RSVP for the event. President Mary asks that we all attend not only Jo’s installation but attend the meeting on the 20th of June for a special appreciation by Mary of club members and those that have helped her this past year.  Presenter: Bob Bishop …. Bob is a potential member (sponsor Don Jorgensen) whom built the world’s smallest Jet ….. Known by many as the Coors Silver Bullet. It travels at 320 miles an hour and was a prototype of plane that he has built to see if our national defense systems are adequate to intervene in a missile attack. He stated we are good at shooting cruise missiles and he works on making sure the USA is not vulnerable to attack by similar missiles. His team routinely flies (with permission) only a few thousand feet from the White House and Pentagon to test our defense systems. He is an honorary squadron leader at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. He has been a pilot in air shows and builds very interesting machines.June 6, 2017 at 7 AM we will meet at his place of business and have a tour. His address is Bob Bishop President CEO Aerial Productions Intl., Inc. 3865 N Business Center Drive – Suite 101 Tucson, AZ 85705 520-682-1281 We will not have a regular meeting that week. The meeting will be held at Bob’s place of business. What an interesting presentation. |
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Rotary Meeting 5/02/2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING MINUTES 5-3-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary Meeting Called to Order by President Mary Straus. Pledge completed and invocation by Jo Holt. No song today. A sigh of relief by some, sadness expressed by others. Visitors: Bob Bishop, President and CEO of Aerial Productions Intl, Inc. He was brought to the club by Don Jorgensen as a potential member. Application Pending Lori Malagone, M.Ed., Executive Director of Arizona Youth Partnership. This is the second week of visitation by Lori and hopefully she will be voted on by the board next Wednesday at the board meeting. Her sponsor is Tony Hunter. Javier Avalos, Owner of Ina Road Auto Collision visited as well. He is interested in membership and his sponsor is Eric Miller. Application Pending Mary Franco, Principal, Open Doors Community School, presented today and also indicated to Randy that she would like to join our club. (I suggested that she go to the website and download an application). Sponsor Mary Straus (I think). Richard Benner, Jr., Field Director of the Boy Scouts of America has now had his application in for two weeks. I called his today and asked him to attend next week so the board can vote on his application. Sponsor is John Dooling. I think this is the first time, in my knowledge, that we have had five potential members in the chute for admission to the club. To make up for it we sang Happy Birthday to Joe Farr who celebrated his 27th birthday. A reminder: Dues are not being collected … don’t make us send an enforcer to collect from you. Some of you also received an invoice for Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY). It is only $100.00 per year make your donation as soon as possible to the “Annual Programs Fund.” So we can get some of that money back for projects in three years. District Conference attended by President Mary, Don Jorgensen, Jo Holt and Randy Brooks. Jo attended sessions related to Youth Services. Don and Randy attended the Grants Management Seminar (this qualifies us to pursue a District or Global Grant in 2017-18. Don encouraged the club to look into a district grant. “It’s sad to leave money on the table.” The decision (in rough form) must be submitted to the district by July 15 or we will be ineligible to apply.  Mary, Don and Randy gave out cookies at the district conference. Both were warmly received. Thank you to Mary and Deb Hume (Randy’s spouse) for baking cookies and to Dan Contorno for suggesting we hand out the 40 Tour de Cookie T-shirts. It was really fun.Don announced that the Rotary Club of Marana and the Rotary Club of Dove Mountain Marana are two of the top three giving clubs to the foundation so far this year. Our club gained a tremendous amount of notoriety and respect at the District Conference. We are truly one of the absolutely best clubs in the district. Maeve suggested we collaborate with Marana Health Center and have Clint help us. Mary suggested we consider TROT … an organization that provides equine therapy to children with autism and adults struggling with emotional issues. I have seen these efforts help dramatically with veterans with PTSD from combat. If you have not visited our website. Please do so. Harold Burtzloff did the work and he did a great job. Thanks Harold. I am sure I missed some of the announcements today but here are a few: Don is celebrating his 38th Wedding anniversary this week. Xavier is celebrating an anniversary as well (did not get the number), Dan and Heather are celebrating 15 years of wedding bliss. Harold has been a Rotarian for 48 years, Tony and Clint have been members for one year. Don is celebrating 9 years in Rotary. May 4, 1987 is the anniversary of women in Rotary. Mary read the Council on Legislation history of “shame” (my word) in rejecting for scores of years the entry of women into Rotary. The Supreme Court made the final decision for those in the USA. Sylvia Whitlock, a Governor classmate of Randy was the first woman to enter Rotary. She is and was a psychotherapist and to this day is an example for all of us. Mary, Maeve, and Randy told stories of the struggle to introduce women into Rotary. Don suggested we watch TNT on Thursday nights to see how the FBI operates in New York City. The film is just one year old and in interesting in that Don and Kathy’s daughter is a FBI agent in New York. Maeve announced that her daughter and granddaughter are doing great now…. Hooray! She then told a joke about a pirate that was being driven nuts. Sigh.  Guest speaker: Mary Franco from Open Doors Community School. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Phoenix and is a current doctoral student. Raised on a farm in Bisbee she was encouraged by both of her parents to become an educator in their footsteps. She has three children and was principal of the middle school she attended as a child.At the Open Doors School they have 26 students and will cap admissions at 70. They accept children with risk factors including teen pregnancy, drug issues and learned disabilities. The partner with community resources to meet the need of children and integrate those services into the learning experience. All teachers are certified. Students can arrive at 7:30 and stay till 5:30 PM to assist working parent |
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Rotary Meeting 4/25/2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA CLUB MEETING 04/25/17 MINUTES Submitted by Randy Brooks Pledge and invocation were completed. The song this week, as selected and led by John Dooling was “Old McDonald” he received the support and encouragement of many club members. Visitors today: Lori Malagone, Executive Director of Arizona Youth Partnership (AZYP). She submitted her application for membership today and the board will ask for a vote soon from members. Also there for his last visit was PDG Tom from the Tri-Cities of Washington and a proud member of the Rotary Club of Kennewick. Also, not at the meeting but mailing an application in for membership today is Richard Benner, Jr. Richard is with the Boy Scouts of America and works as a field director. Need to introduce him to Don Jorgensen, our own Eagle Scout. We hope Richard will be invited to a meeting so we can all meet him before voting. Four of our members are going to the district 5500 conference this weekend: President Mary, Don Jorgensen, President Elect Joe Holt and PDG Randy Brooks. Don will attend as well as work at the Shelter Box booth. We will also have a booth for “Tour de Cookie, “and at the booth giving out a limited number of T-shirts and cookies. President Mary discussed how the club is running at a deficit at this time. Our dues, happy bucks and raffle tickets just keep us afloat. This will need to be addressed in Jo Holt’s term as president. Mary discussed a program the probable next new member may propose. It consists of mentoring middle school aged children at a local school. The mentoring may be done individually or in groups. This notion was just floated as an idea. Four members said they would be interested. We will surly need more participation and the issue was tabled until more information is learned about the mentoring, when, where and expectations. We discussed the food bank schedule and four people have agreed to help. New to the task is Don Jorgensen, Thank you Don and thanks to John Dooling for helping last time. Drawing: Randy won and lost again. It’s become a weekly ritual. “You can’t win if you don’t play.”  The speaker today is LuAnn Gerker, Ph.D., University of Arizona, Psychology Department. Her specialty is in childhood early language. You may reach her at gerken@emial.az.edu.LuAnn spoke of the need for children to read to children during the last three months of pregnancy. She states children can distinguish the tone and vibration of sound waves from the mother and others that are speaking. She spoke of how children are most pliable and able to comprehend different languages in the after first six month of life. She indicated it is hard to recruit mothers to allow studies to be done on babies. She reminded us of the days when expectant mothers were in the paper and new babies are not announced like they once were. Some of the tips offered by Dr Gerker were: Talk to your baby, be a storyteller and repeat the stories often, even if the child is not learning quickly treat them “as if”, they are learning. She told Don that the children can be taught to “speak” using sign language but they do not develop the nuance of vocabulary as other children might. She mentioned that baby listen for sound and music. However they do not appreciate hip-hop. I made that up so don’t go telling her playing hip-hop for your in utero children has done wonders for the baby. After 7 years of age it becomes much more difficult to learn language. So start early with those kids. Thank you Dr. Gerken for a very interesting presentation. Meeting adjourned. Thanks to all of you for helping our community. |
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Rotary Meeting 4/18/17ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING MINUTES 4-18-2017 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary Meeting opened with the pledge, President Mary offered a moment of reflection regarding stick figures (people) on the back of vehicles and how we can be cognizant of being kind to one another. 87% of our members attended today. The song selected by John Dooling. This tune has a cool history dating back, I think he said to the Civil War and has been recorded by almost every musician since (just joking). This song was performed at Churchill’s funeral, recorded by numerous people, such as Judy Garland, Johnny Cash and many others. It was rewritten by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). The song is called, in the USA, Battle Hymn of the Republic. Great history lesson, John. We actually sang it in key. Guests included past district Governor Tom from Pasco, Washington. Next week he will leave and return to the Northwest. It is somewhat cooler in the Tri-Cities of Washington, but not a lot. Many people do not know that the Center and southern part of Washington State is a desert environment (chaparral). We will miss Governor Tom. Breakout your calendars: Jo Holt will become president of the Rotary Club of Marana, July 1, 2017. Her installation will be June 27, 2017, 7:00 AM, at Nana’s Kitchen and will be a breakfast affair. Please put this meeting and event in your calendar now. Mary discussed articles from the most recent Rotarian magazine regarding activities in Guatemala and polio eradication in Nigeria. In Nigeria polio detection was discussed and the expense of hunting down the virus around the globe. Maeve told the story about how Lyle, her spouse, purchased a pair of tennis shoes from a local drug dealer and now he is tripping. We were all happy to see Peter back at the meeting ….. He has been traveling the world. Harold announced that Club Runner has an app for our phones that is very effective. Go to your app store and type in Club Runner. Have Fun. Jo announced she is attending a rally on Saturday ….. A rally for Science. She finds it odd that we must rally for science in order to reaffirm we believe in it.  Jo introduced our speakers from the Marana Unified School District; Cynthia Ruich, Director of Student Services and Christina Noriega, Family Resource Coordinator. Jo added that it may be possible to work with these educators on a District Grant in the future.Cynthia discussed “Food Packs,” and how these packs provide nutrition for students in need throughout the school year. She also discussed how the school district has two buses that distribute meals (breakfast and lunch) throughout the district during holidays to students that are low income and are not likely to receive needed meals at home. These buses also have the ability to provide basic immunizations and dental care for students. She discussed homeless students (purchasing supplies) and the provision of counselors that assist when students or family members pass away. Christina described herself as an occasional “social worker,” and enjoys the part of her job that allows her to visit students’ homes and learn about what the student needs to be more successful. She also coordinates a “clothing bank” for students as well as the Holiday Share program. As you know we have been active in this program for many years. They do their best to provide food and gifts to over 600 families per year. She complimented the Rotary Club of Marana in that we follow through with our commitments. We then entered into a discussion of generational poverty and how many students learn a poverty culture which makes it more difficult to recognize the problem in their own lives. She stated that impoverished families rarely move further than 5 miles from the place they have lived as adults. They accept the altered norms of the community. They indicated there are many myths regarding poverty. They did state that programs like MCAT can break that cycle. Meeting adjourned with the 4-Way Test. , |
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Rotary Meeting April 11, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING MINUTESS 4/11/17 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary Called to order by President Mary Straus. Pledge led by Eric Miller and invocation by Guest PDG Tom Halazon, RC of Pasco, WA. 87% of the club attended today. Good work. Guests: Tom as mentioned above and his spouse, Sharon. Song: Let by John Dooling and Jo Holt. It made our imaginations soar with what it might be like to hear the actual tune. Thank you John and Jo for the glorious attempt of leading this group with limited musical attributes. Whew. I caught a few, but not all of the announcements: We missed John D’s birthday. Denise West celebrates one year of membership in our club …… time passes so quickly. Xavier had a birthday and Joe Farr is not far behind in celebrating hers. Harold is celebrating his 45th wedding anniversary and Maeve Johnson is celebrating her 26th. She had a birthday as well. Eric donated a computer to the club today. It did not work completely because of a conflict between Apple and Microsoft. Someone smarter than this writer will figure it out. .jpg) Standing ovation for Dan Contorno for his leadership with the Tour de Cookie. Great job Dan to you, Tony (I heard he was your backbone. I think they meant he had your back). Over 70% of the club actively engaged and volunteered in this project. Two visiting Rotarians, PDG Tom and his spouse volunteered as well.The rest of the meeting was centered on a review of the Tour de Cookie: Happy bucks: Randy won and then quickly lost …….. Four Way Test and meeting adjourned. |
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Rotary Meeting April 4, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MINUTES 4-4-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks Meeting called to Order by President Mary Straus. Pledge completed and a heartfelt song selected by John Dooling was sung. “Itsy Bitsy Spider” was the song. It brought tears to some of our eyes. Thank you John for the song … it was fun and David thanks for a nice impromptu job with the meditative moment. Set up of the electronics was attempted by Randy who whined endlessly (nothing new here) about the computer and projector not working. A few people indicated they would work on getting a different computer to see if it works. Eric volunteered to donate a computer to the club that may work. Harold indicated that he will research connectors. Maeve suggested we bring in a consultant to tell us what we need. The majority indicated we should try the new computer and then evaluate what to do. Someone volunteered to see if they can learn to use Xavier’s projector as well. Guests: Past District Governor Tom Halazon, of, Pasco, Washington and Ricard Benner who is with the Boy Scouts of America. Richard is considering membership in our club. Other visitors included Shyla Grave, MCAT student of the month, her mother Tara. One teacher joined us and of course Denise Coronado.  Dan reviewed how we are doing with the Tour de Cookie. We have over 100 + registered and more coming. It looks like we may hit over two hundred riders. Thank you Dan, Tony and your team for making this an event to remember. If you would like to volunteer (and please do) contact Dan at gowhtsox@gmail.com or call him at 520-404-8275.Eric brought us a banner from the Rotary Club of Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada. Aleta of the Dove Mountain Club sent along a verbal invitation for us to join her club at a special meeting with a great speaker, April 20, 2017 at 6 PM. Jo Holt stated she judged at a high school science fair this past week. She loved judging ….. Too much. Many of us fanaticized about what it was once like to judge. Maeve told a joke about a “labracadabra”. It again was too confusing for Randy to wrap his head around. Randy, Rotary Foundation Chair for the club, completed a presentation regarding the Rotary Foundation and all the good works we do in the world. Because of the foundation we have experienced its impact in our community, and the world. Our club is an Every Rotarian Every Year Club and Randy encouraged us to do better. We have five Paul Harris Society Members in the club. Those are folks that donate $1,000 or more per year to the foundation. We have three bequest society members and Randy encourages more folks to donate to this painless effort. He asked that when you make your contribution that you make it to The Rotary Foundation and designated the Annual Programs funds on your donation. The money comes back to the district to assist with local, district and global grants.  Former Rotarian Denise Coronado again introduced the Student of the Month from MCAT of the Marana Unified School District. Shyla Graves has been a student in the district since preschool. She is described as “compassionate, a driven person with thee jobs outside of school. She is described as a positive role model and volunteers at her church with immigrants from other countries. She has a passion for travel and hope to join the US Army and be trained as a “chef.”We were all asked to attend the MCAT graduation at the Marana Middle School May 23, 7:00 PM . Mary asked me to add to the minutes the job and work assignments for April: Greeter: Harold Burtzloff Pledge: Eric Miller Invocation: Mark Murray Program: Jo Holt Sgt at Arms: Xavier Teran Set Up: Don Jorgensen |
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Rotaru Meeting march 28, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING MINUTES 3-28-17 Submitted by Randy Brooks Meeting called to order by President Mary at 7:00 AM. Denise led us in the pledge, meditation completed by Don J. and David H., an almost beautiful rendition of “Clementine” led by Lynne. Xavier collected happy bucks … thanks Xavier for the new screen.. You know Harold never gets a thanks for welcoming all of us to the meeting, thanks Harold. Guest today: Mindy Blake of the Pima Association of Governments and Laurie from the Marana Youth Outreach. Sorry I missed her last name. Randy, John and Don were asked to discuss the newest on the Peru project. Randy spoke for the group, describing the woman in need of help and her family. The board had offered to donate up to $1000 for this project. The Rotary Club Foundation did write a check for that amount. However donations by Mary (discretionary fund), John Dooling and Randy covered the expense. The foundation did not experience a loss on this transaction. Foundation review by Mary ….. It appears that we have $8,918.47 in funds. Remember we are keeping an amount of $2,500.00 for a rainy day fund. Discussion about the Food Bank work this past weekend. Several members attended and supported the effort. Tony was there and had a walkie talkie. He indicated it made him feel quite powerful. Randy gave an update on the youth exchange student from Nigeria. Marana High School was visited today by Randy and arrangements made for her to register for classes. I few hoops still to go through and hopefully she will be awarded a student visa. Dan C. continues to work hard on the Tour de Cookie and is looking for volunteers this weekend. Jo Holt said we have 12 cookie stations and all but two are filled. Two life insurance companies decided to not participate. If you can’t rely on a life insurance group … who can you? I tell you it is a sad day. Guest Speaker:  Mindy Blake, Outreach Coordinator, Pima Association of Governments. Mindy was an anchor on Channel 13, CBS and sat involved with the board of directors of the Amphi School District with Joe Holt. Mindy discussed the Regional Transportation Authority which is in its 11th year. Maintenance of roads, sidewalks are usually complete by the township, city or county in which the roads or sidewalks need help. PAG is mainly concerned about roadways, safety, intersections, train crossings, green belts and pathways. They have contributed to the bike paths in Pima County. Lots of discussion about public transportation and the lack of it in the Picture Rocks area. Mindy stated that 54% of people that ride buses have not vehicle of their own. Mindy discussed how the recession affected tax revenue for building and maintaining roads but that we seem to be coming back from the deficit and the future looks much brighter. If you want to reach out to Mindy Blake her e-mail is MBlake@PAGregion.com, www.PAGregion.com and 520-495-1427 Thank you Mindy for an interesting discussion. |
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Rotary Meeting March 21, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MEETING MINUTES 03/21/17 Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary We had an amazing 90% attendance today. Only two members were not in attendance. Great job Rotary Club of Marana. Introduction of guests: Carol McGorray, Town of Marana Council Member and proud mother of the speaker today …. Maureen Dykinga. More on Maureen later. The pledge was completed, a song was sung and a great meditation completed by David Hindman. We had a guest from the Rincon Club …. I did not catch his name. He was asking for support of his club annual Taste of Chocolate. I have been to this event. The chocolate is amazing. It will be held, April 23, 2-4 PM, at the Double Tree Hotel. Only $15.00 per ticket... Report on the Peru Trip: Well, we are back. The trip was meaningful in several different ways. Don Jorgensen Discussed the trip, Machu Picchu, and our Amazon adventures. Did he mention the heat! Whew. John Dooling discussed a marathon Rotary meeting he and I attended (5 hours) during which possible support via of the foundation may makes lives better for others. He also discussed a beautiful school we visited that is supported by the Club Rotario “Las Vinas de Surco in Lima. There is one project John and Randy are interested in moving on sooner rather than later but that will be discussed at the board meeting later this week. It has to do with a woman living in a shack about the size of your walk in closet. Randy discussed our former Rotary Exchange Student Eleana Acosta wedding the pageantry and happiness shared by her family, friends and host families. She graduated from medical school, married in her church with families and friends attending all in two weeks. Jeff Brownson her husband is a US citizen and IT guy. They have a home in Marana. Eleana promises to join our club as soon as she has adequate salary. Harold brought up the Jim Click raffle and the club voted to not participate this year. Harold will be gone much of the time for ticket sales and we had a pronounced lack of interest last year. There are so many ways that we give to Rotary …… Club decided to focus fundraising energy in other areas. President Mary mentioned that the Rotary International Foundation gives us the “The chance to excel in the world community.” She is right. Remember ….. Our club is a 100% Every Rotarian Every Year Club and at this point not all members have contributed. Please consider making your donation now to support the work of the RI Foundation.  At a previous board meeting PDG Randy (you have to be a PDG to be eligible) was voted by our club to put his hat in the ring for the Rotary International Council on Legislation. This is a three year term with annual telephone calls about Rotary procedures and policy ending with an in person meeting for the full council (all districts in the world) in 2019. Randy thanked the club and the board for support of his various ways to work almost full time for Rotary.Maeve said a funny joke during Happy Bucks ….. Xavier seemed pleased at the level of participation and smiled brightly as donations were made. Saturday, March 25th Mark, Randy and Deb Hume will be at a bike swap in Oro Valley distributing information about the Tour de Cookie. As you know this is the largest fundraising event for our club and appreciate the support you all give. Dan Contorno and his team has done a great job of marketing this important and fun event. While we were gone I heard that Mary, Eric, Dan, Tony, Joseph and I’m sure others worked the bike path. Thanks to everyone that is working to keep our club one of the best in the district. We had issues with the projector and PowerPoint today. The speaker was unable to use the machine. Seems it is becoming an antique. Speaker:  Maureen Dykinga of the Spoon Foundation gave a presentation regarding the feeding of severely handicapped and challenged children with disabilities. Many are orphans and in foster care. The Spoon Foundation facilitates training, education of workers and volunteers caring for these children. A few tips are to use larger than normal spoons, “spoon scraping” (this is scraping the food on the roof of the mouth so the child does not gag). Positioning of the child is important. Some have never actually sat up to eat because of the inability to have necessary motor coordination. Another focus of this organization is to increase buy- in regarding the needs of these children and increase awareness in the community. They have completed before and after studies regarding the general health and anemic levels of these children and see significant improvement after families are trained. Thank you Maureen for the work you and your colleagues do to improve the lives of these unfortunate children. President Mary is planning to follow up with Maureen. |
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Tour de Cookie Display at Farmers Maarket |
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Rotary Meeting March 14, 2017Minutes of Marana Rotary meeting Tues 3/14/2017  One of our favorite meetings today – we honored our MCAT Student of the Month! Principal Denise Coronado presented Cheyenne Willingham. Cheyenne brought along her science teacher, Ms. Soto, along with her friend Xavier and her Dad, Adam. As she was happy to talk with us about herself (not always the case with our Students of the Month, especially at 7am), we peppered her with questions. She has a very focused interest in horses, including breeding and training, and she has chosen to attend college in New York. Cheyenne says of her teacher Ms. Soto, “she’s awesome”. We all applaud Cheyenne and wish her the very best.Our Club President, Mary Straus, informed the Club about a new part of the Rotary gun policy. The policy states that no Club should engage in or sponsor any activity that involves the transfer of ownership of a weapon. This policy is somewhat controversial, and we discussed it. Thank you, Mary, for making us all aware of this update. Denise West and Dan Contorno assisted President Mary with the Food Bank food delivery in Picture Rocks last week, and Denise said that she enjoyed it and that we need more volunteers! The Food Bank is asking for assistance every second Wednesday of the month (in the morning), and a very large crowd showed up last week, so the need is definitely there. Mary will bring the sign-up sheet again next week.  AND FINALLY --- Today’s date is March 14, and we all know what that means – it’s Pi Day! The value for Pi is 3.14…, so, well, you get it. Pi Day is celebrated all over the world, and Jo Holt gave a brief description of the parameter, including that Pi is both irrational and transcendental. Like many of our members. Oops! And Jo read a fascinating account of the relationship of something to something else squared. Or something. You had to be there. Maeve Johnson re-awakened the group with a delicious cherry pie! Pie for Pi Day, you just can’t beat it. |
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Rotary Meeting March 7, 2017Mar 7, 2017
 Today we were honored to have Fire Chief Cheryl Horvath speak to us about the Mountain Vista Fire District. Chief Horvath has served her fire district since January 2016, and has been in the fire service since 1992. She previously worked in Illinois. Chief Horvath is the past President of the Board of Trustees for the International Association of Women in Fire & Emergency Services. The Chief was accompanied today by Shawn Benjamin, her Community Relations officer, who maintains an active Facebook page at Mountain Vista Fire District. Chief Horvath spoke to us about the District’s size (small, about 19 square miles) and the fact that the District is largely residential, with a population of 31,000. The District serves parts of Oro Valley, Marana, and unincorporated Pima County. They respond to calls for fires, emergency medical service, smoke alarm issues, invalid assists, and, of course, snake relocation. The Mountain Vista Fire District recently signed an auto aid agreement with neighboring Northwest Fire and Golder Ranch Fire. This ensures that all three Districts work together to respond to emergencies. We’re proud to have one of the very few female Fire Chiefs right here in southern Arizona. Thank you for visiting with us, Chief Horvath!And don’t forget --- the 2nd Annual Tour de Cookie approaches! April 8 2017! Register at www.rotarytourdecookie.org.
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Rotary Meeting Feb 28, 2017It was an action-packed meeting of the Rotary Club of Marana this morning! We’re always excited to have guests, and today we were joined by Aleta Weiner, Pres of the Dove Mountain Rotary Club, David Romero, Associate Principal of Tortolita Middle School, and our speaker, Dr. Aminata Kilungo. We were also joined by honorary member Kathleen Neighbors, director of the Tortolita Interact Club. Club President Mary Straus thanked John Dooling for arranging a grant from the Allstate Insurance Foundation to the Marana Rotary Club Foundation for $1000, and noted that Allstate makes a 15% match to John’s donations to the Club Foundation as well.
 A very special event this morning was the induction of a new member, Mr. Joseph Farr from Bank of the West. Joseph has been in the banking industry for 13 years and has always enjoyed being engaged in community service activities. He is currently involved in the Bank of the West’s financial literacy program for first through sixth grades. His next program is coming up this May. Welcome to the Club, Joseph! Our speaker, Dr. Aminata Kilungo, is a lecturer in the College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She also works with SERI, the Sonora Environmental Research Institute. She spoke to us about the desperate need for latrine installations in Tanzania due to continuous outbreaks of cholera. Although construction of toilets is fundamentally important, the villages must have safe water! In addition to training communities in water filtration methods, an emphasis has been placed on digging wells and particularly on harvesting rainwater. Dr. Kilungo pointed out that similar situations exist along the US/Mexico border. We thank her for an excellent presentation and for her hard work! |
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Tour de Cookie at Pets Tour de Cookie at Pets Feb 25, 2017 |
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Rotary Marana Interact We inducted our wonderful Interactors from Tortolita Middle School in a special ceremony on President’s Day, Feb. 20, 2017. Rotary Interact clubs bring together students ages 12-18 to become acquainted with Rotary through projects at their school and in their community and through developing leadership skills. Our Interactors are all 8th graders, which means that they will be at Mountain View High School next year as freshmen. Each of them told us a little something about themselves and introduced their families. President Mary Straus showed videos and talked about being a Rotarian. We are very pleased that each Interactor had family members show up, in spite of the busy lives we all lead. In addition to President Mary, Rotarians John Dooling, Randy Brooks, Denise West, and Jo Holt represented the Club. Interactors were presented with their Interact pin as well as a Friendship pin, and a certificate of membership. Congratulations to all!
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Rotary Meeting Feb 21, 2017ROTARY 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.
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Denise West Open House.jpg)  Mary Randy Harold with Denise West at Ben Bridge Open House
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Rotary Meeting Feb 14, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MINUTES OF MEETING 2/14/17
Submitted by Secretary Randy Brooks
Attendance of 84.21% today. Great job everyone.
Completed the Pledge of Allegiance, Meditative Moment and a song provided by John Dooling. Thanks, John.
Guests included: Joyce Zwick from British Columbia, RYLA student Johnathon Grove and his mother Tina Grove.
Peter Mack is celebrating his birthday, and John Zwick is celebrating 52 years as a Rotarian … WOW!
Eric reported that he was in a bike ride this weekend and that five people signed up for the Tour de Cookie. Great job Eric and we are all sorry about the bee sting.
This next Sunday at 8:00 AM, Dan Contorno, is giving out fliers at Rillito Raceway advertising the Tour de Cookie. If we have enough volunteers perhaps we could have two stations …. Maybe at the Loop Bike Store as well?
Maeve discussed how she and Denise have been shopping for the shut in’s that are provided food by the food bank. The theory is that we will provide a birthday bag for these folks whenever possible to uplift spirits a little. Thanks Maeve and Denise...
Maeve also asked for volunteers for the food bank on March 25 to help cook, I think, for donors to the organization. Maeve made it clear that this event is not a club project but she did ask for our help and indicated she would be using out shade tent at the event.
RYLA participant, Johnathan Grove, Marana High School Student reported he had a wonderful time at RYLA in January. He discussed the speakers, and how one speaker jogged from San Francisco to New York ignoring his several physical limitations. Another person gave a presentation on leadership … this was a woman from Russia and she spoke of leadership and commerce. He also discussed the fun and challenge of the zip line, rock climbing wall and a service project. At the service project they packed bags for children in need of a lift up.
Maeve told her usual joke: “This is a really dirty joke…. Three pigs rolled in the mud.” That’s it. Sorry everyone.
 Our second speaker was Jamie deZubeldia of Sun Apiaries and ReZonation Farm. He discussed the science of having bee hives to produce honey and other products. His company raises bees and also trains those interested in doing the same. He has a deep respect for bees and is slightly fearful of them.The business started in 1986 in Avra Valley. They have trained over 300+ beekeepers since 2009. The goal of his work is to increase honey production to 25,000 pounds of product. He indicated that people whom do this for a hobby have less than 25 hives and those that do it for a business have greater than 100 hives. Pollination accounts for 33-50% of our food supply. One hive can produce about 45# of honey. This is very interesting: They breed queen bees to insure they have a good “temperament” … who would think? He stated after the meeting that Africanized bees are very aggressive and native honey bees are not. If you would like to reach Jamie: 520-603-1804, www.sunapiaries.com or ReZonationfarm.com.
Thank you Jamie. Interesting discussion.
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Food Bank Distribution Last Wed (Feb 8) several of our members assisted at the Marana Food Bank's monthly distribution of food in Picture Rocks. This took place at the Ortiz Community Health Center. Randy Brooks drove the food bank truck over to Center to deliver boxes of food, and helped Mary Straus organize the food into bags. Jo Holt helped Marana Food Bank's Denise Burns distribute the right combination of food boxes and bags to clients. What a nice group of people, both helpers and clients! It was fun and enjoyable, and Mary really got a workout.
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Rotary Meeting Feb 7, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MINUTES OF MEETING 2/07/17
Submitted by PDG Randy Brooks, Secretary
Lots of guests today: Aleta Wiener, RC of Dove Mountain, Joyce Zwick, Pincher Creek Rotary Club, Alberta, Canada, Student of the Month: Audrye Zomar her mother Becky, Educator “Mr. Chuck” and MCAT principal Denise Coronado. We had another guest Dr. Leigh Readdy, Disaster Network of Assistance Rotary Action Group. He is with a Rotary Club in Kirkland, WA and exchanged banners with President Mary.
President Mary started running around giving people coupons for knowing the job assignments they had. Special recognition went to John Dooling. I think he set up although he was not assigned that task.
Aleata Wiener picked up her winnings from the Football Pool … she took second place and Tonja Greenfield, a former member, won the jackpot. Aleta also asked our club to participate in the RC of Dove Mountain Annual Dinner, March 11, 2017. This year they will honor former Rotarian Howard Tatum whom passed away this year. He was a much beloved member of the Dove Mountain Club and retired as a weatherman in Hawaii. Fliers were passed around the room.
Dan Contorno gave an update on the Tour de Cookie. The Facebook page is up and running, please go to it and “friend” the page. Also please send out a notice to all your friends, far and wide, encouraging them to participate in the ride. We have set a goal of 300 riders this year. Tony, Jo and Eric are working hard with Dan and Jo to make this year’s event a success.
Please set aside the date of February 20 at 5 PM to honor the Rotaract Club of Tortillita Middle School. All of the 9 members are National Honor Society Club members and parents will be attending this event. It will be held at the Cougar Café at the school.
Tomorrow is the Food Bank Distribution day. Randy will pick up the truck at 9 AM. Mary and Jo are working to help distribute the food. This is a once a month project and we hope the club will assist by showing up once every six months to work for a period of two hours. Our club keeps saying they would like a “hands on” project. Here you go!
Tony Hunter discussed an opportunity for the club to host a “beer garden” at a Corn Hole Tournament. Last year there were 400 participants. It could cost up to $700.00 for the license and insurance. Tony is checking with Rotary International about insurance... This event will be held March 18 at Cross Roads Park area. There will be further discussion.
 Leigh Readdy discussed world disasters that his Rotary Action Group has responded. He stated that over 100,000 people are living under cardboard as a result of disasters, quoting the earthquakes in Italy, ice storms in Scandinavian countries, and the like. He discussed how his group partners with many other organizations within and outside of Rotary to provide help for others. He handed out fliers which pointed out that they have been building homes for $4,500 in India. Contact Leigh at readdyla@aol.com. Presentation of the Student of the Month. Audrye Zomari is a student at MCAT. She is a lovely young lady that had fallen on rough times and was found with a knife and drugs at school. She was expelled and worked very hard to come back to school. She is from New Mexico and lives with her mother. She was described by her principal and teacher as, “great at academics, has a wonderful attitude and good attendance.” She asked that the principal tell her story so that people could learn what she was like and what she is now. She hopes to enter the nursing program at Pima Community College upon graduation. Audrye is well liked and discussed how her mother has a wonderful positive influence on her. She likes MCAT because of the support of peers, educators and that the environment is “like home.”Happy bucks: everyone participated but of note was Lynne signing “We are the Champions” because her team …. The Patriots won the super bowl. Maeve told another joke, a play on words and it is not to be repeated by this writer. Actually it was a joke that Randy finally got.
Meeting adjourned with the recital of the Four-Way Test.
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Rotary Meeting Jan 24, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MEETING MINUTES 1/24/16
Submitted by Randy Brooks
Guests: Lou Touchette and Jim from ALOHA ….. Adult Loss of Hearing Association … more about them later.
Birthdays for the month were discussed: Dan, Tony and Randy were all born in January. Interesting that it is all males celebrating.
Reminder: Second Wednesday of February we will be distributing food at the Marana Health Care site in Picture Rocks from 9:30 – noon. The address is 12635 W. Rudasill Road, Marana (Picture Rocks), AZ. We will be supporting this effort into the future. If everyone volunteers besides the core group of volunteers most will only need to help once or twice a year.
We are Dark Next Tuesday ….. Don’t forget! We are having a multi club social at Shlomo and Vito’s New York Delicatessen and Pizza, 2870 E Skyline Dr, #120, Tucson from 5:30 to 7:30. Five clubs are participating in this fun evening and we hope to see you all there.
Three of our members attended the Rotary Leadership Institute this past weekend. Mary completed level III, Joe Holt completed level II and Tony completed level I. All said it was very enlightening and helpful. Randy was there as well as a facilitator. Tony summed it up by saying, “I found it very helpful” and Mary stated “It gave me a greater sense of being a Rotarian.”
Don Jorgensen announced that Maeve’s Church donated $1000 to Shelter Box. What a grand gift. Thanks Maeve and your church for being such great folks.
Dan Contorno discussed briefly the Tour de Cookie. We need sponsor’s folks. HMS Bikes has signed on as a major donor. Dan says those that become sponsors will be able to have their name on the rider’s T-shirts.
Maeve told yet another joke having to do with pretzels. There was a collective groan.
Lynne mentioned she has sent out dues statements and has yet to collect from many people. Come on people, you can do it.
Several of us expressed ongoing frustration that the website is still not accessible. (I did get a note today …. Thursday that the site is finally up and running.)
 Guests and back to ALOHA. This group is responsible for placing wires in business and homes that allow those are hearing impaired to hear better. The wire (loop) enables sound to process through the wire and process through an amplifier. There is also a portable looping station one can carry around with them to assist in hearing. Arizona and Michigan are the country leaders in having these wires looped. About 100 businesses in Tucson have looping and our presenter Lou has personally installed the device in 300 homes in Tucson. We learned there is also a hearing impaired support group in town. Suggestions to you that are not hearing impaired to communicate with those of us that are: Don’t Yell, speak slowly and plainly. Give us a chance to see your face so we can read (roughly) your lips. If you are interested in the product for your business or home, or would like to see about the support group call Lou at 520-795-9887.DON’T FORGET WE ARE DARK NEXT TUESDAY.
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Rotary Meeting Jan 17, 2017ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MEETING MINUTES 1/17/17
Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary
We all participated in the Pledge of Allegiance, had a meditative moment and sang a song, “Working on the Railroad.”
Announcements: Several members’ computers are unable to access the Club website and/or Club Runner. Peter states he has authorized Club Runner to take over the hosting of our website. Some members are not having any problems and can’t fathom that others are stymied by this problem. Hopefully the situation will be resolved soon.
President Mary and Randy visited the Food Bank last Wednesday and helped deliver food to those less fortunate in the Picture Rocks area. It was really, really fun. We will be providing this service every second Wednesday of the month and NEED club members to step up and help. We keep hearing that the members want a hands on project and so here you go. We only need about three people each third Wednesday and the attendees can be rotated. Please sign up.
Discussion about the Forum last week with representatives from MUSD, Marana Police Department, The Town of Marana and Marana Health Center. A few of the comments follow:
Maeve “We were building stronger ties to the community. It was a success.” She added that it was a plus for Rotary’s perception in the community.
Others stated: “The Chief should be asked to join the club.” Randy is on top of this invite. Another suggested a School Vocational Day ……. It will be discussed at the board meeting. Mary mentioned how we can provide expertise and insight into substance abuse. More to follow.
We received a card from the Coyote Trails Grade School thanking us for our participation the in building of the playground for disadvantaged children.
Our guest today and presenter is Monica Schmidt, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the U of A. The topic was “Food – Breeding to Genetic Modification. The challenge is how we feed more people without damaging the planet.” Genetic engineering increases productivity and is endorsed by most scientists as an important tool. Monica has been researching soy beans, cotton, maize and Canadian canola. These GMO plants are more resistant to insects and herbicides. The goal is to reduce toxins in food. 10,000 children per year in the USA are affected by Necrotizing Enterocolitis and if breast fed and/or epidermal growth factor is added to the milk it reduces the death rate of this disease by 50%. Monica also discussed Vitamin A deficiency. The Gates Foundation and the U of A are working to reduce the incidence of blindness in Africa …. This deficiency affects 250,000 to 500, 000 children a year. Half of whom die within a year of going blind. Thank goodness we have people like Monica working to save the children and increase food productivity. Thank you for a great presentation.
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Rotary Meeting Jan 10 2017 Our meeting on Jan 10, 2017, was a special Club Assembly which focused on making an assessment of community needs. What does the greater Marana community need the most, and how can our Rotary club take action to address these needs? President Mary Straus assembled a panel of local leaders: Clint Kuntz with MHC Healthcare, Dan Contorno with Marana Unified School District, Lisa Shafer, Community Development Director with the Town of Marana, and Marana Police Chief Terry Rozema. Also present in the audience were guests Aleta Wiener, President of the Dove Mountain Rotary Club; Joe Hentges, District 5500 Governor-Elect; Joseph Farr with Bank of the West, and former Club member Tom Mangold.
Facilitating the panel discussion was PDG and newly-elected Vice Governor for 2017-2018 Randy Brooks, who began the discussion by outlining types of community services that our Club could consider, such as assistance with conflict management, advocacy for those seeking medical treatment, and education and community development efforts through the Rotary Vocational Fund. Randy also discussed needed help with youth, such as through the MCAT program at MUSD, as well as assistance needed, in general, with basic education and literacy. He then raised a series of questions for the panel to address.
1. What are the top two needs in our community?
2. What proper and/or realistic role can we play to help with these issues?
3. Is there a specific role or benefit that can be gained from working with Rotary?
4. Which assistance program have you found to be most effective?
There was general agreement that Rotary could be very helpful within the Marana community, and that many programs could be even more effective with additional assistance from volunteers. In the course of our discussion, two ideas emerged that were of particular interest. Holding a career or vocational fair at a local school was discussed as a means of inspiring students. Developing a resource guide for the Marana area which would list all organizations that provide assistance, and the specific type of assistance provided as well as location and contact information would be very useful both for those in need and those helping them. The Club will be discussing these and other ideas in the near future.
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Rotary Meeting Jan 3, 2017ROTARY 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 pavement. Trees 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.
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Rotary Meeting Dec 27, 2016ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MINUTES 12/27/16
Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary
Don Jorgensen led us in the Pledge, Denise gave us a thought for the day and Mary followed with a video of photos of Chimps’ in Africa opening a gift package of drink and food. It was very funny. The chimps were orphaned and needed a little levity. We did as well. Now that I think about it the goings on reminds me of my family at Christmas.
No song today …… I did not see a dry eye in the house.
Only one guest today, Don Winfield owner of Up and Running Computer Services, tucsonvirusslayer.com.
Reports:
Jo, Peter, Denise, and John Dooling all personally contributed (in addition to the funds donated by the club) to our holiday cheer for a family. They were all pleased and the family very grateful for the kindness shown by our Rotary Club. Thanks to all of you for your generosity of time and money to help this needy family.
Dan Contorno has finished the course outline for the Tour de Cookie bike ride. It will actually be 29 miles this year. Anyway he thinks it his. His GPS broke during the ride …..However, the positioning of the sun and burning of his legs provided valuable information about distance. The shorter distance is to insure those of us with physical challenges will be able to finish the course – like me. Remember, we will need help on the day of the event, riders, and we will ask you all market the event. Don’t forget this is a club project and we ALL need to participate in order for this fundraising event to be successful. The money raised in this insures we can help others throughout the year. Dan, your committee is doing a wonderful job on planning this event. Thank you so much.
Randy reminded everyone of the New Year’s Eve party at his home this coming weekend …. Several have indicated they will be attending. It should be fun. We will have beverages, music, visiting, and goodwill for the New Year. It starts at 7 PM and will shut down when everyone goes home.
President Mary thanked the club for the $300.00 donation to the Bisbee Club to help in the purchasing of food staples for people in Naco, Mexico. Each family was given 30# of food. Once again, our club stands talk in our commitment to help those with less.
Presidents Report: Mary has been compiling a report for the Assistant Governor regarding our club activities for the past quarter. More goes on than meets the eye:
All of the above was just in the last quarter. What an amazing Rotary Club. I’m proud of all of you.
Selected statement during our traditional Happy Bucks ceremony:
Peter ratted out Randy saying he was wrong on the statistics of attendees at last week’s meeting. Forgiveness was offered, as well as accepted. Your esteemed secretary promised to do it again.
Xavier was late, he gave $5.00 for “Happy Bucks’” He had a weird grin on his face …. Kinda creepy.
Eric states he went to a movie this weekend and indicated that a movie called, “Collateral Beauty” with Will Smith was great.
Peter reminded everyone of the outing to Kitt Peak, January 14, 2017, we will meet at a place to be determined at 3:30 PM. We will get back to Tucson at some point ….. I’m forgetting at what time. Carpooling is necessary and sign up is important as well. He can only accommodate 30 people to insure everyone gets to the look through the telescope.
Finally we introduced our speaker:
Program
 Don Winfield is a US Navy veteran and was prior to owning his own computer repair business he was into tuxedo sales and management person. He became interested in computer work and virus detection and formed his own company, Up and Running Computer Services, with his spouse. He discussed those annoying “pop up” banner ads and especially those that say your computer is malfunctioning and it’s important to send your money and children to them to fix the problem. He say’s just turn your computer off (reboot) and they will go away. These companies are frauds and do not respond to them. He is recommended by Eric for maintenance and care of your computer as well as a good man to fix problems. Don can be reached at 520-271-8684 and TucsonVirusSlayer@gmail.com. Website www.tucsonvirusslayer.com.Meeting adjourned. See you all next week in the New Year.
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Rotary Meeting Dec 20, 2016ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MINUTES OF MEETING 12/20/16
Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary
Another fun meeting today. We had 68.4% of our members attend which is not horrible attendance considering we a only a few days away from the Christmas and Hanukkah Holiday. Have a wonderful holiday everyone.
Guests: Kirk Reed, Governor Nominee, R-5500 and Susan Reed, an expert on Epilepsy.
Announcements: Jo states that she and Denise went shopping with the family we are supporting this year, learned that they enjoy music and are very interesting and talented people.
Randy: Discussed the Paul Harris Society. This group of Rotarians, including, I think: John Dooling, Peter Mack, Mary Straus, Don Jorgensen and Randy from our club donate $1,000.00 per year to the Rotary Foundation. If you would like to join this group please contact Randy and he will help you.
Randy also mentioned the Bequest Society and that President Mary Straus obtained level II recognition this past week and that we have openings for additional bequest activity. John Dooling asked for a form to make a bequest. Thank you, John. You are a wonderful Rotarian and a great role model for other Rotarians.
President Mary asked if we would be interested in assisting the Bisbee Club in purchasing garbanzo beans to hand over the border in Naco, AZ – Mexico on Christmas morning. According to Mary the club foundation has the budget and therefore we voted to fund this project in the amount of $300.00. It was not determined who would take the lead on this so I am assuming Mary will make arrangements.
Mary also mentioned a “Million Dollar’ fundraising event to fight hunger. Mary will send details to us in the club. The date of this event is January 19-21 and will be held at the Church of the Nazarene. Specifics and sign-up sheet to follow.
Dan Contorno states he has applied for the permits and insurance for the Tour de Cookie. I can’t wait for this ride …. It will be, as always, a lot of fun.
Don’t forget, January 14, 2014, Dr. Peter Mack taking all interested members of the club and family to Kitt Peak for the evening. We will leave Tucson at 3:30 and return about 9 PM. We will need to carpool. Again, details to follow.
Seven Tucson Clubs are having a social ironically on the same night as our quarterly 5th Tuesday social. Mary suggested that we join those clubs in the event. It will be held at Shlomo and Vito’s, Catalina Foothills, 2870 E Skyline at Campbell from 5:30 – 7:30 PM. The club voted to support this activity. It will be a great chance for those of us that do not get to meet many other local Rotarians to do so.
It was announced by Mary that the Rotary Leadership Institute will be held, January 21, 2017. She indicated she is attending level III. Because we have new members, Randy specifically asked that David Hindman and Tony Hunter attend this all day seminar. We hope that Denise attends and others as well. Let’s get involved in this wonderful organization. It is designed to fill two purposes: one is to orient new Rotarians to Rotary and the other is to help develop leaders for our clubs. Please, let’s have a good showing and as many of us as possible attend this event.
Program
 Susan Reed, representing the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona (www.epilepsyaz.org), Bent Wanderings www.bentwanderings.blogspot.com and Carpe Diem Rides (www.meetup.com/bikegaba/ was our presenter today. Susan has presented before at our club and the club invited her back to further discuss Epilepsy. She recounted the signs and symptoms of epilepsy, care of someone experiencing a seizure, and triggers. She also stated that one of 26 people have epilepsy. Susan has been working to develop a bike riding support group to ride with people with epilepsy but sometimes it is difficult to find those with epilepsy to engage in the sport. Getting the word out is difficult, and obtaining those with the disease to want to ride is a struggle as well.A few don’t in dealing with someone having a seizure: Do not put anything in their mouth ….. They may bite their tongue, cheek or break a tooth and bleed. It’s OK. The will not suffocate. Do not do what I did …. I stuck my fingers in my mother’s mouth during a seizure and as a result she bit to the bone on a couple of them. This almost makes me a candidate for the Darwin Awards. Do not restrain the person, but make sure everything is out of the way so they do not bump into furniture of other objects. Do not feel that you must call 911 unless they are truly hurt. They will come out of the seizure and be spacy but find after a short period of time. Do not make negative judgements about those that have this disease. To learn more about this disorder contact Susan Reed at susanwreed@gmail.com.
Have a wonderful holiday my friends and thanks to each of you for making this club great.
Respectfully submitted,
Randy
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Rotary Meeting Dec 13, 2016ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MEETING MINUTES 12-13-16
Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary
HOLIDAY PARTY ------ YEAH
EIGHTEEN of 19 members attended today …… great job. THAT IS 97.4% OF OUR MEMBERS …. WOW. GOOD WORK.
John Dooling led us in a rousing songfest we all seemed to know the words: Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Denise gave us a thought for the day which included the importance she feels being a part of our club. “I’ve never been in an organization that cares so much … it is wonderful.” Them comment gave us pause to reflect on why we joined Rotary and our reasons for staying. Or a moment to dose off … not sure which. Thanks John and Denise.
Dan states we have approval from Pima to start the Tour de Cookie at Rillito Park this year. This means plenty of parking and interesting routes to take depending on the length of a ride the biker’s prefer. Thank you Dan for your efforts and your committee for working so diligently on this project.
On behalf of The Rotary Foundation, Randy (chair of the club Rotary Foundation) presented,
 President Mary Straus with a crystal trophy and a pin with two stones as a thank you from The Rotary Foundation. Randy described this as a selfless act of kindness by Mary who will never see the benefits of this contribution but nonetheless she will leave a legacy of generosity. She directed her funds to the Annual Programs Fund at The Rotary Foundation. Mary reluctantly accepted the recognition. The club gave her a standing ovation for this act of kindness.OK, its official, the club voted on a slate of officers going into the future: President 2017-18; Jo Holt, President Elect 2018-19; Tony Hunter; President Elect Nominee 2019-20; Eric Miller. Lynne Himmer will continue to be the club Treasurer, and Denise West will be Secretary effective July 1, 2017.
Immediate Past President on the Board will be Mary Straus. At large members of the Board will be Harold Burtzloff, and Eric (President Nominee is not actually board position so Eric will serve as the second at large member).
This is actually our Christmas/Holiday Meeting and Annual Meeting. So business is done let’s PARTY.
Mary directed each of us to mention some event of action we were involved in that brought us joy this year. Each person shared a personal story or reflection. She added that we should all mention something that people in the group would likely not know about us. If I missed anyone please accept my apologies in advance. Here we go:
Denise: She is happy to be a member of this club. She was a gifted swimmer at the YMCA or YWCA, not sure which, where was able to beat her nemesis in a meet even though she bonked her head at the turn around. She smiled brightly when recounting this memory. No one mentioned she repeated the story several times. There may have been minimal traumatic brain injury but no one mentioned her redundancy because, after all, it is the holiday season.
Dan C.: He is happy that the school district has wonderful student athletes. At the AZ State football finals one of the boys from Marana High School was knocked unconscious and both teams, though tearful and afraid for this boy lined up and kneeled together and prayed for him. What a grand gesture by everyone, including the opposing team. Dan discussed how he began college with the hopes of being a nuclear scientist. He lasted two semesters before dropping out (he went back later). Those troublesome science classes got to me as well, Dan. I hate the expectation that you memorize stuff. It’s easier to be a CFO or a therapist.
John Z.: John is happy that he has a great family, his health is good. He also shared him has had surgery on his finger ….. After he tried to cut it off last month. The surgery was a success so he may try again. He did share that he is hard of hearing and that annoys him. He wondered what people are really saying about him (just kidding).
Jo H.: Jo discussed how she was grateful for this past year being head of her political party in Pima County…… many of us were confused about this. But Jo graciously accepted her party’s loss. As a child Jo rode a horse in a swamp and bough. Her parents did not see this as clever. She did not report any injuries. Dan …… she became a scientist. What happened to us?
Mary S: She treasures her nieces. One is very logical and the other a creative free spirit. She loves them both. Her memory is that when her father died she and her mother were carrying his ashes to a spot for internment. Mom tripped and his ashes were spilled into a rock pond. They bother laughed hysterically at this sobering event. Any you didn’t think Mary has a sense of humor.
Xavier: Adores his children and is amazed how quickly they are growing. According to my notes. Xavier, is not much into open disclosure.
Maeve: She was happy and tickled that Randy twisted her arm to join the RC of Marana. She feels that she found a second home filled with “dysfunctional” and loveable people. Just like most families. Maeve’s family had a cat named Rama ……. Rama became lost once and luckily a neighbor found it.
Eric: 2016 was a good year for him, in business and personal life and he is grateful. Did you know that Eric was a two pack a day cigarette smoker up until several years ago? He quit cold turkey. Where does that saying come from…..? Cold turkey? He constantly wheezes but we pretend not to notice. Now he rides bikes and is a genuine athlete.
John D.: John is always happy with his family and the support he finds among them. He shared that he found an old report card from his childhood. His teachers in elementary school (a bunch of them) marked him consistently through the years as having “does not meet standards” attitude. Come on, John joke around. Who would think that?
David: He is very happy for his family. They love him very much ….. Even though he suffered some brain damage from being struck by lightning on top of a mountain in Idaho during a storm. He has not returned to Idaho …. Actually he does not remember what or where Idaho is and the facial twitch has improved markedly.
Jane: She’s very happy that she has a grandchild and who enjoys spending time with her. She said the club did not know that she reads a book a week. There was no embarrassment that she points at the words and mouths them as she reads.
Lynne: Had a great time teaching her niece to cook a turkey. It was a nice moment for her family. She went on to tell a story about how two young girls were pulling the dressing out of a cooked turkey and a Cornish game hen was in the cavity of the bird. They were quite upset that the turkey was pregnant. These girls would have fit nicely in the peer group of Dan C and me. Lynne went on to tell us that she loves to play craps. She is our club treasurer and my personal accountant. OMG
Mark: Mark was proud that he has been able to be a father figure to a 14 year old girl and was in need of an adult to help her this past year. Then, oddly, he went on to say that he was at Mount Rushmore walking around on George Washington’s head. No, Mark, none of us would have thought you did that. Actually he was not sure which president’s head was walking around on, he did not look over the edge to see. OK … so you don’t think he is a crook he was actually doing his duty as a police officer.
Randy: Discussed how he is happy being a member of such an awesome club and that his health is improved this year enough to ride in the El Tour Ride to End Polio. He then went on to say he was recruited to sing in the Marine Corps Choir at Camp Pendleton, California back in the day. He sang a solo and the piano player seemed to develop a crush on him. Randy hid out at the barracks for several days to avoid this guy. Awkward!
Harold: Harold stated he is grateful that he now has 50 years of being an aircraft pilot. Rare among those that fly. Harold is known to fly around Marana asking to no one in particular “where’s the Red Baron, where’s the Red Baron.” He also bets you did not know that he won the Tractor Driving contest four times at the State Fair in High School. Those folks from the Midwest are just party animals.
Peter: He is happy to be home and conversely to travel. Loves spending time with his seven dogs. Someone asked the breeds and he simply looked confused for a moment and said …. “I don’t know.” Peter spoke of his uncle that had tremors in his hands all the time and drank large quantities of rum. He went on to say how he learned that his uncle was aboard two different naval vessels that were sunk in WWII and few survived. Thank would make me shake and drink rum as well. We should thank him for his service.
Don J.: Don is happy for his family and the opportunity recently to visit his daughter whom is in a training in Virginia over the Thanksgiving holiday. He was able to tour historical sites on the East Coast and enjoyed every second. Many of us know Don was the party chair of the Pima County Democrats a few years ago. He shared that he has voted not for one, but two republicans in his life. It’s OK, Don. Breath into the bag the anxiety and shame will lessen. He also stated that Ronald Regan sighed his HS diploma. My principal signed mine.
Tony H.: Tony is happy that his fiancé say “yes.” None of us seem to understand why but were happy for you Mr. President Elect (in July). He also said that he actually scored, wrote and submitted an opera when he was in college. He was a language (English) major and the music department did not support his opera. We could TP their houses if you like Tony.
If I missed any of you sorry the stories were coming fast and furious. If I misrepresented any comments made …. Perfect. Hope you had fun reading them.
The club voted to not go dark this year during the holidays ….. See you all next week.
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Rotary Meeting Dec 6, 2016ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MINUTES OF MEETING 12/6/16
7:00 AM - Nana’s Kitchen – 8225 N Courtney Page Way
Submitted by PDG Randy Brooks, Secretary
This may come as a surprise …. We opened with the pledge and an invocation. Denise asked that as we pray or reflect to keep in our thoughts how animals are being tortured in our own community.
Guests today included Peter Rede, MCAT student of the month, Denise Coronado, Principle, Educator Mr. Chuck, Peter’s mother Belinda and his brother/
Diane Ventura-Goodyear, The Computer Nanny, is visiting today and will be our presenter.
Announcements: Rotary Leadership Institute is scheduled for January 21, 2017. We encourage new members and potential leaders attend these sessions. Please go to the district website www.rotaryd5500.org and register. The club may help with tuition if necessary. This is a very important orientation to Rotary and prepares one for leadership. Randy will be one of the facilitators but please attend anyway.
The Christmas party will be at Nana’s next week instead of John Zwick’s business. Please make notice of this and remind one another of the change.
We received a letter from the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona that the student interviewed by our club last week has received the $3,000 scholarship.
For the meeting next week please bring a toy or diapers, clothing for a child in need. The gifts will be donated to “More Than a Bed.” Suelee, our former member, will be given the articles that are donated.
Denise West is working to purchase gifts for the family we adopted for the holidays.
Introduction of
 Peter Rede, MCAT Student of the Month. He is described by his teacher, Mr. Chuck and Ms. Coronado as “Good kid, quiet, and bright” l- he hopes to attend NAU and eventually go into law enforcement. Peter received his certificate and a gift certificate to the movies. His mother, Belinda was visibly moved and stated she is proud of her son. The brother on the other hand seemed, as most brothers are, unimpressed.Happy Bucks: people were happy about last week’s highly successful social, uneventful surgeries, student of the month. Randy drew the joker and was given $240.00. He donated $120.00 of the winnings to The Rotary Foundation Annual Programs Fund. Lots of people gave him advice about how to spend and/or donate the remaining $120.00. He wishes to thank each of you for your constant support and ideas.
Mary Straus, President, not to be out done stated she had a birthday this past week and is donating dollars for each year of her life to the Annual Programs Fund. She will be giving $154.00. Thank you Mary for your kindness and appreciation for helping those with less.
Our guest speaker,
 Diane Goodyear of the Old Pueblo Rotary Club was introduced. She is the owner of “The Computer Nanny” …. And is an accomplished expert on computers. She discussed the website, both our own clubs and Rotary as a recruitment tool … encourage people to visit the site. Further you can learn about the Rotary programs, go to youtube.com and find videos to show at the meeting and exchange ideas online. We learned that Harold needs to learn how to flip his switch ….. To find meetings on his telephone. Diane discussed Rotary Brand Central where you can get accurate logos. She asked how many people were reading her newsletter. Nearly everyone raised their hand and then guiltily look at the 4-Way Test. |
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Rotary Club of Marana SocialOur last social of the year was at Thunder Canyom Brewery in the Foot Hills Mall every one in attendance was havfeing a good time. Special guest this evening Diane Ventura-Goodyear Asst. Governor District 5500 and her husband
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Rotary meeting Nov 22, 2016ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
Submitted by PDG Randy Brooks, Secretary
Pledge, Meditation and Song completed. Happy Birthday to Jane Howell (she donated a check to Polio Plus in the dollar amount of her age – Thanks Jane).
Guests: Joe Farr, VP Bank of the West. He plans to join in January. Julie Stark, On Your Left, she will be our speaker today so more later.
Announcements:
Randy gave a breakdown of the money received by the club for the Ride to End Polio: The Club members donated a total of $1,073. We received donations of $300.00 from others and an additional 350.00 from Eric’s connections. Randy wants to thank the club for all the kind donations. With the Gates Foundation match we raised a total of $4,996.00.
Denise West: Met with the family we are supporting this Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thus far she has managed all the meetings, much of the purchasing and coordination. In this family there are two parents (father disabled) and three children. All in this family are excited to be working with Denise.
Maeve Johnson discussed the aid station, who thanked all of the club members and family who volunteered that day, as well as, Interact and Rotaract clubs as well as The Rotary Sunrise and Dove Mountain Rotary Clubs. What a great event.
Our riders, Eric (who took a wrong turn – and will need a compass next year), Randy and Deb all completed the race. Our former member Tonja Greenfield (now in Illinois) rode with us. Shirley Grace from Pismo Beach, was on our team as well. Horrible headwinds but we all finished.
Peter Mack reminds us that our Club will be dark next Tuesday. A social will be held, next Tuesday, November 29 at 5:30 PM at the Thunder Mountain Brewery, Foothills Mall.
Peter also mentions: Saturday, January 14, 2017, we will have a club retreat at the Kitt Peak observatory. All members, family and friends are welcome. Peter will arrange for a staging area and we will drive in tandem to the mountain. What fun. If you have never done this prepare for a special evening.
John Dooling returned from his hunting trip to Illinois. Welcome home. John confesses that once again the deer in Illinois are safe from him. He did not peg a deer but did find a gigantic Rotary Wheel on a Ferris wheel. He made friends with a raccoon in a tree.
Maeve told a joke in lieu of happy bucks. I won’t tell you the joke ….. It is better to be savored in person.
Clint discussed the opening of the Dove Mountain Clinic for the Marana Health center. It provides Urgent Care, Behavioral Health Services, a retail store and lots of physicians’ offices. Congratulations Clint.
Speaker:
Julie Stark from “On Your Left.” Julie is quite an athletic woman who has participated in numerous Triathlon events, marathons, bike rides, cycling events. She discussed the need for pickle juice and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at these events. She spoke of where she has training for events, at the Pinal Air Park. She organizes several events a year for her own company as well as helping non-profits and other put on events as well. She is organizing a fundraiser for “First Responders Park” and Project Kindness for children. She has her own timing hardware and is branching out to be the timer at many events. She founded a 501(c-3) to help youth events become more successful. Thank you for visiting Julie. Great presentation.
Remember we are dark next week ……… social next Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM at THE THUNDER MOUNTAIN BREWERY. FOOTHILLS MALL.
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Our Aid Station #14 RockedAid Station #14 - Premiere Station
The Rotary Club of Marana organized Aid Station 14 for the 37th El Tour de Tucson. It was a beautiful day, despite with wind, and it appeared that everyone enjoyed themselves. Jo Holt brought her son, James, and Denise had almost her entire family present for the day. Rotarians from Dove Mountain, Tucson and Catalina Clubs, Interact Clubs from Tortolita and Mountain View, and the Roteract Club from UofA pitched in to help. Thank you to all of these volunteers.
 El Tour de Tucson had over 7,000 riders including Rotarians from around the world. Hector Hugo Rangel of P&S held off a pack of teammates and Mexican rivals to win the 37th El Tour de Tucson. The winning time: 4 hours and 10 minutes 47.12 seconds. Our volunteers saw him ride by about 10:03 a.m.RI General Secretary John Hewko will be honored at this year’s El Tour de Tucson, an annual cycling event in Arizona, USA, in recognition of last year’s successful Ride to End Polio and the good work Rotary does around the world and the good work Rotary does around the world. This year, Rotary is aiming to raise $3.4 million, which will be tripled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a total of more than $10 million for the fight to end polio.
In August, the World Health Organization confirmed two cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Nigeria, the first cases in the country since July 2014. While this news is disappointing for all of us, we must remain steadfast and fully committed to fighting polio anywhere children remain at risk, including Nigeria and Africa. Now, more than ever, we need to redouble our efforts to help Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria to retain strong immunization coverage globally. Supporting the Miles To End Polio ride is one way to show these countries that Rotary’s commitment to polio eradication is unwavering, whatever obstacles we face. As soon as the contributions are finalized, this story will be updated. John Zwick and Harold Burtzloff were in charge of setup and takedown. We couldn't have done it without their knowledge and effort. Tony Hunter provided excellent support because he ran the event last year. Kathleen Neighbors and her Interact students showed up around 2:00 p.m. It was good to see them because we were all tired, and they helped with clean up.
Fortunately, we had left over food. It is better to have some left over than not enough. Here's what we did with it:
Thank you for everything you did to make this event a success. Many riders said this was the best station on the route. Rotarian riders stopped to thank us. Deb and Randy stopped, and everyone was glad to see them. They looked like they were working hard to conquer the route.
This is a great event for our Club and if you didn't participate this year, we look forward to you joining us next year. A VERY BIG THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CLUB VOLUNTEERS.
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Rotary meeting Nov 15, 2016ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA MINUTES
11/15/16
Submitted by PDG Randy Brooks, Secretary
Pledge completed, thought for the day absorbed by all …… lost two famous musicians this week in the US. I would guess that other important things happened this week, but because we try to stay above the fray in Rotary the election results were not openly discussed. Maeve told a joke …. Randy, as usual, did not get it.
Guests: Sandra Vargoe, Student at Pima Community College and a scholarship candidate from The Rotary Vocation Fund of AZ. Will be interviewed at the end of the meeting. She is a working poor mother with two children at home. Her goal is to become a Pharmacy Technician and later an IV Technician.
Joseph Farr, Assistant Vice President, Bank of the West. Invited by Maeve Johnson. He is a potential new member.
Bouba Hamadou – member of the e-club and Tribal Chairperson of Malam-Petel. More later.
Linda Balzer from the Rotary Club of Port Moody, BC, Canada. This is the woman responsible for encouraging Eric Miller to rejoin Rotary. Would this encourage a round of applause or a “moody” sigh? I say applause. Enjoy your winter visit Linda.
Announcements:
Tony Hunter discussed a person he learned about that cannot leave their home because of disability and her property has no wheelchair access. The club determined that we could use leftover funds from our previous “Home Improvement” project to fund this one time project. Discussion about how we need to temper these important yet financially draining project in order to do our best with limited funds. Don Jorgensen asked questions about the fund and budget. The club may spend “up to” $1,500.00 residual funds on this project. The proposal brought forward by Tony Hunter was passed.
Harold discussed how, sadly, there will be no “Boxing for Troops” this year. Unfortunately his home was flooded while traveling and he simply has not had the ability to purchase needed items and organize the event. Perhaps next year. Harold, thank you for caring so deeply about our troops serving abroad.
Dan Contorno discussed Tour de Cookie and said he received a warm reception and interest was up among the riders this weekend at a GABA event. Thanks Dan.
Maeve Johnson reminded us of the El Tour de Tucson and the need for volunteers. Set up crews will arrive about 8 AM and we will host the stop until about 3 or when officials say the last rider has passed. Be sure to say hello to all the dignitaries from Evanston, Canada, California and the rest of the world. This will be a great event. Thank you to all that donated to Polio Plus in the name of the riders (Eric, Randy and Deb).
Marana Healthcare Center will have a grand opening at the Dove Mountain/Twin Peaks/Tangerine intersection on Thursday at 7:30. Please plan to attend and support Clint. Those of you that do not know he is the CEO of the Marana Healthcare Center and a wonderful club member.
Randy suggested members consider donating to the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona (trvfa.org) and make tax deductible and tax credit contributions to this fund. Continue to support your other charities at schools and church and consider donating to the Fund as well. The rate that one can give to these programs are $400.00 per individual and $800.00 per couple. So I divided mine and gave $400.00 to The vocational fund and half will go to Marana High School. Just sayin ……..
Bouba Hamadou presentation. Bouba was a member of the Marana Rotary Club until the recession hit ….. He then moved on to greener grassy areas. He joined his first Rotary Club in 1985 when most of us were still children. Currently he is a member of the District Rotary e-club. We are pleased to have Bouba here, he is a great Rotarian and friend of the club.
As well as running his own business that provides transportation for the Tohono O’Odham Tribe for non-emergency medical services he spends half of his year in Cameroon, West Africa where he is the “Tribal Chairman” for the Malam-Petel Area. There are four schools in his area that are very basic and do not reach the standards of schools we would expect here in the USA. Students sit on logs in the open air, but covered classrooms. The nearest water is 5 miles away for many of the 60,000 residents. A borehole is being drilled as he speaks.
He was quite proud to show us photos of “Youth Day” where the children were singing, dancing and having what appeared to be a great time.
Bouba was able to assist in building a new medical clinic but no supplies have been gathered for the structure to provide the medical services he hopes eventually will take place.
Bouba discussed issues with the Boko Haram. A terrorist group in the area ….. These people are active in Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger. They are vicious and unrelenting in their quest for power. Under the guise of religion they kidnap, assault and terrorize locals. 500 hundred teachers have resigned from education because of the fear from these people. This has effected 100,000 students. The military is trying to fill in and educate but they are not trained to provide education for children. There have been 52 suicide attacks this year, 5,300 cattle have been stolen during the same period. A very sad statistic is that 20% of the bombers were small children. 1.6 million People have fled Nigeria in the past year because on Boko Haram. Yet Bouba keeps returning, trying to help his people the best he can. His father was the Tribal Chair, and upon his death Bouba assumed his position. When he left the country to live and work in the USA his cousin became the Chair and upon his death Bouba keep the commitment to his tribe and returned to work to better his community against tremendous odds. Thank you Bouba for educating us today. Our thoughts are with you as you courageously reenter Cameroon to serve others.
After meeting … meeting …. What’s the word I’m looking for? O’ well:
After the meeting was over President Mary Straus, President Elect Jo Holt, Rotarian Eric Miller and PDG Randy Interviewed Sandra Vargoe. We recommend to The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona to fund this young lady for her training in Pharmacy Technician Certification in the amount of $3,000.00. Remember none of these dollars come from our club.
Whew, busy day.
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Rotary meeting Nov 8, 2016ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA
MEETING MINUTES 11-8-2016
Submitted by Secretary Randy Brooks
Today is Election Day. I hope you all voted and that we all sleep well the next four-years. I know we have all been passionate about who should be elected and hope that civility returns to our culture.
Denise led us in the pledge …., Tony provided a meditation or thought for today …. Again hoping that we focus on our good work in the US and abroad. Song was led by John Dooling …. Most of us knew many of the words … a few were stymied, all had fun. “It’s a Grand Old Flag.”
Announcements:
Thomas Mangold resigned from the club, stating (and I’m paraphrasing) he is no longer able to keep his commitments to Rotary. We wish Tom the best.
Today is John Zwick’s 68th anniversary. That is astonishing. Great work, John. We need your mentorship. Talk about keeping commitments!
Club Social will be held, Tuesday, November 29th, 5:30 PM at Thunder Canyon Brewery, Foothills Mall. We hope you will all attend. Thank you Peter Mack for working on this.
Maeve Johnson and others have been looking into a fundraiser at Gaslight Theater 2 in Oro Valley in late January (possibly the 31st of January but that date may change).
Our annual business meeting and holiday celebration will be held at Earth Energy’s Hearth & Patio compliments of the Zwick family. This is always a special meeting and often Mrs. Claus attends. 3949 W Costco Drive near Costco. Same
…. 7 AM. Thank you John for setting this up and give our regards to your family for hosting this event
.JPG) President Mary awarded a $300.00 Check to Randy Brooks in honor of Governor Sheryl to donate to the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. This organization helps the working poor obtain technical training to improve their chances of a better tomorrow. You may donate up to $800 per couple or $400 for individual and you receive credit on your taxes for this ….. There is no penalty and actually with the credit you make a few cents donating. Randy pointed out that if you already donate perhaps you could split the amount and keep your favorite charity and donate to the Vocational Fund. As a board member of the foundation Randy thanks the club on behalf of the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. Don Jorgensen was given a check from the club in the amount of $1000.00 for Shelter Box. Shelter box will arrange for a tent and supplies to last up to a year for families that are displaced from their homes as a result of war or natural disaster. Don Thanks the club on behalf of Shelter Box. He is our representative to that organization in Rotary District 5500. Thank you Don for taking this on.Clint Kuntz a member of our club announced that the Marana Healthcare Care Center will open its new Marana – Dove Mountain location, November 17, 8:00 PM at the corner of Twin Peaks (Dove Mountain) and Tangerine Road. Attend and show support to the Clint and the health center if you can.
Maeve Johnson, our financial advisor, stated that she is struggling with short term memory. She stated it twice. Sigh, many of us can identify with you, Maeve.
Denise announced that she has found a family for our annual contribution of Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner. She is excited and creative in her ideas to assist a family in need. Thank you Denise for your kindness.
Much was made of the election happening today ….. Tremendous relief that the ads, and rhetoric, will stop. Now we can go back to the ads suggesting we all need help with hemorrhoids, diabetics, finding adult diapers, treatment of erectile disorders and the heart break of psoriasis.
President Mary passed a signup sheet around for those interested in contributing to the ride of Randy and Eric in the Ride To End Polio. Debra Hume will be riding representing our club as well. Thanks to those of you that choose to support us. Our goal is to raise $1000.00 each. The total amount of the commitments today was $500.00 Thank you so much for supporting our rides and most importantly polio. Please write a check payable to The Rotary Foundation and on the lower left of the check write Ride to End Polio. You will receive Paul Harris Credit for your donation. Be sure and put your membership number on the check. If you do not know the number it is printed on your monthly Rotarian Magazine. Thanks again, John, Maeve, Denise, Mary and Don. Previously Dave Hindman, Jo Holt, Peter Mack and Joe Hentges promised an additional $400.00. You are welcome to pay on line as well and simply let Randy know of your contribution and he will take you off the list. You are the best.
Speaker:
.JPG) Jay McCall, a previous member of the Marana Rotary Club and now a member of the Presidio Club spoke today on membership. “ Membership 365” was his working title. Jay helped form the Dove Mountain Club, Foothills (now defunct), and Presidio clubs. He asked important questions like, “Why are you in Rotary?” Is it for the projects, friendships, influence? What keeps you coming back? He pointed out how it is our responsibility to ask friends and business associates to “visit” a meeting. We should be on Linkend, Facebook, twitter, snap chat, and be involved in networking groups. He pointed out within walking distance of our club are many businesses that we have not approached for new members. Share the spirit of Rotary … and pointed out that all members are on the membership committee. You have to be willing to ask someone ….. Several someone’s to attend a meeting. Not join but to attend the meeting. Help newer members with careers, mentor others. It is a duty and responsibility to ask people to attend the meeting. Yet, most of us don’t …… Why? He suggested that younger members do not like to sing at meetings. Implying that it is old school and not embraced by everyone. Thank you for attending Jay. We needed your words of wisdom after losing two members in two weeks.Meeting close by reading ….. Reciting the 4-Way Test.
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Rotary meeting Nov 1, 2016Rotary Club of Marana
Meeting minutes 11-1-16
Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary
Meeting called to order, once again, by President Mary Straus. Pledge and Invocation completed. No song today …. Maeve told a joke but I can’t remember the content. Sorry …… would have liked to joke around with you.
Guests: A ton ….. Student of the Month,
 Jillian Wolford, her mother Kaycee, sister and brother attended. This is in addition to the principal of the school, Denise Coronado, and her teachers Ms. Lippert and Mr. Bower. What a crew.It was stated that Jo Holt missed “mole day” she surprised all of us by giving everyone a piece of pumpkin pie. She seemed very pleased that the accusations were wrong. Thank you, Jo.
Peter Mack has made arrangements for the club to visit Kitt Peak, Saturday, January 14, 5 PM Learn about astronomy from a world renowned expert. That would be Dr. Peter. Thank you Peter, what a great social.
John Dooling had two tickets for the Rotary District Foundation dinner but he is unable to make it. He sold the tickets for $5.00 to Peter and his wife Josie. Peter saved $95.00 on that deal. Congratulations Peter, almost the sale of the century. Hummm, it makes the chair of the Club Foundation Committee wonder if you would like to make a donation in that amount to the Annual Programs fund …… just sayin.
Harold says we need more volunteers to help at the aide station for the Michael Harris Ride to End Polio at the El Tour de Tucson. Thanks to all of you flocking to assist.
Mary informed the club that for personal reasons, Suelee Edwards resigned from the club. We will miss her. President Mary will be contacting people to see if you can help with some or the assignments Suelee chaired.
Dan Contorno mention that there is a GABA (Bike people) swamp meet on Sunday. Dan is to send out location and times.
Many Happy Bucks this week, honoring our student of the month, smiles, amazing club and a graduation rate increase in Marana of 6% this past year. Way to go.
 David Hindman was our program: What an interesting guy. He is married to a very tolerant woman named Becki and has four children: Hanna, Leah, Timmy and Nate. David was the youngest of 7 children raised in Boise, Idaho. He loved fishing (catching more), rafting, water skiing and lots of additional sports as a young man. He went on a LDS Church mission to Japan and as a result speaks Japanese. Says he met wonderful people, learned that all sea food is not bad and met celebrities during a food poisoning scare.David is a graduate of Brigham Young University and The U of A where he double majored in Law and Business. He works at Mesch, Clark, and Rothchild where he is a partner. Law focus of the firm includes Business law, commercial litigation, restructuring, appeals, arbitration/mediation, personal injury and real estate. He said the most often oops people make that make lawyers smile are: handshake deals, policy and procedure manuals not updated, personal guarantees, security loans, etc.
David and his family enjoy soccer, dance, piano, projects and crafts, cooking, working on the Marana home, riding bikes, (yeah …. Tour de Cookie), hiking, board and card games.
David joined Rotary for the Networking possibility and loves the service aspect of what we do. Thank you David for selecting our club …. You’re the best.
Meeting adjourned by President Mary with the club reciting the 4-Way Test.
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Rotary meeting Oct 25, 2016Minutes of Rotary Club of Marana
October 25, 2016
Submitted by Randy Brooks, Secretary
This will be a surprise: President Mary Straus called the meeting to order. Clint Kuntz gave a significant thought for the day – It’s time we work together to and get along ….. Nice. I missed who started the pledge but everyone seemed to have it memorized. The song was led by Jo Holt …. Happy Birthday to herself and to Maeve Johnson.
Guests included the wonderful Jeanne Gachon, our former Rotary exchange student from France who is now studying in Montreal, Canada. She gave us a brief, very brief update on her studies. It was nice seeing her. Thanks for visiting Jeanne.
Dan Contorno donated a beautiful photograph (picture) that was framed. No one bid on the piece of art. Dan took it back and will determine at a later date what to do with it. Thank you Dan. Each year we try to find a family that we can assist during the holidays. This year Denise Woods has agreed to chair the committee. Randy and Mary offered to assist as well.
Maeve discussed the El Tour and related plans for logistics. Everyone seems to be helping, except those of us that are riding in the event. OMG …. I need to get into shape.
Reminder that November 5 is the district Foundation global grant seminar and dinner. Randy, Mary, Jo, Tony have all indicated they are attending. Randy reminded everyone that Kathy Acosta, our former exchange student from Peru, is performing with her classical guitar.
Happy bucks: everyone said they were happy …… I could not tell. However, Don Jorgensen is going to Chicago to receive the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from EAPA his professional affiliation. If he receives that now does that mean the rest of his life is downhill? Congratulatins Don. He said he is not going to a Chicago Cubs game because he did not want to take out a second on his home.
Tony won the initial happy bucks drawing, but missed on the big prize. Sorry Tony, we all feel for you.
Program:
 Mindy Griffith, Volunteer of a business called “Bag It,” this group helps others “fight the fear and provides support” those diagnosed with cancer and their families. The organization is having a “Super Hero’s” walk and hike, November 13, 7 AM-12:30 PM at Lowes Ventana Canyon Resort to raise funds for this group that provides bags to each person diagnosed with cancer throughout the state. They have distributed 70,000 of these bags since the inception in 2004. They contain information about cancer, support groups, helps organize the client’s medical visits, what to expect, support groups and has information to help the caregiver as well. They typically raise about $73,000 and have about 350 participants at the Super Hero hike. If you have questions about the fundraising event or need assistance you can reach Mindy at mindy@bag4u.org.Meeting adjourned as usually with the reading of the 4-way test. See you all next week.
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Rotary meeting Oct 18, 2016Rotary Club of Marana
Minutes 10-18-16
Submitted by Randy Brooks Secretary
President Mary called the meeting to order, invocation by Randy Brooks and song by Jo Holt.
13 members attended this meeting.
Announcements: Maeve Johnson: El Tour de Tucson, Maeve would like four volunteers to help set up and is confident we will have a lot of room. It was suggested that we make peanut butter sandwiches again this year, along with the traditional goodies and bananas.
Presidio Club asking for help from all clubs for their fundraising venture this weekend. Everyone seems busy and cannot support them at this time. Randy asked for those that were comfortable to pledge money to Polio Plus to support riders in the El Tour. Five members volunteered to donate $450.00 to the riders.
 Eric Miller was inducted as our newest member. He was previously in the Foothills club. Tony Hunter is his sponsor. Eric likes the “Service Above Self” mantra of Rotary and that it is a worldwide organization. He rode in the Tour de Cookie last year and was treated well by the members and decided to join. Eric was raised in Quincy, IL. And it appears he was an under achiever …… Eric was encouraged to go into the military, by authority figures. He did and worked for the most part in the US Army in Germany. He learned about helicopters and loved to fly. Eric has two children, a son and daughter and a beautiful grandchild. He held many jobs in his life, from marketing and sales, to Chamber of Commerence and learned the skills to open his own successful consulting business called Owner’s Ally. He partners with shareholders to make their companies successful looking strategically into the near and distant future. Eric has been quite an adventurer: Mountain bike rider, skiing, and ice fishing (boring he says). He has been a competitive bike rider. He considers himself a spiritual based person and a trouble shooter for business helps develop new companies. He provides webinar support for companies including leadership and training. He is a Paul Harris Fellow +4. We are happy and proud that you joined our club.The Four Way Test was read and meeting adjourned.
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Meeting Minutes – September 6, 2016 Rotary Club of Marana
Meeting Minutes – September 6, 2016
Submitted by Randy Brooks
President Mary Opened the Meeting at 7:00 AM and proceeded to have the meditation by Jo Holt and the pledge was completed without anyone getting hurt. Then we sang, kind. The last I remember someone said, “Does anyone know the words to 9 to 5?” ….. It went downhill from there.
Dan Contorno made an announcement about the slow sales for the Poker Tournament, September 23, 2016 at the Vision Church 7511 SN Benet Drive, Tucson. Please attend and bring your friends. Only a $40.00 buy-in, I have invited my brother. Why don’t you bring a friend or relative? You are randomly assigned tables so if you don’t like them you may not have to sit with them anyway. This is an amazingly fun event. It raises funds for our Marana Rotary Club Foundation. Join us.
President Mary announced that we are all invited to celebrate our project … the Therapeutic and Exploratory Playground at Coyote Trail Elementary School, 8000 N Silverbell Road, Marana, 5:00 PM, September 30, 2016. We helped pay for it, worked on the project and we get to share the excitement of the dedication of the Playground for those that are physically challenged.
Potential new member, Eric Miller, has been working on an Interact Club at Legacy Charter School. He reports he has an educator and they are working on getting students involved. Our other potential member, Michael Hindman was at the meeting and he will be installed during the District Governor Sheryl Christian official visit. We hope you bring your family to this installation. It will be special.
Tony Hunter gave a great overview of the Community Service Projects for the year … thank you Tony.
Maeve Johnson discussed the club’s commitment to the Walk to End Hunger scheduled for 9-17. I am so sorry I cannot make the walk but I hope you can. Maeve is going to send out an invitation in the next couple of days. Thanks for heading this up, Maeve. The club is still considering helping out the Food Bank in various ways and Maeve it taking the lead on those potential projects.
Randy, Tony, Mary and several other discuss the restoration of a home project scheduled for October 15, 2016. Jo Holt offered tools (sanders and the like). Randy, Dan Contorno and others are trying to schedule a visit to the home for evaluation of need. Thanks everyone for helping.
Someone, I can’t remember who, discussed the Loop to Loop pre El Tour de Tucson Ride to End Polio. Whomever it was that brought than up, please take pity on me and write a note to the club inviting them to participate with details. Thank you.
Randy announced that the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation donated $100.00 to the Marana Rotary Club Foundation for Poker Tournament advertising. How about a few of our members stepping up and donating $50.00 to advertise your business? If you pay $100.00 you could be a sponsor, get advertising during the event, purchase your buy-in and have a great time. Contact Dan Contorno.
We know the fall season is here, Don Jorgensen and Thomas Mangold visited the meeting. Welcome back guys. Actually Tom has been back a few weeks but seeing both of them at the same meeting was overwhelming. We are so happy.
PDG Randy Brooks was the speaker today and he discussed the Rotary Foundation and asked for individuals to consider joining the Bequest Society ….. A promise that $10,000 of your estate will to the Rotary Foundation after you and your spouse pass wont’ be missed by you. But it will be appreciated by those that live in hunger and poverty. Randy handed out applications for this program and announced that PDG and attorney Michael Drake will provide no cost codicils for your wills to those that are interested. Let Randy know if you need help.
Randy also presented on the Rotary Vocation Fund of Arizona and requested that members donate to this fund that helps the working poor become training in technical jobs and gives them a future. This is a tax deduction as well as an Arizona Tax Credit. It actually turns out that you make a few dollars making this donation. The limits are $400 per person or $800 per couple. If you are already giving to another non-profit group how about splitting the difference and giving funds to both? Again you actually make money doing this. Questions? Contact Randy or the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona at www.trvfa.org.
Very active meeting today ……. Thanks everyone for your support and participation in our Rotary Club of Marana.
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Paul Harris FellowsWhat is a Paul Harris Fellow? When $US1000 is contributed to The Rotary Foundation, a request can be made for an individual to be recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow; that person can be a Rotarian or a member of the community who is not a Rotarian.
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Catch-Up with Rotary 3/17Catch-up with Rotary 3/17
 Again, we had a great meeting it was a pie kinda day, if you were at the meeting hope you had some, if you weren’t at the meeting you missed out. We started with some special Rotarians Jim Nook, Assistant DG from Dove Mountain
Rotary and Joe Hentges, President Elect. The club was presented with some very special awards: Every Rotarian every Year, Certificate of appreciation for donations to End Polio Now and a Certificate for actively working to Engage Rotary, Change Lives. (click on photo albums to view)
Alice reminded us: March 28th is Rotary Day walk, at Reid Park Zoo – S Randolph Way, registration is at 9am. April 12th is Rotary Day at Chase Field, Dbacks vs the Dodges lets go sounds like fun.
Alice; The board approved on March 16th, two projects for Africa joining with Dove Mountain one is to help build a poultry farm at an elderly home and the other is to paint a parking lot and school building. The total of the two projects is $400.00, if you have any further questions please contact Alice.
Our speaker was Don McNeill from Mentoring Tucson’s Kids, he truly has a deep love for kids and how to make them future good citizens. In 1988 Don was a track coach at Suguaro High School, when one of the kids he coached that had everything going for him committed suicide. He knew that day he wanted to start a mentoring program and he has been doing this for 20 years now. One-on-One Mentoring is
.JPG) a community-based program similar to big brother and big sister. In 2007 he started Mentoring Tucson’s Kids a faith-based program. The mentoring program is for kids from 5-17. The mentoring program mentors between 1000 – 1200 kids a year but there are over 20,000 kids in Pima County that one or both parents are in jail, over 30,000 kids who are in foster homes, living with friends, grandparents, group homes or living on the streets.How can we help? First be a mentor recruiter if you know of someone who would be a great mentor, contact Don. It’s a one-year commitment and once a month there is an organized event. Each mentor should spend 3 hours per week with the kids. When a kid has a mentor for six months or longer it builds a strong bond and helps build character. Youth participating in the mentoring program builds relationships, reduces negative behaviors, improves social attitudes and relationships. If you don’t want to be a mentor you can volunteer to help at events. If you have any interest go to the “Save our Kids” Breakfast May 1st 7-8 a.m. at the Oro Valley Country Club. If you want additional information email mentoringtucsonskids@gmail.com
Bring a Guest to Rotary Day, April 28 start thinking about who you are going to invite and start talking to them about it. Get a commitment and email me at semaranarotary@gmail.com so we know how many people we will have at the meeting
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El TourMarana Rotary Club mans Volunteer Aide Station #14 had a great day. The weather was perfect and the volunteers were awesome. Thank you to Rotarians Dan Contorno (and Kelsey and her friend), Debbie Conover (and her husband Geary), Harold Burzloff, John Zwick, President Kathleen Debiak, Jane Howell, Community Rotaractors - Mitch, Brook, Mariana, and Lucille, Interact teacher Katherine Neighbors (and another teacher). Special shout out to the Eegees employee who helped us and the two El Tour Walkie talkie guys (Shawn) who pitched in the whole day.
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Special Thanksgiving DinnerThis afternoon on behalf of the Rotary Club of Marana, Debra Hume, Mary Straus, Jeanne (our Rotary exchange student) and I visited a family with 8 children and two disabled parents and an ill sister. I am proud of our little club in donating a complete Thanksgiving dinner for them to prepare. The turkey will thaw and it will be a special day for this family.
Thank you Rotary Club of Marana and president Kathleen Debiak.
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Nov 18 MeetingAs some of you may have noticed while looking over our website, we have been a tad behind on “Catch Up with Rotary.” Our Secretary, Suelee Edwards, has been taking a well deserved break. With that being said, I thought I would take a shot at catching everyone up on what happened in this morning’s meeting.
Boy, did we have a packed house. Some of our members nearly had to sit in the nosebleed section of Nana’s Kitchen. On days like today, it does pay to come early to find a good seat.
 One of the highlights of our meetings, is having Student of the Month from MCAT. This month our student Josh Espinosa blessed us by coming in not just with his parents and stepmother but brother Paul and girlfriend Whitney Covert Wilson.
Josh Espinosa came to MCAT in August 2014 with only 2.5 credits earned as a Junior (typically juniors have earned 12 credits). His first quarter with us was a bit rocky as Josh got used to being in school again. He had been suspended for 75 days from MVHS and did not attend school for the spring semester 2014. He also was on diversion and had to report to a Community Justice Board on a regular basis. Once Josh settled into MCAT we began to see improvements with his behavior and grades, with Josh passing all of his classes last Quarter. This Quarter, Josh is no longer on probation and has continued to make positive changes in his life. He is well liked and a role model for other students. He currently has straight As and is working hard to maintain those grades. His post high school goal is to work in law enforcement and he is considering joining the junior explorers program through Marana PD to get experience in this field. Way to go Josh!!!  Our guest speaker was Myron L. Donald of the Tucson Sunrise Rotary Club (member for 27 years). With November 11 being Veterans Day, what better way to honor our Veterans than to have a POW vet speak to us. It was hard to tell his story in 30 minutes or less, but Myron did a great job. Can you imagine being in your early twenties, on his 73rd combat mission, being shot down with his parachute landing in a rice paddy and then being taken captive for over five years (+1800 days). I remember reading about the Hanoi Hilton, where many of our men spent years in this large prison camp, but to hear someone’s story first hand, sent me back in time. Our club was honored to have such an Myron Donald speak at our club and hope that he can come back soon to tell us more about his journey from being a young man in Hanoi to this unique gentleman that stood before us today.Stay tune as when we return we will have stories from our riders in the El Tour de Tucson. Good luck to Randy Brooks, Mary Straus, Jeanne ( our exchange student from France), Deb Hume, Javier Teran and John Zwick!!!
Please excuse the poor quality of the pics of our guests. I took them with my phone. Suelee uses a professional grade high tech camera. Boy do we miss her…..
Kathleen Debiak
President of the Rotary Club of Marana
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CATCH UP WITH ROTARY 11-4-2014Wow what a treat we had on 11-4-14 (Election Day)
Four teachers from the Marana School District got up early and entertained us with some very special Patriotic music. They did some special music arrangement, and were they awesome! Dave told us he did a lot of research to make sure the music was in line with the entire military groups. He also told us some history on TAPS which is played at military funerals (I did some research this morning and I suggest you get on line and read about TAPS, Interesting).
  Dave Alexander, Trombone
Holly Schurr, Trumpet
Jacob Phillps, Trumpet
Kaselehia Heath, Trombone
Each told us about the story of their families and their own military experience.
Pam Beine, brought some very special guests with her; Dad who is a WWII Vet and her mom.
You are invited to attend a special patriotic themed morning with some music students at DeGrazia Elementary, Nov 7th from 8-9:30, come-one
come -all
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Catch-Up with RotaryIf you missed today you missed a great speaker: Kathy Rau, Executive Director of the Southern AZ Children’s Advocacy Center and the
 Courthouse Dog Russell..jpg) Russell is a Golden Retriever; 4 years old owned by County Attorney Barbara LaWall, he was purchased using Rico Funds.Russell is a fully certified mobile assistance K-9. The company who trains the dogs use Elementary kids to socialize them and the high school kids are used for obedience training. One of the decisions in brining the dog into the center was knowing he was fully trained.
The Children’s Advocacy Center (AZCAC), where children are brought to in the event of a child abuse case either sexual or physical. Children come to the center through law enforcement or DCS (Department of Child Safety). They provide forensic interviewers and medical staff if needed. It’s a one-interview process for kids, all the agency’s work together to conduct the interview.
Here is something hard to believe but in AZ Children must testify on the stand just like an adult victim would. No videos or DVD of child testimony is allowed in the courtroom. Russell is certified to go into the courtroom and set with the kids while they testify.
When you read about the horrific cases of child abuse she said people just don’t think about where the kids went for interviews, medical service, or who was there to support them into healing. This agency does all of that in one place.
Some statistics she provided us: 80% of the child abuse cases are sexual, 75% are girls, 85% are girls between 5-12. A trend that the agency has been noticing the last two years is the offenders relationship to the child that has been shooting up on the list from 10 to 3 is Brother/Sister abuse. One of the reasons she believes is the media, some of the show on TV that supporting brother/sister incestual relationship. As everything else things creep into our society until they become less shocking.
She pointed out that the Internet crimes unit at the police department is very busy. Kathy said you can’t set down for 10 minutes in front of the computers posing as a young child, before graphic pictures are sent via internet (beware of what your kids and grandkids are doing).
Some ways we can help support the center in needs are listed below:
Boys and girls clothes 10-14 and Hand held games for older kids (like bop-it, hangman, etc.).
Maeve suggested that instead of exchanging gifts at the Christmas Party we could bring a gift for the center.
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Adwards Dinner
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nomination formclick here for Nomination form http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/5500/2553/HTML/230999//2014RotaryHeritage[1].pdf |
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Nomination FormClick here for Nomination Form http://www.crsadmin.com/Gen/DownloadFiles/DownloadFiles.aspx?linkcat=1&aid=2553 |
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Catch-Up with Rotary Sept 16, 2014Catch-Up with Rotary
September 16, 2014 If you haven’t joined us at the Rotary Club of Marana you should! It’s energetic with great speakers, sometimes entertaining and just plain old good friendship. We had Maeve, George and a visitor all dressed in purple so we had to take a picture of that…. onto the news of the week:
This month our student Nick Fajardo and his parents Anthony and Bridge Fajardo joined us. Denise and Mr. Paul DiCaro told us just enough about his past to let us know that he was on a path to destruction, now he is on the path to change and productiveness. Nick told us when he graduates, he wants to do something with animals, he is not sure what this is yet. We look forward to hearing about your adventures Nick and we will celebrate your graduation with you, so work hard!
He said one of the must haves, if you love birds in AZ is a book you can purchase from the Audubon Society called “Finding Birds in Southeast Arizona”, info only it costs $24.95 and it’s a great book to take with you on a hike. The Tucson Audubon Society was founded in 1949, one of the leading non-profit organizations in the conservation of birds and their habitats. He told us about several rare birds that come to AZ. Bird watchers come from all over the world to see them, one of them is Rufous Capped Warbler. If you want to see some of these rare birds go to their website WWW.tucsonaudubon.org. By the way the wild life watchers have a state wide economic impact of about 1.4 billion dollars, about three hundred million in Pima County. So love on your birds. For bird conversation, you can go to the web site for tips that Mr. Koresen told us about on how to upgrade your landscaping to make your home more sustainable for birds to visit your yard. Thank you Mr. Koresen for bringing birds to life with all your pictures and information. |
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Catch-up on Rotary, Sep 2, 2014Catch-up with Rotary A donation was made to the Marana Food Bank, Director Linda Hampton accepted. We love the Food Bank and all the work they do in our community.
Mike Swart who was a member of the Rotary Club of Marana and left has been re-inducted as our newest member. Welcome Mike – Mike is the owner of HMS Bicycle Shop, 8225 N Courtney Page Way, Suite 145, Marana, AZ 85743
How many presidents won election despite losing the popular vote? 1824 (Adams-Jackson), 1876 (hayes-Tilden), 1888 (Harrison-Cleveland) and 2000 (Bush- Gore). When were Americans guaranteed the right to vote? Contrary to popular belief, the United States’ Constitution did not originally guarantee citizens the “right to vote” The United States was created with the understanding the only certain individuals would make the decisions when it came to government. 14th (1868) Amendment – all persons born within the U.S are citizens and guaranteed rights and privileges. 15th (1870) Amendment – No citizen denied the right to vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. Intended to give freed slaved the same privileges offered to the white majority in the U.S. but there was a literacy test (these tests excluded under-educated Americans from voting). There was a grandfathered clause (which permitted men to vote if their father or grandfather had voted prior to the 15th Amendment (another way to exclude many)). There was a Poll Tax (fee to be able to vote). 19th (1920) Amendment – Constitution granted American women the right to vote. This was voted in but states still had to approve. Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote in. What nations still prohibit women to vote: Saudi Arabia and Vatican City. In 2015 Saudi Arabia women will be able to vote because of a 2011 royal decree. Why do we vote on the first Tuesday after a Monday in November? As a country, we’ve been doing this since 1845. You would be surprised to learn that many people (including elected officials and candidates) have no idea why we vote on the first Tuesday after a Monday in November. November represented the first month when farmers might have time to travel to a city to cast their votes. Travel times also played into the decision to make Tuesday the day for voting. If overnight travel was required to get to a polling place, Monday was out of the question as Sunday was a day of worship for most Americans. And what about the strange stipulation that election day is “the first Tuesday after a Monday in November? What prompted that very specific limitation? It’s all about faith. November 1st is “All Souls Day” (All Souls Day is a holy day of obligation – which means Catholics will be expected to be in church). Don finished by talking about how voting has continued to decline in fact there has been below a 60% turnout in every presidential election since 1964. Voting is both a right and responsibility as a citizen.
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CATCH-UP WITH ROTARYAugust 19, 2014 The Rotarians that attended the membership seminar said it was great – 7 hours of membership, but well worth it! Wonderful speakers, well organized and they really engaged everyone. One Hundred Forty Rotarians from CA and all through Arizona attended. Alice reminded us that she needs help with the Ice Cream Social at the Fall District Conference at the El Conquistador 26-28th, if you can help call Alice, hint her number is on our website. If you need it email me at semaranarotary@gmail.com Don’t forget to invite your friends to play Texas Hold’em , hosted by the one-and-only Rotary Club of Marana on Friday September 5th.
He said that the staff is back to the art of teaching, which makes the parents, students and teachers happy and a better place to teach. AIMS testing, is important, the staff has worked hard to bring up the scores, because the school district went down last year. But if we were to go out and conduct an independent survey of parents we would find that they are pleased with the Marana Schools, because the teachers are working hard on building character, respect and over all good citizens, not just good test takers. In the next five to seven years with the projected growth in Marana they are strategizing how they can manage the growth. The schools used to get $1,500,000. in capital funds (used for repairs building etc.) now the schools get $400,000. obviously this is big loss of funds, so be prepared to vote for a bond initiative to help off set the loss Thank your Dr. Doug Wilson for your passion and leadership in our schools |
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Catch-Up on RotaryAugust 5, 2014
Sally is a trial attorney who practiced law in Washington, DC and has worked in the US Senate and two White House administrations. She is a graduate of Georgetown Law School and has taught at George Washington University. Sally and her husband PDG Ernie have visited many places in their Rotary Travels but a special legacy they leave is in West Africa. They helped develop and fund a number of large matching grants that included water projects. She painted a picture of the unsanitary conditions of the water that the village people were using to drink and cook with. She said that the farm animals were in the water and that the women would scoop up water and give it the children to drink. During that time most women birthed up to nine children but usually lost three of them before the age of five. The water project has helped them to flourish, get healthier and even grow crops and sell them at the market. I was so moved by the story and dedication of both of them to create a sustainable life for the village people. She complemented our club on all the time and money we have donated to help build a better community, in the Town of Marana and the the World. The Marana Rotary shinned through two recent projects: With the hard work by Debbie Conover on the bus project and Randy and team last year in Brazil. She said the four ways to evaluate a club’s effectiveness is:
Don't forget to like our Facebook page: search rotaryclubofmarana
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Exchange StudentMarana Rotary Club exchange arrived last night. Her name is Jeanne. She comes from the Alsace region of France which borders Bavaria, Germany. She is the youngest of 5 and is very close with all her siblings and her mother. She enjoys baking, skiing, and the sciences. After high school she wants to enter the service to be able to attend an esteemed military school where she will study military strategy.
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Food Bank at Red RockMarana Food Bank was short of volunteers so the Marana Rotary Club pitched in and helped deliver food to Red Rock community. Those who helped were Rotarians George Rigney, Alice Rigney, Jane Howell and Suelee Edwards husbank Jim a volunteer . |
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Catchup from July 22ndJuly 22nd Our very own Rotarian, George Rigney was the speaker: he started by saying one of the best things in his life was meeting his lovely wife Alice. He said that no matter what career he has had, he realized that his craft is Service. He talked about his various careers: Electronic Sales, Entrepreneur, Insurance Sales and now in Real Estate. He said he love the Real Estate business because he is able to serve others just like he does in Rotary. I think he gave us some food for thought about taking a different view of everything we do. Think about how you are touching someone, like in his real estate business when he sells a house, it effects the buyers the seller, the families on both side, the neighbors etc. He said that if anyone would like to borrow a great book about service put out by Rotary “A Century of Service: The Story of Rotary International”, let him know if you want to borrow it. Last but not least he is a toy train collector.
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July 8 MeetingThanks to the following Rotarians for stepping up:
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Catch-upJuly 1, 2014 1st meeting with Kathleen at the helm as President. We had a couple of visitors Joe Hinges from the Dove Mountain Club and the Membership Chair for District 5500 also Teree Bergman from the Sunrise Club, Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator who was also our speaker. David Lightfoot is celebrating his Birthday on July 3rd, I will let you guess how old he is - but here is a hint: he gave a dollar for every year of life, a total of $78.00. Congratulation to all the members of our club, 2nd year in a row we have had 100% participation in donation to the Rotary Foundation. Marana Rotary Foundation, was awarded a $1000.00 grant in honor of john Dooling for the Allstate Foundation. The grant is called the "Hands in the Community Grant". Thank you John for all you do!
Remember the money you donate to Rotary Foundation is used to make a difference in the world everytime you see the Rotary logo on something remember you helped bring that to life. The foundation dollars are used towards world hunger, literacy, poverty etc.
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Alice's Corner 6-14Well did we have a “hoot” on Saturday night or not? Maeve Johnson installed Kathleen Debiak as our new 2014-2015 President. We had a very nice turn out. Joe Hedgnes and his wife from Dove Mountain Rotary joined us. We had a number of guests who accompanied our members. We were lacking a little air conditioning but there were enough fans to keep the air moving. Nancy Elliot entertained us with some great selections. Everyone seemed to enjoy her music and storytelling. I only heard good comments. A special thanks to Harold Burtzholf for helping with the reservations. Kathleen presented Maeve with a very special Australian gavel. If you want to see it you will have to attend the June 24th meeting. Remember we only have SEVEN cards left in the 50/50 pot!!
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Alice's Corner 6-3Alice’s Corner 6/03 As we look forward to our installation dinner June 14th at Lil’ Abners. I predict we will have a great time! This week we heard from our diligent member Debbie Conover. She has proven this by sticking with the international project. Her determination resulted in presenting a school bus to the Vela Special School, Saibaba Arcade, Lakshmipuran Orathur village. Debbie exemplifies a true Rotarian by following through. It took three years to complete this project. Thank you Debbie. For those of you interested in the card game we only have TEN cards left. What an incentive to make you come to the meetings.
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Alice's Corner 5-31As the soap opera states like sands of the hour glass so goes the days of our lives That is what happens to my time. I need to manage my time better.
This week our President Maeve Johnson shared that she is ready to pass the baton to Kathleen Debiak. We are looking forward to our dinner on June 14th at Lil’ Abner’s. Kathleen will be installed as our new President. As co-chairman of the dinner I promise some fun surprises.
They gave us some insights on “green funerals”. We are one of two cities in Arizona that have this distinction. The cemetery has a quarter of an acre set aside for these funerals. The casket though not attractive is biodegradable. The body is not embalmed with chemicals. Therefore it makes it very inexpensive. They told us that somewhere in your important papers you should express your wishes as to how you wish to be buried. The decisions are hard enough without having a direction. Click here for more information http://maranamortuarycemetery.com Two weeks ago a number of Rotarians attended the MCATS graduation. We were delighted with the success stories. We heard how many of their families and friends supported them in this endeavor.
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Alice's Corner 5-13What a delightful meeting we had on Tuesday.
This young man will be graduating this week. His achievements are to be commended. For having skipped his entire sophomore year. Hhe put his nose to the grindstone and became an outstanding student. In September he will be going to Illinois to join the Navy. He will become an electrician’s mate. This will serve him well in the future when he goes out into the real world. Denise Coronado and his English teacher Ms. Wren spoke of what a dedicated young man he has become. He came out of his shell and faced a hard challenge. We are to congratulate all of the staff at MCATS for their commitment in producing such wonderful young citizens.
click for more information http://www.clutterstop.com/ Sheila has written a book entitled, The Floor is Not an Option. Sheila also works with a task force addressing the issues of hoarders. In Arizona there are at least three hoarders on every block. Kind of scary isn’t it? |
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Alice's Corner 5-6A BIG thanks to everyone who participated in boxing for the Marana Community Food Bank. A special thanks go out to Cale and Tyler Murrick, John Dooling’s grand kids.You kids are awesome. Maeve Johnson thanked our Host families. In 2013-2014 Suelee Edwards, Randy and Deb Brooks, and Adam Molden. In 2014-2015 our hosts will be Mary Straus, Randy and Deb Brooks and the Johnson family. They will be hosting Jeanne from France. Our outbound student is Torri Johnson. She is the sister of a former exchange student. She is going to Latvia. Her family will be one of our incoming students host for the year 2014-2015.. . Suelee announced that there will be a celebratory open house for Pedro Acosta, our present exchange student, on May 21st at 5:30 to 8:00pm . His graduation is on May 22nd at the Marana High School at 8:00pm Our speakers were a contingency from the city of Marana. They presented the new program of Marana entitled “Your Town Brand”. Their first video showed what a dynamic group we have within our town that produced this video. The video is entitled “Your Town”. https://www.youtube.com/user/townofmaranaaz It shows the exciting places for businesses, visitors, and prospective citizens who are looking at our wonderful community, Marana. You can view this on You Tube. The city is working on advertising and banners promoting our community. After this presentation I think we are all very proud to live in such a viable community. A fun day at the Marana Food Bank
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Alice's Corner April 22
The money that was paid for the carriage in the Heritage parade was refunded to the club. Maeve Johnson said half of the money went to Julie Baxley, our Heritage Citizen of the year. She donated her money to High Heels for Hope. The other half went to our Heritage Educator of the year, Julie Fox. She put her money into a special fund to be used for her classroom. That week our speaker was Don Jorgensen. He had many dreams as to what he would do with his life. His scholastic life was varied as he was part of a military family and moved often. He came from an alcoholic family. At the age of 22 he heard the dreaded phrase, “You have cancer”. It was diagnosed as malignant melanoma. He overcame this dreaded disease. Over the years he has worked as a consultant with families struggling with alcoholism. He founded the long term Kachina program Over the years he has had many challenges in his career. In 1991, along with his mother and father, he ventured out on his own. He is recognized internationally as a specialist in his field. He left us with the thought, “Life is short”. Tell those around you that you love them every chance you get. This week Kathleen Debiak reported on the district conference. By, carrying on the India theme of our grant, she raffled off a basket. This basket held many items related to India. She raised $519. Congratulations Kathleen. This money will go toward the Indian bus grant for challenged students. She urges everyone to go to the fall conference. It will be held in September. By attending conference you learn the new innovations of Rotary. You are reminded of past concepts you might have forgotten. The 50/50 pot is over $800. Someone should be winning it soon. Last Sunday a farewell party was held for Braison Tivatyl and his wife, Grace at the home of the Jorgensen’s. Braison and his wife became very dear to those of us who chatted with him. At the conference he gave a wonderful, heartwarming presentation on Zimbabwe as well as his personal history. |
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Alice's Corner 4-8Randy Brooks welcomed his guests from Zimbabwe, Braison Tivatyl and his wife, Grace. He was the tour guide for Tom Mangold, Don Jorgensen, and Randy.in Zimbabwe. Don and Randy invited them as their guests to come to the United States. On Saturday night Randy and the “Ramble On” group will be performing at Nana’s Kitchen. You are urged to have dinner and participate in some fun fellowship. The monies raised will be divided between Zimbabwe and the Marana Rotary Foundation. The times are 6pm to 8pm. Bring your friends and families. The Tivatyl’s received the “Happy Clap”. Don’t know what that is come to a meeting and find out. Peter Mack introduced Katherine Nelson a feature editor at the Explorer Newspaper. Mary Straus announced that on May 3rd Rotary will be boxing non-perishables for the Marana Community Food Bank. For those wishing to participate some will be meeting for lunch at Cattleman’s Restaurant in Marana prior to the event. The hours at the food bank will be from 1pm to 4pm. Let Mary know ASAP. We are reminded that District Conference is coming up on April 25th. We in conjunction with Dove Mountain will host a hospitality suite. The food and drink provided will be free. There is always fun to be had at these venues. If you wish to attend the conference and not participate in the meals the cost to you is free. The workshops and round table discussions are well worth your time. In June Kathleen Debiak will be representing us at the international conference in Australia. Thanks Mate. On June 14th Maeve Johnson will turn the reins over to Kathleen Debiak. It will be held at Lil’ Abner’s details to be announced. John Swift presented a very comprehensive meeting on the Vision of the Marana Rotary Club. A couple of months ago about 14 to 15 members attended a vision meeting. It was facilitated by two men from district. They gave us direction in formulating ideas for the club. Seven categories were posted on large pieces of paper. These categories were broken down into specific ideas. Then everyone was given a set of red dots. These dots indicated your vote for the particular project or idea. John presented a very inclusive report. You are asking yourself why we need a vision. The following are the main reasons: to determine a direction, develop a strategic plan, realizing that all members are in the same boat and a way to inform others of our vision. This report will now be presented to the board. Ask John Swift for a copy of this report as it will explain the overall vision. This vision will unify the club for the next five years. It will give us a common goal. In order to have a viable club we all need to pull together and stand behind our club. Come on people let’s be a Rotary Club and not a bunch of people getting together to have breakfast and tell each other how great we are. |
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EXTRA**EXTRA**Canadians Invade Marana **BREAKING NEWS**Gary and Debbie Conover myself and George went to El Charro to meet traveling Canadian Rotarians. Lo and behold they were not there. Debbie made some calls and we found them at the Best Western Inn on Ina in Marana. These are passionate Canadian Rotary members of that are delivering six ambulances to Mexico. They left Sunday from Canada and today, Wednesday, arrived in Tucson. What lovely people. They have been conducting this program for four years. In Canada once an emergency vehicle is over ten years old they can no longer use it. The Rotary club of Lethbriidge East has taken it upon themselves to obtain these vehicles. They are DONATED! Over time they have been able to find used hoses out of Oakland California and some new EMT uniforms. The club pays some of the expenses for the driivers. They pay for gas, lodging and air-fare home. The driver is responsible for their meals and miscellaneous items which could amount to as much as a thousand dollars for a seven to eight day trip. Several clubs in their district participate. Each club can get matching funds from the district. In Canada they have shops that have donated their time and monies to help bring the vehicles up to par. They are trying to work with high school auto shops and junior college auto shops. At the Mexican border they must pass emission tests as well as mechanical tests. In Mexico they have commitments from shops and businesses to maintain the vehicles. In the offing they have a program to deliver 38 school buses. In conjunction with the Mexican government they hope to change a law that says a bus cannot be older than ten years old. There is a company ready to donate the buses. We were very impressed with their dedication and commitment. Many of the drivers have done this every year. They have become a very close knit group. We met one of the ladies that was doing everyone’s laundry as well as ironing the clothes. This is true dedication, We wish them well and will try to meet up with them next year. The following are the participants: Rotary Club of Pincher Creek, Doug Thornton, Lynn Brasnett, Rotary Club of Fort Macleod, Henry Van Hierden, Rotary Club of Cardston, James Henline, Larry Schow, Rotary Club of Lethbridge Sunrise, Jim Campbell, Greg Tiffin, Ed Kaustinen, Rita Boltezar, Irm Kuhn, Richard Tamkin, Rotary Club of Lethbridge East, Bob Jones, Rotary Club of Lethbridge, Wayne Stewart, Jack Yaeck, Rotary Club of Calgary Fish Creek, John Fortunka, Other supporters meeting them in Mazatlan, Evon Jones,and Berga Moen.. 
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Alice's Corner 4-1Next week be ready to discuss the vision goal settings for next year. Our coffers are very low. On May 3rd we will be filling boxes for Marana Community Food Bank. We need volunteers. On June 14th will be Kathleen Dibiack’s initiation at Lil’ Abners. Please put this date on your calendar as it is a fun place.
John Swift and Joy Holt are requesting we submit our ticket stubs for the Jeep no later than July 1st. Our speaker was Jane Stansbury. She provided the carriage for the Founder’s Day Parade. The carriage was following the Marana High School Band when the horse became spooked. Our participants finished on foot. Jane conducts historical horse drawn tours through downtown Tucson. She is available for many fun things such as proposals, weddings, anniversaries,, special holiday rides, company parties and much more. Her carriage is located during business hours on the corner of W. Telles St and N Meyers Ave.
How much do you know about the history of Marana? Jane told us many interesting things dating back thirteen thousand years. We have much to be proud of in Marana. During World War 1 we were very instrumental in providing cotton for the war effort. During World War 2 over 10,000 fighter pilots were trained in our valley. Be ready next week with ideas for Kathleen’s year. |
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Alice's Corner MarchWell better late than never. I have fallen behind in my articles, again. Two weeks ago Maeve Johnson and Kathleen Debiak gave us a presentation on Rotary’s Code of Ethics. How many of you even knew we had one? The Code exemplifies the Four Way Test. This gives you guidelines for veracity, professionalism, and promoting good will and fellowship. It raises Rotarians to a higher level of integrity. On the following Tuesday Debbie Conover, Alice Rigney and Maeve Johnson signed the grant request going to district. It was very official with more than one pen, just like uptown. Congratulations Debbie on following through on a program that started three years ago under Don Jorgensen’s reign. We will provide $8000 and district will match this amount. John Swift reminds us to turn in our ticket stubs. The drawing is not until October but he needs to keep track of ticket sales. We all need to be cognizant of the fact that Kathleen will be putting together her calendar for next year. If you have any Rotary special events in the future we need to put them on the calendar. If you have a special program you would like to present let the program chair of the month know. In April it is Roy Morris, May is Linda Hampton and in June is Lynn Himmer. On April 2nd we have a special treat. A group from Joyce Zwick’s club will be passing through Tucson. They are from Canada. They are on their way to donate emergency vehicles to Mexico. Come and join in fellowship. Debbie will have some Rotarians from down under. It will be at the El Charro restaurant downtown. It will start at 4:00pm. Let Debbie know so she can make the appropriate reservations. On April 12th at Nana’s there will be a musical benefit for the Rotary Club of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. It will be 6pm to 8pm. Our special guests will be Braison Tivatyi and his wife Grace. Half the proceeds will go to a project in Africa. The other half will go to our general fund. Our own Randy Brooks and his Ramble On group will provide the entertainment. We have the opportunity to have some real fellowship this month. Come join us. Last week we had a very comprehensive presentation of Community Outreach Refugee Focus. Our guests were Niki DeRosia, specialist, Kellyn Barrerra, liaison, and Mignone Mujambre, mentor. There are twelve refugee groups throughout the United States three are located here in Tucson. These groups help the refugee to integrate into the system of the country. They also offer scholarships. This group helps them go through the process of eventually becoming citizens. They start with interviews and background checks through Homeland Security r They then have one year with a green card, and then in five years they may qualify to apply for citizenship. There are over fifteen million refugees worldwide. Most of them take refuge from political unrest. In the United States we have about 1% of these people.
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Grant to fund a bus for special needs children in India
President Maeve, Debbie Conover and Alice Rigney signed the contract to agree to fund a bus for special needs children in District 2980 with the Rotary Club of Vikravandi, Tamil Nadu India. District 5500 will match funds from the Rotary Clubs of Marana, Casa Grande, and Tucson Sunrise. This project has been a wish for over two years. |
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I am back! You know life has a funny way of creeping up on you. Just when you think you have everything under control it sneaks up behind you. Let’s start with reminding everyone that attendance is very important. You can now go on line and make up a missed meeting. As stated in our by-laws a member must attend or make up at least 50 percent of club regular meetings in each half year. Attend at least 30 percent of this club’s regular meetings in each half year. If a member fails to attend as required, the member’s membership shall be subject to termination unless the board consents to such nonattendance for good cause. We had the privilege of meeting Pedro Acosta’s family. His mother and father paid us a visit. Due to a slight glitch at Nana’s we had to have breakfast at IHOP. Pedro hails from Peru. His interest is sports primarily soccer. Randy had a nice reception in his home for the Acosta family. Many Rotarians enjoyed the fellowship. Thanks Randy and Deb. The last week in February we heard Zak Royse. He is the caseworker for Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick. His passion is veterans. One of his challenges is to be a conduit to speed up the backlog of veteran’s claims. Linda Hampton told us that Los Conquistadores donated 4,000 pounds of quality food. This was the surplus from the Accenture golf tournament. Our John Swift and Jo Holt are co-chairing the Jim Click Jeep ticket sales. That money is free and clear directly to the club. We have until October let’s get out and hustle. Pick one of our causes that is close to your heart and raise money for same. March 4 our speaker was Donna Gillette from the Blake Foundation in connection with Easter Seals. They help young adults become contributing members of the community. March 8 a group of us manned the hot dog/snow concession at the Ora Mae Harn park. It was hard work but we had good fun and fellowship. A big thanks to John Dooling’s family. We don’t know what we would have done without them. A special thanks to our two young volunteers Pedro and Tyler (John’s granddaughter). Thanks to my dancing partners Deb Hume and Suelee Edwards. George and I attended the Diamond Rio concert at the Fox theater sponsored by the Presidio Rotary Club. They sing country western and spiritual songs. An uplifting group. This week on March 15th the Marana Community Food Bank is sponsoring a sixties dinner and dance. Marana Rotary will have a table. Looking forward to the dancing and singing.
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Marana Heritage Day
Marana Heritage Day Festival.
Thank you to Debbie & Geary Conover for their Snow Cone Fundraising effort!
Thank you to John Dooling for his Hot Dog Fundraising effort!
Thank you Mary Straus for organizing our Parade Entry!
Maeve Johnson was a parade judge and had a blast! I was surprised when our parade entry came by Thank you to each and every volunteer!
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Alice's Corner 2-18-2014Three weeks ago we heard from Randy Brooks in reference to the Annual Program Fund Foundation. Our club should be a 100% sustaining club. It only takes $100 per year. You spend that on a fancy dinner. Come on everyone step up to the plate. Our visiting Rotarian that week was a, guest of Debbie Conover’s, from Canada, Rick Offord from Thornburg/Clarksburg Rotary Club, Ontario, Canada. He is a roving ambassador for Canada’s shelter boxes.
Alzheimers is the sixth leading cause of death. One in 3 over 85 and one in 9 over 65 will have the disease. It is something that affects the whole family. It consists of affecting the memory of daily life. Where you live, recognizing loved ones and not able to do simple chores. We are all afraid of this disease. We should all learn more about this and how it affects us, our families, and friends.
Our SOM this time is Imari Papin. He will be bringing his mom, Paula Papin and favorite teacher Mr. Paul DiCaro.
Our speaker Pedro Acosta, this year’s foreign exchange student, gave a presentation. With no power point available he gave a comprehensive talk on his country, Peru. We welcomed his parents doctors Pedro and Elena Acosta. Tuesday evening Randy and Deb Brooks hosted an impromptu chili dinner. We all enjoyed the fellowship. Many went back for seconds and even thirds. Thank you Randy and Deb it was a great evening.
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The 2014 WinterfestThe 2014 Winterfest was organized to promote the Marana Community Food Bank. This year is was held at the Harley Davidson dealership in Tucson. The Rotary Club of Marana attended the event to support the Food Bank but also sell tickets for a fundraiser for the Jeep offered by Jim Click. In addition, scan cards to Albertson's Grocery Store were distributed by members. Albertson's contributes to our Rotary Club when the scan cards are used at their store. Thanks to everyone who participated including Karen Bazinet, Harold Burtzloff, Tom and Lynn Mangold, Linda Hampton, and Maeve Johnson.
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Alice's Corner 1-28What a fun meeting we had on Tuesday.
We had two guests. We welcomed back Joyce Zwick from Canada and Celeste O’Brian, acting campus director of administrative services for Pima County Community College District.
Maeve announced PETS will take place on March 7th and 8th in Mesa. Those attending will be Sue Lee Edwards, Kathleen Debiak and myself.
A number of our members attended the Winterfest at the Harley Davidson location in Marana. It was said it was a great place to people watch.
Harold is asking if anyone has pictures from the New Year’s party at Mr. An’s please forward them. He would like to put them in our album. How many of you knew we had an album on our web site? |
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Alice's Corner 1-14Maeve started the meeting by thanking everyone who helped and attended the Strategic meeting. John Swift has been asked to give an over view of the topics covered at the meeting. He will be asking for input from the club of those who did not attend. Some brain storming is required by all members in order to give us some direction in the next five years. As John so wisely stated “We are all on the “bus together”. John Swift reported that Jim Click will be donating a car in a drawing. Any organization with a C Corp designation can sell the tickets. The money from the tickets goes directly to the club. He was to attend a meeting on Wednesday and report back to the club.
Our speak Not only was her presentation wonderful it was informative and fun. She produces her own energy and charisma. |
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Alice's Corner 1-7Happy New Year and welcome back after our hiatus. Maeve Johnson opened the meeting with a preview of her Strategic Meeting to be held on Thursday, at 6:00 pm at the Continental Ranch Community Center, 8881 N Coachline. Everyone is urged to attend as this is what your club will be doing in the coming months. We need your input please. If you plan to attend please RSVP to Maeve ASAP. Maeve thanked all of her chairs and the club for the efforts put forth so far in her tenure. One of our guests was Tori Johnson who will be our outgoing youth exchange student. As of this date she does not know her destination. Never the less she is looking forward to an exciting adventure. Sue Gibbs from Boxes for Troops gave us a recap of this year’s program. 210 boxes were sent to Afghanistan. 161 boxes were sent to one sector with the remaining 49 going to an outlying area. She has received numerous thank yous through e-mails and Facebook. She raised $9,146. That is a little short of her goal of $10,000. She over spent and is $400 in the red. She was happy to report that on the first day she had 35 volunteers. She had to pack and ship on two different days as she ran out of products to put in the boxes. We look forward to helping her next year.
Anyone who heard her was able to say WOW what a dynamic person. She formed an organization comprised primarily of local small women business owners. They help the “working poor”. One of their programs helped our Man of the Year, Dr. Tomkins. He needed turkeys at Thanksgiving. Her group raised $800 in a matter of hours. This helped him pay for about three fourths of the turkeys. She serves on at least 18 to 20 committees and boards throughout Marana and Tucson. You can say she has her finger in many pies. She is trying to balance her life by saying “NO” once in a while. We should be proud to support such a giving person.
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Alice's Corner 12-10Harold’s daughter, Sue Gibbs and the entire Burtzloff family really out did themselves. The Boxes for Troops was well attended. Harold estimated including Rotarians there were over 35 people working. One hundred and sixty boxes were filled. The goal was 200. The helpers ran out of merchandise to put in the boxes. A little money has been raised to buy a few more things to fill a few more boxes. The people who participated really had their hearts set on filling those boxes. It was not only fun but very rewarding. Today’s Christmas party at Earth’s Energy and Home was enjoyed by all. John Zwick did a tremendous job of providing a very nice buffet. Thank you John and happy birthday. Dan said that next week following the meeting he will be heading out to Desert Wind Elementary School. This will complete this year’s dictionary give away. Anyone interested in joining stay after Tuesday’s meeting. Our treasurer Lynn presented Linda Hampton, executive director, of the food bank with a check for $385.89. This comes from the donations every week that go into the food bank bucket. Randy was drafted as Sargent of Arms. He said he was not going to fine anyone but that he was only asking for Rotarians to show how “happy” they were by giving generous donations. Don Jorgesen and John Zwick received Paul Harris pins. Very special thanks to you gentlemen for stepping up to the plate and giving so generously. Mary Straus was inducted as our newest member. She brought her eight year old daughter , Lily. We are happy to have her enthusiasm. We feel she will be a wreat asset to the club. Welcome. December 17th Randy will share with us his trip to Brasil. We are looking forward to a number of guests to hear his presentation on this international project. Everyone invite someone you know to join us. January 7th will be a strategic planning meeting. We will hear what we have done and what we plan to do in the near future. If you have any complaints or ideas now is the time to vocalize them. Maeve announced a New Year’s party on January 11 to be held at Mr. An’s. Randy is planning a Vision meeting in the near future. The last one was a great success. We look forward to everyone hearing about this program. We have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. |
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Alice's Corner 11-26This is old news but we had a tremendously successful Heritage Dinner. Reminders December 5 board meeting, December 6 boxing for troops, December 10 Christmas party at John Zwick’s place of business.
Last week speaker was Clint Kuntz, chief executive officer, of MHC Healthcare of Marana. They offer continuous health care to everyone regardless of economic status. They receive a federal grant to serve the underserved. They take care of all. They have a wide range of services for the Marana area.
He is President of Key Club and has achieved numerous community projects. He is a National Honor Society student. He plans on attending Stanford and becoming a pediatric doctor. We wish him well in all of his endeavors.
After the meeting Jo Holt, Kathleen Debiak, and myself joined Dan Contorno in passing out dictionaries to Estes Elementary School and Roadrunner Elementary School. It is always fun to participate in this program.
The Rotary Club of Marana and the Interact Club of Tortolita worked the El Tour de Tucson Tangerine aide station on Saturday, November 23, 2013. Kathrine Neighbors Tortolita Middle School Teacher brought the Interact students: Nico Ketcham, Chance Patterson, Tony Breuer, James Cash and Cole Miller. The Rotarians and family at the event were: Debbie and Geary Conover and their son Jay Graham, John Zwick, Harold Burtzloff, Jane Howell, Alice Rigney and her friend Teri, Dan and Heather Contorno, and Deb Hume and our Youth Exchange student Pedro Acosta from Peru. A special thanks to Debbie Conover for heading this tremendous program. Rotary raised over $780,000 to eradicate Polio worldwide. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, will have his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation match it times 2 bringing us up to over 2.4 million. Congratulations to all Rotarians. To End Polio Now click here
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Nov 12th MeetingAlice Rigney was not feeling well, so she was not able to take notes of the meeting. We miss her and hope she recovers quickly.
Gustavo is a senior. He was accompanied by Denise Coronado (Principal), Maria Garcia (mother), and Melissa Wrenn (English teacher). He received a certificate of achievement and a gift certificate to the movie theater. Our Immediate Past President Suelee Edwards was our vocational speaker. She is the Manager for Bank of the West, Marana Branch. She had challenges during her youth but she worked hard to overcome them. After she was adopted by a teacher at her school, she attended UCLA and graduated with a degree in accounting. She planned to pursue a career as a CPA, but one day at her volunteer position at a suicide help line, she saved a person's life by talking to them until the police arrived to help. Those who saw her in action realized that she had a different calling and encouraged her to become part of the Los Angeles Police Department. She worked there until a health condition required her to move to Arizona. While recovering, she returned to what she learned in college and is using her accounting and public relations skills serving customers at Bank of the West. Those who know Suelee know that she has a big heart and is extremely compassionate. She volunteers countless hours and dollars to Make a Wish Foundation, her passion. Her eyes light up and she becomes animated when she talks about the wishes that have been fulfilled for children who have faced serious, life threatening illnesses. We are glad that Suelee is a member of the Rotary Club of Marana. The Club wished Pam Beine Happy Birthday and were pleased to see Jo Holt at the meeting. She is recovering from emergency surgery. Tonja Greenfield encouraged members to participate in the Tucson Rodeo Parade on February 22, 2014. She also announced the Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 7 for the Town of Marana. RYLA application are due on November 15. The wrap-up meeting for the Third Annual Rotary Heritage Awards will be help on Thursday, November 14, 2013, at 7:00 a.m. at Edward Jones. For more information, please visit our website at www.maranarotary.org.
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Third Annual Rotary Heritage AwardsThe Rotary Club of Marana hosted the Third Annual Rotary Heritage Awards honoring the Man, Woman, Educator & Student of the Year. While there are many in the Town of Marana who give generously of their time and talent to causes, this award is given to those who highlight the spirit of volunteerism, and who have made significant and positive impacts on our community through their volunteer efforts. The Town of Marana also presented its Ora Mae Harn Crystal Legacy Award and the Branding Iron Award. These Marana's most prestigious awards.
The Marana Rotary Club was honored to recognize the 2013 Heritage Awards winners. A number of esteemed candidates were presented for consideration. It was difficult to choose from among them. The four winners who represent outstanding community spirit, volunteerism and leadership are
Woman of the Year: Julee Baxley Man of the Year: Dr. Emil Tompkins Educator of the Year: Linda Fox, Marana Middle School Student of the Year: Elijah Barnett, Junior, Marana High School
These four join the previous years' winners who continue their leadership and good works in our community.
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Alice's Corner 11-5-2013
She brought a flag that was flown on a combat mission on 12/21/2012. She also shared a letter of thanks. The men in Afghanistan really appreciate all of the efforts to provide them with boxes from home. She shared a Challenge Coin that was presented to her. We should be proud to be able to contribute to this worthwhile cause. Thank you Sue and Harold for all of your hard work. That same day a number of us went to three elementary schools in the Marana area and passed out dictionaries. These children are so fun and full of vitality. We can look forward to some very good citizens. Thank you to Randy, Jan, Dan, Roy, George. On November 5, Debbie said that our grant to India qualifies as a Global Grant. Yea for Debbie. Maeve reported that the Heritage Dinner generated $375 in raffle money. 120 people attended. We even made a small profit. Next year we hope to bring on board the Chamber of Commerce and School District. Thank you Linda you did an awesome job. November 9, there will be a pancake and sausage breakfast at Maeve’s Edward Jones office. She is asking for contributions to be given to the Marana Food Bank. It will be held from 8am to 11am. John Dooling said that we had a number of Rotarians and spouses help with the Treasures for Teachers. Dave Lightfoot provided a much needed truck. A big thanks to all who helped. Our speaker was Daniela Diamente co-founder of El Grupo Youth Cycling. They work with children between the ages of 12-18. They teach children how to ride road bikes, mountain bikes and participate in bicycle tours. They must have a positive attitude as they are only competing against themselves. They learn bicycle safety , leadership skills and many more traits needed to cope with life. Many of their alumni return to be tutors, counselors and mentors. They accept bikes in any condition. They repair and provided bikes for many children. Their motto is "with your help we can use bikes to change lives". |
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Original Constitution of Marana Cotton Rotary Club |
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Sept SOM
Marana Rotary Club Student of the Month Annie Claridge, Daughter of Mel and Liz Claridge
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Alice's Corner 10-22
It was announced that on December 10 we will go to John Zwick’s place of business for our Christmas celebration. Mrs. Claus will of course be in attendance. Today we celebrated two birthdays. Kathleen Debiak turned 55 years young today. Maeve Johnson will celebrate her special day tomorrow. Congratulations ladies. Our speaker today was Jo Holt our residing biophysicist. She enlightened us about the polio virus. She broke it down into three basic parts: basic facts, cell destruction and the vaccine. 95% of the people who contract the disease do not even know they have it. It is very infectious as it can start in the throat and proceed to the intestine. In third world countries it is passed by unsanitary toilet conditions. Thank you Jo we may not have followed all of what was said but we have a better understanding. |
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Alice's Corner 10-8
Our one and only guest was Kathleen Neighbors from our interact club at Tortolina Middle School. Randy announced that on November 2 there will be a foundation training meeting. We need two club members to sign up. George Rigney will be one of those attending anyone else? Debbie asked for those wanting to help at the El Tour de Tucson please sign up. She has to fill in the hours. Please volunteer if only for one hour. She needs all the help we can offer. John Dooling is asking for help with the Treasures for Teachers on October 26. The money raised will help teachers buy supplies needed for their classrooms. More information to follow next week or talk to John. Randy is excited we saw the look on his face. He is going to Nigeria. He will be participating in the National Immunization Day. He will be one of many dispensing polio vaccines. Don Jorgenson has started a fund to raise money for Randy’s ransom if needed. Our vocational speaker was Linda Hampton. She shared her love to read. She started reading one book a week in 3rd grade. To this day she tries to read a book a week. She had many varied jobs of which she did not like. She was married which ended in divorce but gave her two daughters. She is currently married to Jeff her best friend and love of her life. In coming to Marana she found in Rotary a community based organization which has also give her many true friends. Great insight into your life Linda. Thank you for sharing.
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HERITAGE TICKETS |
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Alice's Corner 10-01Sally Montagne was a very welcomed visitor. She is the governor elect for 2014. On Octobrt 29th we will adjourn early to go deliver dictionaries to 3rd graders in the Marana disticrict. We met our MCAT student of Dakota is recognized for his friendliness, dedication and his focus on his direction. He was not a good student during his first two years of high school. In his junior year he made a decision to change his direction. He wants to be a good citizen in his community. Congratulations Dakota for changing your direction . Last week we heard about youth at risk. This week we heard about refugees. Which is worse having no home or having no country to feel is your home. Our speaker was Marge Pellegrino project manager for Hopi foundation. Last week we heard about homeless youths. How would you like to have a home that you cannot identify with or understand. This foundation helps refugees from all over the world. It is called the Owl and Panther. "The creator asked all of the animals to watch and stay awake for seven nights. On the seventh day, only the owl and the panther were still awake and because they did not succumb to sleep, they were given the power to see in the dark." They have many partnerships. These partnerships help these people adapt to their new environment. |
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New Member Jo Holt The Rotary Club of Marana welcomes Jo Holt, their newest member. She is a retired research biochemist who worked at the University of Arizona in the 1980s during which time her son was born at Tucson Medical Center. Her family then moved to St. Louis where she continued her career at Washington University. As a research biochemist, Jo spent decades running research laboratories. In this highly competitive environment, she was required to develop and stick to budgets, sell ideas, solve complex problems, complete projects and deliver results.
In 2007, Jo retired
 to Arizona to be the caregiver for her husband Gary when he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Watching Gary fade away was the hardest thing Jo has ever done. Jo is running for the Arizona State Senate, and we wish her well in the 2014 election. She is already contributing to the Rotary Club of Marana by supporting Rotary's international commitment to eradicate Polio worldwide.
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Alice's Corner 9-03
We heard a presentation from Cade Johnson our exchange student from Brazil. His father Dallas and his paternal grandmother Alice were in attendance. He lived in a suburb of San Palo. He attended the 10th best school in Sao Palo. Most of the children attend private schools. He had a problem with the language his first two months. Then suddenly it clicked. He now does math problems in his head in Portuguese. He attended a total of 20 classes a week. The instructors came to them. They did not change class rooms. Most of the classes were taught three times a week. Their school year was from February thru November. He loved the food. He gained 20 pounds. Their main meal was at about 2:30 pm. Their breakfast was generally a sandwich. Dinner was a catch as you can. He went on a couple of side trips with other exchange students. One of his favorites was the Amazon and Rio de Janiero. In a talent show he placed 3rd with his trombone. He saw a protest that was about the poorly funded public school system. He had a hard time adjusting to coming home. Today, the day after Labor Day, Dan Contorno gave a great presentation on the expenditures of the Marana school district. He is the Chief Financial Officer. His primary presentation was on the solar system bmplemented in the school district. In 2010 at the height of the bad economy the district lost the “soft capital. A bond helped fund all of the improvements in the school district. Their slogan was “promises made-promises kept”. Through the funding the district now has many improvements. We need a chairman to chair a fund raiser where we will raffle a corvette. Randy has found one for $10,500. We could raise much needed money for the foundation. This coming Saturday we will be boxing food at the Marana Community Food Bank. The President’s induction dinner held at the Kino baseball stadium was a blast! Maeve threw out the first ball. In the press box where we were sitting a fly ball came in through a window. It barely missed Kyle, Maeve’s husband, bounced hit George in the hand only to be retrieved by John Dooling. He presented the ball to Pedro Acosta our exchange student. This pretty mu |
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The Rotary Club of Marana will sponsor the Annual Man & Woman of the Year and the Educator & Student of the Year AwardsThe Rotary Club of Marana
is seeking nominations for its 2013
Man & Woman of the Year
Educator & Student of the Year
Join us for the 3rd Annual Rotary Heritage Awards Dinner
Many in the Town of Marana give generously of their time and talent to causes. Four (4) residents who highlight the spirit of leadership and volunteerism, and who have made significant and positive impacts on our community will be recognized for their achievement. The Town of Marana will also present its Ora Mae Harn Crystal Legacy Award and the Branding Iron Award, Marana's most prestigious awards.
Marana recognizes its special and powerful connectivity that comes from community engagement, wherever one chooses to get involved. It is not just the subject matter that counts, but also the energy, the ingenuity, the commitment, and the compassion one brings. The top three (3) nominees in each category will be recognized at the 3rd Annual Rotary Heritage Awards Dinner on Thursday, October 24, 2013, at The Highlands at Dove Mountain. Do you know SOMEONE who
embodies the spirit of leadership and volunteerism
in a way that impacts everyone around them?
Whether it is giving their time or utilizing their talents, a leader is of great value within a community. We need your help to identify the nominees! You are invited to submit the name of someone who epitomizes what it means to be a leader and volunteer, and whose commitment and compassion make Marana a better place.
To submit your nomination or to learn more about this prestigious award,
visit www.maranarotary.org or send an e-mail to rotarymaeve@gmail.com.
Nominations for this award will be accepted until
Friday, September 27, 2013.
Click for Nomination Form
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Alice's Corner 8-6Hail She brings the word that the world will be polio free by 2014. We can now do an El Tour de Tucson indoors. If you have a stationary bike you can ride it in small time increments. This is good news for yours truly as I have bad knees. Nancy shared her gavel with us. It was made for her mother in law by her father in law. She cherishes it as it was made with love. We are proud that Debbie Conover received the new governor's award entitled Energizer. She received a pin and a certificate. The pin reflects the atom and six electrons. It represents carbon of which we all are made. Jane Howell received her Paul Harris pin. I am sorry Jane I did not hear the number you have total. I will post it next week. |
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Alice's Corner 7-30
Linda reported that the Heritage Dinner is a go. The silent auction will be eliminated. Instead of the auction we will raffle a large gift. We will be able to sell tickets prior to the event. We are looking for corporate sponsors. We are inviting other organizations to join us in our endeavors. If we can get the chamber of commerce and the school district on board we will have more outside ticket sales. We met our new exchange student Pedro Acosta. He looked a little over whelmed. Our speaker was Terry Hinko President of the board of directors for Youth On Your Own. The statistics he shared with us were alarming. Arizona is first in the nation for school drop outs. There are over 4000 homeless youths in Arizona Uneducated youth become uneducated adults. YOTH started in 1986. The students range in ages from the 8th grade to the age of 21. At the present time the graduation rate is 93%. They are to be congratulated. Pam Beine will head a committee to help YOTH. Thank you Pam. Don't forget the fellowship dinner in honor of Nancy Cassel on August 5th. She will visit our club on the following day the 6th . Be on your best behavior. Going back one week we had Dr. Emil Tompkins. He started "Stuff the Bus". He saw a need for class supplies in the Marana School District. In the ensuing years his idea has grown into literally stuffing a school bus with school supplies. The bus is stationed in front of Walmart on Arizona Pavilion Drive. The response if phenomenal. Yours truly was out there for seven hours.
The club welcome our newest member Roy Morris |
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Alice's Corner 7-16 Due to vacations and "snowbirds" we had a small attendance. HEY! We miss you guys. Maeve announced Roy Morris will be inducted as a new member July 23. Randy Brooks our past g Dr. Amy Tilley presented a very informative slide presentation on her visit to Brazil with the GSE team. She reported the team got very little sleep. They were on the go all of the time. She said it was an incredible experience. Every team member had a through insight to their particular vocation. She visited psychiatric hospitals. The fifty/fifty pot is once again growing. |
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Alice's Corner 7-9
Maeve reminded us of our fund raiser coming up. July 26th we will have our poker tournament. Invite friends and family to join us. I don't play live poker but the camaraderie is fun. Come and cheer on our fellow Rotarians. Linda Hampton asked to be taken off the "disabled" list or rather the absent list. Her husband, Jeff is in remission. Glad to hear the good news. Pam Beine was inducted to our club. She was a former Rotarian. She is happy to be living in our area. She is presently an assistant school superintendent having taken Jan Truitt. Welcome Pam you will be a great asset to our club. Our wandering astronomer was our speaker this week. He hails from Manchester, England. His father was a welder and his mother a seamstress. He was always interested in microscopes. After five years of playing the bass in the school band he sold it and bought some glass. With this it started him on his long and lucrative career. He attended the University of Newcastle and the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. He gave us a short history of his family life and a few amusing antecdotes. Maeve asked if he could possibly arrange a tour of Kitt Peak for fellow Rotarians. 
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Alice's Corner 7-3Our meeting on July 2nd started with a reminder from Peter Mack as he read the invocation. He reminded us of the fallen heroes in Prescott In remembrance he read the names of the young men who perished in the Yarnell fire.
We congratulated David Lightfoot on his "first day on earth day". He donated $77 to t Kathleen Neighbors, our liaison with the Interact club at Tortolita Middle School, donated $40 from the club. This was raised by asking for "Pennies for Polio". They did this in conjunction with Youth Organized America. We in turn gave her a banner for her school. I purposely did not write this article until today. In hearing our own exchange student Lauren speak this week about her experiences in America we were reminded how fortunate we are. She said she was very surprised at the friendliness of people in general. She enjoyed her high school year because it is so different to her curriculum in Germany. She received a Varsity letter in tennis. She enjoyed the prom as there is nothing that comes close to this in her country. She traveled to many destinations. She went on a trip to the East coast with a number of other exchange students. She was sad because of the many friendships she has foraged and may never see again. She reminded us how fortunate we are to live in America, a great country. She left this morning, Friday. Yesterday at the invitation of, our current President, Maeve Johnson I attended "Let Freedom Sing". We were joined by Jeff and Linda Hampton and numerous clients and friends. There were approximately 25 of us. Lyle Richardson, Maeve's husband, grilled the traditional hamburgers and hot dogs. We all over ate due to the delicious desserts including apple pie. We were taken to U of A's Centennial Hall in a small van, that seated about thirty people. We had wonderful reserved seats. The hall was packed. Many times we forget that this is the 237th birthday of our great nation. We enjoy the quality of life in our country thanks to our fallen heroes. We owe much to the bravery and heroism of our soldiers who serve and have given their lives on the battlefield. We could feel the passion and excitement as The Arts Express Choir and Orchestra sang many passionate and emotional patriotic songs. Besides the color guard, the salute to our armed forces, the many talented singers and musicians one number stood out in my mind. This was done by Erin Hagedon singing "Summertime". Her voice was a joy to anyone's heart. Bruce Simon had us all tapping our toes and waving our little flags to the song of "God Bless the USA". We all felt the togetherness. We all perceived the bravery, commitment, love and sacrifice of each and every American. I urge you and all your friends and family to go next year. I know nothing else will be on my calendar. See you there!!  |
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ALICE'S CORNER for June 25, 2013, Meeting
On June 18, Maeve had a very good planning session. Our members are looking forward to a great year with an emphasis on the community.
The formal installation was held on June 25th during the meeting. It was decided that too many people will be out of town for the rest of the summer to have a formal dinner. Tonja is planning a fellowship evening by going to see the Padres in August.
The following were indu
A poker tournament will be held on July 26th at the Java Coffee House. Registration is from 5:30 to 6:15. A $40 buy in.
Some great points were made at Maeve's meeting. Ron Burton our new International President is using the slogan, "Engage in Rotary Change Lives". We need to be inspired by Rotary through partnership and fellowship. We all need to get involved and make a difference. Why did you join Rotary?? What is your inspiration?? We are looking forward to the following community projects: Youth on Their Own, The Marana Community Food Bank, passing out dictionaries to 3rd graders, and working closer with MCAT. On June 25 it was discussed to have a bowling party for MCATS students at the end of the school year. We are going to ask someone from Youth on Their Own to speak to us about the program. We will continue to work with Boxes for Troops and the Marana Community Food Bank. Our GSE team member Dr. Amy Tilley will be moving to North Carolina. We wish her well. We would have loved to have her enthusiasm in our club.
Dan Contorno's boss was our speaker. Doug Wilson has been superintendent of the Marana School District for five years. This was his third visit to our club. We have an outstanding school district and are striving to make it better. $20 million has been cut out of our school district in the past five years. He spoke to us about a foundation to fill the area not covered in the district. This foundation will support scholarships, staff, and tutoring. They want to focus on teaching and learning. If a student attends all twelve years of schooling in the Marana district the Marana Promise will help financially with their schooling. In 5 years he hopes to raise 7 million dollars. This has to come from the grass roots. It will give the students opportunity, hope and inspiration. We wish him well and look forward to helping him with his endeavor. |
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Alice's Corner 6-11
By the end of the meeting my face hurt from smiling so much. Maeve attended the installation of our new Governor Nancy Castle. It was held at the Walker Horse Ranch in Patagonia. Jane announced a potluck to be held for Laureen. It will be at Jane's home starting at 12 noon, Saturday the 15th of June. She asks that you bring something to accompany a hero sandwich. She will provide refreshments. David Lightfoot has a receptacle in front of his place of business, Continental Storage, on Coca Cola drive. He is requesting women's clothing and shoes to help the Kolman Cancer Center. The installation for the dinner on June 29th has been canceled. Many people will be out of town. It would not be fair to our incoming President not to have as many people as possible to cheer her on. An formal installation will be held at the June 25th meeting with a dinner in the future to be announced at a later date. Maeve is inviting the club to join her for the Let Freedom Sing Celebration on July 4th. to be held at the Centennial Hall, University of Arizona. It is a musical celebration featuring the Arts Express Soloists, Choir and Orchestra with a guest appearance of the Dixie Cats and Big Band Express. She will have a bus to transport everyone. Please RSVP as soon as possible. She has limited seating. John Zwick was pressed into service to be the Sergeant of Arms. He not only did a terrific job but his ticket was pulled by our new perspective member Pam Beine. He won a $1000!! He leaves this week for Las Vegas. Kind of fishy Our delightful guest speaker was Kathy Acosta Zavala. She related some wonderful stories about her dream to become an accomplished classical and folkloric guitarist. We asked numerous questions. Consequently her playing time was very limited but enjoyed by all. She was 12 years old when she started to play the guitar. Since she was 16 she has been studying classical. It requires a minimum of 8 hours per day of practice sometimes as many as 12 hours. She is looking forward to concerts in Canada and Peru. She is a straight A student and holds down two jobs as well. She displayed various techniques in her music. We were all mesmerized by this delightful young lady. We wish her well. |
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Alice's Corner June 5
As usual yours truly is very tardy with this article.
In May we had a number of great presentations.
The first one, that I did not attend, but had trusty spies tell me that it was great.
The presentation was from our members who traveled to Brazil. They saw our money at work. Their presence there was very much appreciated by the recipients of Rotary's monies.
click for more information http://asaom.edu/ Our own Randy Brooks gave us an inside look of his life. He literary came from a very poor and troubled life. He lived in the streets from the age of 15. With the help of some of his teachers he was able to graduate. This was despite his 1.2 gpa. He was told by his counselor not to have any high expectations. He would be lucky to hold any kind of position.
At the age of 18 he joined the Navy. He became a psychiatric nurse. His first year was with the Marines. He was a medical corpsman in Vietnam.
He feels very fortunate in breaking the cycle of poverty. He feels very fortunate for who he is and has become. He is thankful for all of the opportunities that came his way.
Today he is an equal partner in Jorgenson and Brooks. But his hardest assignment has been as Governor for Rotary. He will be happy as well as sad in some ways to see his term come to an end.
We know there are many more challenges in Randy's life. We love you Randy and are very proud of you. |
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Oklahoma TornadoOklahoma, USA, Rotary districts establish tornado disaster fund
Rotary International Districts 5770 and 5750 are supporting the relief and recovery efforts related to the tragic events in Moore, Oklahoma, and the destruction from the tornado that hit there on May 20. Many families and friends have suffered great loss. It is estimated that there were between 12,000 and 13,000 homes destroyed or damaged, in addition to businesses and schools.
Foundation for Oklahoma Rotary, Inc.
Attention: Bi-District Tornado Disaster Fund
P.O. Box 13800 Oklahoma City OK 73113-3800 USA |
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District Governor Leadership Award Presented to Tonja Greenfield
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Marana Rotary Club Receives Presidenial Citation
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Alice's Cornere 5-14
Where does time go? It seems to slip through my fingers. This week our MCATS student was a delightful young man, Colton Mc Master. He was accompanied by his parents, Tammy and William. His goal is to go into the Air National Guard to prepare him to go on to divinity school. He would like to be a minister or military chaplain. The Marana Rotary Club wishes Colten the best in his future endeavors. The new governor Nancy Castle will be visiting our club August 6th please be there to show support for our new governor. Bill Stanley was our speaker this week. His wife was against coming to Tucson but here he is and is doing a fine job in insurance sales. Quite a change from Wyoming. May 21st at 7:00pm at the Marana Middle School. MCATS will hold their graduation ceremonies. If you can attend it would be greatly appreciated. We should do it more for the hard working teachers who give these kids so much hope. Randy and Deb will have their appreciation party this Sunday, May 19th. Let's have a good attendance to show Randy how proud we are of him and all his work. |
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Rotary work day at the Dog House
By the end of the day, happy tails were wagging at the new, improved appearance of the Dog House where yellow and blue paint brightened the adoption facility. Jose Ganos, Center Volunteer Coordinator, praised the volunteers for making a significant difference. "The Care Facility is deeply moved by your spirit of volunteerism," Ganos told the volunteers. "The employees' spirits have been raised because the facility looks so good. People coming to adopt the dogs have commented on the excellent appearance of the building. When we have our adoption in event in May, we hope that more dogs will be adopted."
During the morning, many of the volunteers painters bonded with a dog. The Care Facility offered to waive the adoption fees if a volunteer adopted a dog. More than one dog was seen jumping into a voluneer's car excited to see their new forever home. All in all, it was a great day for man and his best friend!
Rotarians At Work Day is an annual service event scheduled for the last Saturday in April each year, and clubs around the world are challenged to carry out hands-on service efforts in their community. Rotarians identify a project that all members can participate in to help their local community.
Started in 2006 by the late Bob Watson, past governor of District 5340 (California), Watson hoped that by 2014, every club and Rotarian would participate. Maeve Johnson, President Elect 2013-2014, and Joe Hentges, President 2012-2013, were pleased the Rotary Clubs of Marana and Dove Mountain were able to join forces to help the Pima Animal Care Center. SEE PHOTO ALBUM FOR PHOTOS
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Alice's Corner I am baaack! With respiratory and allergy problems I can almost breathe again.
We say "Bon Voyage" to Amy Tilley and the GSE team. God speed.
Our other wanderers are still in Brazil.
The council supports their unmet needs. . They show them that there is another kind of life other than the one they have grown up with. 3000 cases are in the system. They can only deal with about 300 cases. The most severe ones. Each volunteer has about 3 cases. They follow the child until they are out of the system. They offer a consistency in the child's life
Anyone hearing the poem that Jan read at the end of her speech had to be moved to tears. We wish them all well. I |
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April Student of the month
Marana Rotary at its April 16th meeting presented The April Student of the Month from MCAT High School was Taylor McLean. She was nominated by computer lab aide Lisa Martinez. Taylor is a senior who will graduate in May. She likes history, reading, and writing. Her goals after graduation include joining the Navy and becoming an aviation rescue swimmer, and eventually an attorney. Taylor participated in cross country, track, and softball.
Alyssa Kayfes, a senior at Mountain View High School Student, entertained the Club with a rehearsal of her speech for the "Four Way Test" speech contest. Sh |
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Alice's Cornere 4-9
Our very own Dr. Amy Tilley , who is one of the GSE team members going to Brazil, asked for $300. Each team member will be taking $300 in cash to donate to different projects on their trip. Linda Hansen told us they raised $20,000 at the Marana Community Food Bank annual dinner last Saturday. That money is translated into $180,00 in food for the Food Bank. Congratulations Linda it is a lot of hard work on your behalf. Mike Swart will be opening his new bike shop on April 26. It is a few doors down from Nana's. Who was to know that our speaker John Dooling was such a party animal in school and a "whistle blower" to boot! John started as He had many and various jobs in his younger days never dreaming he would become such a successful insurance agent. He has held many local positions within the community. He is to be respected and admired for his convictions and all the work he does for the city of Marana. |
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Alice's Corner 4-2 Let's hear it for our RYLA students!!! I heard from fellow Rotarians that Mackenzie Reed and Lauren Bublitz put together a wonderful performance. This is are our future citizens and future Rotarians. They are to be commended on an outstanding program. All Rotarians should consider volunteering to be a facilitator at RYLA. It is truly a rewarding experience to see our youth show so much potential.
This week we had Patti Comerford Marana's vice mayor. Patti has been on the city council for twelve years. She reported to us on the status of the city. If we have any concerns she asked us to address it to the council. Marana is a city We are reminded that we have a Padres baseball game on May 10th. For those of us who went last year it was a lot of fun. We have our own seating upstairs. We had a great dinner and plenty of beverages. If interested call Tonja Greenfield. For those interested I will be collecting names for people who wish to buy a Marana Rotary Shirt. The price is not as yet set in stone as it depends on how many are ordered. The color will be BLUE. |
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Alice's Corner Debbie Conover gave us a thumbnail sketch on foundation. Everything you wanted to know and more. The following week George and I gave an abbreviated report on our trip to Hermosillo and San Carlos. We went with 13 other Rotarians from Dove Mountain, Saddlebrook, Old Pueblo, Oro Valley and Marana. We took Christmas to The King’s Kid Orphanage. There were 18 children ranging in age from 6 months to 18 years. We next went to La Tenda di Christo. It is an HIV clinic with the sane concept as a Ronald McDonald house. Rotary has provided funds for furniture, cooking utensils, linens and beds. We ended o We saw where our grant money of $17,000 will provide air conditioners, computers and furniture for the center.
Our speaker today was Debbie Conover. She gave us the personal side of Debbie. She was raised in a family of six outside of Cleveland. She was a thespian in her high school days. She sang but due to a health problem she lost one of her vocal cords. She loves math. She joined the Marines. After being inducted they said sorry we have our quota of women. So she was sent home. She has been on her own since the tender age of 17 Her perseverance and determination has made her the Rotarian she is today.
 We recognized our student of the month. Her name is Helen Lujon. She hails from Guam. Her aspiration is to become a veterinarian. Her shyness was very endearing.
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Alice's Corner 3-20
Thank you to Harold and Jane. Tonja Greenfield has our “March Madness” sheets. If you wish to participate give her a call. Linda Hampton reminded every one of the Marana Community Food Bank Good Vibrations coming up April 6th. Maeve Johnson reported April 27th Rotary will have a table in front of Albertson’s. We will be handing out loyalty cards. When a person uses this particular card Rotary will receive a percentage. On June 4th our new district governor Nancy Castle will be installed. Randy will be relieved a well as saddened I think. He has really done us proud. Our club installation will be held June 29th. Carol Mc Gorray was our speake |
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Rotary Youth Exchange Debbie Conover our Youth Exchange Officer of our club. There will be a great opportunity for us to become more familiar with all the changes in Youth Exchange. The RYE training will be on March 23rd. It will begin at 10:00 am at Eva’s fine Mexican Dining in Casa Grande. I need a head count for meals prior to the event. This would be good for anyone in the club interested in more of a role in RYE or for any club member who wants to learn more about this wonderful program. This is really important for anyone who did not get the opportunity to be trained last year. (this year) Please let me know. I will have a sign up sheet Tuesday. You can email me at gdc511@msn.com |
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Marana Heritage Day
Debbie and President Sue Lee were judges for the parade on Saturday at the Marana Heritage Day Festival. Tonja and Dan Contorno were a part of the festivities as well. Our own Linda was voted Woman of the Year and rode in the parade in a corvette that Tom Mangold had arranged for. Marana High won for best float. The student of the year was in another corvette.
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Cade Johnson our exchange student update
I cannot believe it is March already. Time really flies. I restarted school last month, and have since felt my Portuguese accelerate. School is going well and I am finding myself making many new friends. I hope all is well back home and I wish good luck to Rotary's service project in Natal. I am looking forward to march madness. Hopefully I will be able to watch a few games on tv here. Cade |
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Alice's Corner 2/19 My sincerest apologies to our madam president elect Maeve Johnson. I think somewhere in computer land is my article for that week. Maeve was joined by our student of the month. The Marana Rotary Club Student of the Month from MCAT was Makenna McAlpine. She was accompanied by her parents, Kevin and Laurie. Makenna came to MCAT in the fall of 2012. She quickly completed many graduation requirements and will be finished with high school in March. Makenna wants to go into cosmotology after high school. What a lovely bubbly lady. We look forward to seeing some good things coming her way. Maeve shared with us her life previous to becoming a financial advisor. Her brilliant economic forecast had to be chucked as the projector did not cooperate with her power point presentation. She was a flight attendant at the time Coffee, Tea or Me was published. She was one of the good girls. But still it must have been a fun time in the airline era. She flew in and out of Las Vegas so much she does not like the city. While in New York she attended numerous Broadway shows. She liked that part. Her education led her to become an elementary school teacher working with gifted children. She moved to Tucson where she went to work with Edward Jones. Her philosophy is when a door closes there is an open window. Economy wise she feels we on our way to financial recovery. This week we h Randy Brooks told us about the upcoming Peace Conference. We needed two representatives in order to qualify for our Presidential Citation. George Rigney and Jane Howell volunteered to represent the club. Thanks guys. It was announced that the 50/50 rules will be changing. Suelee will be bringing the new rules to the next meeting. Maeve asked for volunteers to help with the Founder's Day activities. The board is examining how the club will participate. |
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Alice's Corner 2/5 I think this meeting will go down as one of the best meetings ever. John Swift told us about his hobby. He has been working with falcons for fifty years. He brought a live falcon to the meeting. He became interested when hawks were killing his pigeons. He started researching birds of prey and became addicted. There are approximately 100 people in the state of Arizona and about 4000 in the United States that are dedicated to falcons. His talk was not only informative but very entertaining. John's enthusiasm showed us how dedicated he is to this sport. He also helps release condors in the Grand Canyon. We had two guests that are very interested in becoming members. One Steve Colantuoni saw our meeting date and place in the Explorer. The other gentleman Anthony Meoel was a guest of Shelly Sonberg. He works with her at the prison in charge of the health services. Remember to buy your tickets for the Dove Mountain fund raiser. Those of us who went last year had a great time. I highly recommend it.
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Allice's Corner 1/29 Congratulations to our newest Paul Harris member. Debbie Conover (left) Secretary for District 5500 and member of the Marana Rotary Club presented Kathleen Debiak with her Paul Harris award and pin. [ Donors of US$1,000 or more to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus, or an approved Foundation grant, is recognized as Paul Harris Fellows.]
Did you know she was also a facilitator at the Rotary Leadership Institute. That is the kind of member we need who steps up to the plate. Thank you Kathleen. We received some "Thank You" notes from deserving students. Lauren, our foreign exchange student, sent us one for sending her to RYLA. The Interact Club sent one for the monies sent to make the plaques. By-laws were submitted and approved. Thank you Harold and Maeve for all your hard work. It is a thankless job. Since we did not have a deck of cards it was decided to have a drawing for the Dove Mountain fund raiser tickets donated last week by Marvin Swink. Tickets were won by Shelly Sonberg, Suelee Edwards, John Dooling, Peter Mack and Adam Molden. We will have a great representation at the dinner. The speaker was Blaine Moyer from the Rio Rico club. He encouraged us to participate in the "Ignite" program. We should all be looking for quality guests A special Happy Birthday went out to Dan Contorno. |
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Alice's Corner 1/15
Suelee made us burn a few brain cells on Tuesday morning. In lieu of a program she had a quiz on Rotary International and our Marana Rotary. She did have some prizes. I don’t think anyone was able to claim one. Harold knew most of the answers as they are in the newsletter. Maeve went on line and found some answers. Let’s hear a drum roll. We have only FOUR cards in the 50/50 deck!!! Karen Bazinet sent her ticket money with Don Jorgensen. Her ticket was pulled but Don did not pull the winning ticket. Sorry Karen. Heh heh, heh. |
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Alice's Corner 1/22
Click to see Arizona Trail Map Matt Nelson gave us a great meeting on the Arizona Trail. He is a dynamic speaker. I particularly don't like to walk any farther than my car but he made me want to go hiking. The suspense is over. Marvin Swink from Dove Mountain Rotary won the pot. He is very generous in giving us a table at their fund raiser. He also is giving us $200 of raffle tickets. It was voted by the club that from now forward you must be a member to win. We will only give the winner a $1000. The reaming money will roll over to the next pot. It seems only fair. |
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Alice's Corner 1/09
It is always a pleasure to get to know our members better. Jane Howell was our presenter. I did not attend but I understand she gave us great insight on her background . For those of you keeping score there are only 5 cards left in the 50/50 pot!! Better make plans to attend our next meeting. Wishing you all a great New Year.
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Alice's Corner 12/18
Our heavenly wanderer was present, our own Peter Mack. We always enjoy Peter’s comments and views. Whitney Wisenheimer was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow by our own governor Randy Brooks. Congratulations Whitney! Maybe you will give serious consideration to becoming a member of our club? Harold Burtzloff gave a very comprehensive explanation of our web site. George Rigney his cohort gave some support in helping the club use this useful tool. Our thanks to Harold for all of his work. Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.
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Alice's Corner 12/11
Erica Petersen, John's granddaughter gave a very insightful talk on the traditions of the fireplace. Kathleen Neighbors brought a number of her Interact kids. Suelee presented the club with a $250 check. They will use this money to make signs telling us more about their vegetable garden. Randy, George and myself returned safely from Mexico. George and I have many stories to share with you in January regarding our wonderful Mexican adventures. Randy's group had a party for over 400 Mexican children. They made sure to have Santa make an appearance. Harold Burtzloff said that 155 boxes were prepared for the troops. Maeve said it was very heartwarming and insightful to know that a special person would be receiving the box she packed. Linda Hampton reported that Rawhide Feed and Supply gave a $10,000 fork lift to the food bank. If you need anything in the way of feed and supplies stop by Rawhide Feed and Supply in Catalina or just stop by and say "thank you". Randy needs a home in March, April and May to house a student in Oro Valley. By having a home in Oro Valley the student would not have to transfer schools. Anybody know anyone willing to take on the challenge? They do not necessarily need to be a Rotarian. Thanks again to everyone, John for the party and Harold for the Boxes for Troops. Pick up an extra turkey or ham and drop it off at the food bank. We have many more mouths to feed this year. We have much to be thankful for this year. Show it by giving to others. |
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Alice's Corner 12/4
She hails from the San Manuel Rotary Club. She has been a Rotarian for two years. She is a physician's assistant primarily working with underserved individuals. Her background is part Polish and part Irish. Her passion is Rotary. We expect great things from her.
Suelee presented Linda Hampton with a check for $511.00. This money was raised by our weekly contributions to the food bank. Pat yourselves on the back. The Marana Community Food Bank is grateful for the support received from the Marana Rotary Club. Not only are you quick to volunteer when needed, your individual and club financial support is heartwarming. The donation of $511 received on December 4, 2012 will go a long way toward helping those in our community who are experiencing economic stress. Each dollar will be converted into $8.75 worth of food -- the equivalent of $4,471.25 in food! There are nearly 2,600 families who depend upon our little food bank each month. Thank you for helping us be here for them. Linda Hampton, Executive Director
A rousing birthday song was sung for Don Jorgensen and John Swift. Peter Mack recently returned from Australia where he logged 7,000 kilometers. He also made up a meeting, in Australia, where they had a big barbeque. Shelly Sonberg shared some quotes from prisoners who helped put labels in our dictionaries. They brought a tear to many an eye Suelee shared a story from her bank. A couple who literally had one cent in their bank account came in and told their story. It seems the husband had 5 lottery tickets. He had them checked at a service station. He was at the service station because his wife's car had run out of gas. He had to push the car to the station! One tickret was worth $75,000. They are both unemployed. At this time of year we all need to hear such an uplifting story, Keep the faith every one. This Friday boxes for the troops will be packed at Harold Burtzloff's home. If you can make it he will be offering lunch. Such a deal. |
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Alice's Corner
Suelee gave a very inspirational invocation quoting We were reminded of the reception for the Group Suelee related a personal story about her daughter. Her daughter lives in Battery Park and was one of the few buildings with electricity. The residents, in the building, and local merchants united to give hot meals to homeless people and offer showers. They fed over 400 people and had 700 people take showers in their gym. Our mayor Ed Honea was introduced by our program chair Jane Howell as "our home boy: Of the five generations of the Honea he is part of the third. They are truly pioneers of Marana. His family first settled here in 1930. He gave us an interesting insight to the city of Marana with pictures and stories about the "good ole' days" The entire town of Marana was razed to provide room for I-10. There were seven missile sites in Marana. Everyone thought they were doomed. In the 1970's the city was In 1979 there was a flood. This flood brought together the citizens of Marana. In 1983 there was another devastating flood. All of the hardships of Marana melded the many diverse nationalities citizens of Marana. We are looking forward to the GSE team visiting our area and the El Tour de Tucson |
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Cade Johnson our exchange studentMarana Rotary Club outbound exchange student I have now bee |
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Alice's Corner 9-25
For those of you not attending you missed a wonderful duet sung by John Dooling and Maeve Johnson. They did a nice rendition of “Pop Goes the Weasel”. Our NFL predictor once again won. I say Jan Truitt has a crystal ball. Maeve requested baskets for the silent auction. Bring them to the next meeting along with your donations. Tonja announced that she got the Marana Fire Department to commit to a dinner at the station house. Good going Tonja! Linda Hansen needs volunteers at 6am Saturday morning to help with the, ”Hunger Walk”. Some of our members were on hand at the Tucson Airport to meet Lauren (pronounced Lorraine). She hails from Hamburg, Germany. She will be staying with Suelee until after the first of the year. Then she will stay with Jane Howell the remainder of her year. Our speaker was our man of the year for 2011-2012, Ed Stolmaker. Ed is the President/CEO of the Marana Chamber of Commerce. He gave us the dates of the Founder’s Day festivities. He encouraged us to enter the “Bed Race”. There are a few beds available and many of our bike riders could push the bed to the finish line. He gave us the mission statement and visions of Marana. We are members of the Chamber and should get out and support their endeavors..
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Exchange Student Rotary Club of Marana exchange student Laureen Bublitz arrives from Germany |
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Alice's Corner 9/18/12
On September 29th we are one of the sponsors for the Hunger Walk. We need volunteers to assist with the table. On October 6h Suelee is having an open house from 2-5pm. This is a welcome for our new members. Join us for some good fellowship On October 9th our meeting will be held at the NW Fire Training Center. Let’s show our support to our fire fighters. Come on People we need support for our Heritage Dinner. OUR OCTOBER 30th meeting will NOT BE CANCELED as stated previously. There will be an additional meeting on November 3rd for our 2nd Annual Edward Jones Marana Community Food Bank. We expect to pack at least 1200 bags as it is the first of the month. Congratulations to Jan Truitt on winning the NFL Fantasy Football Pool. In the 50/50 there are only 16 cards left. I predict a winner soon. Maeve is asking for volunteers to help transport luggage and GSE team members on Sunday the 18th of November. Our Youth Exchange Student now arrives on, Monday, September 24th at 9:30 pm. Anybody want to go out and welcome Lauren? She will have a day of rest and start school on the following Wednesday. Randy reported that with additional donations from Jane and Suelee over $950 was raised for El Tour de Tucson. He also reminded us that we need to support the Annual Program Fund. Do you want George knocking on your door? We help a child in Africa. This child becomes an adult and contributes to the world by teaching his community, children and country. Rotary needs everybody to help. Rotary offers us the opportunity to share our core values. Do you get the message throughout this blurb? VOLUNTEER AND PARTICIPATE We are proud of our club. Let’s get out and do it!!!!!!
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Alice's Corner 9/11
Our vagabond governor, Randy Brooks, made a welcomed appearance. Don’t forget Randy and his group, Ramble On, will be appearing this Saturday, the 13th at Nana”s restaurant 6-8. Join us for great fellowship and to support our El Tour de Tucson team! Our inbound youth exchange student, Lauren, will be arriving September 23. Cain our outbound student arrived in Brazil. Dates to remember: October 25 Heritage Dinner October 26 District 5500 Conference November 3 Community Food Bank Drive November 17 El Tour de Tucson Bike Ride November 18 GSE reception at Dove Mountain November 19 GSE Farewell party at Cattleman’s We still need silent auction items for the Heritage Dinner! Come on everybody let’s get on the band wagon.
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Alice's Corner 9/4 SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORTThat word is essential to all Rotarians. Maeve Johnson and Suelee Edwards are asking for gift cards, gift baskets, and items for our Founder's silent auction. On September 15th Randy's group, "The Ramble On", will provide live music at Nana's. Proceeds will go to support El Tour de Tucson. The time is 6-8pm. Come out for the fellowship, food and fun. We all need to put the El Tour de Tucson on our calendars. We need your support to hand out water, snacks and encouragement. Our members participating are Randy Brooks, Deb Hume, Tonja Greenfield, Suelee Edwards, Mike Swart and our incoming GSE member Octavio Soares and one of our previous GSE team members from last year. Our incoming exchange student as well as our outgoing student are having difficulties with their visas. Thank you to Debbie Conover, John Dooling and Maeve Johnson for all their support and hard work. Harold said he would have attended today's meeting but his wife, Ellen, had a doctor's appointment. Glad to hear you are doing so well Harold. Maeve reported Harold has lost a considerable amount of weight. Dan Contorno said he would like to go on Harold's diet. We all agreed that was not the way to go.  Our speaker was Master Andy Latherow. He teaches physical fitness, self defense and goal achievement. He has his Tae Kwan Do studio at the end of the building where Nana's is located. Age is not a factor his philosophy is open to everyone. He moved here two years ago from Florida. Members in his family have achieved different levels of titles in Tae Kwan Do . His topic centered on achieving goals in time management, recognition and money. He shared that he received a scholarship from Rotary and was also a GSE team member. Rotary touches many lives. |
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Alice's Corner 8/28
Hooray for Harold Burtzloff! He made it through a difficult surgery. According to Harold, He will probably be back in about two weeks,.George Rigney bought four tickets to the Rotary Tucson Classics 6th Annual Car Show. He had our Sergeant at Arms Javier Teran draw four lucky raffle tickets. Wouldn't you know George won two of them. So Alice and George will be attending the car show. Our guest speaker Marty Blattberg won a ticket and for the life of me I can't remember who won the fourth ticket. Suelee Edwards announced that her bank was held up for the 6th time. This time it was different robbers. Tonja Greenfield is asking for ads for our Heritage dinner. Martin and Andrea Blattberg gave a presentation on their business ABC Advisors. This service is free to seniors and their families. They contract with cities and towns to monitor senior living facilities. They primarily help families place seniors in facilities according to level of care needed, We still need auction items and ads for our dinner. Let's get out and beat the bushes! |
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Alice's Corner Club Meeting 8-21
On a sad note Randy reported that some fellow Rotarians from Valle Verde (Green Valley) were in an accident at the Green Valley Fire Department. We wish them well. Maeve is asking for gift cards and gifts to make baskets for the silent auction at our Marana dinner. In keeping with our dinner Tonja announced that our printer has volunteered to print our flyers for free. Due to the dinner coinciding with our conference we will have many dignitaries attending. Our youth exchange student will be delayed by a few weeks. For all of you “football fans” Tonja announced September 5th before 5 pm is your cutoff date for the pigskin pool, Maeve Johnson gave an informative and interesting program on the Group Study Exchange (GSE). On November 18th Dove Mountain will host a party for the team to allow us to meet and greet. Harold Burtzloff made it through the surgery but has had some complications. He will be in the hospital for several days. Anyone may visit him at Oro Valley hospital room 402. This info is as of 8-21. Harold you are in our thoughts. George will be taking the computer out to the hospital so you can keep up the website. Get well soon we need you working little buddy. |
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money for the food bank
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Rotary makes presentation to chamber members
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Heritage Awards Dinner and Fundraiser planned for Oct. 25The Marana Rotary Club is hosting its 2nd Annual Heritage Awards dinner and fundraiser at 6 p.m., on Thursday, Oct. 25, in the clubhouse at The Highlands of Dove Mountain, formerly known as Heritage Highlands. Last year, the Rotary Club of Marana presented the awards to Marana Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ed Stolmaker for Man of the Year and Marana Town Council member Carol McGorray for Woman of the Year. Marana High School teacher Lori Vargo was named Educator of the Year and Catherine Rigby, a Marana High School senior, was named Student of the Year. The Town of Marana will be presenting its Branding Iron and Ora Mae Harn Crystal Legacy awards during the festivities. Tickets to the dinner are $50 each or a reserved table of 10 for $500. To purchase tickets, call John Dooling at (520) 744-3998. |
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New Member Karren Bazinet The Rotary Club of Marana welcomed Karen Bazinet as it's newest member on July 24. Also pictured is the president of the club, Suelee Edwards. |
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Alice's Corner meeting of 7/24
Our second speaker was Elvis Munis. His challenge is to cycle around the world. We have trouble with Tour de Tucson! He has been cycling around the world for two years. He is raising funds for education of fellow Tanzanian students, Thanks Linda for a great program. |
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Rotary Club of Vikravandi
A letter from the Rotarians of Vikravandi wish you all good health and prosperity. After the installation of Office bearers for 2012-13, as one of the welfare projects, a pack of school notebooks were given free of cost to Girl students, belonging to very poor families. These children were given notebooks from Debbie’s surprise gift of $100. Thanks to Debbie and all rotarians of Rotary Club of Marana. See pictures. We hope you are happy to learn that your gift is well utilized. Thanking you, Rotary club of Vikravandi |
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Omi Yener Our exchange student Omi Yener from Hamburg Germany went to Marana High. He was a great spokesman for Rotary Youth Exchange. He gave several presentations at school about the youth exchange experience and how it changes you. He played soccer and track. He excelled in all his classes. When he goes back to Germany he will have to take two more years of high school. He was greatful to the Rotary club for having him and his host families - Debbie and Geary Conover and the Johnsons. Omi said that being here was a wonderful experience and the thing he will miss most is the people and the FOOD!! Omi gave his farewell presentation at our Rotary meeting July 10th. |
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Totillita Interact Project
 Rotary District 5500 and the Rotary Club of Marana gave a grant to the Rotary Interact Club at Tortilita (sic) Middle School to research and implement the placing of name plates for the plants along the walking path at the Tucson Audubon’s Mason Center in North Tucson. Rotarians Tonja Greenfield and Debbie Conover joined Sarah, Interact Club President and Chris, Interact member on June 28th. Kathleen Neighbors the Interact teacher, Carol Palmer, Audubon volunteer and Dr. Paul Green, Executive Director of the facility helped place the signs near the proper plants. The Interact Club plans to continue adding signs to the walking trail yearly. |
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Alice's Corner
If you did not attend District Governor Randy Brooks first Governor's visit you missed a fun meeting.
Randy brought forth all of his goals and plans for the coming year. Among these plans is to have EVERY CLUB MEMBER contribut at least $20.00 to the Rotary Annual Program Fund. He would like to see Marana receive the Presidential Award from district. He would like to continue the present programs we have as well as adding a few new ones. Increasing membership is a must for every club member. We need good quality people. He complimented Marana on being one of the top clubs in the district. We all wish Randy well and will continue to support him in all of his goals. |
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Randy Instalation  
At high noon last Sunday, June 24th the Omni Tucson National was the site for the Installation luncheon and ceremony for our incoming District 5500 Governor (and RC Marana’s own) Randy Brooks. Over 180 Rotarians, Brooks family members and guests celebrated the occasion, which included recognition of the many past district governors in attendance, recognition and thanks for outgoing 2011-2012 DG Michael Drake (gracious as always), the installation of the 2012-13 District officers, and the exchange of banners by the host clubs for new DG Randy (RC Marana), DGE Nancy Cassel (RC Sierra Vista West), and DGN Sally Montagne (RC Tucson). DG Randy gave a heartfelt address to the group, addressing the avenues of service, emphasized membership development by welcoming several new and returning members of Rotary, and discussing the exciting plans and challenges for the District an RI in 2012-2013. He also expressed appreciation to the members of RC Marana for planning and managing the ceremony. |
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George Rigney program Foundation Open Your Thinking was George Rigney's message. By putting on a cowboy hat for our local Marana Rotary Club, a baseball hat with a Rotary logo representing the The Rotary Foundation and a pirates hat for bringing to the front the need for all Rotarians to donate money to the foundation he told the foundation story. Rotarians can donate monthly, yearly, have it taken out of their bank account or their credit card to apply to towards their airline miles. A Rotarian should give at least $100 per year. That is less than $10 per month. We would like to be a 100% club in the year 2012-2013! We can do it!!! |
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Rotary Club of Vikrivandi, India
“Wish you and your R.C. Members good health and prosperity. The Free eye clinic is fixed on Sunday June 17th at Anandhapuram 30 K.M from Vikravandi. Anandhapuram is a semi tribal area and so we hope the free eye clinic will serve many people so for unreached. After the free eye clinic we will send the report to you as usual. Rotary Club, Vikravandi.” |
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SueeLee Program June 12, 2012 Suelee Edwards shared with us the history of Make a Wish. This program is targeted to children who have been picked by doctors to help them grant a wish, such as becoming a fireman, policeman or going to Orlando Disney World. The majority of these children are terminally ill. She also told us about an organization called Alex's Lemonade Stand. This program is being introduced to Arizona. It is primarily to integrate children into raising funds for families in need. The money raised helps parents pay for lodging, gas and food who otherwise could not afford to visit their children at hospitals in Tucson. |
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Dr Rachel Swart program 6/5/12
 Dr Rachel Swart specializes in Medical Oncology and Hematology with a focus on breast cancer. |
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Dr.Munro program May 29 Our guest speaker today, May 29th, 2012 was Dr Scott Munro, Director of Development at the Gospel Rescue Mission. He started off by telling us that in 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness released a plan, not a dream; to End Homelessness in 10 years well it’s 2012, you think that happened? Some statistics he told us about, the UofA in 1977 estimated that there were between 2600 – 2800 homeless in Pima County let’s fast forward and in 2012 we don’t really know the number because of changes to the way homeless are counted. If they have shelter they aren’t considered homeless so aren’t you glad you have a car you wouldn’t be homeless if you lived in it. There are 140 men in the Men’s shelter every night and they only have 101 beds so 39 men sleep on the floor every night. There is 42 woman and children at the Center on Miracle Mile the dream is house up to100. Everyday an average of 25 women/children are turned down at the center because they’re “Is no place at the inn”, so to speak. The demographics of the homeless have changed used to be mostly mentally ill, drug/alcohol abusers and those that made the choice to be homeless. Due to the economy there are many more people that maybe at one time gave to the shelter that are now using the facility. They can stay at the shelter for about 18 months if they are in a treatment and growth program (if they want help). If they just want to come and get a shower and meals they can stay four (4) consecutive days. What does the Gospel Rescue Mission offer, shelter first, food, clothing and critical services, education, long-term addiction recovery, discipleship and educational programs. How can we help? While providing emergency shelter food and clothing, Dr. Munro said they need people to help, teach others to read, skill sets of any type spend time with them and encourage them. We can adopt a mother and child and help them, or help with annual Thanksgiving or Christmas Street Banquet. You can contact the Rescue Mission @ 520-740-1501 if you want to help personally or we can talk about it and do something as a group. |
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Program by Biffy
Isiphiwo Primary is in the Harare section of the informal settlement of Khayelitsha. Serving an impoverished area with a high rate of unemployment, Isiphiwo struggles daily with the socio-economic difficulties associated with poverty. They realised that a way out of this cycle of poverty for their learners was to develop skills, such as IT skills, which are needed in the employment market. Word of the work being done in neighbouring schools by the Khanya Project had reached the principal who then approached the Project with a view to being included. Khanya was impressed by the forward planning of the school who had already done the practical work of establishing a room for IT. Their lack of funding had, however, proved to be a major stumbling block and their project had not been able to progress any further. With Khanya’s guidance and assistance, Isiphiwo now has a fully equipped, airconditioned and secured computer laboratory. The staff at the school realise the value of the technology to their curriculum delivery and are eagerly attending training sessions; preparing themselves to use the equipment to develop more interactive and relevant lessons. Educators and learners alike recognise the value of the skills that will be developed in this laboratory, both for now and for the future and they are grateful for the opportunity that has been afforded them by the Khanya Project. Isiphiwo Primary is determined to share their good fortune with the community and therefore intends using the facility to offer computer literacy courses in the evenings. There are several projects they need help with:
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Bad Check Program by Barbara LaWell Speaker Barbara LaWall, Pima County Attorney Barbara is in her fourth term and running for re-election for a fifth term. As Pima County Attorney she has many duties holding criminals accountable, crime prevention, providing quality victim services and running a cost-effective office. She gave us some statistics about bad checks: § 9954 checks turned bovver since the inception of the program. § Year to date $301,716.79 in restitution § This program is number one in the nation over $11.1 million returned to individuals and merchants in Pima County since its inception in 1996. She has created many programs, the Sexual Abuse Support Services, AMBER Missing Child Alert in AZ, Safe Baby Program, Community Prosecution Unit, Truancy Enforcement Program, Criminal Evictions, Multi-Agency Response Teams and many more. She will have to come back again and give us more information. |
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Student of the Month May 2012
The Student of the Month for May is Drake Carter. Drake and his mother attended our Club meeting on May 7th. Drake was introduced by his math teacher, Chris Macholtz, who described Drake as having creative energy and a “get it done” attitude about his school work. Drake works for his dad’s storage auction business and plans to continue to do that after graduation from MCAT. In addition, Drake volunteers on a regular basis with the Marana Food Bank. Executive Director of the Food Bank, Linda Hamilton, said that Drake is very dedicated to his work there. Congratulations to Drake for being selected as the Marana Rotary Club Student of the Month!
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Randy Installation
Please consider attending the Rotary District 5500 installation of officers scheduled, June 24, 2012, 11:00 AM, at the Tucson Omni Resort and Country Club in Tucson, AZ. It is an important day for our district and a time to celebrate the successes of years past and share in the excitement of a new Rotary year. Assistant District Governors, Club presidents, the entire leadership team will be honored at this event. Thank you for sending your registration and checks to Marana Rotary Club c/o John Dooling PO Box 91502 Tucson, AZ 85752. |
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Marana and Dove Mountian Rotary Clubs work day
The Marana and Dove Mountain Rotary Clubs participated in a |
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Marana Rotary gets US Border Patrol UpdateChief Richard A. Barlow - Pres. Don - Branch Chief Steven Passement - Agent Jason Rhienfrank Richard A. Barlow is the Chief Patrol Agent (CPA) of the United States Border Patrol in Tucson Sector. As CPA of Tucson Sector, he is responsible for enforcement along 262 linear miles of border from the Yuma, Arizona county line to the Arizona/New Mexico state line. Approximately 4,200 agents are assigned to eight stations that are broken down into three operational corridors. These eight stations are located in Ajo, Casa Grande, Douglas, Naco, Nogales, Sonoita, Tucson, and Willcox. With increased infrastructure, officer corps numbers and force multiplier technologies, Tucson Sector continues to lead the nation in both drug seizures and apprehensions. CPA Barlow entered on duty with the U.S. Border Patrol on September 23, 1985. His first duty assignment as a Border Patrol agent was at the Imperial Beach Station of the San Diego Sector. In December 2009, CPA Barlow served as Acting CPA for the San Diego Sector until he was selected as the DCPA for the Tucson Sector in September of 2010. He was selected as the CPA for the Tucson Sector in November 2011. |
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Polio Event - April 22, 2012 Peter Salk, son of the creator of the vaccine, Jonas, was the VIP guest along with John Blount, Rotarian and Director of Rotary International for 2009 to 2011. They participated in a question and answer session along with Minnie, president of Polio Epic. The event was great and it was wonderful to learn how the journey of ending Polio started. President of Rotaract, Erika Asmar the newest (and youngest) Rotarian encouraged us all to remind young people of the devastation that was and that not being diligent and vaccinating another epidemic is always possible. The event raised over $9400 after expenses. $1500 will go to the Salk Foundation and the rest to PolioPlus. Erika had never seen an Iron Lung
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Viviana Noriega - Student of the Month - April
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 The Rotary Club of Marana honored the MCAT Student of the Month on April 17th. Viviana Noriega was accompanied by her grandmother, Delores. Social Studies teacher Paul DiCaro intorduced Viviana, and described how she completed two years of credit in one year, and with a 3.5 GPA! Viviana wants to be either a veterinarian or a cosmotologist. Viviana impressed all of the members with how easily she spoke in front of the group The Marana Rotary Club has been honoring students from MCAT for over 15 years. The students receive a certificate of recognition and a gift certificate to a movie theater |
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Linda Hampton ProgramLinda Hampton is a great inspiration as the Director of the Marana Food Bank. We learned some amazing fact:
Linda told us a couple great stories - There is a group of people who own a race horse and when they win the winning goes to the Marana Food Bank, a little girl donated the money she earned at a lemonade stand and one inmates donates $7.00 a month |
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Recent member Mike Swart greets Club Mike was born in California where he was a Political Science Major at San Jose State. He attended Northern Illinois University and has practiced for 15 years. He and his wife Rachel (a physician) have lived in Marana for 9 years and have a son Andrew at Marana Middle School. He specializes in Business, Contracts and Trusts. |
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John Swift joins Marana Rotary John Swift newest member joining Rotary was Born in Illinois. His Father was a minister so they moved a lot. He grew up in Dallas, went to the University of Kansas (the Jayhawks). His 1st Job at the YMCA in St. Louis. Met Vicki on a blind date and they were married in 1970 and lived in Carbondale, Ill, Denver, Colorado, San Pedro, CA and Tulsa. Ok. He retired in 2000 only to go back to work at the YMCA in El Paso, Tex and then to Downey, CA. Retireing finally in 2010. He has two Boys 35 and 31, One Married, no Grand children. Lifelong hobby was falconry (hunting with hawks). Working as a volunteer curator saving the history of falconry. He published a book on historical falconry books (1496-2000). He is Curator of The Archives of Falconry. Now he is learning to fly Radio Control Electric Airplanes. NOTE; he has crashed 10 times. He has been in Rotary several times during his 35 year YMCA Career. |
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U of A OFF TO THE RACESDoug Reed is Director of the Race Track Industry Program at the UofA. All instructors in this somewhat unique but internationally known program have worked in the industry. For example, Doug worked from cleaning trash at racetracks up to managing racetracks in major regions, mostly on the East Coast and Midwest. Students choose to follow one of two tracks: equine breeding or racetrack management. The program annually hosts the largest conference for the race track industry in Tucson, and students who organize and run the conference have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to network with potential employers from all over the country. Doug has been with the University since 1994 and holds an MBA. In an entertaining Jeopardy-style interaction, John Swift and Tom Mangold answered most of the questions. What does that tell the rest of us? submitted by Jane Howell .
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March student of the Month
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Joint meeting with Dove Mountain at the Marana Health Care Center 
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PETS The Rotary Club of Marana had quite a showing at PETS training in Tempe. President Don, Dan Contorno, Secretary Elect, Alice Rigney, Tonja Greenfield, President Elect Suelee Edwards, Treasurer Elect Jane Howell, Debbie Conover, not to mention Deb Hume and DG elect Randy Brooks. DGE Randy did a wonderful job and put on one of the best Tri-District PETS ever. The speakers were informative and passionate. Club Secretaries and Club Treasurers as well as the incoming Club Presidents utilized every opportunity to learn as if they were back to school. |
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feb student of the month
The Marana Rotary Club recognized Susan Martinez as the MCAT Student of the Month at their meeting on February 7th. Susan has been at MCAT for two years and will complete her graduation requirements in May. Susan is looking forward to attending Pima Community College and a possible career in the health care field. The Marana Rotary Club congratulates Susan for her outstanding accomplishments at MCAT.
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RYLA
The Rotary Club of Marana sponsored 2 students to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Camp in Prescott. Omer Yener our youth exchange student from Germany and Victor Carrillo from MCAT won the awards. They thanked the club for giving them the opportunity to attend. Victor said it opened a whole new perspective on all that Rotary does as well as learning about other countries and seeing the world in a different way by meeting all the youth exchange students. Victor is looking forward to being more involved in the interact and met Katherine from our interact club. There were over 70 students from all over District 5500 in attendance. |
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Marana Police ChiefChief Terry Rozema gave Rotary a "State of the Town" address Tuesday 11/29/2011.
Rozema, who has lived in Marana for about 20 years has been Chief for about one year. He was with the Tucson Police Department since 1987 and had served as assistant chief over the support services division, which included SWAT, and traffic and communications.
He reported all is well with no major crimes and the Department has been pro-active in all forms of public service and safety.
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McGorray, Stolmaker take top honors at Marana Rotary Heritage Awards dinner The Rotary Club of Marana kicked-off this year’s annual Founders’ Day Festival by awarding its Man, Woman, Educator and Student of the Year Award.The award ceremony was held at Heritage Highlands on Thursday night. |
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Marana Rotary welcome newest memberPresident Don and Sponsor George Rigney introduces new member Alice Rigney Alice is married to Marana Rotary member George Rigney, they reside in Marana. This is the first time in Club history that Husband and Wife are both Active members. |
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Student of the month
Student of the month Steven Huizar. Once a month, the Marana Rotary Club honors a student from MCAT,
the |
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PRESIDENTIAL CITATION 2010-2011
The Marana Rotary Club was awarded
the Presidential Citation Award for 2010-2011. Clubs are asked to complete
a questionnaire to test their activities in all four Avenues of Service.
2010-2011 Rotary International President Ray Klinginsmith reviewed the
four Avenues of Service and noted that Club Service and Vocational
Service both help us to enjoy life and to be good citizens. Community
Service and Vocational Service combine to make our local communities
better places for us to live and work. And International Service
permits us to partner with clubs in other countries and on different
Continents to make the world a better place to live with an improved
opportunity for world understanding, goodwill, and peace. He
considered each of the four Avenues of Service to be equally
important, and created a new citation program in the form of a
questionnaire to help clubs test their effectiveness in all four avenues.
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HUNTING WORKS FOR ARIZONA
HUNTING WORKS FOR Hunting Works for The group which stresses the
major impact of hunting on Formed in 2010, Hunting Works
for According to the
Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, 148,000 people hunt in For more information on
Hunting Works for www.HuntingWorksforAZ.com |
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Rotary Heritage Awards
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Catch-up on Rotary!Catch-Up on Rotary: August 19, 2014 The Rotarians that attended the Membership Seminar said it was great – 7 hours of membership!!! What - but well worth it! Wonderful speakers, well organized and they really engaged everyone. One Hundred Forty Rotarians from CA and all through Arizona attended. Alice reminded us that she needs help with the Ice Cream Social at the Fall District Conference at the El Conquistador 26-28th, if you can help call Alice, hint her number is on our website. If you need it email me at semaranarotary@gmail.com Don’t forget to invite your friends to play Texas Hold’em , hosted by the one-and-only Rotary Club of Marana on Friday September 5th. We were honored to have Dr. Doug Wilson, Superintendent of the Marana School District as our speaker. He has been with the district for seven years to his credit many people want to move into the Marana area so they can be part of the Marana School System. He said that the staff is back to the art of teaching, which makes the parents, students and teachers happy and a better place to teach. AIMS testing, is important, the staff has worked hard to bring up the scores, because the school district went down last year. But if we were to go out and conduct an independent survey of parents we would find that they are pleased with the Marana Schools, because the teachers are working hard on building character, respect and over all good citizens, not just good test takers. In the next five to seven years with the projected growth in Marana they are strategizing how they can manage the growth. The schools used to get $1,500,000. in capital funds (used for repairs building etc.) now the schools get $400,000. obviously this is big loss of funds, so be prepared to vote for a bond initiative to help off set the loss. Thank your Dr. Doug Wilson for your passion and leadership in our schools.
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Good VibrationsGood Vibrations a sixty dance
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Marana Heritage DaysMembers of the Marana Rotary Club having fun at the prade
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Alice's Corner 12-17Boxes for Troops met their goal!!! Thank you to everyone that joined in helping Harold Buckholtz and his daughter Sue Gibbs. For those of us who participated we left with a feeling of having done something meaningful for our troops. They give so much for our country we can afford a little time and money to thank them for their service. On Tuesday, “Mr. Dictionary”, Dan Contorno, passed out the last of the dictionaries for this year. He raised the money, ordered them and delivered them. Good Job! We had a real treat Javier served homemade tamales for breakfast. Those wishing to buy some may place your orders at the restaurant. Denise Coronado brought us an exceptional young man from MCATS, Jacob Hansen. He was accompanied by his father, John, mother Melissa and his sister Shelby . During the months of October, November and December he completed 8 units in order to graduate this winter. From August 2012 to the present he completed 40 units. He is a shy young 21 year old. He had a revelation in August 2012 to get his life together. You could see the families pride in their eyes. He will be attending truck driving school. We truly wish him the best. Our speaker was our own Randy Brooks. He reminded us why we have joined Rotary. As Rotarians he reminded us that not only can we change the world we can make an impact on it. By giving to the Annual Program Fund we can make a difference. We also need to continue donating to Polio Plus. The El Tour de Tucson raised 2.3 million dollars from Rotarian donations alone to go towards the eradication of polio. In November, Randy joined a team going to Nigeria to immunize children with polio vaccine. With two drops these children will not have to worry about not being able to walk or lose limbs or suffer a painful death due to polio. His 10 person team vaccinated 3200 children. By participating in this endeavor it not only raised his spirits but broke his heart. He shared slides of their living conditions including homes with open sewers at the front door. He had to pause several times to compose himself. The genuine sincerity in his presentation conveyed a sense of pride to be a Rotarian. Before he left for Nigeria he requested $500 from our donations. With half of this money he purchased baby clothes and blankets here and the rest in Nigeria. These things went to people in adverse poverty. Their living conditions can be called squalor. Through Rotary we improve their lives. We touch people in ways we will never see but we know we can and will continue to make a difference. We will do this by bringing water to villages, upgrading their sanitation facilities. Starting schools and building bridges where needed. He saw all of this in a village he visited. The water in this particular village is 100% pure due to Rotarians around the world. Each team consisted of a Rotarian an interpreter and a local Rotarian. During the approximate ten days they were their over 2 million children were inoculated in throughout Nigeria. What an impact. What a feeling of accomplishment. Thank you Rotary for allowing people like us all over the world to help make a difference. Have a very Blessed Christmas and looking forward to a wonderful new year. See you in 2014. |
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Alice's Corner 9-24Attention Friday, September 27, is the deadline for nominations for the Heritage Dinner. George spoke on the necessity of the club needing funding for the Rotary Foundation. Without monies in the foundation the club cannot sponsor any activities. Andy Latherow visited the club to give us an update on his trip to Brazil. He was on the GSE team. He shared his flags that were presented at various clubs. His presentation had to be given in Portuguese at all the clubs they attended. He knows French and a smattering of Spanish. Portuguese did not come easy. They visited 27 clubs. They drove everywhere. You learn to appreciate our roads real fast. Debbie will be posting El Tour assignments soon. She will need help. The district provides all supplies so no out of pocket money from the club. Debbie reported she is on target for the fund to India. We will be buying a bus to serve blind children attending school. At the last count Randy had raised approximately $5200 for Val. Our speaker was Leatanya Koppa a counselor at Marana High. She is responsible for Youth On Their Own at Marana. Try to imagine kids in ages from 13 years of age to 21 years of age not having a roof over their heads or no parental or guardian supervision. These children are homeless. Children exit foster care at the age of 18 years of age. They have no skills. Many have not graduated from high school. They have no resources. YOTO provides them with $140 stipend a month. This is not enough to cover their needs. They have no health care. In order to receive help they must attend school and maintain a "c" average. We must remember that in order to help these children we must have money in our foundation. They are at risk. We need to step up to the plate and help them. |
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Alice's Corner 5-6
Life happens and I may not always write my "Alice's Corner" Week before last we had a substitute speaker. John Gimmler of the Tucson club gave us a report on the big and better quarters of the Carondelet Heart Center. He admitted he was not a heart surgeon. But he did give a detailed history and future plans for the cardio thoracic program. His background was unique and very interesting. He reminded us that Rotary leads in finding ways to stay ahead of our ever challenging environment Suelee recognized Harold Burtzloff for his service to Rotary for 45 years. Congratulations Harold!! We welcomed our members who returned from Brail. They will be giving a presentation on May 21. This week our speaker was Bora Materazzo. Her pen name is Vic Hera Houn. She has written a book about her persecution and escape from Cambodia. She saw he This week our speaker was Bora Materazzo. Her pen name is Vic Hera Houn. She has written a book about her persecution and escape from Cambodia. She saw her family, with the exception of an aunt, all pass away. She was punished by the government for having been from an affluent family. She had to learn to live and act as a peasant. Her book is called The Bamboo Promise. |
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2013-2014 Rotary Theme for President Elect Ron Burton: Engage Rotary, Change Lives
Suelee Edwards advised us that Rotary International's theme for 2013-2014 had been announced. We thought we would share it with you! If we set the link up correctly, you should be able to view Ron Burton's presentation. http://www.rotary.org/en/mediaandnews/news/pages/130114_ia13_theme.aspx |
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Alice's Corner November 27
Suelee learned a valuable lesson on Tuesday. Never give a Rotarian a chance to speak in front of his peers. We learned many things that are coming up in the month of December. One of which is the Holiday Party at John Zwick's place of business. Maeve gave a wonderful presentation on the GSE team. Telling us about all the events our friends from the South participated in while in Marana. Randy gave us a few highlights of things to come. Alice told us about the upcoming trip to San Carlos and Hermosillo, Mexico. We welcomed our Student of the Month Lane Skalsky. We should be proud of our students, They will make great future citizens and maybe Rotarians. Remember to bring items for the Boxes for the Troops. Below is a are some needed items in case you lost your list.. Money is also appreciated. foot powder, eye drops, lip balm, bandaids, asprin, Easy Mac, stationery, anti acid tablets, gum, snack bars, individual candies, fruit rollups, nuts, beef jerky, chips, holiday decorations, letters of encouragement. |
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Maria Duarte Oct Student of the Month
The October Student of the Month was Maria Duarte. She was accompanied by her mother, father and aunt. Maria is excited about graduating in May. She has an engaging personality and the members of the Club enjoyed hearing her speak and learning about her goals after high school. |
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Lane Skalsky Nov Student of the Month
On November 27th, Lane Skalsky was honored as the MCAT student of the month. He attended the meeting with his mother, Audra. Lane started MCAT behind on credits, but is now on track to graduate in May. His favorite subjects are math and history. After graduation Lane wants to work fixing water pumps, which is a family business.
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New Member Lynn Himmer 7/14/12
Newest member of Rotary - Lynn Himmer - Maeve is her sponsor |
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Alice's Corner.jpg) What a fun meeting.We inducted a new member Lynn Himmer. Welcome Lynn! Maeve Johnson as her sponsor was the first to receive a new Ignite pin with the number 1 on it. For every new member a Rotarian brings in he/she will receive an Ignite pin with the number of members that person has brought in to the club. Suelee will be hosting a Fireside Chat on September 30, at her home. It will be an Open House from 2 to 5. Stop by and meet and greet new members. Show your enthusiasm. Harold Burtzloff is home and anticipating elective gall bladder surgery. We wish you well Harold. The club presented a check in the amount of $347.00 to Linda Hampton for the Community Food Bank. Kathleen Neighbors looks forward to another year with Interact, Suelee is announced that she has a box at the bank accepting socks. It is a program called Socks for the Homeless. The board approved a $500 donation to the Dove Mountain Club to assist with the Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico project. The boy scouts need a place to set up this Saturday to sell popcorn. Can anyone help? Contact Maeve Johnson. Tonja Greenfield has been named General Manager and Editor of the greater Tucson area for her company. Congratulations Tonja Does anyone know a good taxidermist? John Dooling has a badger but does not know how to make it in to a hat! Being a big Badger fan he would like to have a hat. I hope he is keeping his roadkill in the freezer!!! We welcomed three guests, Linda Smith, Adam Madden and Kathleen Neighbors. Our speaker was Howard M Frederick. He spoke about the Ruby Mine and the town of Ruby. He is trying to raise some monies to restore some of the buildings in town. If interested go to Ruby Mine Restoration . |
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Program 8/14/2012-History of the Ruby Mine Arizona Howard M Frederick, grew up here in Tucson. Went to UofA (PhD in biochemistry and nutrition). Worked for years (here and in Australia) with livestock producers; main interest now is zoo and wildlife nutrition. Married (wife a retired veterinarian now doing welded animal sculptures) and have 2 sons. The Ruby is the mining camp that supported the Montana mine, about 70 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona in the Oro Blanco Mining District, near the Mexican border about 12 miles from Arivaca. About half way there, the road goes from pavement to dirt. But it’s well-maintained and a standard sedan can easily travel on it Settled at 4,200 feet altitude, amongst beautiful rolling hills and rugged canyons west of the Atascosa Mountains, the mine and old mining camp lie at the foot of 5,370-foot Montana Peak, the most distinctive landmark in the area. When Arizona became a state in 1912, Montana camp opened the “Ruby” post office, named for the postmaster’s wife, whose maiden name was Ruby. Gradually the entire camp became known as Ruby. During the years 1912-1926, the Montana mine successfully transitioned from producing silver and gold to producing lead and zinc (with some silver). You can visit the mine - Historical information and maps are provided for self-guided tours and entrance fees are $12 per person over 12 years of age. The fees go to the non-profit foundation: Ruby Mines Restoration Project. Since the 1960s’s Howards family has owned Ruby Mines . ... Suelee |
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Boxing For TroopsBoxing for Troops Wish List for 2012 |
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Alice's CornerWOW!
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Stardance      Hold-up at the Stardance: The Rotary Club of Marana had 16 members and spouses that joined President Don in supporting the Dove Mountain fundraiser. We all sure had a good time. The band, Strait Country, played George Strait tunes. Harold and Debbie want to thank Linda for donating her tickets so that we could get out on the dance floor. Mae West made the rounds as you can see by Harold's smile. Tom Mangold bid on the Alaskian fishing cabin and McKinley flight. I'm sure I saw George's number go up a few times as well. The event, a first for Dove Mountain Rotary, was a huge success. |
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Tonja Guest
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Randy Guest Emanuelle Barreto from the Rotary Club of Natal Reis Magos - D-4500 visited out club recently as a guest of Randy Brooks. She is working with D-5500 and DGE Randy Brooks in the development as a humanitarian project, April 16, 2013, in Natal, Brazil. Randy and Emanuelle are working to raise $50,000 to develop a bakery, computer lab and sewing center in a depressed area north of Natal. They are taking 40 Rotarians and friends to Natal for a week to work on these and other projects. Randy requests that all club members sell a minimum of 10 raffle tickets to support this wonderful project. |
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Exchange Student
Our Club's outbound exchange student, Cade Johnson was born 8/29/1995 in Houston, Tx. Seeking adventure he relocated to Tucson at age one. No wonder he is looking forward to spending a year in the State of Sao Paulo Brazil. The man knows no fear. He will however, miss his sisters, 17 year old Taryn and 14 year old Tori. All three are MUSD students. By the way, Cade became interested in other cultures as a result of his Spanish studies at MHS. It was his Spanish teacher who put him in touch with The Rotary Club of Marana. Cade is a trombone player who plays in the Marana marching band and was selected for the Region Honor Band this spring. While not practicing the slide he participates in lacrosse for the Oro Valley Wolverines and the Chess Club at MHS. Since it is to late to stop our support of his Exchange experience we will just have to forgive his support for the Baltimore Ravens. All in all this one fault among all his good points confirms in my mind we have made the right choice.
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Feb 14 meetingMarana Rotary Club met at new member Cindy McGee |
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Marana Rotary March Madness Fundraiser 2012 NCAA Pool We are doing this online at poolhost.com. Not Online: If you want to play but are not comfortable playing online - fill out a bracket and fax it to me at work - 520-908-0455 and I will get you entered! If you have any questions, just give me a call! (815) 761-3220 |
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Poker Tourney 02-10-2012 |
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Jan Student of the Month
The January Student of the Month from MCAT was JJ Markham. After struggling for a number of years, JJ completed his last year of high school in one semester, and earned enough credits to graduate in December. JJ is very interested in auto mechanics and wants to pursue training to learn how to customize autos and trucks and have his own business. The Marana Rotary Club congratulates JJ on his accomplishments! The Marana Rotary Club has been honoring students from MCAT for over 15 years. The students receive a certificate of recognition and a gift certificate to a movie theater.
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Sue Burtzloff Boxing for Troops
The 2011 Event “Boxing For Troops” was a huge success thanks in part to the Marana Rotary Club! Here are a few statistics that were presented at the meeting on Tuesday, January 3rd:
- On December 2nd we shipped 103 boxes to Afghanistan. - On December 18th we received word they had arrived, and that there were over 100 VERY happy soldiers! - Since 2008 we have shipped a total of 380 care packages over the holidays to Arizona deployed troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. - The unit that was chosen this year is an Apache Calvary unit assigned to a “FOB”. - One of the members of the unit is a 2009 Marana High School Graduate. - $5223.85 was raised in monetary donations. - $785.00 was received in donations from members of the Marana Rotary Club (Approximately 7% of the total raised, YAY Rotary!) - We received hundreds of dollars worth of donated merchandise from the vendors at Oro Valley Farmers Market. - We received hundreds of dollars in donated merchandise from an individual who took on the “Extreme Couponing” approach and got many items at nearly no cost. - We were grateful to have 2 MUSD schools participate in making handmade cards for the troops. We hope to increase this portion of the project in the future. - The 2012 Event will be the 5th Year, and we would like it to be special – we hope that Marana Rotary will be a part of it.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this event possible! Sincerely, Sue Burtzloff sueperbly@msn.com
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last meeting of 2011Marana Rotary Club held the last meeting of the year.
Our program was presented by Meg Weesner, Leader of Rotary Group Study Exchange for District 5500. The Group study Exchange team went to Thailand this year. Ms Weesner showed us the high lights of there trip and the Rotary Clubs they visited in Thailand. |
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December 13th MeetingOur annual second week in December ( 13 ) Meeting was at Member John Zwick Business:
Election of Officers for the Marana Rotary Club will be at this meeting Members are asked to bring a jar of peanut butter for Marana Food Bank.
Earth Energy's Hearth & Patio |
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Boxes for Troops
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Tree Planting Project - Saturday, December 3
Our final 2011 project is scheduled for 8-noon on Saturday, Dec. 3, at Desert Winds Elementary and Picture Rocks Intermediate schools in Picture Rocks. We have been invited to help plant trees. Don and Kathy, Maeve and Lyle, Jan, Tonja, Tom and Lynn, Were up bright and early Saturday morning at Desert Winds Elementary School to help plant trees, clean the grounds and shovel dirt! Thanks to the work of our club and many other organizations over a dozen trees were planted, grounds were repaired after storms, painting and other beautification work took place. This is a project that is being funded by the Drachman Institute (the research and public service unit of the College of Architecture at the U of A), and the CPPW (Communities Putting Prevention to Work) grant that a consortium of organizations in Southern Arizona received about a year and a half ago. The Drachman Institute designed improvements to the playgrounds in order to improve the conditions for students and the community to get exercise and improve health. The holes will be dug, so the work will consist of planning the trees (32 total) using soil and mulch. Join us for a little fresh air and exercise!
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Founders Day Banquet Opens Event
Rotary hosts 200 at Marana Founders Day kick off banquet. Excitement was rampant as the annual event announced and honored the Man and Woman of the year and the Educator and student of the year. All were recognized for their selfless contributions to the community. Man of the Year - Ed Stolmaker Woman of the Year - Carol McGorray Educator of the year - Lori Vargo Student of the Year - Catherine Rigby |
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FOOD DRIVES AND VOLUNTEERS ASSIST MARANA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK Maeve Johnson, of Edward Jones Financial, hosted a food drive ending on Saturday. The proceeds of the food went to the Marana Community Food Bank. The Rotary Club of Marana, of which Johnson is a member, also contributed to the collection of food. More than 700 pounds of food was collected. After the donations were dropped off at the food bank, the Rotarians took position on the assembly line and helped to create more than 500 food boxes. Pictured left is Kathy Jorgensen, wife of Marana Rotary President Don Jorgensen, Rotarians Randy Brooks and John Zwick, with his wife, Sylvia. |
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new member
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ROTARY DONATES DICTIONARIES
Marana Rotary President Don Jorgensen, right, and Rotarian Dan Contorno, left, help distribute dictionaries to the third graders at Twin Peaks Elementary School on Sept. 27. The club donates dictionaries to third graders on the west side of Interstate 10.
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Marana Rotary Welcomes newest MemberPresident Don and Sponsor Tonja inroduce new member Shelly Sonberg. Shelly is Warden of the Marana Community Correctional - Treatment Facility. She lives in Marana.
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Rotarian Debbie Conover completes Leadership Academy The Arizona Tri-District Leadership Academy is an online 6 month course. The focus is to further educate past presidents on District 5500 and to recognize Rotarians that are interested in being involved beyond the club. The six online modules look at leadership beyond the club, recognizing different needs, making leadership decisions, Understanding and using the Rotary Foundation, club membership and retention, and Rotary ethics. Debbie followed Josh Wright and Randy Brooks in furthering their Rotary education. Paul Harris said: "Rotary is fundamentally an educational process." (1946) go to www.aztdla.org for further information. |
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Heritage Awards Dinner - Oct. 27
Plans are underway for the Rotary Club of Marana's inuagural Heritage Awards Dinner. A Man, Woman, Educator and Student of the Year awards will be given. The festivities, including a silent auction, will begin at 6 p.m., on Thursday, Oct. 27. Dinner and the awards ceremony will start at 6:30 p.m. Celebrity MC will be KOLD Morning News Anchor Scott Kilbury. Nominations are currently being accepted for the Man, Woman, Educator and Student of the Year awards. Forms are available on the right side of the page under download files. Tickets are $45 per person or you can get a reserved table of 10 for $500 For tickets, call John Dooling at (520) 744-3998. |
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Paul Harris +2
Marana Rotarian John Dooling was recently awarded a Two-Stone Sapphire
Paul Harris pin for his contributions to the Rotary International
Foundation. Conover is a Paul Harris Fellow +2. Presenting him with the
pin is the Rotary District 5500 Foundation Chair Teree Bergman.
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World Polio Day
A campaign has been launched to engage town/city mayors to proclaim
Rotary's pledge to End Polio Now. In Marana, Mayor Ed Honea proclaimed
October 24th as World Polio Day at the Tuesday, October 5th, meeting of
the Marana Town Council.
Our club members, along with the Dove Mountain Rotary Club, were present for the proclamation. |
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Paul Harris Fellow +8
Marana Rotarian Debbie Conover was recently awarded a Three-Stone Ruby Paul Harris pin for her contributions to the Rotary International Foundation. Conover is a Paul Harris Fellow +8. Presenting her with the pin is the Rotary District 5500 Foundation Chair Teree Bergman.
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Rotary Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament
The Rotary Club of Marana wants to get a bunch of friends
together and provide an inexpensive night of entertainment and fun. The game is
No Limit Texas Hold'em. There is a chance of walking away with some valuable
prizes if you know when to fold'em and know when to hold'em. First through
third place will win $400, $200 and $100, respectively, in Visa gift cards. The
event will be held on Friday, Aug. 26, registration begins at 5:30 p.m. and
dealing starts promptly at 6:30 p.m.
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World Polio Day Proclaimation
A campaign has been launched to engage town/city mayors to proclaim
Rotary's pledge to End Polio Now. So in Marana, Ed Honea, Mayor of
Marana, is going to proclaim that October 24th is World Polio Day at the
Tuesday, Oct. 5th meeting of the Marana Town Council.
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District Conference in Sierra Vista
What will you be doing on October 22-24
this year?
Hopefully the answer is attending the District
Conference in Sierra Vista
, where plans
are well underway to organize the most illuminating, exciting and entertaining 5500
event in recent memory. |
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Newest Marana Rotarian
Linda Hampton, Executive Director of the Marana Community Food Bank, was inducted as the newest member of the Marana Rotary Club on Friday, June 25, at a special installation dinner. The Marana Rotary Club meets at 7 a.m., every Tuesday at 7 a.m., at Nana's Kitchen, 8225 North Courtney Page Way, Marana.
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Poker Tourney a Success!
Our First Rotary Club of Marana Texas Hold'em Poker tournament benefiting
our Rotary Foundation was a huge success!
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Run for the Wall
The Marana Rotary Club came out to support our Veterans during the annual Run for the Wall. The event stopped in Marana this morning. About 300 veterans on motorcycles are traveling across the country to Washington, D.C.
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Road Clean Up
The Marana Rotary Club, with the assistance of the boy scouts, completed a Road Clean-Up on Saturday, Oct. 3 along Silverbell.
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Painting at Thornydale Elementary
The Marana Rotary Club volunteered to repaint the beams of the awning at
Thornydale Elementary School on May 1.
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Marana Rotary donates ShelterBox
As a club particularly dedicated to international service,
the Rotary Club of Marana responded to the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The club chose to assist in
providing
basic shelter and survival tools by quickly raising and donating $1000
for the
purchase and delivery of a shelter box via ShelterBox USA for a Haitian
family.
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100% Paul Harris
Rotary District 5500 Governor Steve DiMuzio presented Marana Rotary President Jane Howell with a banner proclaiming the Marana Rotary Club to be a 100 percent Paul Harris Fellow Club on Jan. 12.
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El Tour de Tucson
The Marana Rotary Club members worked at an aide station during the annual El Tour de Tucson.
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Dental Clinic in Vikravandi a Success |
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Paul Harris
Deb Hume was presented with a Paul Harris Society pin at the Marana Rotary Club's meeting on July 20. Presenting her with the pin were her husband, Randy Brooks, center, and Rotary District 5500 Govenor Steve DiMuzio. Paul Harris Society contributions to The Rotary Foundation support a wide range of humanitarian grants and educational programs that enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote
international understanding throughout the world. |
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Read to Feed Marana
Read to Feed Marana is a fundraising effort sponsored by the Marana
Weekly News, the Marana Food Bank, the Marana Rotary Club, and many
local businesses.
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Youth Exchange Student arrives!!!
The Marana Rotary Club welcomed its new foreign exchange student on July 22. Miguel Tromp, pictured center, from Barcelona will be spending the next year in Marana, and will attend Marana High School. Pictured above welcoming him to Arizona are Marana Rotarians Randy Brooks, T. Van Hook, JD Bellino, Jane Howell, Tonja Greenfield and Don Jorgensen.
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New member |
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New President installed
Marana Rotary President Josh Wright handed over the reigns to the new president Jane Howell on Friday night. Howell will serve as president of the Marana Rotary Club from July 1-June 30, 2010.
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Building a Home in Marana
The Marana Rotary Club has helped raised money and walls for the first Habitat for Humanity home in Marana.
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Golf tourney
The Marana Rotary Club recently held its annual golf tournament at The Pines on Saturday, May 30.
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Marana Rotary Celebration 20th Anniversary
The Marana Rotary Club celebrated it's 20th anniversary May 3, 2008,
with a picnic in Ora Mae Harn Park. According to members, it has been
an interesting and fulfilling time.
The club is a mixture of old and young members from all areas of the community. They are business and community leaders brought together by a common goal for world peace and to help those less fortunate. |
Randy presented Don Jorgensen with a Level 7 Paul Harris pin, signifying that Don had donated $8,000 to Rotary. Randy then presented Don with a Level 8 Paul Harris pin, arriving in the mail shortly thereafter, recognizing that Don has donated $9,000 to Rotary! Don is approaching the level of “Major Donor” which, as Randy points out, is an amazing accomplishment in the short 14 years in which Don has been a member of Rotary. Randy thanked Don for his generous service over the years.
Cindy Dooling was inducted into the Marana Rotary Club. Cindy has been involved behind the scenes with John for many years. Together they have sponsored 7 exchange students and are Major Donors to Rotary. Cindy is immersed in the Youth Services program for which she is becoming Director for the entire District. John and Cindy recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and John performed the honors of pinning Cindy with the Rotary Club pin. 
El Tour de Tucson, Aide Station review- excellent participation was acknowledged from the Dove Mountain club, maybe 8 members helping out. Need more people in the future, being the first station for both the long ride and short rides, masses stopped at the same time. Need more tables and definitely, more porta-potties. None were delivered so the church porta-potties had to be used. Long lines resulted. Laura and Adisa were enormous help. It was noted that the Dove Mountain tee shirts were awesome, and Sulee offered to provide mock-ups for our club’s consideration. Everyone commented on our awesome signage.
Randy reported that he completed his ride in 3 hrs 50’ and 30”; thirty seconds before the imposed deadline. Ibuprofen is working well. Deb left him in the dust.
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The first meeting of our new year began with the virtual ringing of the bell by President Benner using his cell phone. Our podium, bell, flag and banner are missing, but believed to be at Mary's home. Although she will miss the next three meetings she promises she will eventually return these items, possibly before she leaves town!
Our "Mole" day meeting was extra special with the visit from DG Joe Hentges, his wife Bridgette as well as Assistant District Governor Stacy Fox. Following pledge of Allegiances to the Flag and to Avogadro's constant we settled into our normal routine for the next three minutes with our "Joke Off" contestants Maeve and Lynne. Both were surprisingly (no offense) good todsy. Too bad if you missed today's meeting, you'll just have to trust me on this.
Guest Speaker was our own Silver Bullet owner and pilot, Bob Bishop. Bob gave us an overview of how his smallest human piloted jet in the world has been used since 2005 by the US military. The radar profile of his jet simulates one of a Cruise missile. Bob saved the military millions of dollars when he replaced the $200,000 per flight target vehicles that cost 3/4 of a million if they crashed. Mr. Bishop does not charge if his jet crashes..jpg)
DG Joe will visit our club 10/24/2017 and there will be a board meeting the evening of the 23rd. Non-board members welcomed.
Randy presented on a mentoring opportunity at Open Doors, an alternative school in Marana. If this goes forward each of us will have an opportunity to address the students and speak of our chosen career. Also, Randy discussed a project with the Marana Prevention Alliance regards kids and drugs. Randy is still trying to get a handle on exactly what we could do and plans on attending additional meetings with this group.
Susan Reed, representing the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona. Introduced by Randy. Susan was his supervisor 32 years ago in Chicago. Met once again this past year as her spouse is Kirk Reed of the Catalina Rotary Club and Governor Nominee for Rotary D-5500.
Don Jorgensen, on behalf of Shelter Box. Don began his presentation by thanking the club for previous purchases of shelter boxes victims of earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. Briefly we discussed the possible need for boxes in California if the suggested earthquake happens. Don indicated that boxes have been sent domestically in the past to the NE USA after floods. He discussed there is a product called “Shelter Box Solution” that does not provide a tent but as needed tools for rebuilding and helping those that have their own shelter. Rotary is now fully partnered with Shelter Box and by creating an office in the USA donations can be a tax deduction. Don discussed deployments of Shelter box in the past year to the USA, Indian Ocean countries, Nepal, Ecuador, Philippines, Syria, Iraq, Japan, China, Myanmar ad several other countries. Don asked that the club consider purchasing a Shelter Box. The membership asked the club board to discuss this at our next meeting. Great Job, Don. 
David Hindman – Inducted with his family present by President Mary Straus as our newest member. So he is the newest Rotarian in the world ….. At least when inducted this morning. Welcome aboard David. Mary, to not waste a moment, asked him to chair the Youth Exchange Program for our club and Randy volunteered to assist him.
Introduction of Kirti Khalsa, our guest speaker from the Rotary Club of Pantano and the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation. Kirti discussed our club sponsored “Memory Screening in Mexico,” Nevada and a potential one at the Rotary convention in Atlanta in June 2017. We are simply waiting for approval for a booth from RI. This booth will be a feather in the cap of the Rotary Club of Marana. Kirti discussed why she cares about Alzheimer’s disease. She discussed her grandparents and how she has always had an affinity for older people and was drawn into the field. She is now an expert and known throughout the world for her knowledge of yoga, meditation and Alzheimer’s related issues. She described how dementia is preventable and can be slowed by using the four pillars of intervention: Diet, Stress Management, physical exercise and spiritual fitness..jpg)
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Our song today was chosen by Lynne Himmer, our Treasurer. You’d think it would be “We’re in the Money” or something like that, but she went with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in honor of the Wildcats. We nailed it, as usual..jpg)
ake God laugh, tell him your plans.” Go ahead and do that, just don’t share your recipe for squirrel gravy.
Breaking News
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Happy Bucks is a solomn ocassion which gives everyone the opportunity to say a little something about anything. That is, should they be willing to put a dollar or two in the pot. John Dooling reports that our former exchange student, Matus Bogar, arrived home safely. His Dad, showing him true tough love, apparently “destroyed” Matus in ping pong. Slovakia may never be the same. Randy Brooks has decided to stop and smell the roses! He has resigned a number of Rotary committees and zone positions just to take life a little easier. And Sulee Edwards, who volunteers for More Than a Bed, remarked that they really desperately need a building!
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Happy Bucks is a solomn ocassion which gives everyone the opportunity to say a little something about anything. That is, should they be willing to put a dollar or two in the pot. Don Jorgensen has recently heard from Bryson in Zimbabwe, who had good news. The government provided a teacher for the school, which is now up and running! The odd thing is that Bryson, who conducts safari tours, had a couple from Marana on a recent trip… Now that makes it a very small world indeed..jpg)
one another and will be seeing each other in the future in Europe and Las Vegas (?). He took us down memory lane, with his trips to the Grand Canyon, to RYLA, and Los Angeles. Matus played on the Marana High soccer team, although they won not one game, and then played on the tennis team, which was undefeated! He was the tennis MVP as well! This is particularly ironic for Matus, in that he was an experienced and very good soccer player, but had never played tennis before. He recalled “the longest 6 hours of my life” in the El Tour de Tucson, in which he covered 104 miles. And then there were the fish stories. With Dan Contorno and John Dooling. Hmmm. Matus got to experience an ice hockey game, a baseball game (“better than I expected”), and Copa America, a big soccer tournament in Glendale. He recounted his visits to numerous museums and holiday events.
Relocating to the local IHOP, President Mary Straus gave us a description of her trip (along with Randy Brooks and Don Jorgensen) to the International Conference in Korea. She reports that Seoul is a huge metropolis, with lots of money, lots of smog, but no graffiti or beggars to speak of. Mary was impressed with Japanese-like gardens “everywhere” and a mix of old and new. For example, a palace built in 1389 is still standing right in the middle of the city. Randy added that the infrastructure in Seoul is better than ours, particularly the roads and bridges.
Happy Bucks is a solomn ocassion which gives everyone the opportunity to say a little something about anything. That is, should they be willing
to put a dollar or two in the pot. Since we were at IHOP we didn’t really do HB today, but we did “share”. John Dooling reported that Dan Contorno had caught 50 fish on a recent adventure. Or was it a single fish the size of 50? Or, as Randy pointed out, since Dan catches and releases, perhaps it was the same poor fish getting caught time after time.
Jo Holt conducted our meeting. Songmeister of the month Tony Hunter was running a little late this morning (like maybe 60 seconds late), and when he entered the door of Nana’s Kitchen we were already standing waiting to sing. Tony was somewhat surprised at this and, quick thinker that he is, came up with “Row Your Boat.” We did a single stanza, and were quite pleased with ourselves so everyone sat down. It was fun to surprise Tony.
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on Tangerine at Thornydale. See you there around 5:30pm!
Here's Desirae with MCAT Principal Denise Coronado and Chuck Erskin, MCAT student support coach.
s…
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Every time there are 5 Tuesdays in a month we take the 5th Tuesday off! Instead of a morning meeting, we have an evening social, and March 29 provided just such an opportunity. Harold Burtzloff organized a great social at Taste of Texas, and we had a nice turnout.
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ALL HANDS ON DECK for the Tour de Cookie! This is a big event and everyone’s help will be needed. Check out the website at .jpg)
Guest Speaker:
It was a beautiful morning in Marana, AZ, as the stalwart Marana Rotarians gathered once again at Nana’s Kitchen. President Mary Straus welcomed three guests: Rotarian Bob Selinger from the Eloy Rotary Club joined us to extend an invitation to their golf challenge on Robson Ranch’s new course. A celebration dinner will follow at 6pm. This is all on Sat Mar 26. Rotarian Gary Jang was visiting from Bothell, Washington. And Ramon Campazano was a guest of Vanessa Ruiz. Ramon is the Vice President of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It’s really nice to have visitors, and we welcomed Bob, Gary, and Ramon!.jpg)
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Our very own Mary Straus reported on the recent PETS conference in Mesa, AZ. PETS stands for President Elect Training Seminar. Mary began with an overview of the organization of Rotary International, from zones to districts to clubs (35,000 worldwide). The District Governor facilitates networking between clubs and helps clubs find resources within Rotary. Recently, Rotary International has implemented a new focus on branding, which has impacted our club’s website and logo. Our District is 5500 and our Zone Director is Brad Howard, who spoke at the PETS conference. Mary also covered the Rotary Foundation and the 6 lines of service.
Maeve Johnson reported on just how much fun was had at the Marana Founders’ Day parade! The Parade is sponsored every year by the Marana Heritage Conservancy to showcase Marana's schools, children and businesses. The Rotary Club of Marana's entry was Tow Mater, a tow truck from the Disney movie Cars. Our 2016 Woman of the Year, Marsha Johnson, Student of the Year, Bryann Valdez, and Teacher of the Year, Kathleen Neighbors, rode on Tow Mater. Our Interact Club from Tortolita Middle School came along for the ride and tossed candy to onlookers. It was a great way to honor our 2016 Award Winners and thank the Interact Club members for their work during the year. Thanks go out also to Club members Dan Contorno, Clint Kuntz and Maeve Johnson who volunteered to judge the parade entries..jpg)
Today was also one of those special days when we honor the MCAT Student of the Month. This month’s student is Danielle Barrickman, who gave us some of her background and story of perseverance in the face of obstacle after obstacle. Danielle will graduate soon, and is interested in pursuing a career in women’s health. She was accompanied by her boyfriend, her two children, and one of her favorite MCAT teachers, Chuck Erskin. The picture here shows, from left to right, Danielle, MCAT Principal Denise Coronado, and Mr. Erskin..jpg)
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Today’s meeting started off pretty tame. President Mary Straus led the pledge, Tony Hunter gave a heartfelt thought for the day, and then something very different happened. Maeve Johnson played a video for our song: Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars. Some Rotarians got into it, but others were completely baffled. John Dooling (aka Davey Crockett) recognized Mr. Mars as “that guy on the Superbowl.” Well done! All in all, an interesting cross-cultural experiment. Kudos, Maeve!.jpg)
Guest Speaker:
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Mr. Stefan Baumann, the Director of Business Development at the Port of Tucson, gave us an inside look at the Port, which was fascinating. The Port of Tucson is a major part of our transportation infrastructure, tying together air, truck, and rail service carrying freight for the produce, mining, and other industries. This includes freight to and from maquiladores, which are 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Maeve Johnson was valiantly attempting to forge that most delicate of handshake operations – laptop to projector. Maeve had gone to some trouble to prepare a song of the day with a video and lyrics, and came very close to getting it to work. For some unknown reason (probably sun spots or the Loch Ness monster), the speaker attached to the laptop wouldn’t work. We want to congratulate Maeve for NOT throwing the laptop and projector through the large plate glass windows of Nana’s Kitchen. Owner and Rotary Sargent-at-Arms Javier Teran was particularly grateful. So just shutup and dance with me already (reference to the song).
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We were joined today by honored guest and fellow Rotarian from Canada, Joyce Zwick. And our own members Randy Brooks and Don Jorgensen returned from their trip to Cuba..png)
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Today’s meeting started out full of promise. Sulee Edwards led us in the pledge, and then Tony Hunter told a simple but wonderful short story for the thought of the day. Maeve Johnson surprised us by bringing in professional talent, Mr. Randy McDonnell, to lead us in the morning song, Sweet Caroline. And we had a visitor from Benton Harbor, MI, Jim Schueneman. Our President Mary Straus was out of the country in an undisclosed location for her own protection. Or in Cuba. So Secretary and President Elect Jo Holt, who only travels when she has to, and even then under protest, presided..jpg)
Sat Apr 9
District 5500 in 2013-2014 and as a club president three times: Woodstock IL 1995-1996, and Marana-Dove Mountain 2011-2013. Both Joe and his lovely wife Brigitte are Paul Harris Fellows and members of the Bequest Society. Joe is a member of the Paul Harris Society..jpg)
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Guest Speaker:
Guest Speaker:
Our very own Vanessa Ruiz gave some background on herself today, in spite of the fact that she really doesn’t like talking about herself. She’s a fifth-generation Tucsonan whose parents own an air-conditioning company. Vanessa attended Mountain View high school, Pima Community College, then worked as an emergency room technician, and bought her own home before joining the Louis Parrish real estate company two years ago. She has two boys, ages 7 and 11, who like fishing and hiking and sports. A very active family, and even Mom plays softball. Vanessa belongs to the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Health and Business Advocacy committees. We are so pleased to have Vanessa as part of our Rotary family!
The inimitable Sulee Edwards challenged us this week on our knowledge of Rotary and on how we would formulate a New Year’s Resolution for our Club. We were asked nine questions about Rotary in honor of Rotary Awareness Month. Our winner, who got every answer except one correct, was Secretary Jo Holt. What did she not know? That the largest annual public relations project of Rotary Clubs in the US and Canada was….the Rotary float in the Rose Parade!
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John Rulan from the Saddlebrooke Rotary Club brought us up-to-date on a joint project with our Club and other Rotary Clubs, “Quality Drinking Water for Everybody.” He was accompanied by two fellow Rotarians who have also been active in the project, Tom Turriff (project originator) and Mark Miller (interpreter and traveling diplomat). This is a joint project with the Nogales Rotary Club in Mexico, described as a small Club that does amazing things. George and Alice Rigney have been working hard on this project from our Club. John, an engineer by trade, began by pointing out that the two main problems in poor countries are shelter and water. Of the 110 schools in Nogales, 8 have received water filter installations, and a total of 22 schools will be included in the current grant. The cost is about $2000 per installation. Maintenance of the filter systems is also included in the grant. Tom added that Nogales is struggling with infrastructure, due to a population surge from the south. The problem is that there is no revenue stream associated with the influx of people. Mark commented that water problems are also a source of social problems, including ostracizing and bullying. And so, when water becomes a more plentiful resource, a certain degree of social stability returns as well. John finished up with praise for Engineers Without Borders, whose website says: Engineers Without Borders USA builds a better world through engineering projects that empower communities to meet their basic human needs and equip leaders to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. Our 15,900 members work with communities to find appropriate solutions for water supply, sanitation, energy, agriculture, civil works and structures. Marana Rotary thanks John, Mark, and Tom for a terrific project!
A very special day today for our Club, meeting at Earth’s Energy Hearth & Home, the beautiful store of John Zwick & family, for our annual holiday party. And yes, indeed, Mrs. Claus herself was there to greet us with a smile and a kiss (the chocolate kind). President Mary Straus called the meeting to order after everyone had helped themselves to a very nice breakfast buffet. In the picture to the right you see Boone, Holt, & Claus (left to right).
Today was also our day to support a local charity, which this year was More Than a Bed (
T Student of the Month was Breezy Borseth (right), who was accompanied by her grandparents Kelly and Jim Borseth, and one of her favorite teachers, Mr. Paul DiCaro. MCAT Principal and Marana Rotary Club member Denise Coronado told us that Breezy will graduate from high school in March. Resident astrophysicist Peter Mack asked Breezy what she planned to do after that, and she explained why she wants to be a cosmetologist. She told us that she found the amazing MCAT program through friends, in response to a question from George Rigney. We’re so pleased to honor Breezy and wish her well.
of the Children Peace Initiative Kenya. CPI-Kenya is dedicated to working with children who live in communities that traditionally engage in inter-ethnic disputes. Hilary and Monica explained that the goal is to make children “peace bridges,” because when families are changed by their children, then conflict is decreased. They talked about the different tribes in Kenya who speak different languages, making communication between the tribes very difficult. When there is a culture of violence between tribes, the sad fact is that even the children become warriors rather than going to school. And if they don’t attend school, they don’t learn the tribal languages, and they can’t communicate. CPI-Kenya has programs that bring children from different communities together. Many of the children already have formed negative ideas about each other from their parents. But as they get to know one another in a safe, respectful environment, the negative feelings are replaced. These children return home and influence their parents. The number of violent conflicts and deaths between the communities dramatically decreases as a result. This was a powerful presentation by two very brave individuals. Thank you Hilary and Monica.
And it was wonderful to honor another MCAT Student of the Month, Elizabeth Rodriguez Cuenca, who was introduced by MCAT Principal and Rotarian Denise Coronado. Elizabeth’s Mom, Sandy Rodriguez, was present as well. Elizabeth has fought some serious medical issues with, as Principal Coronado put it, “resilience and a deep depth of character.” Academic Coach Sandy Howard described Elizabeth as an “absolutely amazing young lady. On the days that are really, really hard we see the girl that never gives up.” Elizabeth told us that, upon graduation from high school in either March or May 2016, she plans to attend Pima Community College for two years, then study Pharmacy at the UofA. Our congratulations to Elizabeth! Thank you for sharing your inspiring story with us.
Jo Holt was very surprised and honored to receive her first Paul Harris award and pin today. Mary Straus had kept this information to herself, clearly an act of premeditated misbehavior.
Our guest speaker today, former AG Jim Nook, hails from Dove Mountain Rotary, but has been a frequent guest at our meetings as well. What we didn’t know about Jim would fill a book! Or a very unusual aluminum suitcase…
And resident astrophysicist Peter Mack is back in Marana today! But not for long!
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AG Jim Lamb, the immediate past President of Saddlebrooke Rotary, greeted us all in Cherokee, a proud part of his heritage. In introducing DG Frank Presson, Jim reminded us that Frank is a past President of the Rotary Club of Catalina. Frank shared several inspirational stories with us, including his experience with a 16 yr old boy in Mexico who was paralyzed and could only move around by dragging himself or being carried by someone. Through Rotary, the boy received his first wheelchair, and was suddenly granted a new level of independence. This was Frank’s Rotary moment.
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Also joining us was our new incoming exchange student from Slovakia, Matus, who is now officially a junior at Marana High School. He presented Alice Rigney with several lovely gifts from Slovakia. Matus is staying with his first host family Randy Brooks and Deb Hume in Picture Rocks. Deb is on vacation, and so Randy and Matus are on their own. So far, so good!.jpg)
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Governor Jim Lamb was our guest, and presented our Club with the International President’s Banner of the Year. Thank you, Jim!
real-life farmer, Dan Arnold of the Farmer’s Co-Op in Marana, gave us some basic facts about farming in the United States that may surprise you. Did you know that over 90% of our farms are family farms? Yes, many are contracted with large corporations, like ConAgra, but the farms themselves are family-owned. The average farm is 400 acres. The average age of farmers is 74, w
Maeve Johnson mentioned the recent controversial comments by a Nobel Laureate scientist who complained that female scientists are just too much of a distraction in the laboratory, and often cry when criticized. Resident biochemist Jo Holt immediately left the room in tears.
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ie Conover described the amazing project she led for the purchase of a school bus in Vikravandi India for a rural special-needs school. The school was started by a group of teachers who initially ran it for no pay, because the need was so great. The Rotary Club of Vikravandi pulled its resources together and, with additional funding from Marana Rotary, Tucson Sunrise Rotary, Dove Mountain Rotary, and Casa Grande Rotary, Debbie got matching funds from District 5500. This $30,000 project (almost 2 million rubies!) resulted in the purchase of a school bus for the Vela Special School for the Mentally-Challenged and Speech & Hearing Impaired. Debbie illustrated how an individual donation to Rotary is pooled with donations from members in your club and members in .jpg)
, Russia tried to destroy it and get rid of it, but couldn’t. Every time crosses were burned or removed, more would appear. Eventually it was declared an “unsafe” place and people weren’t allowed to go near it. Nowadays, it’s a very popular tourist sight, and people from all over the world come and place a cross on the hill. On the school trip, we also saw a castle, a Soviet-period museum, and we spent some time at a waterpark. It was such a fun trip..jpg)
A great group of Rotary members and their guests were on hand Saturday June 6 to welcome Alice Rigney as the new President of Marana Rotary, and to thank past-President Maeve Johnson for all her hard work. Also inducted were Mary Straus as the new President Elect, Jo Holt as Secretary, Lynne Himmer returning as Treasurer, Randy Brooks continuing as Member-at-Large, Harold Burtzloff as Member-at-Large, and Javier Teran returning as Sergeant at Arms.
MCAT student of the month Nicolas Pena. Nic has been at MCAT HS since last year and has had his shares of struggles with getting on track academically. At one point during his time at MCAT he was on Academic Probation and had to work with his support team to earn his way back into good standing, or face finding another school to attend. Nic has worked though these challenges and many others in his personal life. The staff at MCAT regularly is impressed with Nic’s quiet leadership and determination to see things through. When he was younger he lived in Phoenix with his aunt due to the fact that his parents were in prison. Early in his high school career he moved to Tucson with his uncle. He never really put school first and wasted a lot of time on other pursuits. Recently he committed to graduating so he can move on with his career goals. Currently he is completing 3 math classes, 2 English classes, electives and Economics to finish his diploma. He expects to have this done this May. 
f the Month: Denise told us about the Student of the Month. Michelle Wayne she has been with MCAT. She came to MCAT after as she put it an 
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ico; The group that goes to Mexico is made up of three different districts, one in CA and two in AZ.. Previous projects this group has done are; parks, playgrounds, fire trucks and a Canadian group that refurbished ambulances and drove them there. They are so proud of what has been done to help them.
f the Month: Denise told us about the Student of the Month. Justice Fierce he has been with MCAT for about a year and half. He came to MCAT as he put it “because he wasn’t interested in school”. Denise said since he has been with MCAT he has been a student leader. He is very respectfully with staff and meets with the superintendent on a regularly bases to learn about what the students think. A typical student with MCAT will pass three to four classes a quarter; Justice has passed seven on his own. And is now fully on tract to graduate. 
Gilbert Davis, Town Manager, Marana, was our speaker on Tuesday 3-24-15: he talked about things going on the community. He covered a number of things so we have a better understanding of OUR Town. First off the community has grown, in 2010 the census population was a little over 34,000, we are not approaching 42,000. We cover 126 square miles, we extend into Pinal County. From a fiscal standpoint our town made some wise choices during the start and throughout the recession. We want a safe, clean, business and tourism friendly community. 
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peaker, Ernie Montagne, a rousing introduction. Ernie served as District Governor from 2010-11. He served as Future Vision Transition Coordinator for the district in 2011 to 2013, and currently serves as District Rotary Foundation Committee Chair for 2013-16 and is a member of the Arizona Tri-District PETS Committee. He received The Citation for Meritorious Service in 2011. As a member of the Rotary team, Ernie recently completed the 104-mile Ride to End Polio / El Tour de Tucson, raising thousands of dollars for PolioPlus. Ernie and current District Governor Sally participated in a Polio National Immunization Day in West Africa in 2005. .jpg)
Our guest speakers this week was from the Marana School District: Cindy Ruich Director of Student Services and Emily Bushouse, Grants. Talk about to gals with a lot of energy and love for the Marana School District..jpg)
Then we celebrated our MCAT Student of the month a very delightful young lady, Shelby who was on a path of truancy and poor choices. With the help of the Attendance Clerks, Rachel Gastellum, who didn’t give up trying to get her to attend class she decided to turn her life around. She decided to apply herself and is graduating early from MCAT and wants to become a nurse and has already started the process to visit the counselors at nursing program at Pima. Congratulation Shelby for showing us what determination can do. Were proud of you!!
Our speaker was PASIONATE! Stacey Hackett from the Pima Community College spoke on the importance of preparing high school students to be prepared for college. She is a counselor for the school and sits on committees that are geared to help students.
We had the pleasure of honoring a nice young lady Miranda – whose life has changed because of the wonderful teachers and principal (member - Denise Coronado) at MCAT. Every month when we honor one of these students I am speaking for myself but it moves me to near tears.
We had the pleasure of welcoming into the Rotary family and our club..JPG)
n writer for the Arizona Daily Star. She is a professor of journalism. She has contributed to the New York Times. .JPG)
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Martin Childers from Anchorage Alaska and Ken Pickering from Yorkshire England. Ken was here to support his ?? son - in - law in the El Tour de Tucson, who rode the 104mi ride in approx. 7hr and has a silver medal for this achievement. We all had fun chatting with both of them. Ken even presented us with his club’s Rotary Flag. Both Martin and Ken were surprised at all the things that our small club of 27 does for our local community and what we have supported around the world:
Today our treasurer, Lynne Himmer reviewed how we did on our 4th Annual Heritage Award Dinner. Our profit between the dinner, the auction and raffle tickets was a lot better than expected. Today we will be able to give Harold Burtzloff from Boxing for Troops a check for $1860!! YOTO will also be receiving a check for $1500. Way to go everyone!!!!!
aker this morning was Roy Morris, who is a financial advisor. Roy has only been in our club a short time but has already been a very active member of the Projects Committee. It was quite funny listening to the stories of him working packing groceries and other positions before he decided that the only way to get anywhere in this world would be to go to college. After meeting his wife in Yuma, the move to Tucson was where he completed his degree at the U of A. Everyone in our club shared in the joy when Roy and wife Jenna were to adopt newborn baby Aiden Christopher. Roy, with tear filled eyes, then told all of us, of the loss of their soon to be precious baby. The biological father suddenly cam back into the picture to take him back. At that moment I am sure many of us wanted to give Roy a group hug.
After the meeting, Mary Straus, Jeanne ( our exchange student from France), George Rigney, Randy Brooks, Dan Contorno and I headed off to 3 grade schools to hand out dictionaries. All of us learned a new word; latchet which means a shoelace. The kids got a kick out of this.
One of our favorite things is the Student of the Month form the Marana School District MCAT, I get so inspired by these youngsters who have turned their lives around. Thank you to the Principal Denise Coronado and Staff who genuinely show how much they care.
Our speaker was Kendall Kroesen, from the Tucson Audubon Society.
Our very own Don Jorgenson, was our speaker he talked about voting and how important it is. What he had to say was so interesting. I am going to just add a few facts that he said.
We were honored to have Dr. Doug Wilson, the Superintendent of the Marana School District as our speaker. He has been with the district for seven years to his credit many people want to move into the Marana area so they can be part of the Marana School System. 
Thank you District 5500 Governor Sally Montagne. If you weren’t there you missed it!! Sally joined Rotary after being forced (or should I say encouraged) to attend a meeting with her husband Ernie Montagne, PDG. At the meeting they were talking about how to help kids, she got hooked on SERVICE!
I will end by saying 
Our Speaker on the 8th was Donovan Tatman, he is a certified speaker, trainer and coach with the John Maxwell Team. Prior to joining the team he had a 30 year career with Tucson PD.
Teree, said her job is to help us with grants in the 2014-2014 year, District Grants can be used in our own community . The clubs can get $4000.00 the grant request must be written with goals and objectives. The global Grants are minimum of $30,000 and must be something that is sustainable like water treatment or educational process that will show a long-term effect, etc.
Two weeks ago we heard about the Arizona Land and Water Trust. Water enables us to have a better quality of life. We need to protect our legacy of land, water and air.click here for more information 
Our speakers this week were from the Marana Mortuary.
The following night we went to Suelee Edwards home for a farewell party for Pedro Acosta. We are very fortunate to have such loving and giving host families.
Our MCAT student Tyler Markle was presented to the club. His uncle Jeff Markle and his grandmother Judy Markle accompanied him. His uncle made it his responsibility to go to the school every month to check on his scholastic achievements.
Our speaker was Sheila McCurdy. She spoke to us on how to unclutter our desks and offices. Linda Hampton in introducing her spoke of the little leprechauns that come in and mess with her desk. I think we can all relate. A clean desk produces efficiency. Don’t fight your desk only essentials should be on your desk.
Week before last we heard from Randy Brooks. He reported that the benefit held at Nana’s raised $1400 for Braison Tivatyl and his wife, Grace. Half of the money will go into our general fund and the other half will go to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Our MCAT student this month was David De Leon. His foster mother Sheri James also attended. He is a very quiet and shy young man who has never received any recognition. He has not decided what his future goals will be but he will make it. He has an unusual reserve and dedication.
This visit she focused on Marana.
This month our MCATstudent was Dominic Carlos, a junior at MCAT. He was accompanied by his dad, Shock Carlos and teacher Paul DiCaro. Dominic has shown an increased level of maturity in the last several months, but what has really gotten the staff’s attention is his completion of 5 classes independently since January. He seems to have recognized that a high school diploma is within reach and has been working hard to earn it. Originally he was projected to graduate next spring, but if he continues to work this hard he may graduate as early as Oct 2014. He hopes to pursue a career in the health field and possibly be a nurse. Dominic is a leader among his peers. His friendly personality with both students and staff make him a popular student around MCAT. It never fails to amaze me what these kids can do once they change their mind set.
Our vocational speaker this month was John Swift. If you missed it you missed a dynamic presentation. For those of you who do not know John’s hobby is falconry. He was raised with a very good Christian ethic. He worked for numerous YMCA and learned how to raise money. The “Y” embodies spirit, mind and body. We are very fortunate to have such a great member. Thanks John for all your thoughts and ideas.
Last week our guest speaker was Kelly Raach the Regional Director Desert SW Chapter Southern Arizona Region, Alzheimer’s Association. It is a stand alone non-profit association. 
This week we had a surprise. Upon arriving at Nana’s restaurant it was dark. Maeve Johnson, our illustrious president called IHop. John Dooling forged ahead to set things up. We had a pleasant breakfast enjoyed by all.
Kathleen made a presentation on how to make up meetings. We now know Kathleen is not the most computer savvy person. She did not mean to be (I don’t think) funny. She had the room in hysterics. Way to get the point across Kathleen. We did learn a few things about the club runner from Harold. 
er was Jo Holt. When she was nine years old she started questioning her environment. She looked at her garden and knew that she had to have seeds, water, dirt and sun. She was questioning how energy was produced. This challenge was the governing factor that led her to her field molecular biophysics
Our speaker was Julee Baxley, co-owner of Integrity Automotive. She was chosen as our Women of the Year for Marana at our Heritage dinner.
Our speaker was the Rotarian 2013 Student of the Year Elijah Barnett. If he is an example of our future kids going into the real world we have nothing to worry about.
Our weekly meeting was action packed as usual. The MCAT student of the month, Gustavo Barcelo, was recognized for his achievements. Gustavo made significant academic improvements at MCAT HS this school year. He is being recognized because of the leadership qualities he showed while working with younger students at Estes Elementary. Recently, Gustavo accompanied a kindergarten class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch, where he was responsible for a small group of students. One of the students in his group fainted, and Gustavo reacted calmly and swiftly to help her. He carried the little girl back to the main area and kept his other students safe while making sure she was attended to. This action, in combination with the improvements he has shown at MCAT, are what led the staff to award him student of the month for October. After graduation in December, Gustavo said he plans to look for a job and is considering going to Pima Community College, although he is not sure what field he will pursue. 
On October 27, Sue Gibbs brought us up to date on Boxes for Troops. Last year 155 boxes were packed. She raised a total of $6500 of which 15% of that came from the Rotary Club of Marana.
There was no Alice’s Corner last week as the entire club placed labels on the inside of dictionaries. These dictionaries will be passed, out by Rotarians, on October 29th to 3rd graders in the Marana school district. Our thanks to Dan Contorno for spear heading this wonderful endeavor.
What a packed agenda we had on Tuesday. 
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the month Dakota Coffin accompanied by his father Trans Coffin. He was introduced by Denise Coronado a teacher at MCAT.
In the month of August I was the presenter in the first week. I won’t bore you with details except to say I talked about me. The second week I was gone. 
ch brings you up to date.
to the Governor Nancy Cassel!
Congratulations to Dan Contorno for a great Poker Night. Still counting but the last amount of funds raised is $1350. It for a great Poker Night. Still counting but the last amount of funds raised is $1350. It announced that it might become a quarterly event.
overnor presented the club with banners he collected while visiting South America. Thanks Rand that was a lot of meetings.
he "happy fund" to observe his 77th birthday.
Has anyone figured out how to get some rest as well as getting everything done in one day? When you do let me know.
cted, Maeve Johnson, President, Kathleen Debiak, vice-president, Debbie Conover, Secretary and Lynne Himmer, treasurer. The outgoing board was recognized.
Boy if you missed Tuesday's meeting you missed a real treat.
don't you think?
We had a presentation by Bob Chasen. He is the admissions director of Arizona School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He shared with us how Western medicine and Eastern medicine can work hand in hand. He shared the art of acupuncture.
'Paint the Dog House' was the Rotary Club of Marana's 2013 project for the annual Rotarians At Work Day. Early Saturday morning, forty volunteer sassembled at the Pima Animal Care Center to paint the inside of the Dog House. Two Rotary Clubs, Marana and Dove Mountain, joined forces and invited the community to work with them. The Lions Club of Marana, students from Dr. Adam Molden's class from NW Pima Community College, and a variety of volunteers were proud of the difference they made in the appearance of the building. 
Our speaker was Jan Webster, a director of CASA Support Council. The word CASA is an acronym for Court Appointed Special Advocates. They speak for the children going through the court systems. Some of their funds are generated through the unclaimed lottery money as well as some county funds.
a counselor for the deaf and hearing impaired for the state of Arizona. 
with concerned and caring people. We should all be proud of our city. Rotarians need to see the impact we have on our city. 
Due to public demand I have been asked to give a little column on the past couple of weeks.’
ur tour by visiting Patronato de la Costa de Hermosillo. This is a community center for the neighborhood. They serve meals for the homeless, breakfast for school children and are home to 22 senior gentlemen.
My faithful fellow Rotarians came to my rescue this week.
r. As newly elected Marana board member she spoke on the water issues facing our city. She reported we had the largest voter turnout due to the mail in ballots.
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ad Vincent Nitido CEO and general manager of TRICO Electric Cooperative. He gave us the bad news as well as the good news. There is a rate increase in the future. There are over 40,000 electric members surrounding the city of Tucson. Bad news..EPA rules require $200 million in power plant changes. TRICO buys from a plant in Benson, AZ which is coal fired. Good news... some conversion to natural gas is planned and some power comes from solar power (about 4%) Over all there may be an increase of 15% to TRICO members, more bad news.
We heard from our student of the month Zack Fletcher. It is rewarding to see a student like Zack Fletcher. He describes himself as being a goof off and a poor student. With the encouragement of MCAT teachers he will be graduating with a high school diploma. They instilled a resolution to succeed. Congratulations.
Did you know it is 800 miles from Mexico to Utah through Arizona? 
Well a little belated due to the holidays but here is “Alice’s Corner”.
Wow!! A big THANK YOU to John Zwicfk, family and co-workers for our Holiday Party. A special THANK YOU to Mrs. Claus. It was well attended. Many wearing the holiday colors. Those, such as yours truly, did not read the announcement correctly, were fined for not wearing red. 
Wow do we have a dynamic new member in Kathleen Debiak. I hope I spelled your last name correctly. If not I will make a correction next week.
I am baack after a brief hiatus.
n in Brasil for a month and since I have am settled in, I felt it is an appropriate time to start my bi-monthly emails to you. 
Happy Birthday to Suelee!! Javier’s mother baked a nice cake.Suelee had to fork over $61.00 for every year she has been on this earth. She says that she is closer to Medicare but it is rough getting old.
Are we getting excited about our “Snowbirds” returning?
Suelee reminded us of the significance of the date. She attended a ceremony in New York as a former police officer honoring our fallen heros.
Everyone get ready to have a “rip roaring” night on September 15th at Nana’s. Randy and his co-horts in crime will be playing some tunes to raise money for the El Tour de Tucson. So come down have some dinner, drinks and good ole’ fashion Rotary fun. I will be reminding you again in a few weeks.
Today’s meeting consisted of two speakers, The first being Cade Johnson who is our outgoing youth exchange student. He will be going to Brazil. He presented a slide presentation on Arizona. He will give this presentation to Rotary clubs in Brazil. It was quite informative and gave a very good view of our Marana.
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r family, with the exception of an aunt, all pass away. She was punished by the government for having been from an affluent family. She had to learn to live and act as a peasant. Her book is called The Bamboo Promise. 
As George and I prepare to go to Mexico, which let me tell is no easy task, I belatedly write this note.
The 2011 Boxing For Troops project was a huge success! We were able to raise enough funds to ship 103 boxes loaded full of goodies to our adopted unit of 91 soldiers in Afghanistan – so they will have plenty to share with neighboring units! The boxes contained many items the soldiers will enjoy such as a soft throw blanket, our own label of coffee, jellies and jams, handmade soaps, snack foods, comfort/hygiene items, as well as a signed Christmas card, an ornament, and a candy cane in every box. Thank you so much to the Marana Rotary Club for helping to make it possible once again to send these very special boxes. We are also grateful that some of the MUSD students were able to participate by providing several handmade cards that were sent in the boxes, which we know will be treasured by our soldiers! Funds were a little low this year, but with the help of many people giving donations of money, items, and time, everything came together just great! The boxes were shipped on Friday, December 2
