District 5500's first short-term Rotary Youth Exchange is halfway complete. Our short-term youth exchange student is returning from The Netherlands with her exchange “sister” who will spend three weeks in Marana.
We opened the meeting with 10 minutes of social time to visit with guests Michael Ottman (welcome back!) and Beverly Smithwick (nice to meet you!). Club President Cindy Dooling called the meeting to order, and the club recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
President Cindy announced that our district’s first “Short-Term Student Exchange” is happening now. Sophia spent 3 weeks in The Netherlands with Femke’s family, and then the girls will fly back together and spend 3 weeks here. We hope to have the opportunity to meet the girls.
We received an update on the request for the UXO Project which works to clear land in Laos where unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam war threatens farmers and families. The project is $3,800 away from its goal of raising $50,000. Club members are supportive of making a smaller donation now, and want to explore the possibility of turning this into a global grant.
Happy Bucks
Our club members had much to “happy” about coming off the July Fourth holiday weekend. Here were the highlights:
- Peter: Happy to be in Vancouver, Canada, but lost his debit card (arghh!)
- Bob: In Oklahoma and heading to Arizona for a Rotary Vocational Foundation Board Meeting. This is a great program, and Bob hopes that we continue to support it.
- Don & Cathy: Had a wonderful July 4th in Seattle and had dinner with former, longtime club members Randy and Deb Brooks, who are doing well in Washington state.
- Beckie: Enjoyed a splendid July 4th holiday with the family at Cannon Beach in Oregon. They stayed in a beachfront air BnB.
- Laura: Spent a “classic” July 4th holiday with 3 out of 4 siblings playing the “King Oil” board game and eating barbecue beef.
- Harold: Played dominos with his 2 granddaughters over holiday weekend.
- John: Was happy to introduce one of guests, Beverly, who recently retired here after 32 years of teaching in Illinois.
- Mark: Appreciative or his connection to our club because MUSD was in the process of opening two new schools, one of which needed the water turned on. Our past-President Andrea was able to facilitate that for the school district.
- Cindy: Was happy to turn lemons into lemonade. She and John’s flight to Calgary, Canada for R.I. was delayed in Dallas, and they missed their connecting flight. They had to spend the night in Dallas, but just so happened to connect with a grandson who was also passing through the Dallas airport. All’s well that ends well.
Announcements
Cindy shared several key events to launch her Rotary year:
- July 15 club meeting: District Governor Bruce Monroe will join us for his DG visit.
- July 19 (Tucson) and July 26 (Yuma) District Training Assemblies: Free to attend, includes breakfast and lunch, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. All club officers should try to attend.
- Sept. 26-27 District Conference at the Tubac Golf Club and Resort. We will be tabling for “Tour de Cookie”.
- Oct. 25, “Walk to End Alzheimer’s”: Will take place at Reid Park, starting at 9:30 a.m.
- Oct. 31-Nov. 3, Yuma, Mexico-U.S. Friendship & Global Grants Exchange Conference: Project presentations from across the border.
Finally, Cindy reported that she and John attended Rotary Club of Dove Mountain’s presidential installation ceremony and were impressed. It was well attended and featured past club presidents and district governors from the Dove Mountain, Oro Valley, and Tucson Sunset clubs.
We then recited the “Four-Way Test”, and the meeting was adjourned.
– Submitted by Laura Clymer