Opening and Welcome - President Colleen Coons
President Colleen thanked the following individuals:
- Steve Ross for serving as Greeter.
- Mike Lutcher for offering the invocation
- Warren Williamson for leading the Pledge of Allegiance
- Dick Myren for handling the raffle
- Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
- Jeanie Morgan for handling check-in
- Ed Koeneman for serving as Chief Technology Officer
- John Pennypacker for handling room setup
Introduction of Guests
President Colleen welcomed Deb Koeneman, Bob Jensen and Linda and Joe Sweeney who were all attending via Zoom. She pointed out that Joe Sweeney Joe and Linda are from Prescott and Joe is in line to be District Governor in 2026-27.
- Gerry Paulus was introduced and it was noted that he would be officially inducted into the club later in the meeting.
- Erwin and Joan Reimann were welcomed. They are members, but spend the warm months in South Dakota. Colleen wants them to feel welcome when they are in Arizona.
- Lizzy Barron was introduced as another to be formally inducted later in the meeting.
- Tom Yuzer, a regular visiting Rotarian from Minnesota was welcomed. He said the snow is gone in his home state.
- Wayne General, a member who is seldom available to attend our lunch meetings was welcomed.
- Jim Dowler, the guest speaker, was welcomed from Phoenix Rotary 100.
Ace of Clubs Raffle
Dick Myren explained that proceeds from sale of raffle tickets is split three ways. A third goes to the club operating account. A third goes to the person holding the stub of the ticket drawn. The final third is added to the accumulating "big pot." The daily winner also wins the right to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck. If they draw the joker, they win an additional $20. If they draw the Ace of Clubs (which we believe we are) they win the big pot. The daily winnings will be $35. The large pot was up to $401. Dick asked Ted Williams to draw the winning ticket. It was held by Jack Rosenberg. The card Jack drew from the deck was the Queen of Diamonds.
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms Ron Thompson
- Eric Silverberg contributed. He was happy to have travelled with Jim Schmidt to Hermasillo Mexico to learn about the Microcredit Mesa West Rotary is involved with there.
- Dick Myren was happy to report he had healed quickly from his collision with the floor. He was also happy that the University of Iowa Women's Basketball Team had beat the men's basketball attendance records. Dick was sad to have lost his 83-year-old brother who was a minister on Saturday, April 6.
- Mike Lutcher was happy they would be leaving on a three-week road-trip vacation in Virginia, New York and Kentucky visiting children and grandchildren.
- Shelly Romine announced she would be absent the following week. Her son would be celebrating his 29th birthday. And they would be enjoying a family reunion with her husband's family from St. Louis in San Diego. She said a small crew was needed Friday to do prep work for the Rotary Week of Service Project at the YMCA which was scheduled for Saturday, April 13.
- Wayne General contributed $15. He said he and Lucinda were celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary. He was happy that Lu still finds him sexy. He knows she does, because every time he walks past her, he hears her say, "What an ass!"
- Frank Rosenberg was happy to be in his final week of his Master's program. He will soon be able to practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner.
- Don Boucher contributed celebrating ten years as a member of Mesa West Rotary and twelve years as a Rotarian. He said he enjoys all the good people, but being a member comes with a sense of guilt - he never feels he is doing enough.
- Lizzy Barron said it has taken five years to find the right Rotary Club in Arizona. She made a pledge to our club's foundation in appreciation of finding the right fit in Mesa West Rotary.
- Chuck Flint was happy that Pam Cohen was his communicator taking care of everything during his recent health challenges. He was also thankful for his niece who has had both of his dogs since December 26. He said he spent 70 days in the hospital. His co-pay was $1500. So far, it appears the total cost of his stay is over $212,000.
- Harry Grossman announced he was at the meeting without his hearing aids adding "I can't hear a damned thing!"
- Polly Cady was glad the club is two members stronger. She was happy to see Joe and Linda Sweeney on Zoom, and happy for the good time she and Allan enjoyed with Olivia and Valeria in San Diego.
- Pam Cohen was happy to remember being at Lu and Wayne's wedding fifteen years ago. She pledged $400 for John Pennypacker's sponsor program team thankful for her grandson Wilder's 4th birthday!
- Jim Schmidt was happy to celebrate 40 years in Rotary, and was also happy about the good time he enjoyed in Mexico. He also announced their youngest daughter just had a baby - his 36th grandchild.
- Gerry Paulus celebrated the many years he's been a Rotarian. He will be sending private DNA into deep space. The Rotary 4-Way Test will also be sent. He hopes to send a laser etched disc with Rotarian names on it.
- Ted Williams was happy he had his hearing aids.
- Warren Williamson said little Johnie got in trouble for asking his mom how old she was. She explained that you should never ask a woman that question. He then got in trouble for asking how much she weighed, and was told both questions were off limits and should not be asked. He then got in trouble for asking he why she and his dad were divorced. Johnie was complaining to a friend about getting into trouble for asking something he though it was reasonable for him to know. When his friend heard what the questions were, he told Johnie to find his mom's driver's license in her purse explaining it was like an adult report card. Johnie followed that advice. In a subsequent conversation with his mom, he said "I know you are 35-years old and weigh 129 pounds. I also know why you and dad divorced. His mom asked how he discovered that information and he confessed to sneaking a peak at her license. She said, "I can see how you now know my age and weight but what did you find on my license that answered the question about my being divorced?" Johnie answered, "I could see you got an 'F' in sex."
- John Pennypacker celebrated his recent birthday commenting about seven being an odd number of decades.
- Ed Koeneman said he is getting acquainted with a new toy in our club's array of technical equipment. He said his son is still in Poland, still sleeping in the closet.
- Colleen Coons said she and Dan went to celebrate her uncle's 100th birthday and seems to be in good health. He was sitting next to Colleen's aunt who was thirteen years younger. They had thirteen children. The aunt has dementia, but is happy. Because Colleen is thirteen years younger than Dan, she told him, "We're looking at our future, here." Colleen shared some McKinney Vento success stories, and it is clear our program is changing lives.
- Harry Grossman said he had been in Sedona last Saturday for the Sedona Village Rotary Club's annual Grocery Grab fundraiser. The club pays wholesale cost of as many groceries that the winner of a drawing can fill their cart with in five minutes. The club made $19,000 on the event.
Sponsor Program Update - Steve Ross
Steve reported that we have now raised over $40,000 not including donations received or pledged at the April 11 meeting. He said Ed Koeneman's team had inched ahead of John Pennypacker's team. Ed's team is now $6 ahead of John's.
Paul Harris Fellow Recognition
Foundation Chair John Pennypacker presented Wayne General with his Paul Harris Plus 7 recognition Pin thanking him for his generous support. This level of recognition represents $8,000 in total giving to The Rotary Foundation either through the Annual Fund or Polio Plus.
Presentation of Club Flag
Wayne General presented Colleen with a club flag from the Rotary Club of Curacao. He and Lu had attended their meeting the prior week. Curacao is a desert island in the Caribbean about 35 miles north of Venezuela, about 3500 miles southeast of Phoenix. The island is about 40 kilometers long, about 15 kilometers wide and has a population of 150,000. Year round temperature varies from a low of 70 degrees in January (at night) to a high of 90 degrees (in the day time) in July. Talk about constant temperature! It is out of the hurricane belt. The previous year, 2023, Wayne and Lu wanted to attend their Rotary meeting but it was cancelled due to the King of Netherlands birthday being a national holiday, as it fell on a Thursday in 2023. The whole country shuts down on the King’s Birthday. There are two Rotary clubs in Curacao, and they attended the larger one. It was founded 80 years ago, currently has 80 members, is very active and interested in a mutual global grant project we at Mesa West may be able to help with. Their current president is Mr. Gino Campbell, who is from Suriname, a South American country next to Venezuela. Wayne gave them two Arizona Highway calendars for 2024 and an Arizona Diamondback baseball cap, in the new style for the 2024 season. These items were given to Mr. Campbell. Wayne spoke with about 20 of the 45 members in attendance for lunch and everyone extolled the virtues of the U.S. and are very interested in U.S. politics. Many of the members had been in the U.S. more than once and one studied in Washington State for his Bachelor’s degree and at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. for his Master’s degree. Two new members were inducted at the meeting we attended. Lu’s scuba diving guide on her third dive actually asked about Ms. Kari Lake, when he learned Lu was from Arizona. He said he thought Ms. Lake was “Beautiful, smart and tough.” They get their news from the Internet.
All transactions for shopping, restaurants, gasoline stations and the like are given in two prices, ANG (Antilles Netherlands Guilders) and U.S.D. (United States Dollars.) the exchange rate is roughly two ANG to one USD. You can buy anything and everything using U.S. dollars, without worrying about exchange rates. Of course credit and debit cards are accepted everywhere except at gas stations, where only cash is accepted. Wayne could never learn why that was the case. They thoroughly enjoyed their 12 days there and would highly recommend anyone interested in going to a less traveled location consider this Caribbean island. Sea food is of course the dominant food, but there are chicken, pork and Argentinian beef on the menu’s as well. Water is safe to drink, fresh fruits and vegetables are safe to eat and beer, wine and liquor exist, but with a dearth of draught beer available, and almost no California wine available. You do need to convert electricity to U.S. outlets, from D.C. to A.C. You can’t simply use an adaptor, you must buy a converter here such as through Amazon. The Generals adapted a nightlight in 2023 and it fried in a couple of hours. So they learned you have to convert the electricity from D.C. to A.C. The people are extremely friendly, gracious and helpful, down to a person. Most people speak four languages, English, Dutch, Spanish and Papiemento, which is a combination of African, French and Portuguese. They rented a car on both trips and traversed the entire island. They did not see any tent cities, homeless people or beggars at intersections. Not one. They had absolutely no complaints from the 2023 trip and absolutely no complaints from the 2024 trip. They would like very much to go there again, but there are so many other places in the world to see, returning to Curacao may not be possible.
Induction of Two New Members
Polly Cady explained that she first knew Lizzy Barron through holding Rotary Leadership Events at the Thunderbird School for International Management campus in downtown Phoenix. Lizzy was the one who had to approve the events being held there. Joe Sweeney and Lizzy were friends when they were both in the Santa Clara club in California. Lizzy is still an asset to that club. She goes back each year to help with an annual fundraiser. Lizzy said she nearly died twice on August 17. The first time was when she was 14. They were in a car accident on their way back from Guaymas. The second time was when she was pregnant. She said her child tried to kill her, but they both survived thanks to an emergency C-Section. She said the reason she was attracted to Mesa West was because we are so active. We do more than just write checks. She wants her daughter to see her giving back/
Gerry Paulus has a background in Utilities - Energy Management. He enjoys outdoor activities. Gerry has spent time in some military hot spots. He is a graduate of Mesa Leadership. He likes the opportunity to be a part of the fellowship and philanthropy of Rotary. When he attended RLI, he could see that many of the leaders were members of Mesa West Rotary Club. He likes that we are a club of leaders. When he worked with Colleen to try to coordinate the first Rotary Day at a Cubs Spring Training game, he was amazed at the enthusiasm. She kept coming back with a need for more tickets. He has known John Pennypacker a long time, so its a little like coming home. He hopes to add value. Gerry says that his family calls him Jay. Now that he is in our Mesa West family, we are welcome to call him Jay, as well.
Colleen went through the formal induction ceremony and welcomed them into the club with Polly pinning Lizzy and Jim Schmidt pinning Gerry.
Sponsor Program Update - Steve Ross
Mesa West Rotary lives our motto: Transforming communities, creating opportunities and impacting youth!!!
As most of you know, Arizona has a very unique state tax credit program. If you pay taxes to the state of Arizona, you can specify where your tax dollars go (state taxes only). These instructions are for your reference only. Please consult a tax prep professional with any specific questions about state tax credits.
Mesa West Rotary Foundation, Inc. is the funding and fundraising arm of our own Mesa West Rotary Club. It is a 501(c)(3) charity. We have had successful sponsorship campaigns the last few years enabling us to spend our energy on service rather than on holding fundraising events. Charitable grants that we get involved with are funded through our charitable foundation, Our signature Gift of Hearing Project in Guaymas Mexico is funded through this foundation. Scholarships are awarded annually to Westwood High School Students (the high school where Mesa West Rotary sponsors an Interact Club). Funds are used to support a variety of activities in four of the Rotary Avenues of Service:.png)
Transforming Communities, Creating Opportunities, Impacting Youth
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