Highlights of June 20 Meeting

Opening and Welcome - President Colleen Coons
 
President Colleen thanked
  • Jack Rosenberg for leading the Pledge of Allegiance as well as serving as greeter
  • Dick Myren for offering the invocation as well as handling the raffle
  • Steve Ross for serving as backup greeter
  • Jeanie Morgan and Jay Paulus for handling check in.
  • John Pennypacker for managing room setup.
  • Ed Koeneman for serving as Chief  Technology Officer
  • Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
Introduction of Guests
 
  • Polly Cady introduced Mark Newell who has retired from the government and is passionate about Shelter Box.  Mark took the microphone and said that he had moved to Gilbert about two years ago from upstate New York.  His passion is to help people.  In his career with the government, he was involved in accounting - contract management with a goal of "spreading the peanut butter more evenly on the bread."  He learned about Shelter Box which brought him to having an interest in learning more about Rotary.
  • Sam Rosenberg thanked the club for sponsoring her year in Denmark as an outbound Rotary Youth Exchange student saying "It was the best year of my life!"  She had arrived home slightly less than a week prior to the meeting.
  • Attending via Zoom were Pai Bethea, Connie Bunyard, Bob Jensen, and Deb Koeneman.
Ace of Clubs Raffle -  Dick Myren
 
 
Dick explained that the proceeds of the raffle tickets sold are divided three ways.  A third goes into the club's operating account, a third is given to the holder of the stub of the raffle ticket drawn. The final third is added to the accumulating "big pot".  The daily winner also wins the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs (which we believe we are) from the cards remaining in the deck.
Should they be so lucky, they would win the big pot which is now up to $661. The other card which could result in smaller winnings is the joker which would be worth $20.  Dick asked Sam Rosenberg to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Don LaBarge.  After receiving the weekly winnings of $30, Don shuffled the cards face down and drew.  Sadly, for Don, the card he drew was the Eight of Diamonds.
 
Happy Bucks - Ron Thompson
 
  • Ron Thompson made the first contribution - since the meeting would be his last week as Sgt at Arms, and he was glad that Sam was back.  He encouraged everyone to "make it big."
  • Dick Myren made his traditional donation happy that he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs.  He was also happy for our President who has only a few more days to worry about the details of managing the club.
  • Don LaBarge contributed.  His granddaughter, Renee, has joined the Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club.  She has a job that would conflict with her ability to be an active member of Mesa West.
  • Jack Rosenberg was glad Sam was back.
  • Ed Koeneman was happy Sam was back.  He was also happy he would be getting a new knee next month., predicting he would be unable to attend club meetings most of August.
  • Warren Williamson told a story Jeanie Morgan had shared with him.  A doctor who was soon to be retiring from his practice introduced one of his long-time lady patients to the new doctor who would be taking over and left her with the new doctor for her annual physical.  A little while later, she ran screaming and crying from the young doctor's exam room.  The retiring doctor heard the commotion and invited her into his office to find out what was going on.  She told him the young doctor had told her she was pregnant.  The older physician left the room to find out what in the world was going on.  He found the young doctor who was entering information into their data system.  The older doctor asked, "What were you thinking, telling a 72 year old woman who has grown children and a few grandchildren that she was pregnant?!?"  Without looking up, the young doctor asked, "Does she still have the Hiccups?"
  • Marilyn Klingler contributed.  She was just happy to be at the meeting.
  • Harry Grossman fined himself.  He had worn his name badge home from the June 13 meeting.  Harry said his son-in-law is a RI Alumni.  In August, he will get to spend time with his host family from thirty years ago.
  • Sam Rosenberg thanked the club for her amazing experience which she will never forget!
  • Polly Cady contributed.  She and Allan had spent the prior week in San Diego on their boat with Olivia and Braly.  One evening they also enjoyed dinner with John Pennypacker's grandson, Ty.  She said spending time with such high-quality youth, she is confident we can look ahead to a good future.
  • Allan Cady was happy Sam was back.
  • Jay Paulus was happy the operating budget for next year was approved by the Club Board of Directors.  They had approved forwarding his proposed charitable spending budget to the Mesa West Rotary Foundation Board with the recommendation that it be approved.  He understands he hasn't been given a blank check...
  • Colleen Coons was very happy to have enjoyed the wonderful experience of serving as Club President.  She said she knows her fellow-members much better.  She said she was glad she joined Mesa Leadership,  She was also happy that her youngest son who is 24 has been accepted in the paramedic program with the Los Angeles Fire Department.
  • Eric Silverberg thanked Colleen.  He contributed $40 - next month, he and his wife will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
  • John Pennypacker contributed saying it was good to have Sam back.  He also thanked the Allan and Polly Cady for showing his grandson a good time.
Sponsor Program Update - Steve Ross
 
Steve reported that, "as of twenty minutes ago," John Pennypacker's team was in the lead.  The other team leaders - Ray Smith, Bob Jensen, Ed Koeneman, and Ron Thompson all did a great job.  Steve wanted to thank the one member who got the sponsorship program started - Allan Cady.  Allan made a confession and an announcement.  He said he received his Father's Day card from his son and daughter-in-law a few days prior to Father's Day and confessed he opened it early.  It was a very nice card, and it contained a very special gift.  Inside the card was a $10,000 check payable to Mesa West Rotary Foundation.  Allan said that he had conversed with Colleen about the check and wanted to convey that it was his wish that $5,000 of the amount would be forwarded by the club's foundation to The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona.  With this donation, the sponsor program for this year will have exceeded the $60,000 goal.
 
Announcement - President Colleen Coons
 
Colleen explained that we were expecting a visit from one of the McKinney Vento students - Christopher Sousa.  She hoped he would arrive before the meeting ended.  He is a very busy young man.  He goes to school from 8-1, has a job from 2-7, and another job from 8-1.  When asked what he wanted, he wanted help getting his drivers' license, he needed a mechanic to look at his car, and he needed a desk so he would have a place to study.  Colleen feared she would not have time to tell the members about him and wanted to share at least this much before he arrived.
 
 
Program - Alison Stoltman, Arizona Museum of Natural History
 
Eric Silverberg introduced Alison.  She has over 25 years of experience in the museum field, with a background in both archaeology and paleontology, Alison has worked across a spectrum of institutions from the Folk Museum of Wales, specializing in specific cultural content, to large-scale institutions such as the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.  Throughout her career, Alison has had the great fortune to work in various professional capacities, including conducting research, preserving and restoring collections, educational programming, curating exhibits and is currently working in administration as the Deputy Director of the Arizona Museum of Natural History.  Her role also includes consultation with various City Departments and as a liaison with neighboring Tribal communities as the Acting City Archaeologist.
 
Driven by an insatiable love of learning, Alison is dedicated to advancing informal education.  Her primary objective is to foster scientific and cultural literacy within communities.  She aims to achieve this by cultivating welcoming and inclusive museum spaces and extending educational outreach beyond traditional boundaries.
 
 
CLICK HERE or on the image to view the slides Alison shared as she made her presentation.
 
Alison shared that there are many different kinds of museums.  She talked about an underwater museum.  She also talked about a museum on her bucket list to visit - a toilet museum.  When she thinks about the impact on mankind's health and sanitation, she can't think of a single invention with a bigger impact.
 
Thinking about how we got to where we are today...  In the past there were "temples of learning" with muses sharing information.  Alexandria in Egypt was one of the first.  It burned down - more than once.
 
During the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th century, there was a real sense of a need to collect, document, share knowledge about the tangible evidence from historical periods.  The first public museum in London opened in 1759.  People had to apply to be able to visit it.
 
The first actual public museum was the Louvre in Paris which opened in the middle of their revolution.
 
It didn't break down social barriers.  It actually created cultural divides.  Some created knowledge about wrongs being righted.
 
There was some intertwining of education and entertainment when P. T. Barnum bought a lot of items and travelled with his own eclectic collection - some of which had real historical value, but there was no curation.
 
James Smithson gave a fortune in America to form a museum involving scientists and researchers.
 
The Arizona Museum of Natural History was built in 1936 by the WPA  They hope they create curiosity about scientific knowledge, cultural influence, and lived experience.  We want our tribal neighbors to be able to accurately tell their story.
 
There is an economic impact to our state.  Arts and culture has brought in over $5.5 million in a single ear.
 
Through ongoing research and work of groups all over the world, museums are the guardians of cultural and natural history working against agents of decay.  They want to provide a voice to the past.  Watch for a formal announcement - the name of the Mesa Grande Cultural Park will be changing.  Thousands of years ago, it was a bustling business center.
 
Rotary Builds Bridges Recognition - Christopher Sousa
 
 
Christopher Sousa was invited to come forward.  He is a recent graduate of Red Mountain High School.  He was presented with a medal as well as a Dr. Seuss book - Oh The Places You'll Go.  
 
He was told the book may look like a children's book, but the content has some very good messages for adults.  Christopher was given a graduation gift bag. and asked how our Rotary Builds Bridges - McKinney-Vento program had helped him.  His two-word answer, spoken with heartfelt emotion, "Not Alone," brought tears to the eyes of several in the room.