https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85900479873
Doubletree, 1011 W Holmes
Mesa, AZ 85210 United States of America
Our hybrid meetings are held weekly on the 1st thru 4th Thursdays of each month. The meetings are broadcast via Zoom to include all, whether attending virtually or in person.
The Interact Club at Westwood High School appear to have had fun wrapping the gifts for our McKinney Vento students during their December 13 meeting. Mesa West Rotary is thankful for their generous donation of time and talent to "get the job done."
At our December 14 meeting, Olivia will be selling cookies she will have baked, bringing a taste of Sweden to those who purchase them. Her purpose in baking and selling the cookies is to raise some of the funds needed so she can afford to go on the youth exchange train tour of the United States following the school year, and before she returns to her home.
Be sure to stop by an ATM on your way to the meeting!
Welcome and Opening of Meeting - President Colleen Coons
John Pennypacker and Jack Rosenberg jointly presented the thought for the day, explaining that the celebration of Hanukkah would begin at sundown that evening. Jack read a Hanukkah blessing in Hebrew, and John shared the same prayer in English: "Blessed are you, Our God, Ruler of the Universe, who makes us holy through your commandments, and commands us to light the Hanukkah lights."
Warren Williamson led the Pledge of Allegiance.
President Colleen thanked the following individuals:
Diane Ware for serving as greeter and handling check-in
Chuck Flint for handling the raffle
Jack Rosenberg and John Pennypacker for providing the thought for the day
Warren Williamson for leading the Pledge
Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms, and Don LaBarge who would be gathering Happy Bucks donations in a Salvation Army Red Kettle
Ed Koeneman was thanked for serving as Chief Technology Officer
Introduction of Guests
Frank Rosenberg introduced his daughter, Danielle, who was celebrating her birthday
Exchange student Olivia was introduced and given the opportunity to promote the sale of homemade Swedish cookies at our December 14 meeting to raise funds she needs to afford the Youth Exchange train tour of the USA at the end of her school year.
Visiting Rotarian - and Olivia's current host mother - Carla Rowe-Malcolm was introduced and she suggested members bring lots of cash to the December 14 meeting.
Member Bob Jensen was welcomed at our in-person meeting since he usually attends our meetings via Zoom.
Member Joan Reimann was welcomed back from her extended stay in cooler country.
Tim Troy, Carla Krcmarik, and Wayne General, members who can rarely attend our in-person meetings, were all welcomed.
Annual Meeting
President Colleen turned the floor over to President-Elect Logan Harper who announced that the nominating committee, consisting of himself, Polly Cady, Ray Smith and Kayla Mudge, were presenting the following slate of future club leaders needing to be elected at this annual club meeting:
President-Elect Kayla Mudge
to serve as President Elect July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025
and serve as President July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026
Secretary, Deb Koeneman
to serve as Secretary July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026
Director, Polo Santiago
Director, Warren Williamson
to serve as Directors July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026
President Colleen made a motion to elect the slate as presented. Her motion was seconded by John Pennypacker. The motion passed unanimously.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Chuck Flint
After explaining that the small pot would be $50, the large pot was $1,390 and there were only fifteen cards left in the deck, Chuck asked Ted Williams to draw the winning raffle ticket. It turned out that it was a ticket belonging to Pam Cohen who was not present. Chuck asked Ted to shuffle the cards and draw a card on Pam's behalf. The card drawn was the Ace of Clubs making Pam the winner of both the large and small pot. December 14 the Ace of Clubs Raffle will start over with a full deck of new cards including one joker.
Happy Bucks - Don LaBarge - Collecting for Salvation Army
Ron Thompson contributed - he was happy not to have to walk around collecting money.
Harry Grossman was happy to say his red shoes do exist as he contributed $5, saying the Cardinals had now won their fifth game this season.
Shelly Romine was just happy.
Gina Schroeder contributed saying it would be birthday weekend at the Schroeder household.
Deb Koeneman was just happy.
Frank Rosenberg was happy to have Danielle with him.
John Reimann was happy to be back in Arizona.
Bob Jensen was happy to be attending in person.
Jim McGown was happy that he, along with Ed Koeneman and Dan Coons picked up the wheelchairs purchased at auction.
Jack Rosenberg was happy to have rang the bell with John Benedict on Sunday.
Dick Myren contributed his usual $2 - happy he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs.
Ed Koeneman contributed saying Jim McGown was the "king of public auctions, having purchased some high quality wheelchairs in excellent condition for $5 each. He thanked Colleen for loaning Dan to help transport the wheelchairs. Ed was also happy the Pittsburgh Steelers had a good day.
Warren Williamson told a story about our former undertaker, Jack Rosenberg, whose motto - while still in the business - was "I'll be the last to let you down." One time a widow who had recently lost her husband was disappointed that her husband had been prepared for burial in a black suit. She was very disappointed he was not in a blue suit. When she went back the next day, he was in blue and she asked how much additional she needed to pay for their extra effort. Jack said it wasn't that much trouble and there would be no charge. What he didn't explain was that, coincidentally, another widow had asked that her husband, who had been prepared for burial in a blue suit, be dressed in a black suit. The two men were almost identical in size. It was simple to just switch the heads.
John Pennypacker contributed saying Jeanie had been ringing his bell for quite a while.
Tom Yuzer contributed but made no comment.
Colleen Coons was happy Shelly Romine had volunteered to do the shopping for the McKinney Vento students' wish lists. She was happy to report that Justin Hart who participated in the recent McKinney Vento presentation had given $1,000 to support the shopping for our students. He has already committed money for next year as well. He loves what we are doing but has no time at the present to be a Rotarian.
Special Gift for the Ladies in the Room
John Pennypacker said he had spent the past week entertaining an Army buddy. While he was in town, they celebrated his buddy's mother's 102nd birthday. John said there were many in the room who would have a hard time keeping up with that 102-year-old. He donated $102 for the McKinney Vento Holiday wish list shopping in her honor. He went on to announce he had a few gifts he wanted help distributing. He had "Women in Rotary" pins for all the women in the room who did not already have one.
Announcements
Our honorary member Daniel Becker who is the sponsoring teacher of the Interact Club at Westwood High School has successfully revived the Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) tax credit giving opportunity through Mesa Public Schools which can benefit the Interact Club at Westwood and possibly decrease some of the support our Rotary Club offers to support the Interact club member activities. Donations of $200 for individuals or $400 for married couples filing jointly will qualify for State of Arizona income tax credit. We will try to find out if there is a link where the donations can be made on line. The image below is from a receipt of a donation that was successfully made in person:
Program - Dr. Wayne General - Competency, Restoration & Insanity
CLICK HEREto view the slides Wayne used during his presentation. You are strongly encouraged to do so. The history of how rulings have evolved in the areas of criminal behavior and competency to stand trial is interesting and this writer does not feel adequate to "get it right" in the reporting on Wayne's program.
Wayne serves as an expert witness in court cases where competency is an issue and he has evaluated the accused. In one case, he received 28,000 pages of records to review.
He said there are three criteria
Factual knowledge
Rational understanding
Ability to assist in their own defense.
All three are required to be "competent." IQ is not related to competency. Many are psychotic, but competent to be tried. The issue of competency can be raised by the defense, prosecution or the judge.
Some statistics that were interesting:
On a daily basis approximately 350 arrests are made in Maricopa County
Approximately 180 (out of 2450) competency evaluations are ordered each week.
Two evaluators are appointed for each person
If there is a disagreement, a third evaluator is appointed.
If competent - proceed to trial
If incompetent - proceed to restoration, which is of 15 to 21 months duration for felonies and 6 to 8 months for misdemeanors.
A competency evaluation consists of fifteen questions (listed in Wayne's presentation slides) plus a thorough social history, mental status examination and review of medical records if available.
Paul Harris Recognition
Our club's Foundation Chair - who promotes charitable support of The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund and Polio Plus - recognized Wayne General's giving. Wayne invited one of his favorite Rotary friends, Lola McClane to participate in the presentation. Wayne received his Paul Harris plus six recognition pin representing $7,000 in support of TRF.
Colton Cagle has graduated from the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Colton's young life has been intertwined with Mesa West Rotary for several years now. He was a Westwood High School Interact Club Member. He attended RYLA. He served as Interact Club President and went on to serve as an Assistant Governor on District Governor on the District 5495 Interact Council. Points were transferred to make Colton a Paul Harris Fellow during his year of service as Interact District Governor. Colton was a Crutches for Africa ambassador to Kenya. He was a Rotary Youth Exchange student. He helped facilitate an on-line RYLA during COVID isolation. In recent years, he has been active in Rotaract.
This fall, Colton was presented with a scholarship from Mesa West to help him finish his college education. At that time, he said the scholarship would enable him to graduate debt-free. Congratulations!
While Wayne and Lucinda General were vacationing in Portugal earlier this year, they visited a Rotary Club there. Wayne had the pleasure of exchanging club flags at that meeting.
Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange students made a trip to northern Arizona a few weeks ago. Some were photographed on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon during that trip.
Olivia - our Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Sweden has a bucket list of things she hopes to do while here on her exchange. Review the list and see what you might want to do with her. CLICK HERE or on the image to email Polly Cady so she can coordinate scheduling an opportunity to make it happen!.
As Rotarians, we are regularly exposed to opportunities to support various causes with our time, talent and treasure. Sometimes it is hard to sift through all the information and decide where we are going to use our available financial resources.
It would be wonderful if every Arizona Rotarian would make the following BIG FOUR their Rotary charities of choice and support every one of them every year, we could make a bigger difference than we are making today.
The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Annual Fund - The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world." Giving a small amount each month adds up. CLICK HERE to download a form you can use to sign up for Rotary Direct, electing "Annual Fund - Share" for your recurring donation.
The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Polio Plus - Rotary's commitment to eradicate polio is so well known and respected that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matches donations $2 for $1. To take advantage of this opportunity to multiply the effect of your giving, CLICK HERE and download a second Rotary Direct form, this time electing electing "Polio Eradication" for your recurring donations. Those who donate $100 or more annually to Polio Plus qualify in District 5495 as Polio Plus Society Members. If you would like to make that commitment, CLICK HERE to download the commitment form.
The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona (TRVFA) provides vocational education grants to Arizona Residents who meet specific low-income guidelines. The grants enable the recipients to lift themselves out of poverty, benefitting themselves, their families and the economy of our state. TRVFA is a 501(c)(3) charity. They also are a Qualifying Charitable Organization for Arizona Tax Credit Donations. Their QCO Code is 20698. Many Arizona Rotarians say giving to TRVFA is a "no brainer." If you can help someone lift themselves out of poverty and it won't end up costing you anything why would you not do it? Mesa West Rotary has the highest number of members who have signed up for automated monthly recurring donations by electing that option on the "Donate Now" button on the TRVFA website. Click the image to learn more or CLICK HERE to DONATE NOW.
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:
Community Service
International Service
Vocational Service
Youth Service
The process isn't quite automated at this point in time, but we hope it soon will be. For now, you can email our executive secretary who can help you work out a recurring donation plan should you wish to make that arrangement to support our own club's charitable activity.
Colton Cagle has graduated from the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
While Wayne and Lucinda General were vacationing in Portugal earlier this year, they visited a Rotary Club there. Wayne had the pleasure of exchanging club flags at that meeting.
Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange students made a trip to northern Arizona a few weeks ago. Some were photographed on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon during that trip.
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)
